Gumption: ETech 2007: Fun, Games, Magic ... and Intimidation. I'm attending my first Emerging Technologies Conference (ETech) this week, and have attended a number of interesting and engaging talks by a number of interesting and engaging people.
The themes that seem to be emerging thus far are the use of technology for fun and games, and creating a sense of magic ... though, unfortunately, some of this magic can be very dark, taking the form of misogynistic intimidation, including death threats. I'll start with the darkness and move toward the light. There were three conferences I wanted to attend this week (ETech, the [first] International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, and Digital Signage). The tipping point for my decision to attend ETech was the half-day tutorial and opening keynote that were to be given by Kathy Sierra, who, as I've noted often before, is my favorite blogger in the blogosphere (and was the first person I said I wanted to meet when I first joined 43people).
Other future trends that Tim pointed to were. Tumblr Themes that Rock - Download Squad. Web 2.0: A Community in Denial.