Making the case to attend SXSW
One government IT expert's picks for panels with real work relevance.
The South by Southwest conference attracts top-tier speakers like Tesla founder Elon Musk, while also digging into the details of technology's impact. (Photo courtesy of SXSW Inc.)
Given tight budgets and travel restrictions, most feds likely would be hard-pressed to secure permission to attend South by Southwest. But for those who can find a way -- or simply decide to make a personal trek to the Austin, Texas, festival next March -- Gadi Ben-Yehuda of the IBM Center for the Business of Government has a list of especially relevant proposed panels.
In a post on GovLoop, Ben-Yehuda offered this list of provocative topics, and urged government techies to vote for the ones they like best:
- "Open Source" Foreign Policy in the Digital Age
- A Perfect Storm: Technology & Disaster Response
- The New Augmented Order: Gov & Augmented Reality
- Crowdsourcing Diplomacy
- The World Bank and Innovation: Striking Poverty
- Power and Privacy: What Superheroes Can Teach Us
- The Future of Government-Citizen Interaction
- It's not about tech: Hack the bureaucracy
SXSW may be overhyped, Ben-Yehuda allowed, but it still boasts "speakers that should inspire anyone interested in technology's impact." Or at least anyone who can get the travel approved.