A Wordle generated by Jennifer Trant, via Flickr

Here’s a sampling of some of the things that our group is involved in at the conference:

• This morning’s whirlwind tour of tech at the IMA
• Presenting a paper on Cloud Computing
• Talking about social tagging and online video
• Cheering ArtBabble on for Best of the Web
• Hanging out with the cool cats in the Davis Lab during Friday’s reception
• Demoing ArtBabble for the early birds on Saturday (note to self: don’t party too hard on Friday)

And of course we’ll be looking forward to discovering tales of triumph and seeds of inspiration from the great work that everyone else at the conference will be sharing.

Yes, I was just in Washington DC, but this post isn’t going to be about national politics. A few of us recently returned from the Museum Computer Network conference – four days of workshops, presentations, and case studies on topics ranging from virtual machines to the semantic web. Since I totally forgot about having to blog upon our return, I’ll just share some of the bits I found interesting.

First off, Rob and I ran a workshop on building an exhibition site with Drupal. Anyone interested can download the slides on Slideshare. We gave a quick overview of the sites that we have built with Drupal so far, and then went through the process from installation to end product using the To Live Forever website as an example. We received very good feedback, and hopefully the particiants will go forth and create great websites.

Koven Smith of the Metropolitan Museum of Art gave a great talk on the inner workings of Semantic Web technology. I have heard a lot about the semantic web, but now I feel like I actually understand how it works. After this session my curiosity led me to pop in on the end of a discussion about copyright issues in virtual worlds… I’ll just say that the semantic web is more straightforward to me at the moment.

Youngjin Yoo, associate professor of Management Information Systems at Temple University, gave a great presentation making the case that innovation is a collaborative experience. In contrast to “change management”, in which a product is developed and a community is subsequently persuaded to use it, he argued that products must be designed with users in the loop. This is definitely part of good software engineering practice, where well informed use cases drive design.

We were also given an introduction to Ohana (the intranet system used by the Smithsonian) by Erin Weinman. Having created our own internal project management system, it was interesting to see how Ohana was designed to make use of MediaWiki. In fact, we have found that some Wiki-style form of document creation would be a great addition to our system, so we will be investigating this further.

Of course, there was much more that went on at the conference, but these are just a few of the things that stuck in my mind (as well as the half-day excursion I took to experience the National Mall for the first time.. my feet were killing me). Reading over my list, it is rather software development oriented, isn’t it? Well, keep your eyes peeled and I’m sure you’ll find other blogs covering MCN from another point of view. Or if you were there too, leave some comments!

I love Texas. I always have. So it’s good to be in Austin for SXSW. It’s my first visit but honestly, I’ve never been a big conference fan. I’ve always appreciated the opportunity for professional development, the chance to meet new colleagues and of course learn something new, but I must admit, they can be boring. Is SXSW boring? No way. Keep SXSW weird.

The future of web is here. The people at SXSW Interactive are shaping the online environment of tomorrow. It’s mind boggling. I’ve sat in tons of sessions (some terrible, most great, a couple truly inspiring) and I feel refreshed, motivated and full of new ideas. My role at the IMA is to produce digital content – to tell stories in innovative ways. This experience has shown me we can do much, much more. We will.

It is a weird conference and I mean that as the biggest possible complement. I have sat next to a variety of characters – CEO’s, marketers, artists, developers, rock star bloggers, and pretty much who knows. I’ve walked out of some useless sessions, but mostly have been soaking it all in. There have been two magical moments…

Anyone that knows me, knows I love uncomfortable situations, especially humour. I love the British Office and Little Britain. One of my favorite films is Made (it made me squirm). So imagine my glee when the keynote event, featuring Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, descended into chaos, with the crowd revolting and the interviewer, Sarah Lacy talking smack back to the crowd! I have never seen anything like it – read it about here or relive it here. Part of me wanted to hide, but in the end, I sat there with a big smile on my face exchanging quips with the people around me. Thank you SXSW!

I want to be the guys from icanhascheezburger. They put captions on picture of cats and other animals. They do what they want in a strategic, intelligent way. It is their job! And they get 1.5 million hits a day. Are you kidding me? Their session was brilliant, funny, educational and to beat this word to death: inspiring. They have built and cultivated an online community that is loyal, vocal and immense. We (the IMA we) are trying to do the same thing, but without the lolcats. They had cheeseburgers delivered to the session and afterwards I had the site founder, Eric Nakagawa, sign an autograph for my sister. I also asked if he wanted to be a guest blogger. Stay tuned.

I’m now sitting in a session about the future of video content online. It’s good and incredibly technical and it confirms we should be pursuing H.264 for our future video compression, especially for our next big project IMA TV. But I must be honest, I am looking forward to the next weird moment. Uncomfortable or not.

The other day I sat in a bar drinking a Texan beer, listening to a German-French-Scottish folk band. I love Texas. (clap clap clap clap) *deep in teh hart of Tecksus.

Here’s a recap of Day 1.
Opening Keynote Address:

“We had all the momentum; we’re riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave.” Raoul Duke from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Tyler Green move over. I’ve got a new crush…David Pogue! WOW. He was the keynote address this morning and despite major technical problems, he was a brilliant speaker. He also was a tremendous entertainer. See video below for his impromptu performance. It was the perfect introduction to the conference. I’ve entitled it David Pogue Does Vegas!

Morning Sessions:

“There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right,
that we were winning.” Raoul Duke

WOW! The IMA is ahead of the curve. I’m typing this as I’m attending a session called “practical uses of podcasts and blogs for nonprofits.” Yep, that’s right, I’m blogging for a nonprofit while learning how to blog for a nonprofit. Kinda bizarre. Moreover, it’s an indication that the information is a bit too basic for me. The majority of the folks currently in this room are where the IMA was a year ago. They are new to the world of digital media and Web 2.0, and they are eager to hone their talents.We’re way beyond the basics at this point in time.

Here’s the good and bad of it…These are my peers and colleagues from around the nation and from every industry, and it’s astounding to think that the Indianapolis Museum of Art is one of the leaders at this conference. It’s affirming to know how advanced we are, but it’s also scary to know we’re on our own here. I feel like David Bowie’s Major Tom floating about in space.

Lunch:

“We’re right in the vortex!” Raoul Duke

With over 600 people in the room for lunch, my attorney and I were lucky enough to sit right next to Mark Ragan, the CEO of Ragan Communications (our conference’s organizer). After some small talk over our chicken Parmesan, Katie and I had the opportunity to share with Mark how the Indianapolis Museum of Art was leveraging social media. Impressed by our amount of engagement in digital technology and our innovative use of video, Mark asked if I would do a video interview after lunch. Never camera shy, I obliged. The results should be posted to their Web site in the near future.

Back at the Room:

“But there was no going back, and no time to rest. We were going to have to ride it out.” Raoul Duke

I’m exhausted. I’ve been in sessions all day. It’s been a great conference so far, but I’m ready to go out and have fun in Vegas. Tomorrow we have a full morning of sessions before lunch and then an entire afternoon to spend shopping before heading back to Indy on the red eye.

The conference is at the Wynn Hotel and frankly, I don’t want to leave. This place is AMAZING! For some reason, we got upgraded to a suite and it’s by far the best hotel room I’ve ever stayed in. Below is the view from room 3602. Wish you were here!

Postscript:

If you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I’m currently rereading it. Hence all the references to attorneys and the use of Raoul Duke quotes. The book is a great read while staying in Vegas. It’s the kind of wacky reading that will mess with your head.