Web 2.0 information blog

I’m here in Sebastopol, California for O’Reilly’s yearly FOO Camp and consequently I’m in the mood for thinking beyond the signature topic of this blog and towards where things are headed next.  As a good example of this, my colleague Jeremy Geelan has been closely following the possibilities here as well and has been investigating the ultimate ramifications of Web 2.0 and social software in general, a topic that Jeremy and others have been referring to as Social Computing.  And looking even beyond this, though certainly as extensions of Web 2.0 and Social Computing, we have the complete collapsing together of all of our software and IT systems, something that Microsoft’s Gary Flake as referred to earlier this year during the launch of Live Labs as the Internet Singularity, which he describes as:

“The idea that a deeper and tighter coupling between the online and offline worlds will accelerate science, business, society, and self-actualization.” - Dr. Gary Flake

Of course, the effects of the next generation of the Web are just beginning to be felt and the world of software in 10 years will likely be somewhat recognizable by us, but only barely.  I’ve been focusing recently on how we’re beginning to see vast and sudden changes in the way people are using the Web (and software in general) and citing the examples of YouTube and MySpace as exemplars of the dislocation that can happen suddenly as these new sea changes take place.

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Join The Nimble Company For RapSpace.tv Launch

RAPSPACE.TV IS:

A Web 2.0 social networking video site targeting the global hip hop nation.

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The Web 2.0 Summit kicked off this week in San Francisco. One of the more popular workshops is a rapid fire launch and demonstration of new technologies, products and business models.

From social networking sites like “the blogophere of bulletin boards”, to tools like, “yellow post-it notes”, which allows you to share smart data, to a 3D social network that operates inside your browser called 3B.

The Read/Write guys summed up the projects revealed quite nicely in this article here.

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Blogging In China - They Have Open Source Conferences Too

I recently found this article in China’s Danwei online magazine. It highlights an article written on the recent blogging conference held last week in Hangzhou, China (it was the second annual!), and touches on reasons why the Chinese government should be embracing, not blocking, these future-thinking, web 2.0 savvy citizens and bloggers.

Read this article here, a summary of the conference, the people in attendance and the issues and topics that were covered. It is strangely, and quite comfortably, familiar.

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Day One of Drupal Training

… Starts with a good WorkSpace coffee, croissants and fruit. Some phones dead, others left in cars, rain on the windows, taps of fingers on keyboards… meeting the room of folks that have gathered - 14 in all!

… then an ease-into-the-day warm-up to the lovely language and ways of Drupal, from the kind, gentle voice of Bryght’s Djun Kim, as we all begin to perk up from our morning hit of caffeine and starting some inspiring Drupal talk.

From the get-go, the sessions had a great flavour of sharing, as anyone in the intimate group jumped in when needed and questions were addressed quickly and easily from the level of expertise in the room. Djun, James (Bryght’s James Walker made the trek from T.O. to help train as well!) and Scales conducted different parts of the workshop and provided a fluid and informative day.

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CRTC Blocked and No More Wires!

Many of us at Raincity are busy this week with helping out and participating in the Drupal training workshop that we’re co-producing with Bryght, while continuing with our client work.

All is going great at the sessions… sooo much Drupal my head is starting to spin, but spin in a really, really good way. Collectively, we’re training and learning a lot. For me, I’m on the learning a lot wave, not having used Drupal too deeply in the past. Right now, we’re in the middle of looking at the neat ‘views’ and ‘contemplate’ modules: Hot stuff!

But I had a little time to spin through some tech news today, and spotted some interesting and noteworthy articles that I wanted to share, if you haven’t already found them on your own:

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Check out our good friends Lee and Sachi LeFever’s blog site as they have just posted a blog entry on their travel blog, The World Is Not Flat, that shares with the internet their ways of blogging while journeying around the world over the last year.

Raincity designed the site, while Bryght provides hosting and support. It’s tough checking in on these guys cause we’re all green with envy, but following their journeys and living vicariously through them over the last year has been a treat. Thanks for the video sharing show guys!

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From information technologists, to media workers, to celebrities, blogging in China has always been a place to have the freedom of speech in a country that does not permit it in the mainstream.

Now more than ever, celebrity blogs are becoming more and more popular and has increased audiences into the hundreds of thousands for just one post.

Check out this article and celebrity post that has been translated, highlighting the progression of the blogosphere power that’s rising in China.

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