Where is sxsw 2011

We've been hearing about this moment in digital history since at least , when the Xerox technologist Mark Weiser coined the term "ubiquitous computing" , referring to the point at which devices and systems would become so numerous and pervasive that "technology recedes into the background of our lives".

To be fair, Weiser also called this "the age of calm technology", implying a serenity that the caffeinated, Twitter-distracted masses in Austin this week didn't seem yet to have attained.

And it's almost a decade since annoying tech-marketing types started using "mobile" as an abstract noun, referring to the end of computing as a desktop-only affair. But the arrival of the truly ubiquitous internet is something new, with implications both thrilling and sinister — and it has a way of rendering many of the questions we've been asking about technology in recent years almost meaningless.

Did social media cause the recent Arab uprisings? Is the web distracting us from living? Are online friendships as rich as those offline? When the lines between reality and virtuality dissolve, both sides of such debates are left looking oddly anachronistic. Here, then, is a short tour of where we might be headed instead:. If Web 2. When the GPS system in your phone or iPad can relay your location to any site or device you like, when Facebook uses facial recognition on photographs posted there, when your financial transactions are tracked, and when the location of your car can influence a constantly changing, sensor-driven congestion-charging scheme, all in real time, something has qualitatively changed.

You're still creating the web, but without the conscious need to do so. Increasingly, the web is the world — everything and everyone in the world casts an 'information shadow', an aura of data, which when captured and processed intelligently, offers extraordinary opportunity and mindbending implications. Alarming ones, too, of course, if you don't know exactly what's being shared with whom. She meant this to be reassuring: Google, she explained, didn't engage in such covert data-mining.

Deep inside, I admit, I wasn't reassured. But then Mayer probably already knew that. Depending on your degree of immersion in the digital world, it's possible that you've never heard the term "gamification" or that you're already profoundly sick of it. From a linguistic point of view, the word should probably be outlawed — perhaps we could ban "webinar" at the same time? Videogame designers, the logic goes, have become the modern world's leading experts on how to keep users excited, engaged and committed: the success of the games industry proves that, whatever your personal opinion of Grand Theft Auto or World of Warcraft.

So why not apply that expertise to all those areas of life where we could use more engagement, commitment and fun: in education, say, or in civic life, or in hospitals? Three billion person-hours a week are spent gaming. Couldn't some of that energy be productively harnessed? This sounds plausible until you start to demand details, whereupon it becomes extraordinarily hard to grasp what this might actually mean. The current public face of gamification is Jane McGonigal , author of the new book Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better And How They Can Change The World, but many of her prescriptions are cringe-inducing: they seem to involve redefining aid projects in Africa as "superhero missions", or telling hospital patients to think of their recovery from illness as a "multiplayer game".

Hearing how McGonigal speeded her recovery from a serious head injury by inventing a "superhero-themed game" called SuperBetter, based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in which her family and friends were players helping her back to health, I'm apparently supposed to feel inspired. Instead I feel embarrassed and a little sad: if I'm ever in that situation, I hope I won't need to invent a game to persuade my family to care.

A different reaction results from watching a manic presentation by Seth Priebatsch , the year-old Princeton dropout who is this year's leading victim of what the New York Times has labelled "Next Zuckerberg Syndrome", the quest to identify and invest in tomorrow's equivalent of the billionaire Facebook founder. Priebatsch's declared aim is to "build a game layer on top of the world" — which at first seems simply to mean that we should all use SCVNGR , his location-based gaming platform that allows users to compete to win rewards at restaurants, bars and cinemas on their smartphones.

Please note: SXSW will be evaluating bands as soon as their submissions come in. Create a free account. Already have an account? Sign in. We include a link to your profile in band openings, to build trust with musicians and help them decide if they will be a good fit.

This gig is not currently accepting applications. We think you might like these similar gigs. Join Sonicbids for free to post a band opening! Create a free account Already have an account? Why do I need to sign up? In an effort to rekindle his Christmas spirit, Jack decides to spend this season as Santa Claus, but the role of Kris Kringle is more complex than he thinks. A young man is rocked by two announcements from his elderly father: that he has terminal cancer, and that he has a young male lover.

