In a somewhat predictable occurrence, I bought headphones on JetBlue (as I left my set somewhere in the Austin Convention Center) and they didn’t work in my computer/recorder so I am still without the text of the Lessig interview.

Netroots Nation was helpful by way of shining a light on Internet activism and action, though it felt a little long by the time Sunday rolled around. For those unfamiliar with the structure (ie. likely anyone who wasn’t there), the conference is part education, part networking opportunity, and part rally for the netroots generation. In retrospect, I find it unfortunate that I was unable to make the right wing net conference, also occurring in Austin over the weekend. It would have been particularly interesting to compare the attitude and atmospheres at each happening (although apparently Michelle Malkin there shouldn’t be a “self esteem problem” in the blogosphere of the right). I am also interested to find out whether or not, in the case of an Obama presidential victory, next year’s conference will be as large and energized without a campaign or a figure to rally around.

The panel that explored how video can help a cause/issue/campaign was great, though I had to leave it early. The milblog session was excellent, though somewhat disappointingly under-attended. It helped put into perspective how military use of blogs and other communication technologies are changing the perspectives of American’s with regard to what’s going on in Iraq. It was also inspiring to see that by way of VoteVets, exposure was shined on the poor living conditions at Fort Bragg, ultimately leading to political action.

Oh. And I was awed to see San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, a true rockstar politician who garnered the stumbling attention of anyone with a pulse.

As per usual, there were so many interesting sessions and only so little time to see them all. As can be the case at conferences, some of the attitude was self-congradulatory, though that’s largely attributable to the fact that the conference isn’t strictly educational. Further, I wonder what these communities are ultimately going to gain by continuing to ask avid Internet activists year after year how we plan on bridging on and offline activism.

I do, though, think we need to talk differently about how we look at online action, new organizing, etc. Let’s just do it, as it were.

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