At long last, one of the most highly anticipated breaks on the college academic calendar is upon us: Spring Break. Though most college students head to tropical destinations, popular domestic beaches or legendary European gatherings, some choose to spend their break in a different manner.

Forget sunscreen and cabanas: These students are forgoing such tropical trivialities in favor of attending South by Southwest Interactive. Though the South by Southwest festival has conferences in the three specialized categories of music, film and interactive, it’s the third of the trio that draws the most tech-minded individuals around. Considering last year’s stats show the number of techies to be 14,251 people out of a total of 36,771 attendants, that’s a hell of a lot of techie minds. Even Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies will send five students to the festival this year.

Having been most simplistically described as ‘Spring Break for nerds’ by Dennis Crowley, one of the co-founders of Foursquare and an SU alumnus, the conference features events and people who trump the lures of scuba diving, exotic masseuses and pina coladas on the beach. It highlights the newest and most innovative trends and inventions in topics ranging from gaming to application development to basic digital media practices.

This five-day segment of the festival draws emerging technology enthusiasts from across the country, as well as dozens from other countries, to Austin, Texas, for a smorgasbord of nifty, nerdy things to engage in. Running from March 11 to 15, and coincidentally aligning precisely with Syracuse’s Spring Break schedule, there are a few parallels that can be drawn between this interactive Spring Break and its traditional beachy counterpart.

Celebrity spotting: Sure, exotic beaches may be speckled with beautiful and talented stars, but Austin isn’t exactly barren in regard to famous faces. Natural beauty Jack Black has been spotted in the area during South by Southwest festivals of the past and may very well grace the premises once again. Blogging royalty Perez Hilton and actor Jake Gyllenhaal are expected to attend this year’s festivities as well.

College coeds: In an endeavor to have students expand the scope of the classroom and engage new communities, five SU students will attend the conference. Yes, I know five students doesn’t equate to the masses to be found in Myrtle Beach, but considering there are dozens of collegiate institutions in Austin, the festival is sure to be frequented by plenty of tanned and techie college students, complete with southern twangs (just to keep the alliteration going).

Parties: On the South by Southwest Interactive website, there is an entire tab dedicated to parties and lounges. Yes, I kid you not, a whole tab. A big benefit of attending these conferences is the ability to network with people who have similar interests. This festival has enough social activities to ensure even the most introverted of attendees will walk away with a business card or two. One lounge of notable repute is the RVIP Lounge. This lounge is a mobile karaoke bar that provides free transportation and around-the-clock karaoke services. And it is newly introducing the four-way karaoke showdown with teams represented by Foursquare, Wired Magazine, Get Satisfaction and Andreessen Horowitz. In my book, that tops any wet T-shirt contests going on in Fort Lauderdale.

Then of course there’s all the ways that entirely distinguish South by Southwest Interactive from any other Spring Break gathering out there. For instance, the ability to see the latest innovations firsthand. Twitter and Foursquare, along with hundreds of other developments, found renown and acceptance at South by Southwest Interactive conferences of the past. With the underlying focus of South by Southwest Interactive to generate knowledge and usage of the latest emerging technologies and techniques, it will be intriguing to see what emerges from the gauntlet this time around.

So as the majority of collegiate coeds acquire swimwear-inspired tan lines, those attending ‘Spring Break for nerds’ may get to see the next big thing in technology. And even though South by Southwest Interactive doesn’t necessarily target the college-aged individual for its festivals, those who attend will experience a whole different kind of break and maybe even return with a cowboy hat autographed by Jack Black.

Jessica Smith is an information management and technology and television, radio and film major. Her columns appear every Tuesday. Although Jessica would give her left arm to attend South by Southwest Interactive, she will spend it in exotic and tropical New York City. However, if you are attending and want to make Jessica extremely jealous, e-mail her at jlsmit22@syr.edu.

Published on March 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm