Last two days to vote on the proposed SXSW festival local search panels (voting closes on August 29). You can make a difference!
1) Think Globally, Post Locally: The Emerging Power of Local Voice
SXSW
Peter Krasilovsky Confirms Presence on Proposed SXSW Panels
Good news! Peter Krasilovsky (Program Director, Marketplaces, at the Kelsey Group) confirmed to me late Friday night that he would join Greg Sterling, Perry Evans and myself if one of the panels we’re supporting gets selected for the next South by SouthWest Interactive Festival in March 2009.
As I mentioned in a blog post last week, you can make a difference by voting for the two proposed panels:
1) Think Globally, Post Locally: The Emerging Power of Local Voice
2) The Local Search Solution: Context or Accuracy?
Register and vote for the two proposed panels (voting closes on August 29)!
You Can Help Make “Local Search” Matter at SXSWi!
Following my blog post lamenting the fact that there wasn’t a lot of panels on local search at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, I got pinged by Vinicius Vacanti (Yipit‘s founder) who offered us spots on his proposed local-search themed panel. Earlier today, Chris Tolles, CEO of Topix, who had submitted a conference proposal also offered to turn his bid into a panel as well.
I’ve also lined-up two of my industry peers, Perry Evans (CEO of Local Matters, co-founder of Jabber Inc. and founding President of Mapquest) and Greg Sterling (one of the top local search expert in the world IMHO), who, schedule permitting, will be present with me on at least one of those panels.
This should be fun! Does it mean it’s a done deal? No, because SXSWi is community-driven event. Submitting a panel is just the beginning as people vote on their favorite ones. You, the Praized blog readers, can make a difference and send a message to SXSWi that Local Search matters! Register and vote for the two proposed panels (voting closes on August 29):
1) Think Globally, Post Locally: The Emerging Power of Local Voice
2) The Local Search Solution: Context or Accuracy?
Other ways you can help:
You Can Help Make "Local Search" Matter at SXSWi!
Following my blog post lamenting the fact that there wasn’t a lot of panels on local search at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, I got pinged by Vinicius Vacanti (Yipit‘s founder) who offered us spots on his proposed local-search themed panel. Earlier today, Chris Tolles, CEO of Topix, who had submitted a conference proposal also offered to turn his bid into a panel as well.
I’ve also lined-up two of my industry peers, Perry Evans (CEO of Local Matters, co-founder of Jabber Inc. and founding President of Mapquest) and Greg Sterling (one of the top local search expert in the world IMHO), who, schedule permitting, will be present with me on at least one of those panels.
This should be fun! Does it mean it’s a done deal? No, because SXSWi is community-driven event. Submitting a panel is just the beginning as people vote on their favorite ones. You, the Praized blog readers, can make a difference and send a message to SXSWi that Local Search matters! Register and vote for the two proposed panels (voting closes on August 29):
1) Think Globally, Post Locally: The Emerging Power of Local Voice
2) The Local Search Solution: Context or Accuracy?
Other ways you can help:
SXSWi 2009: Local Search? What Local Search? Crickets…
South by SouthWest Interactive (SXSWi), possibly the hippest/coolest Web festival in North America (I attended the 2008 edition), just published the list of potential panels and presentations for its 2009 edition. As some of you might know, a large chunk (30%) of the programming for the festival is user-generated. People submit conference ideas (they had until July 11) and anyone can now vote on their favorite conference proposals using the panel picker. 1209 panels are listed there.
Flickr photo by Darkstream
Wondering how many were proposing to talk about local, I did a search and lo and behold, none have the keywords “local search” in their title (or description for that matter) and only 6 have the keyword “local” in their title. Only 4 could truly be considered local search-oriented. They are:
Lessons in Local Tech: Sustainable Food 2.0, Rachel Weidinger, Common Knowledge
From Global to Mobile: What’s Next in Local, Contextual Search, Don Turnbull, University of Texas at Austin
Think Globally, Post Locally: The Emerging Power of Local Voice, Chris Tolles, Topix.com
E-Commerce: Cultivating Links Between Local Farmers and Consumers, Andrew Smiley, Sustainable Food Center
What it means: either local search is not sexy enough (I doubt it!) or most of us in the industry (except for Chris Tolles @ Topix) were sleeping at the wheel when came time to submit a proposal for a panel. If local search as an industry wants to be seen as relevant and exciting, we need to be present at SXSWi. Now that I think about it, I should have reached out to my all-star local search co-panelists (Peter K., Greg
Sterling, Perry Evans) assembled for the last Google Local Markets Symposium and maybe offer to debate the future of local search. That would have been a good panel.
Update: after writing this post, I got an e-mail from Vinicius Vacanti, founder of Yipit. It looks like his proposed panel ” The Local Search Solution: Context or Accuracy?” just appeared in the panel picker. So, there’s hope after all! Vote for it!
OpenID: An Introduction
As I stated in my last yearly predictions, I think 2008 will be the year of identity, where we start solving the problem of having to create (and remember) multiple username/passwords to access all the sites we visit. A panel yesterday morning at SXSW08 offered us a glimpse into what could be THE solution for solving this issue: OpenID.
What is OpenID?
- A decentralized mechanism for SSO (single sign on) that tries to solved the username/password problem
- It’s a URL (an identifier) – the OpenID protocol lets you prove you own the URL
- Simple registration
- You can read more about what is OpenID here.
Why OpenID?
- Many people in the past have tried to solve the issue: Microsoft Password, TypeKey, Facebook
- But SSO with a single controlling authority betrays the principle of the web
Yahoo! & OpenID
- Yahoo is now an OpenID provider (has been since January)
- It means you can log-in to OpenID-compatible sites using your Yahoo log-in information (the reverse is not true though).
How to implement OpenID?
- See this presentation.
What it means: I think the consensus is that OpenID as a technology is ready to go, but it still lacks “marketing” and “user-friendliness”. Companies including Clickpass are trying to address that problem. See today’s coverage on Techcrunch for more details. Expect this technology to make waves in the next 12 -18 months. My Praized partner, Sylvain, is already talking about organizing a OpenID DevCamp in Montreal. Anyone else interested?
Attending SXSW Interactive Festival
I (along with Harry and Sylvain from the Praized Media team) will be attending the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. It starts on Friday and lasts until next Tuesday. If you’d like to connect, send me an e-mail, seb AT praized.com. See you there!
Seb Provencher's Blog 