For the past 25 years, the South by Southwest festival and conference in Austin, Texas, has been a beacon for music aficionados who are in search of the latest and greatest in indie music.
Starting in 1994, film and multimedia tracks were added to enhance the conference, providing a unique view on indie film and the emergence of the Internet. Fast-forward 17 years, and SXSW Interactive has become its own little subconference within a conference, where tastemakers meet with digital innovators and funders to provide an overload of digital goodies.
Twitter, the little microblogging platform that swept the world — and ushered in a few digital revolutions along the way — was adopted and fast-tracked by the crowd at SXSW, which has led financial leaders and tech insiders to place bets on the next big thing coming out of this year's conference.
Another space to watch is the growing Blacks in Tech community. The black digerati convene at SXSW — and the space supports some of the most innovative thinking in digital identity and tech policy.
Check back in for The Root's coverage of the parties, the people, the panels, the films and tech innovations throughout the weekend!
Latoya Peterson is a hip-hop feminist, anti-racist activist and deputy editor of Fusion’s Voices section, opining on pop culture, news, video games and everything that makes life worth living.