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!