Notes from SXSW Interactive Part 3: Technology, Education, Government

This three-part series on South by Southwest Interactive 2011 concludes with a look at some award-winning Web sites, a core conversation on education, and a panel discussion on crowdsourcing in politics.

By the time Day Five rolled around, the long hours of conference-going were starting to take a toll. The search for complimentary caffeine had supplanted the search for complimentary alcohol. People seemed less likely to hand out business cards to whomever happened to be standing next to them on the escalator. And the hall conversations had changed from excited talk surrounding this year’s buzzword, “gamification,” to how tired everybody was of hearing the word “gamification.” Yet there were a few highlights still to come. One of them appeared in the form of the inestimable Chris Hardwick (of Nerdist.com fame) who emceed the SXSW Interactive Awards ceremony that evening.

The Interactive Awards provide a look at innovative trends and developments across a wide variety of ever-evolving categories. This year, awards were given for everything from best motion graphics to best online educational experience.

The award for online activism went to The Tiziano Project | 360° Kurdistan. Founded in 2007, The Tiziano Project teaches Web journalism skills to citizens living in conflict areas as well as post-conflict regions and developing countries, where there is often a lack of professional media coverage. Established journalists are on hand to mentor the citizen reporters. 360° Kurdistan provides multimedia coverage from largely Kurdish northern Iraq (incorporating writing, photography, and audio and video recordings). The beautifully designed, easily navigable site showcases their firsthand reportage on a wide variety of topics.

Click to view the full list of winners.

Learning 2025: School Is out Forever

Earlier that day, a number of surprisingly bright-eyed people attended a core conversation on the future of education led by Erika Gregory, founder and president of the social innovation consulting firm Collective Invention, and Jillian Darwish of the nonprofit KnowledgeWorks. The two guided attendees through a scenario analysis exercise focusing on public education reform that better enabled participants to envision what’s possible.

Their premise was that technological innovations can radically enhance the current education system. With that in mind, the facilitators walked us through two storylines, in the form of a dialogue between a present-day student and a student from 2025. The 2011 storyline is familiar to anyone with a school-aged child: Education is the same as it ever was. However, in their vision of 2025, school buildings have been replaced by community learning centers that connect people with shared interests. Students, no longer limited to standard 8am to 3pm class hours, are able to complete their schoolwork whenever they choose while working through the material at their own pace. They also exercise more control over an individualized learning curriculum.

Taking the part of the student of the future, Erika Gregory said, “I do my best work late at night” and added that her late-night schedule enables her to have a learning partner halfway around the world. “My learning journey mentor is based in New Delhi,” Gregory said. (Instead of teachers dealing with large numbers of students, mentors provide one-on-one guidance to students over the Internet.)

Out are textbooks and pencils. In are open source digital learning tools, accessible by all, with no distribution or access costs.

The question then became: What systemic changes need to occur in order to bring about such a future? Gregory and Darwish pinpointed the need for shifts in ten different areas, including business and revenue models, family and community life, policies and leadership, and social norms.

Attendees were then divided into two groups to brainstorm their own ideas for improving the education system. One of the most popular suggestions, echoing previous presentations and discussions, was to replace textbooks and tests with computer games—the “gamification” of education, some might call it.

Other noteworthy proposals included the “Googlization” of educational assets and a mandate whereby major media and entertainment industries are required to have a pro bono/nonprofit education wing.

For further study: In conjunction with the Institute for the Future, KnowledgeWorks has put together a 2020 Forecast: Creating the Future of Learning.

Rebooting Iceland: Crowdsourcing Innovation in Uncertain Times

This panel discussion, which took place a little earlier in the week, shows how ideas originating in the technology sector can be applicable in government.

In the aftermath of Iceland’s 2008 financial collapse, politicians began using crowdsourcing techniques to gather input and insight, even inviting a large random sample of Icelandic citizens to help write a new constitution. Gudjon Mar Gudjonsson, the founder of several successful tech startups, was instrumental in organizing two such “national assembies.” He sees Iceland as a test laboratory for a new and improved form of democracy that incorporates crowdsourcing, open innovation, and social media.

Dilja Amundadottir, who divides her time between working at CCP Games and acting as sports and leisure chairperson in the Reykjavik city government, described how CCP’s game developers solicit and incorporate players’ input into the designs of their online gaming worlds. “It’s not a pre-decided experience like a roller coaster ride,” she said. Players elect representatives from among themselves to serve on a council that communicate with the developers.

SXSW has posted some of the highlights from the panel on YouTube:

There was one more highlight yet to come: The Accelerator awards ceremony was scheduled to take place on Wednesday March 16. (Past Accelerator winners have gone on to great success.) But by that point, I was already on a plane, heading back home, looking forward to catching up on sleep, and feeling inspired, informed, and surprisingly enthusiastic about what’s to come.