Some of us just got back from the SXSW Interactive festival in Austin, TX. We got to do a little party-hopping with Jim Daly, who is a pal of our conference producer Kirsten, and a speaker at Mediabistro Circus. On top of that, he's got an awesome job at Edutopia working for the man who gave us Howard the Duck Star Wars. If that wasn't enough, he's a die hard Red Sox fan. We totally love that, and by "we" I mean the Massachusetts-raised author of this blog post.

We recently had a chance to talk to Jim about the world of digital publishing, and some other very important items revolving around galaxies far, far away, and championship baseball.

What's your favorite Star Wars episode?
The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite overall, but nothing beats that opening shot of the first Star Wars film, in which the rebel blockade runner tries to escape the massive Imperial Star Destroyer. In a theater the underbelly of the Destroyer seemed to go on forever.

Your favorite magazine?
The New Yorker, because I always learn something from it.

Does George Lucas have an iPhone? Do you?
I don't have an iPhone - yet. Not sure about George. If he does, he keeps it well hidden.

Edutopia Magazine is currently offered in print and digital formats. What are your customers preferring right now?
The print magazine, so far. We have 100,000 subscribers to the print magazine and about 12,000 getting the digital version.

Do you think people can ever be fully weaned off of paper publishing? Is that the ultimate goal?
No, people will never be fully weaned off paper. Magazines are still a very visceral product. People love the look, feel and touch of a good magazine. Watch someone thumb through a magazine. They examine the layout, the photos, the fonts, whether they can find things quickly. In fact, the last thing you do with a magazine is read it. That visceral pop you get in the first few seconds of picking up a magazine is still critical to whether you go into the reading of it with a positive view toward the experience.

Do you think people will be sold on digital magazines from an environmental, innovation, or convenience angle?
All of the above. But whether they'll stick with digital magazine is another question. A digital magazine has to be useful, or else they're fated for the tar pits.

Will devices like Amazon's Kindle will help digital publishing reach the next stage of evolution?
Possibly. The Kindle has a nice screen that does a good job of replicating the printed page, and there are many books, newspapers and magazines available for it. But that price has to drop. It's $400, last time I looked.

We noticed that all your schooling was in Boston. Can I assume you're a member of Red Sox Nation?
Most definitely. The Sox have given me both great joy and great despair, but mostly great joy. Like all things we treasure.

NOTE: Jim Daly will be leading a free webcast, From Paper to Pixels, on March 20th.