XOXO 2016

I love taking notes. I used to get in trouble in classes for putting too much effort into my notes, color coding and making indexes. These days, nobody complains.

In 2016, I went to XOXO in Portland, Oregon. I'd heard great things and was super excited. One of the days I was struggling a little to focus on the talks, so I took notes using my shiny new iPad Pro and Pencil. I posted them on twitter as I went, but wanted to collect them in one place as well.

I've made an attempt to transcribe them. I'm a questionable speller without spellcheck, but I've transcribed my own mistakes.

Jenn Schiffer

Jenn Schiffer. Medium. "I can't call myself a rock star, I don't own a guitar." Not everything is true on the net. Read the whole thing. Be a nice person. Don't let tech eat you. Depricate your CSS! Write about something you have no idea about. Men will explain it - FREE! No one expects the lady code troll. Create a character - comments are to them, not you. Write satire => be told you're wrong. Not fulltime job - but job is good and $$$. "Without the web, we'd be living in a more dystopian world." People suck at recognizing satire. CSS perverts. Gamergate => That really fucked shit up. Humor as defense + entertainment. 

David Rees

David Rees. "I wonder how much money the motherfucker really makes." What is work? Too easy to discount creative work, can't tell if actually working. "What you do is worth $$! It's ok to keep the $$ people give you when they like what you make." Total financial transparency: Welcome to hell. 15 years of actual financial history. "Follow your dreams until the point when they become a nightmare, then run the other direction." Artisinal pencil sharpening. "Turns out I'm not going to live forever unless you all donate vials of your youngest, freshest blood!" Have a hobby that has no way to monetize. Writing constant political jokes was way too depressing, led to total burnout. Examined privilege: -no debt -no dependents -parents financially stable. 

Leaf Corcoran

itch.io Leaf Corcoran. I can't finish anything. Any idea is good, just finish it. Moon script. [Slow upward graph, arrow pointing to] Flappy Bird. Ludlum Dare: limited time, finish a game! Itch: -Open for everyone -Pay what you want -Design a page. Oops, I made a thing people are using. Panic! Became something amazing - community of indy creators. People are happy and creating games. Allowed creators to pick how much they support the platform. Turned into the unexpected. 

Sarah Jeong

I use adblockers and I'm so sorry. People supporting directly let her cover oracle v. google! Tracking cookies. Not all a question of bad actors - pubs trying to survive. Eyeballs == cost. "I didn't think I could hack it as a writer, so I became a lawyer" Ads endanger you -targeted tracking -malware -annoying -location tracking. Not doomed! Please don't turn off your ad blocker! "I want to treat my readers as people." Removing ads => stealing. "I don't envision a revolution and I don't have any answers." Sarah Jeong

Heben Nigatu

Ok, first things first. Now I'll eat your brains. Another round. Demand croissants. Heben Nigatu. Channel your inner Kanye. "Touch the goddamn sky." Don't get distracted. Centering women of color. Cure for imposter syndrome: see the imposters. Learn how to grow in public! Have fun! Diversity is strength. Don't talk about it. Be it. Put people on - lift as you climb. Take care of yourself! Self care. "There is no exact perfect way to get to the thing." "Self esteem is an inside  job." -Aparna Nanchala. You have never not survived a day. Be Mindful of the people who are not in the room. 

Esra'a al Shafei

Dissent => punishment. Support local efforts 1st. Bahrain. Control. Internet -> place to freely communicate ... until CENSORSHIP. New country, 1971 independence from UK. How to bypass? Started with music - mideast tunes. Learn through music. Fight from within! NEXT: Platform for queer community to share stories & experiences. No hype. Dictator. Gain access by supporting others! Crowdvoice => platform to curate and share info on human rights violations. Being used worldwide! Tech for censoring is coming from the west. -MI6 -gamma group -NSA -Qorvis -NSO group -Genesis Partners. Show the world the art created in places they don't see. To preserve information. Journalists research, self education. Being queer in the middle east SUCKS. queer run platform. Good design, good software, but only if we're changing a society! 

Frank Chimero

1st artist. Creativity & independence. Independence runs on co-dependence. Need. Making things is HARD. Focus on work => 20th century trap. Independence is lonely. Can we be independent... together? Hunger. [No] Sunshine. Employment -> working for. Collaboration -> working with. Community -> working beside. "Creativity and caves both make you find your way in the dark." 1. Attention isn't $$. 2. Discovery *with* equity. 3. Sidekick vs tollbooth. 4. Create sympathetic audience. Will you go alone or shall we go together? "To get the fruits of each other we need to take care of each other." Vocation! Is it worth it? Maybe. Frank Chimero.