The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/354776
PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 34
EXPERIENCES
by Michelle Spencer of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
One of Austin's many staples is the annual SXSW (pronounced "south-by-southwest") event
held every March. This incubator for cutting-edge ideas and creativity draws over 100,000
attendees from all over the world. Here are some highlights from my experience this year:
Enjoyed Guy Kawasaki interviewing
Mark Cuban. Here are a few of his
words of wisdom.
• His advice to high school students: Go
to the cheapest school possible for the
first year or two, because there is too
much debt involved in getting a college
education these days and no guarantee
of earning a lot of money when you
graduate. His advice to college students:
You don't need the perfect job. Get a job
where you can learn.
• If he was starting over, he'd be a
bartender (because he enjoyed it and
made decent money) and find hot areas
to invest in. He still has a list of possible
investments he made in his 20s.
• "You don't have to know. You just have
to go." I agree. I think too many people
never "go."
One of my favorite sessions was titled
"Press Start to Begin: UX & Video
Games."
For you non-gamers, UX is shorthand for
"user experience." As a trainer and user
support person, I'm all about the UX, so I
thought I could pick up some ideas, and I
did! All of the things below can be applied
to the training resources we create and
the desktops or software we roll out in our
firms.
• If the design takes you away from the
play, it's poorly designed.
• If the design is good, you won't hear
about it. If it's bad, you better believe
you'll hear about it!
• Before you start to design, figure out
who will play, the context they'll play
in, what hardware they will use and as
many other variables as you can.
• Before starting, figure out if you want
to play it safe or do something new and
different. If you're doing something
new and different, plan on needing
extra time, money and people.
• Have someone on the design team who
is passionate about fighting for the
user and TEST, TEST, TEST!
High points from a session titled "Computing the Future: MIT Scientists Tell
All" with scientists from the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory (CSAIL):
• World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee challenged everyone to find out what legislation
our countries are enacting regarding the Internet. He argues for a bill of rights to ensure
the Web of the future is uncensored, open, neutral, private and free. All the professors
agreed we need lawyers and politicians who understand technology and securing data for
things to progress. Check out the Web We Want website for more details.
• Robotics are making great advances. Roboticist Russ Tedrake says, "It has never been and
it will never be a better time than now to use the phrase: The robots are coming." The
challenges they are currently tackling are: object recognition, fragility, speed and cost.
Despite the current shortcomings of robots, Google bought eight robotic companies in six
months. What does that tell you about the future of robotics?
• Economist Andrew Lo discussed the fact that there is lots of financial data available, but we
know nothing about things like hedge funds and shadow banking. Why is that? You can't
expose most financial data due to its confidential nature. The solution is secure multiparty
computation, which allows personal information to be anonymized for reporting. In
its simplest form, it is accomplished by adding a random amount to individual records
and then removing it from aggregate sums. This is a great intersection for computer
technologists, economists and statisticians.
• Even at a session with MIT profs on future technology at a technical conference, there
will be people who don't know how to put their phones on vibrate. . .after multiple rings. .
.