Wired Introduces Interactive Magazine on Multiple Devices

Scott Dadich of Wired and Jeremy Clark of Adobe led a discussion entitled After Magazines: WIRED’s Digital Rebirth.  Experience has shown that web is good for some things and print for others.  It is Wired’s intent to combine the two.  In the near future many magazines will be downloadable to a user’s portable device.  The panel discussed Wired and its plans for integration into anything from tablets and laptops to iPhones and the Nexus One.

Adobe Air, the program that runs TweetDeck and many other emerging apps, is the platform that the digital magazine will operate in.  Dadich and Clark introduce the magazine on a tablet built by Dell.  The two emphasize that design is one of the major factors to consider when developing content for consumer devices; content articles vs. content graphics and the way the two coincide in different devices.  A better design translates into an easier reading experience and that in turn creates deeper engagement and a connection to the consumer.  Wired has been working diligently on eliminating eye fatigue by considering the font and creating new fonts specifically for the interactive magazine.  The magazine also boasts built in audio, video and active images along with different formats for vertical and horizontal viewing.  Wired’s new interactive platform will link content that relates to one another with a clear and consistent UI termed revolution through evolution.

Chris Anderson Book Signing

I just attended the Chris Anderson book signing in front of the Adobe day stage cafe. He was signing copies of The Long Tail, his new book Free, and giving away signed copies of the latest issue of Wired. The Long Tail heavily influenced my graduate research so I had to get signed copy of the book. He thought my name was cool and even asked if it was my birth name. He’s a super nice guy, can’t wait for his keynote. “Wag that long tail.”

Preview: The Unholy Marriage of Video Games and Film

Id Software

Aside from being uber excited to hear Wired editor Chris Anderson‘s keynote, there are a million other panels I’m anxious to check out.  There are so many awesome panels this year that you can’t help but miss out on something interesting.

As a filmmaker and video game lover I’m looking forward to checking out From Framing Shots to Pushing Pixels: Crossing Between Film and Video Games .  The panel takes place on the last day of the interactive at 5 in room 12AB.

Rodney Gibbs, studio head at Fizz Factor and Mark Bristol, cinematics director at Id Software, will be presenting on the increasingly myopic line between film and games.  Gibbs oversees the development of both console and handheld games at Fizz Factor.  Id Software is responsible for giving the world the generous gifts of Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake and Mark Bristol worked as a storyboard artist on the Christopher Nolan film Memento, which is in my personal top ten films of all-time.  Its therefore imperative that I attend this panel and meet this guy.  I hope you are ready for a stalker Mark.

The focus of the panel will be on how to translate skills back and forth between the platforms.  In a climate where video game releases are larger than film openings and where games have incorporated many aspects of film this panel promises to deliver some serious bang.  Its almost a no-brainer that these two platorms will continue to converge, so get ready for “the way of the future.”

Welcome to South By TX State

This blog, hosted by graduate students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University in San Marcos, will showcase activities at the 2009 South By Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin, TX. I would like to thank the organizers of SXSW for giving us the opportunity to participate and for sponsoring this wonderful event. This year’s conference is shaping up with another amazing lineup including keynotes by Chris Anderson of Wired, Tony Hseih of Zappos.com, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com and James Powderly of Graffiti Research Lab. Four days of panels and activities are scheduled for what promises to be a fun and interesting time!

The students who are blogging this event are members of my Advanced Online Media course and many are part of our New Media concentration at Texas State. This is a great opportunity for them to engage with the theories and concepts we have been discussing, and to interact with the people who are influencing technological and social change.

During the next few weeks, we ‘ll be blogging about our plans for the event. On March 14, we go live at the Convention Center in Austin, so be sure to check in frequently.