The keynote was actually a conversation between Henry Jenkins (Convergence Culture, Fans Bloggers and Gamers) and Steven Johnson (Everything Bad Is Good for You), which is apparently how all keynotes work at SXSW. I got caught up in watching two really smart guys talk about the creativity of fan culture, new media, and the need for new copyright regimes, that I didn’t manage to take very many notes, but I did come away with a few things to jot down here.

Jenkins talked about studies showing that the current generation of young people tend to speak in “we”, while the older generation speaks in “I… you…” The Language of We is the language of social networks and collective intelligence, the language of collaboration and the Internet. Jenkins suggested that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are an example of this split. Though Obama isn’t in Generation First Person Plural himself, part of his ability to appeal to it is perfectly exemplified by his slogan, “Yes, we can.”

Jenkins mentioned a new non-profit called Organization for Transformative Works, that seeks to establish that all creative works arising out of fan culture (“fanworks”) are “legal and transformative.” Rock on.

Also regarding fan culture, there was an exchange between Jenkins and Johnson in which the whole, “Who are these people, and why do they have so much time on their hands, (and what’s wrong with them)?” question came up. And Jenkins said that most people participating in creative fan culture are “pink collar workers – teachers and librarians and nurses,” and then basically flipped the question on it’s head by asking, “What’s wrong with American culture that these bright and creative people are getting so little intellectual challenge at work?” I was sort of flabbergasted – it sounded to me like Henry Jenkins just said that America is wasting the brains of its women. He never said the words “woman” or “women” or “female” or “girl”, but he did say “pink collar” and “teacher” and “librarian” and “nurse”. The conversation moved on, and it never came up again, but if I’d been gutsier I would have gotten up during the question period and said, “Henry Jenkins, it sounds like you just said that America is wasting the brains of its women and that’s why we have such vibrantly creative fan cultures. Is that what you just said? Would you like to elaborate?”