LOS ANGELES — I walked in to the 2007 Imprint Culture Lab Conference expecting to see a showcase of the history and recent revelations of Asian American pop culture. I walked out with a much greater lesson.

From the outset, there was a strong aura of what can only be described as ''hipsterdom'' in the air. Being the media-theory nerd that I am, I already could sense that this gathering, organized by interTrend Communications, Inc., was going to be an intriguing push-and-pull between what was trendy and what was too trendy to be trendy. This demographic — young, college-educated, upper-middle class Asian men (and a smattering of women, including myself) — had the means to debate over such trivial issues. We dug in.

I sat in on a panel called ''Pushers of Fabric'' that focused on street style as interpreted by Asian Americans. At times I’ve seen wide smiles of people who have commented on how colorful my clothes are. At times I’ve been asked where I bought my bag. Now it was my turn to ask some of the industry’s forefronts the exact same question — with a genuine interest in knowing their answers.

Alyasha Owerka-Moore, an urban fashion designer acclaimed for his work with the likes of Mecca and Phat Farm, spoke about his interest in skateboard culture, graphics and everything else.

''Business people like to put people into boxes because it makes it easier to sell things, but from the consumer side, I’d like to think there are no real boxes'' he said.

''Not all of us want to wear the Coca Cola logo.''

He was also enough of a sage to note that streetwear was ''now the antithesis of what it was,'' but didn’t mention that resistance was the essence of street style. There is nothing that will turn my heels faster than a handbag with the letter ''C'' stamped all over it, unless it is being used to imply some type of irony.

But then I looked at the panelists’ shoes: Converse hi-tops and low-tops, Nikes, ballerina slippers. I thought of my massive collection at home: some pretty funky stuff, intermingling with an entire gallery of ever-popular Jack Purcells. There was no shame in admitting our part in the bourgeois. But the issue was and always has been — about staying half a step before the tidal wave, about being liberated just enough to dress the way you want because you know you have taste, about never, ever assuming that a corporation that has more money than you knows more than you.

As for new trends? The consensus seemed to be: ''If you gotta ask, you’ll never know.''

Interestingly enough, this creed spilled over to another panel I went to about blog culture. Serious bloggers, or ''speed scribes,'' continue to be an increasingly thunderous voice in defense of consumers worldwide. According to technorati.com, 80 percent of Americans know about blogs, 50 percent regularly read blogs, and 8 percent actually own blogs. Currently, there around about 75 million blogs, with Japanese and English-language ones paving the way at 37 and 33 percentages, respectively. And with nearly 120,000 new blogs published everyday, we are talking roughly 1.4 blogs per second.

Even though these statistics don’t calculate the number of blogs that are abandoned, they do show us a real saturation in social media.

''There is a real backlash happening,'' said Jeff Staple, founder and owner of Staple Design, Staple Clothing, and Reed Space.

''People are kinda sick of T-shirt news. If they see it online, they won’t buy it.''

Brian Lâm, an editor at Gizmodo, suggested a solution.

''You’ve got to keep it authentic,'' he said. ''Don’t link to other works. Use your own photos, write your own words. I like doing my own work, and I like doing it faster than anyone else.''

He was right about that. In the last year that I’ve had my food blog, I’ve realized that there are only so many adjectives that I can use to describe the seemingly inexhaustible fruits of the culinary world. What one tries to do is to keep it fresh, focused on communicating each individual experience to readers. Working with print, I can say that one similarity is that speed is critical to relevance and rarity, and that rarity leads to more traffic.

I also can say that the joy of blogging is something that print editors will never understand. It’s about telling the facts †as you know them — through a personal, narrative arc, about expressing yourself to others in a less pretentious way that doesn’t make them wait. This is what the participants at the event would understand — people talking to people isn’t a fad, and I don’t know of any corporation that can’t use a reality check at a moment’s notice.

Moreover, the way I make my decisions as a consumer is different. Before even thinking about going to the corporate Web site for a restaurant (if there is one), I put myself in touch with countless numbers of everyday critics, reading them for data but also for ulterior motives.

For example, as I scanned the offering of red bean pancakes, squid balls, and Pocky for Men at Mitsuru Café near the scene, I came to a conclusion about the conference: that the populace can be independent, though it is difficult.

Seller beware: Independent publishing is really watching your brand.