By Helaina Hovitz

Gary He/Insider Images for Internet Week New York

The weeklong event, headquartered at the Metropolitan Pavilion (125 West 18th Street), kicks off on May 20th. Panels, events, meetups, classes, exhibits, screenings and parties will also take place citywide, focusing on topics like beauty and fashion, sports, healthcare, food, and art.

“Tech is playing an increasingly stronger role at everyone’s job, even if you don’t work in technology. Everyone has to be comfortable with it at a baseline,” saidFestival Director Caroline Waxler, adding that it’s also a great opportunity to take a look at how tech impacts our local economy.

Eyebeam, a free gallery in West Chelsea, will be hosting an interactive art group show at IWNYC headquarters that focuses on the future of relationships in a wired world.

“We try to appeal to a broad audience by having a wide range of exhibitions that appeal to a broader audience. You don’t need to be a coder to understand what’s going on,” said Meredith Niemczyk, Eyebeam’s Communications Director. “For example, Addie Wagenknecht and Pablo Garcia went into sex chat rooms asking sexcam people to recreate classic poses from Renaissance works of art in order to question idea of what is art is, especially now in a tech age where we’re bombarded by imagery that’s sexual but also commercial.”

Eyebeam’s events will also include a workshop called “Creating your own Subnode: Networking with Raspberry Pi + Node.js” and ”Paintshop” an anonymous digital canvas that anyone can access and interact with online.

If you sign up for WalkaboutNYC, you’ll be able to tour offices of companies like Open Sky and GroupMe (May 17th 11:30 a.m. – 6 p.m., RSVP required).

According to the event’s co-founder, Danny Wen, most of the participating offices shift away from “that cubicle land where everyone kind of goes away and into their own world,” and instead sport social areas with treats and entertainment like video games and ping pong.

“Each company will have a different feel and culture. You can sense it in the first minute,” said Wen, adding that his office just got a piano.

Big name IWNYC keynote speakers will include Joan Rivers, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, Executive Vice President of NBC Universal Lauren Zalaznick, andthe designers from Proenza Schouler, among others.

IWNYC is co-presented by Made in New York and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and Crain Communications.

Sign up for or RSVP to all available events at www.internetweekny.com.

Top Internet Week Highlights

• The Moth hosts Tech-Themed Open Mic Storytelling Competition: Stoytelling juggernaut The Moth hosts a special technology-themed edition of its famed open mic storytelling competition. Show up just to watch, or prepare a 5-minute story about the technology that drives your life from smart phones and pacemakers to Google and GPS. (May 23rd 7 p.m. – 9:45 p.m. Housing Works Bookstore and Café)
• Technology + Art Exhibit at ITP Spring Show 2013: Students at the celebrated Tisch ITP (Interactive Telecommunications Program) present an exhibition of interactive media work, exploring the wonderland between technology and art. (May 20th, 5 – 9 p.m. & Tuesday, May 21st, 4 – 8 p.m., ITP at NYU)
• Eyebeam Art + Technology Center Group Show – Future of Online Relationships: An interactive art group show exploring the future of online relationships curated by New York City’s celebrated Eyebeam Art & Technology Center. (May 20-23rd, IWNY Headquarters)
• Mobile Storytelling Exhibit, Film Festival, Hack-a-Thon at Soho Gallery for Digital Art:  Soho Gallery for Digital Art hosts a weeklong series of events on Mobile Storytelling, using photos, video, and multimedia from mobile devices to tell the best New York story. Highlights include the world’s shortest film festival, a hack-a-thon, a photo walk, a juried exhibit, panels, and workshops. (May 20-27th,  Soho Gallery For Digital Art)
• Pitch Your Startup to Investors hosted by The Hatchery: Pitch your startup to entrepreneurs, investors, and the tech community at The Hatchery’s fast-paced, Shark Tank-style public pitching event. (May 22nd, 6 – 8:30 p.m. Chadbourne, RSVP required)
• Watch, Reblog, Repeat – Web Comedy Panel at Peoples Improv Theater: Producers of New York’s best online comedy content explore how to create material that people don’t just watch, but also share. Moderated by JVTM Comedy, producers of the web hit Ground Control. (May 21st  8 – 9 p.m. The Peoples Improv Theater)
• Future of Media Panel at NYU: Editors, producers, and publishers from the world’s top media outlets discuss how traditional media is being affected by the rise of digital media. (May 23rd, 1 – 2 p.m., NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute Television Studio, 7th floor)
•  NYC Chinatown Dumpling Tour: New York City tech investor and entrepreneur Mark Birch takes InternetWeek New York festival-goers to Chinatown to search for the best Chinese dumplings in New York City. (May 22nd, 6 – 8 p.m. Various locations in Chinatown, NY, RSVP required)
• NYC Tech Picnic: Enjoy the spring weather and spend time outdoors with fellow geeks and entrepreneurs. (May 19th, 2 – 6 p.m., Chelsea Piers, Pier 64)

