by Courtenay Nearburg

In a recent conversation with Dewey Winburne, one of the founders of the SXSW Interactive and proprietor of Interactive Architex, a multimedia firm, I peeked in the windows of a new industry, a structure that holds so many implications for the economy of Austin and the rest of the world. I found myself totally enthralled with the complexities of this new industry, and I can't help but wonder where I fit in.

First of all, what is multimedia? "Multimedia, so way broadly defined -- it's including an internet broadcast of the element -- that's multimedia," says Dewey, trying himself to encapsule the hugeness of the concept. "Interactive media, which is what multimedia is, is not just multiple medias, it's the interactivity." And again, "Interactivity is the essence of new media. It's the ability for the user to engage the content."

Well, that sounds pretty interesting, but what exactly does he mean, "interactivity"? Dewey prefers the term "new media" to describe what he and about 7000 other folks in Austin (as of 1995) are developing. New media people are working out the kinks of the assimilation of all media as we know it, into one distribution tool, your friendly PC.

If the home computer is the movie screen, television screen, stereo, and even the distributor of these products, what you've got is a real computer revolution that shakes the corporate structure to its very core.

"The monoliths don't know how this is going to work yet; their new TV, their new VCR. The competition is so steep and the little guys are popping up like popcorn, " Dewey explains. "The new economy will be so diverse. A new monolith will emerge with WebTV and with DVD (Digital Video Disk), and DVD will be storage, which will do away with, like, Blockbuster." Wow...the CEOs start running.

Which brings us to the SXSW Interactive effort. The film component and the multimedia element are merged for 1998. With attendance last year at about 750, the Interactive Festival is not the big draw the Music and Film festivals have been over the last few years. According to Dewey, Interactive should eventually absorb the functions of the music and film components, but again, where will the Warner Brothers be when that happens?

"This industry is so embryonic, that there's no aristotelian dénouement, there's yet to emerge the introduction, characterization, setting, plot, conflict, ending that took film four years to figure out," says Dewey. "No money is going to be made until they figure out an interactive presentation that everyone understands -- all the elements and their functions."

"That's taking film to a whole new level -- that's not subtitles, that's like, ubiquity at moment of offering. And, you know, Lord...ubiquitous communication to all cultures in one expression of production. I haven't even figured that out yet."

"Technology is so turbulent, so irrational, that convergence is going to dictate the way. We have the intelligence, we have the talent, but we will always be behind the big cities. (Austin)," Dewey asserts.

Right now, the multimedia industry is the fastest growing industry in the United States, according to the mainstream press. In that picture, Austin follows behind four other major markets for development. That list begins with Los Angeles (those film folks, again), then New York City, Boston, Seattle, and finally, Austin. Each of these other cities have begun to initiate "cyber districts", housing start-up multimedia crews in low rent buildings wired by the cities for high speed internet access.

"Austin is poised for the new millenium to be the next Silicon Valley. I mean, it's a technopolis, what with the GATN Project and all," says Dewey. GATN is Greater Austin Telecommunications Network, a seven-agency enterprise including UT, Austin Community College, Austin Independent School District, the City of Austin, Travis County, and the LCRA in partnership with Southwestern Bell and Time-Warner. The idea behind this enterprise is fiberoptic technology for the entire state of Texas using "discretionary money" provided by the government.

Back to SXSW Interactive: The conceptualization of an interactive festival as part of SXSW was introduced to Roland Swenson, SXSW Director, by Dewey and the very people who birthed multimedia industry in Austin. Dewey now holds the title, the Creative Director of the Interactive Festival. He describes going to Roland for the first time in 1994, and how Roland was reluctant, in the beginning.

"Roland knew already, in his own insight, that the interactive thing had value, and he had been thinking about it. I came along with the plethora of nonprofits and indigenous people who were trying to create something and we joined hands happily together."

Dewey also had some credibility, having just won "Best of Show" by New Media Magazine at the Comdex conference, the monolith of new media festivals that occurs twice a year, once in Atlanta, and once in LA, and drawing about 50,000 attendees for each showing. SoftBank, a merchant bank, finances the Comdex gatherings, and other technology shows, including MacWorld.

In the second year that Dewey and Roland joined efforts, Microsoft sponsored SXSW Interactive with $15,000 in 1996, to promote their CDPlus technology, a music marketing tool that made audio CD's interactive. The CD's contained not just music, but video and biographical elements as well. Despite a strong push provided by Sony in the first years, CDPlus went by the wayside with only a few artists produced in the format, including Bob Dylan, and Dewey's effort, Willie Nelson.

When asked about music marketing further, Dewey begins to hedge, concerned about the impact of this piece. For a music town, this is a HIGHLY sensitive topic. "Agents won't go away, they'll go away in the format that they work in now. The new middlemen will be the techies. The problem with the web is the same problem you have with books. The web will become so prioritized, that there will be virtual representation for artists in distribution."

But there will be middlemen, still. "Your service provider is not the technology. It's the marketeer." Did I say "Wow" before? Double Wow, more CEOs running, and now they're record labels and merchandisers.

"People who are technological weenies will never get enough money unless they get a fat daddy, to establish the network to sell enough product to make a living. The big guys will buy the developers out and the little guys will retire to their big lakehouses and live happily ever after," Dewey says.

Look at Human Code. Almost immediately upon start up, they signed a five-year/$85 million per year deal with Microsoft, and yet they haven't participated in SXSW Interactive yet. $85 million each year for five years? Can I please say WOW again? Thanks...so why are they not playing with SXSW?

"Lots of people don't play with SXSW that could. It's frustrating," says Dewey. Last year, Origin chose to host a party at their 6th Street outlet, the Copper Tank, inviting the likes of HBO, during the SXSW festivals and yet, did not choose to contribute any money to the Interactive festival. Due to the deadline of this article, and the hectic schedule that the current director of the festival is following right now in preparation, I was not able to contact Hugh Forrest directly to ask him about this issue. Apparently, there was no communication between Origin and SXSW Interactive last year when Origin hosted their own event. Dewey has an opinion about this noticably tense situation.

"It's called politics. It's called 'power.' People, persuasion, power. It's a race, and there are conflicts." Sounds like some other issues that continue to plague our American democracy.

And why did Dewey take a backseat in the operations of the Interactive Festival? "I didn't want to do an event for a living. I brought the people, the wave, the conception to their organization. Hugh (Forrest) is the organizer. He's got the brains. I wanted to be the Creative Director, which I am."

And what will happen to Austin in this context of new media industry development? "We're in Austin, we're not in San Francisco. Little incarnations blipping on the screen which will be gone in two years unless one of their games gets ad time during the Super Bowl, like Digital Anvil did with Wing Commander."

Someone like Austin's RoseX just might have a chance with their new internet film release, Strange Attractor. But can the Strange Attractor work with the Wing Commander? That remains to be seen...