I’m very excited to finally be able to dive into the Interactive portion of South By, and intend on running myself ragged trying to hit as many panels as possible. Here are some of my favorites:

The Bombastic Brilliance of “Black Twitter”: I would be lying if I said I didn’t notice that, later into 2009, Twitter’s trending topics began to change from what I’d consider “actual” news to things like #DMXisHarderThanDrake or #BeibersHair. And when I would click on the trending topics, I noticed that many of the posts were coming from younger, African American women. Then, not too long ago, I began hearing about the idea of “Black Twitter.” I’m interested to see how Dr. Goddess discusses “Black Twitter” and the people and culture involved in it.

Big Social Media Results at Small Organizations: Professor Aimee Roundtree will discuss how small organizations can use social media to get the word out. As someone who started a Twitter account for a radio show that then turned into a music website, and on the side has been building his personal brand online, I’m interested to find out some tips and tricks to getting my name out there.

Clouds Here, Clouds There, Clouds Everywhere: I just got hired as a Social Media Coordinator at the tech company VMware, who, in the last few years, has really adapated cloud computing as a main component in their business. I would like to know more about the importance of clouds, as well as where they set the future for how businesses (big or small) will share their information and ideas.

Can Gaming Make the World Better?: This is purely because I’m a huge gamer. I have been almost my entire life. I believe gaming has great potential to heighten the senses and stimulate the mind, but I also think too much can lead to loss of a social life and a loss of focus (I know all of this from experience). I’m curious to see how the panel takes on these issues, especially with so many conservative interest groups trying to call for many game developers’ heads for “corrupting their children with sex and extreme violence.” Granted, maybe don’t let your 5 year old play Grand Theft Auto, but alas, that is America.

I plan to keep adding to this list as I sift through the impossibly long SXSWi schedule.

I was very interested in the Long Tail and its effect on big-box retailers, especially music stores. Chris Anderson’s article for Wired was especially interesting in that he foreshadowed on how record companies would be effected, as well. Soon after his article was written, and many record companies began downsizing and losing money because many of the artists tearing up the charts were either signed to small, indie labels, or were completely unsigned. With social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, and especially YouTube, bands could spread their music around faster than ever. I mean, there are big hits made STRICTLY because of them being posted on YouTube first. See Rebecca Black’s horrific “Friday” video, which became a sensation for being so bad (167 million views in 4 months), but that didn’t stop it from selling a million singles. This was a video her parents paid some guys to make for her as a gift to her.

While the big labels were down, they certainly weren’t out. They realized the potential of these indie labels, and began buying them up by the dozen. Fueled By Ramen, the label that broke bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic At The Disco, was bought out by Warner Music Group. The legendary punk label, Epitaph Records, was swallowed up by EMI. There’s a reason big labels survived so long, they are ruthless, and, like cockroaches, are extremely hard to exterminate. But at least they are limited in their grip on the music industry these days, and with it being so easy to leak songs on the internet now, their grip will continue to loosen.

Here’s a video from NOFX (from 2000), forshadowing the fall of the major labels. It’s one of my favorites and always brings a smile to my face:

Mashable recently posted an article discussing the additions and changes Facebook has been making over the last week. From the ever-changing privacy settings to the addition of the “Timeline,” Facebook has had many people up in arms over, well, everything.

With any sort of change there will always be those that are in strict opposition of it, but it seems that Facebook’s changes tend to be more and more, for lack of a better word, “creepy.” Why does Facebook feel that we have the need to constantly know what every one of our friends is doing at any given time? Do I really care that “Bob” commented on a new picture “Mary” posted? Apparently, Facebook thinks I would be interested in that. Not only does Facebook still have the traditional Newsfeed, they added subscriptions, which is essentially Google +’s “circles.” You can pick what people you want to get updates on. I suppose that is better than having all of your friends’ clutter on your Newsfeed, but I feel, and many others do too, that Facebook is becoming entirely too complex. I mean, just to customize your privacy settings takes forever, mainly because you must “opt-out” of everything.

That brings me to another point about Facebook: Their business model is based on “opting-out” instead of “opting-in.” This is nothing new, but as they make more changes, they sneak in more and more ways of sharing your information, which means you have to keep an eye on the smallest of changes to Facebook to make sure your pictures aren’t being spread around all of a sudden. I think Facebook should go back to how sites like MySpace had it to where virtually everything on your profile was blocked by default. YOU had to change it if you wanted to share things, not like Facebook’s “Well, we’ll just start sharing your information until you tell us it’s not cool.”

