South by Southwest Interactive is known for its innovative trends, technology and people. Since its humble beginnings as a “multimedia festival” in 1995, the conference has now grown to attract over 32,000 attendees each year and consistently brings some of the brightest and best tech leaders from around the world, including Daniel Ek, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and even former President Barack Obama.
This year’s event was no different. New ideas such as “deep machine learning” and exciting technology like virtual reality filled the Austin Convention Center and downtown Austin. New trends emerged and tech giants conspired. And attendees walked away feeling like they just peered a few years into the future.
With all this talk of innovation and media, we caught up a wide range of professionals to hear what they thought the future would look like. With only the prompt “The Future of Content is ___________”, here’s what a few attendees and panelists had to say:
“Greater Personalization and Automation”
Amy Shelby is the VP Digital Marketing at The CW Television Network. In her SXSW panel, “Bingers & Time-Shifters: The Future of TV Marketing” Shelby said that in the near future, viewers will see more options and greater automation, leading to the end of “analysis paralysis” (what should I watch next?).
“Mixed Reality”
Robert Scoble is a long time blogger, tech evangelist, and true giant of the industry. His latest and most emphatic interest has been in virtual and augmented reality. After his encore presentation with Nonny de la Peña (the godmother of VR) and Shawn Dubravac at SXSW, Scoble said he believes in a future where AR and VR come together to create a mixed reality for content viewing.
“Storytelling”
Lauren Mucciolo is a News & Documentary Emmy Award nominee and RFK Journalism Award Winner. At SXSW, Mucciolo displayed her outstanding VR work – the After Solitary experience – created by the Emblematic Group and Frontline PBS. No matter how far we take technology, she believes storytelling will always be the most important aspect of content.
“Narrative Cognition”
Clare Fieseler is a National Geographic Creative photographer and marine biologist. One of her most recent projects includes a 360 immersive experience with UNC Chapel Hill on The Bocas del Toro region of Panama.
“AI / Robotic”
Travell Perkins is the VP of Web Architecture at Fidelity Investments, where he manages a team of digital content creators. Travell says there actually is “no such thing as future” but imagines soon we will be seeing a Westworld type of existence where artificial intelligence is not just a toy, but the future of mankind.
“You!”
Chuck Nice is a stand-up comedian and radio / television personality. After live recording the StarTalk podcast at SXSW, Nice said, “We now live in a time where people determine what needs to be seen. There are no more gatekeepers. Find out what your content is, and run with it!”
If you’re a content creator, what do you think the future of content is? Post in the comments section below!