"Certainly that came to a climax with the Zuckerberg thing, which we wish would have turned out a little differently," said Hugh Forrest, the event organizer for SXSW Interactive. "But taken as a grand experiment in how this new digital stuff works, it's pretty fascinating."
Amidst all the barbecue and beer, it became clear that the fuzzy distinction between the speakers and audience is gone in both the real and virtual worlds. The digerati attendees here at SXSW are prosumers, and expect to have real and virtual presence on the dais.
During an early chat-room revolt that presaged the rampant interactivity that dominated the conference, Meebo user avenger proclaimed, "Shit, we've got 1/10 of the room on here. We ARE the panel."
As the audience began questioning Zuckerberg at Sunday's keynote, "tech geek blogger" Robert Scoble twittered, "The audience is asking Zuckerburg better questions than Lacy did."
FuLL ArTICLE is WiRED
