Now that we’re a month out from SXSW, my place of employ has decided to post a writeup about my trip. I know Rossmom was happy to see it. Here’s a good bit from it:

Nover, who has made the trip to Austin, Texas for the festival before, was overjoyed when he found out that he would be presenting on a panel about the art of captions. “I called my mom—that was first—and then I forwarded it to some ex-girlfriends that never thought I’d amount to anything, and then I ran around the hallways here in Katzen to find somebody who knew what it was and understood why it was cool,” Nover says, jokingly.

If you want to check it out, go here »

A whiles back I posted on the site about how I was fortunate enough to be chosen as a panelist for the SXSW Interactive Festival, and hence will be attending the nerd-fest in Austin, TX next week. This is something that you Systemics made happen! So thanks to you!

For those of you that don’t know about SXSW, it’s a 3-part festival: music, film, and interactive. I have yet to go to the music portion, but the film and interactive sessions are always pretty amazing. Any chance to be around like-minded people and nerd out is generally appreciated.

If you’ll be there, a few recommendations if I may:

• My panel, of course! Me and other funny people talking about pairing words with images. Tuesday the 15th. BE THERE.
• I’m donating a rather large poster of the “See Something? Cite Something.” comic/chart/poster/thingy to a charity silent auction, which will be featured in the Beacon Lounge. The lounge is a great place to hang out between sessions and I’ll be there admiring my own handiwork and trying to mooch of the free food and drink that comes in and out of that room.
• Check out Lanyrd.com’s version of the SXSW schedule. It lets you see which of your Twitter followers are going to be there, which helps you track down friends easily.
• There’s this whole new “SXSW Comedy” portion this year that looks amazing. Mostly looking forward to the live recording of the Nerdist Podcast but all the rest of it looks great too. You listen to the Nerdist Podcast, right?
• See, it’s not all stuff I’m doing! But here’s another thing I’m doing. It’s called 20×2 and it’s asking 20 speakers to answer questions in 2 minutes. This topic is “Why Did You Do It?”, which should be interesting as the “it” is left pretty open. Also speaking there is fellow panelist Drew Dernavich. It’s on Monday the 14th. BE THERE.

If you’re going to be there, leave a message in the comments! Got a panel you’re helping put on, a party you think is worth it, etc? Leave word! I’m not a big enough presence to arrange a whole “Systemcics Meetup” but I would like to meet up with those of you that are going to be there. Let me know in the comments or via Twitter!

There’s also some way where I can post the things I’m thinking of going to so you guys can see it? I’m working on filling that out and sharing it. It’ll replace this paragraph once that’s up.

A while back, I asked my fellow Systemics to vote for a SXSW panel that if picked, I would be a part of. Well this should come as no surprise based on the title of the post, but that panel got picked! Thanks to all of you who were kind enough to vote for the panel and leave comments! It clearly helped and made it possible. Here’s the skivvy:

Your Caption Here: How-to Manipulate Images Without Photoshop

Organized by: Austin Kleon

We all know how easy it is to doctor an image with Photoshop, but there’s an even easier and low-tech way to alter an image’s meaning: just change the caption. It turns out that pictures can say whatever we want them to say, provided we use the right words. In this session, we’ll get the lowdown from a panel of bloggers and cartoonists who have elevated captioning to a brilliant, often hilarious art form. We’ll learn why the old writing adage “Show don’t tell” is useless, and how a picture might be worth a thousand words, but when it’s paired with a caption that deepens, expands, or redefines its meaning, it can be worth a million.

Panelists include:

• Jessica Hagy, freelance copywriter and creator/author of Indexed: http://www.thisisindexed.com
• Drew Dernavich, cartoonist at the New Yorker: http://www.drewdernavich.com/
• Maris Kreizman, blogger at Slaughterhouse 90210 and audiobooks editor at Emusic: http://slaughterhouse90210.tumblr.com
• Rosscott Nover, web designer and cartoonist, creator of webcomic The System: http://www.notquitewrong.com/rosscottinc/

On a personal note, this means I’ll definitely be at SXSW Interactive this year in Austin, TX and will probably be extending the trip to see some of the Film and Music portions as well. If you’ll be there or are in the area, leave a comment!

On a slightly larger note, this one of only a few comic or webcomic-related SXSW panel I have heard about so car this year, and I’m excited to be representing that community in this classy and professional setting. Then I plan on drinking a lot.

Thanks again Systemics, for helping to make this happen!

Still here in Austin, TX with a quick update. While there are not any official webcomic panels or events, I have managed to meet up with Rob and Kris from Explosm / Cyanide and Happiness who have been great to bum around with. Currently we’re all huddled around a table at a bar working on our respective comics, drinking beers (because that’s how we roll). Seriously, why aren’t more bars conducive to this sort of thing?

Anyway, SXSW has been fun (as you might imagine). Of course the other big news is that the infamous “Beard Shirt” has finally launched, and will be in preorder for a short while at a lower price. MORE INFO HERE »

Until next time, Systemics.

Yes, I know most of you are sick of hearing about it, but here is some insight into the SXSW Interactive Experience. I’ll post more of an update here soon, but for now this is about what I’m seeing. Of course, this is what I’m doing right now as well so who am I to talk.

UPDATE: I wound up on TWiT live for about 30 seconds during the DiggNation party the other night. I went up to Leo Laporte to thank him for linking to the Singletasking comic. Of course, I was in the middle of trying to get some friends into the party, but wanted to say a quick hello. This is when he turned the camera on me for a quick interview. I was off my game, and therefore only mentioned the web address twice. It was a live feed, but some amazing Systemics managed to swoop in and got some screen shots. PICS THAT IT HAPPENED. If anyone can find a video feed of this freakish occurance, please do let me know.

I’ll be down at SXSW Interactive Festival starting Thursday in Austin, TX. Expect many a-tweet from the ol’ Rosscott account while I’m there. I tried to get on some panels and the like, but it looks like I’ll just be chillin’ with my friends and attending panels, seeing what I can see.

How about you? Any Systemics in the Austin, TX area? Whether you’ll be at the festival or not, let me know if you’re around. Drop a line on Twitter or in the comments.

Last year I went to SXSW, and it was awesome.  This year, I made it my goal to submit a panel idea and try to go as a PANELIST this year.  I wound up with an idea that is half-comics and half-my day job.  It’s called Dirty Little Secret: Your Personal / Professional Life Online.

Go read about it on the site if you like, but it would be better if you went, registered (free and doesn’t matter if you’re attending SXSW) and vote on the thing.  If you comment on that post, even better!  If you do both of those things, and comment here, I’ll send you a CUSTOM image created just for those of you who do my bidding!  It’ll be awesome, I promise.  Link.