Tracy Mueller

I wrote about my general impressions of this year’s SXSW Interactive (hey, people are pretty cool!) and posted recaps of some of my favorite sessions. To finish off my 2010 SXSW blogging, here are my 5 big takeaways. They’re all pretty common sense, but they are themes that kept popping up, and I’m happy to [...]

This session’s description of itself best sums it up: a case study on how the California Academy of Sciences – a traditional museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park — transformed itself into a global online education and research presence and integral social hub for the City, using the best tools and techniques of technology, [...]

Scott Heiferman – founder of www.meetup.com This solo presentation from Scott was the last session on Saturday, and it was the perfect way to cap off my first day. He did a terrific job of infusing his talk with both enthusiasm and practicality: There are people everywhere looking to connect. He showed a screenshot of [...]

John Hargrave (Moderator), www.zug.com Mark Malkof, www.markmalkoff.com - lived in IKEA for a week; went to all the Manhattan Starbucks in 24 hours Jeff Rubin, editor of www.collegehumor.com Rob Cockerham, www.cockeyed.com - specializes in pranks Chris Wilson, cartoonist for web comic Cyanide & Happiness I expected this panel to be kinda off the wall, but I was [...]

Jay Rosen, NYU Matt Thompson, NPR Tristan Harris, Apture founder and CEO Staci D. Kramer (Moderator), ContentNext Media /paidContent #futureofcontext This was one of the most intriguing, thoughtful panels I’ve ever been to. NYU journalism prof Jay Rosen wrote about how they prepared for and ran the panel, and their work really paid off in [...]

I was a bit skeptical about this panel and really hoped it wouldn’t be some jaded, corporate strategry on manufacturing something that in reality is difficult to capture. Well, I had nothing to worry about. YouTube’s Margaret Gould Stewart joined TED Talks Director of Film and Video Jason Wishnow and Damian Kulash, he of the [...]

Check the #greatinterviewsadvice hashtag on Twitter for more on this session. University of Kansas Professor Nancy Baym led an interactive session about conducting great interviews, whether for broadcast, print or recruiting. Some of the points were pretty standard, but overall it was a helpful discussion. Some main points: “What questions should I ask?” is not [...]

“Make a damn mark–a blank page is always terrifying.” –Visual note-taker Austin Kleon Visual Note-Taking 101 was the perfect follow-up to Dan Roam’s Why Words Won’t Work session. The session kicked off with free sketch books (pictured left) and tons of enthusiasm from panelists Kleon, Sunni Brown, Mike Rohde and Dave Gray. They each have [...]

Dan Roam’s SXSW Interactive talk on visual thinking was far and away a highlight of the conference for me. His book, “The Back of the Napkin,” has been on my reading list for awhile, and it just shot to the top after hearing him speak. Roam’s central point: EVERYONE is a visual thinker. 75 percent [...]

At the 2009 SXSW Interactive conference, I think I heard the word “monetize” roughly 17 times a day. As in “That kitten is cute, but how can we monetize it? What’s the ROI on scratching its tummy?” Good grief. But in 2010, I didn’t hear the word even once. [And the people rejoiced.] No, this [...]