Home now from the mini-vacation, sad that I actually didn't have time to blog while away but relieved that I actually got a chance to relax for a bit. But I digress.

If you're at all hooked into the cultural side of the blogosphere, you probably already know that South by Southwest Interactive has just opened up its interactive panel picker for SXSW08. Scan through the 600-odd panel proposals and vote for the ones you'd like to attend, you'd find interesting, or are just being organized by your friends. You have to sign-up for a SXSW voting account -- it's free, and they claim that they will discard the address after the voting period ends in late September without ever bothering you -- so the voting has some minimal security against ballot-stuffing.

You see where this is going, I trust.

I offered two different panel proposals:

The Future is You

Description:
Futurism isn't just for marketing and the military. In a world of rapid change, it's also a way to make smarter choices about one's own life. I'll go through the basics of personal futurism, and make the case that (as Bruce Sterling says) the future isn't a noun, it's a verb.

...and...

The Whole World is Watching

Description:
Lifelogging. Participatory Panopticon. Total History. By whatever name, it's a world where everything we do and say can be captured on video -- not by "Big Brother," but by Little Brothers and Sisters carrying cameraphones. Downside: loss of privacy. Upsides: Better memory, better understanding of the world, better politics. Are you ready?

If you're so inclined, I'd love to have your vote for my panels. The nice thing about this process is that voting for one panels doesn't eliminate your ability to vote for another -- give all of your online friends and favorite bloggers big SXSW 5-star kisses!