By Helaina Hovitz

Photo by Stephanie Mei-Ling

Last Thursday, April 4, an Internet Week New York preview party was held at Design Within Reach’s newly renovated Soho Studio at 110 Greene Street.

Eventually, 400 guests mingled easily as they sipped on ginger-flavored cocktails and Saporo beer, but those who arrived painfully on time at 7 p.m. were faced with an awkward, half hour free-for-all in the enormous space, not sure where to go or what to do, likely appearing, to those looking in, to be shopping for furniture.

“I didn’t know what to expect or what to do when I got here. It feels really insider-y,” said Lisa Niedermeyer, whose nonprofit, Fractured Atlas, hopes to host a panel called Revenge of the Art Geek. “I think they kind of assume you were here last year.”

Though it was never explained to the crowd trickling in, the main aim of the party was to get people to vote for the festival’s panel entrants, 228 in all (voting will remain open through April 10th at InternetWeekNY.com). Promising contenders include “Will The Internet Save the Publishing Industry?” “I’m Tired of Being So White” and “Combating Device Schizophrenia: Get Your Message Heard Across Screens.”

Photo by Stephanie Mei-Ling

A DJ spinning trippy futuristic songs eventually abandoned his post and joined the crowd shortly before 8:30 p.m., when a preview panel called Sex, Drugs, Drones, and Codes was set to begin. The panel was kicked off by Daniel Pinchback, editorial director of website Reality Sandwich and author of Breaking Open the Head. Pinchback briefly talked about the resurgence of the Internet in psychedelics, highlighting the ways in which the Internet is “fostering a psychedelic renaissance.”

Next up was Matt Stinchcomb, former employee of Soho’s Rockstar Games and currently Etsy’s VP of Brand & Social Responsibility, who preferred to keep his Internet Week panel a secret but did his best to garner interest, saying, “I’m not gonna tell you what it’s about, but you guys are really gonna like it.”

Brian Anderson, an editor for Motherboard, proceeded to give a speech on drones that honed in on the lack of attention given to the topic. “More people are losing sleep and commenting on articles about chocolate milk than non-consensual surveillance,” he said.

“It’s compelling to see him so passionate about it, but at the end you’re like, what exactly is a drone?” said one baffled audience member to her date.

A drone is, by simplest definition, an unmanned aircraft or other floating device used for surveillance and bomb/missile launching, but can also be something like “that stupid little vacuum robot,” Anderson explained.

Ears perked up during columnist Kelly Bourdet’s panel run-down, which will be, essentially, on pornography. “Everyone — well, many people –  watch porn, and yet it’s not part of our every day conversation. The panel will discuss how the Internet proliferates porn and how it affects us,” she said, adding that the first picture to ever be uploaded to the Internet was a Playboy centerfold. “Iceland wants to make porn illegal. What do we want to do about this medium, as children, teens, and adults?” she posed rhetorically to the audience.

Her panel will also discuss how technology affects our modern day relationships.