While these changes have not kept me from using Facebook as much as I always have, I tend to remain stubborn when it comes to trying out their new features. I understand that Facebook wants to become almost the Wal-Mart of social media shops, the one-stop-shop for all of your networking needs, but I would rather get quality goods from smaller stores than sub-par crap from Wal-Mart.

Retreats are held in May at Pine Cove near Dallas, Texas, in August at Sky Ranch near Tyler, Texas, and in November at Camp Buckner in Burnet, Texas.

Here are some pictures from the very first Camp Life! I attended, in November 2009:

One of the G.I.A.’s most popular marketing tools is the “Slumber Party In A Box,” which consists of a “secret agent” having other girls her age, whether they be from school or recreational clubs, come over to her house for a “slumber party.” The twist is that the “slumber party” is really just a mask for the marketing research G.I.A. is doing. An actual adult representative will usually be present, handing out various products to the girls for them to “test out.” Then, the “secret agent” is supposed to follow a list of guideline questions, given to her by the representative, about the products. The girls other than the “secret agent” are unaware that this is anything other than a slumber party.

To me, G.I.A. represents an appalling, unbiased greed that many big businesses in this country have. These businesses market strictly to the youth, knowing that they likely lack the maturity to make rational decisions when it comes to where they put their finances, not to mention their priorities, values, and self-esteem. They implement this idea to children and young adults that “you need this or you won’t fit in,” and it can have long-lasting effects.

In a 60 Minutes interview with one of the “secret agents,” the girl says she’s “special,” which already shows an ego based on these parties. Will all of her “friends” who thought she was “cool” because she had all of those things still think she is “cool” when she doesn’t? Some might, but typically, with impressionable youth, they move onto the next “popular” person. Meanwhile, this former “secret agent” will believe that they must again get the “cool” products in order to be the “popular” again. This establishes a need to be a consumer in order to function socially.

Here’s part of the 60 Minutes piece:

Enjoy!

Favorite Activities:

• Jogging
• Ultimate Frisbee
• Basketball
• Biking
• Football
• DJing
• Playing music (instruments)
• Going to concerts
• Running BCandMerch.com
• Video games

Favorite Basketball Teams:

• San Antonio Spurs (there is no need for any other teams on this list)

Favorite Video Games:

• Legend of Zelda (series)
• Super Mario (series)
• Red Dead Redemption
• Final Fantasy (series)
• NBA Jam
• Harvest Moon (series)
• Pokemon (series)
• Plants vs. Zombies
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2
• Star Wars Battlefront I & II
• Mario Kart
• Warioware

Favorite Books:

• Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
• Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z by Max Brooks
• Bloodsucking Fiends, Lamb, You Suck by Christopher Moore
• Killing Bono by Neil McCormick
• American Psycho, Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis
• Choke, Diary, Survivor, Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare
• Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
• 1984, Animal Farm by George Orwell
• Helter Skelter by Vincint Bulgiosi
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Favorite Movies:

• Star Wars (Original Trilogy)
• Billy Madison
• Attack The Block
• Predator
• BASEketball
• Indiana Jones (series, except for Crystal Skull, which was dreadful)
• Snatch
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
• The Royal Tenenbaums
• Spaceballs
• Blazing Saddles
• History of the World, Pt. 1
• Trainspotting
• Tommy Boy
• Kung Fu Hustle
• Shaolin Soccer
• Labyrinth

Favorite Bands/Musicians

• Too many to list.

Welcome to my website. My name is Shawn Dullye, and this site is meant to give you some insight into my life and what I do. It also serves as part of my Web Content Management class project.

Here’s a little background information on me:

I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, before moving to San Marcos, Texas, to attend Texas State University. I graduated from Texas State in May 2010, with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism. After a year of working, I enrolled in the Graduate program at Texas State. I am studying Mass Communication with a focus on New Media.

Music has always been a large part of my life. I know how to play the guitar, bass, trombone, and some piano. I played in many bands throughout high school, playing different instruments. I minored in Music while attending Texas State, and had a radio program at KTSW 89.9. I was also a music editor and Assistant Promotions Director for KTSW while attending Texas State.

I now run a music and entertainment website in Austin, BCandMerch.com. You can find out more in the “BCandMerch.com” page of my site.

I am also a DJ in Austin. I go by the name, DJ BC. You can find out more about my DJing in the “DJ BC” portion of my site.

That about sums up myself. I look forward to posting my projects, ideas, and music, so I hope you look forward to reading it.