Harvard heads Southwest
The nation’s first institution of higher learning added another first to its list this week, showcasing its digital initiatives and innovation rock stars at the South by Southwest Interactive festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. More than 300 alumni, students, and guests gathered Sunday at Austin’s Parish Underground for “Digital Harvard in Austin, A 375th Anniversary Event,” a first-of-its-kind gathering sponsored by Alumni Affairs & Development. “Today’s Harvard may not be the same Harvard you remember,” Chief Digital Officer Perry Hewitt told the crowd, which stood amid iPads primed for a Twitter-based social networking game and a gestural interface-driven LED jukebox that allowed users to remix Marshall McLuhan’s phrase “The medium is the message” by moving their hands in front of a screen. “Today’s Harvard includes a range of digital initiatives, from pure entrepreneurship to deep digital scholarship that help us understand the world around us,” Hewitt said. Although Harvard affiliates have attended and presented...