Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2011 > March > 13 > Entry
SXSW Keynote: Christopher ‘moot’ Poole
Time/Date: 2 p.m, Sunday (hashtag: #sxswmoot)
The gist: The young founder of popular Internet message board 4chan and the image-board startup Canvas, spoke about the culture of 4chan and the influences that helped create his new venture. He’s very focused on play, interactive experiences and online collaboration. Poole didn’t go too deeply into the controversies that have surrounded 4chan (which he says is “Misunderstood”) and Anonymous, a group that originated there. Instead, he showed funny examples of memes that came out of 4chan and talked about the potential on Canvas to promote online play and meme creation. The keynote was very short. It started about 20 minutes late and ended about five minutes early. It was also apparently not a presentation that was extremely well received. When Poole started a Q&A, half the room noisily rushed out and didn’t bother to hear more. He did offer an invitation for SXSW attendees to try the new service. You can sign up at canv.as/sxsw.
Quotes: “I don’t recommend you go clicking around if you don’t know what you’re looking for on the front page.” - on 4chan’s adult content. “You have to allow for a culture and identity to form on a site.” - all quotes Poole.
Takeaways: Poole argues that anonymity doesn’t necessarily lack authenticity. On 4chan and Canvas, anonymity allows people to collaborate and create memes without fear of failure. It allows them to be more creative and to take bigger risks. It’s also a larger problem on, say, Facebook: “Mistakes and failure become associated with you.”
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