Co-presented by Made in New York, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and Crain Communications, Internet Week is a weeklong event headquartered at the Metropolitan Pavilion (125 West 18th Street). There will also be Meetups, exhibits, screenings, parties, and more taking place at venues across the city. Vice Media will curate an expanded panel and classroom series exploring hot-button topics like sex, drugs, drones, pirating, and social media reporting from conflict zones. Flagship events like the 17th Annual Webby Awards, The Webutante Ball, and Time Inc.’s 10 NYC Startups to Watch will be joined by a roster of new partners participating in the festival for the first time.

Big name speakers will include WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, Executive Vice President of NBC Universal Lauren Zalaznick, and, for some reason, Joan Rivers.

The event is expected to draw 45,000 people to 400 panels and will, hopefully, impress one of the panelists’ more critical members.

“I think it’s silly to have a week where we talk about the Internet,” said Anderson after closing out the panel preview. “It’s what we do every day.”

Photo courtesy of Groundreporter and Flickr Commons.

Following the sleepy-faced 7:30am curtain call David-Michel Davies, founder of the Webby Awards and cofounder of Internet Week itself, gave a quick hello and passed the mic to New York City’s Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne. The work that Sterne has been doing in partnerships with the local tech community is a large part of the growth we’ve recently seen here in the city. She mentioned the recent New Tech City Report, put out by the Center for an Urban Future, stating that “New York City is the only region in the country that over the last five years has experienced an increase in venture capital funding.” People! Not only were we the only ones, all the other popular cities like Boston and Silicon Valley actually saw investment fall. Good job us. Speaking of jobs, Mayor Bloomberg and Rachel Sterne’s unveiled a little dealy called Made in New York, a Google map for job seekers that pinpoints tech companies that are hiring. Very cool.

So word. Then what? Billy Beane, the dude who was portrayed by Brad Pitt in Moneyball, gave a keynote speech on how he harnessed data for the power of good (i.e. money…and ball). As for things that can be seen on everybody’s lips, #BigData is the new hipster mustache. I suppose it makes sense to have Mr. Beane get up and talk about it in a sort of Old Guard passing the torch way, but really we all just wanted to see if he was as handsome as Pitt. On that point, “they pretty much nailed it,” said Billy Beane while on a stage. Fair, though. In a completely objective sense, I’ll say, dude was pretty Silver Foxy.

Beyond Beane, we had a treat of a speech on Tuesday morning with David Carr and Brian Stelter of the New York Times. First, I should just say that these guys really don’t seem to like each other very much. Until they hit the groove it was a fairly uncomfortable back and forth about who would win in a fight between the Past and the Future, played by Carr and Stelter, respectively. Now I’m no Nostradamus but—based on the way that he is dead and I am alive—my money’s on the Future. Sorry, Carr. Moving forward the gist of their banter was that the New York Times won’t fail…no matter what. So don’t worry, y’all: The Times is here to stay; stay here, indeed.

Today we saw Mitchell Baker, Chairperson of the Mozilla Foundation and former CEO of the Mozilla Corporation, give an awesome talk about the trajectory of her organization and, in effect, well, us. When Mozilla dropped Firefox it really changed the way we understand our interactions with Internet technology. Think about the difference between the world of proprietary software that we had before and the push of Open Source that they sort of ushered in. It’s all very cool. Where we’re headed, though, with all the data out there and concerns over privacy and fair use and $$$, is for a bunch of people a pretty worrisome landscape. Mozilla’s Do Not Track initiative, which started with the browser add-on and has recently gone mobile, is one response to the issue of uncontrollable consumer transparency. It’s one response, and it’s a good one. Regardless of what your stance is on whether or not companies should have hold of all our infos, just having the option to not be tracked—to opt-out—is what Baker is all about. Her whole deal is that if there’s this “ball of information about me out there, that can be very personal, and that can be very scary. But it can be used to get a degree of personalization that you just can’t beat.” That’s real, right? But in order to make this Personal Web really a human thing we need to find a way to “maintain a workable balance that allows companies to use that valuable information, but that also ensures individual control.” I couldn’t agree more.

So that’s what’s up for the first two days of #IWNY! I’ll be back shortly to fill you in on the rest.

Follow me for updates and just because, @44carib