A highly compelling portrait of outspoken indie-rock hero Bob Forrest, through his life-threatening struggle with addiction, to his transformation into one of the most influential and controversial drug counselors in the US today. A downtrodden year-old girl is sent to detention where she must survive a slasher film killer and save the world in time for prom. From a basketball academy in Senegal, to the high-pressure world of American prep schools, the film documents the extraordinary personal journeys of four particularly tall West African Muslim teenage boys with NBA dreams.

Cast: Paul J. Spence, David Lawrence U. A sharp-witted comedy that follows a group of apparent strangers in interlocking stories taking place in ten different bars during the course of one evening in Los Angeles. Hotel clerks by day, amateur ghost hunters by night, the last two employees of the historic Yankee Pedlar Inn set out to prove that their place of business is as haunted as its reputation. This film celebrates the visual beauty and power of Super8 film and the human voice.

When the most anti-authoritarian among us become the ultimate authorities… we might just have to use The Other F Word. The first real testimony of the digi-creative revolution.

This film tells the story of a handful of risk-takers who alongside visionary entrepreneurs created these revolutionary companies, and in the process ignited the industry known as venture capital. Two rival musicians find themselves handcuffed together at the world renowned music festival, T in the Park, where they are both scheduled to perform.

Innovation and creativity from new and emerging feature filmmakers, showcasing raw talent in documentary and narratives of varying premiere status. A humorless loner attempts to win the admiration of a drifter with his debut performance at the local comedy club. North American Premiere.

A love story with apocalyptic stakes. Father William Smoortser drops his bible into a toilet at a rest stop just before embarking on a day-long canoe trip, breaking loose all glorious hell. A surfing holiday turns deadly when a group of friends fight over a beautiful woman. Artist Christiaan Zwanikken resurrects deceased wildlife by reanimating the skeletal remains with servomotors and robotics.

He breeds these new species in a year-old monastery in Portugal, restored from ruins and converted into his laboratory. An intimate friendship between two women dissolves as they are drawn into an irrational, destructive spiral of jealousy and paranoid fantasy in this haunting examination of the female psyche.

Bobby Scheinman is an insurance salesman struggling to provide for his family. Enter Vincent and Irving, two con men who convince Bobby to join them for a moneymaking scheme that quickly spirals out of control.

A meditation on the allure and limitations of modern utopian belief. Two outcast redheads set off on a roadtrip of hate, violence and self-destruction. Is luck part of the craft? A reclusive sports hustler returns home to his family farm after years of absence to reunite with his two eccentric, unhinged and emotionally damaged brothers. Filmmaking and life converge around a werewolf film.

Musician Goh Nakamura is hired to teach TV actor Danny Turner how to walk and talk like a rock star for his new movie. Ten friends gather to play an annual game of touch football in this real-time comedy. A one-night stand that becomes something else, something important — a sort of love story between two guys trying to take control of their lives.

Texas proud! Documentaries and Narratives with a special connection to the Lone Star State. Young love is derailed by a rare psychological disorder known as icd F Sad, fat, black, latino, nerd. A film about love, hope, petty theft, adultery, and the boundless opportunities presented by science. In a culture that is currently overrun with romanticized vampires, it is up to four geeky teenagers to defend their friend and beloved sci-fi convention from a group of very real, blood-thirsty vampires.

Otis is a socially inept web artist who struggles to connect with people. He falls into unrequited love with Ursula, and his world is turned upside down. A high school teacher is severely beaten by his own students. Too embarrassed to inform the authorities, he plots his own revenge. Showcasing the sounds, culture and influence of music and musicians, with an emphasis on documentary. Roger wants to join these stars of the ghetto.

Together, they must avoid the pitfalls of the street and believe in music. A concert film that follows a feminist electronic band across 4 continents and 10 countries and provides an unusual peek behind the curtain of the contemporary pop machine.