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Wednesday, in which I fail to learn about Web 2.0

06 February 2008 in Internet by Stilgherrian | 9 comments

Well if you were following my Twitter feed just now, you’d know that I abandoned the “Web 2.0″ presentation put on for the ACS Web Technology SIG. 15 minutes in, I hadn’t heard anything I didn’t already know, and there was no sign that would change. Disappointed.

It unfolded like this:

  • I arrive just after Mr IBM started. Room of cubicle droids are astounded by a YouTube video of “Does it blend?” Much polite lolz. Apparently you can upload your own videos to YouTube.
  • We’re told there’s a trend away from the desktop. Gosh. Does that explains how I can Twitter from my phone? I notice there’s no pizza left. I don’t want pizza anyway.
  • Mr IBM introduces Runescape as an example of a virtual world, and then shows a static screenshot of IBM’s tennis presence in Second Life from the Australian Open. Why not actually demo SL?
  • Audience member asks what the most popular site is. Mr IBM says it’s hard to say, probably BigPond in Australia and hard to say globally. Audience member asks if he means “the web or Second Life”. SL, he says. Sheesh, if you don’t know for sure, just tell ‘em it’s the furrysex dungeon and go for lolz, yeah?
  • I decide there’s no way I can raid the chocolate biscuits without drawing attention to myself, and I’m not learning anything new.
  • Pub.

The guy from IBM would be wrapping up and chatting with the crowd about now. I’ve already gone to the pub, had a beer and a “Thai” chicken salad, and posted this. That’s Web 2.0.

5 Random Semi-Related Posts

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  1. Stephen Collins’s avatar

    Stephen Collins on 06 February 2008 at 8:41 pm

    Why am I neither remotely surprised (in my experience, the ACS wouldn’t know up to date and cutting edge if it was inserted into them sideways) and just as disappointed as you (as after hearing from you about this event, I imagined it to be the snorefest it was).

    No wonder business and government struggle with these concepts.

    Sheesh.

    Reply

  2. Rhys’s avatar

    Rhys on 06 February 2008 at 9:14 pm

    admittedly my brain kind of fell asleep at your other 2.0 posts, and my IQ struggles to keep up here at times but why have a seminar for stuff we already know? And why’s 1.0 broke/obsolete?

    Reply

  3. Zhasper’s avatar

    Zhasper on 06 February 2008 at 11:19 pm

    Hah.

    When you first mentioned you were going to the ACS shindig, I was surprised, for much the same reason as Stephen was. But, Stil knows what he’s doing, I thought — I was looking forward to finding out why I was wrong.

    Oh well.

    Have the ACS started their annual push to get themselves declared the official licencing body for all computer users yet?

    Reply

  4. Stilgherrian’s avatar

    Stilgherrian on 07 February 2008 at 12:26 am

    @Stephen Collins and @Zhasper: I’d always assumed that the ACS was bureaucratic and old-fashioned. But they had an enthusiastic recruiter at CeBIT. I can’t recall what eventually sold me, but I did think it might be useful having letters after my name for people who think that sort of thing important. Plus it might be useful networking.

    I’ve been to a couple events and been underwhelmed, but since this one was “Web 2.0″ I thought I’d see what their take was. Alas, it was a beginner’s introduction. I was astounded that people in a “Web Technologies SIG” were eagerly taking notes about such basic stuff.

    Now I know.

    @Rhys: “Web 2.0″ started as the name of a conference, and has evolved into a multi-faceted marketing term — i.e. no-one can really agree on what it means. Possibly the most useful aspect is that it can be used to convince venture capital investors that, unlike the original dot-com bubble, “It’ll all be different this time.”

    The Wikipedia articles on Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 may help. Or not.

    Reply

  5. @kcarruthers’s avatar

    @kcarruthers on 07 February 2008 at 9:36 am

    Yep — this abandonment of session is normal for peeps like you. ACS (noice peeps though they be) know not of web and things 2.0.

    Reply

  6. Stilgherrian’s avatar

    Stilgherrian on 07 February 2008 at 9:49 am

    @kcarruthers: Maybe one of us should approach them about doing a decent presentation then. ;)

    Reply

  7. Sweet Sister Morphine’s avatar

    Sweet Sister Morphine on 07 February 2008 at 12:20 pm

    ““Web 2.0″ started as the name of a conference, and has evolved into a multi-faceted marketing term — i.e. no-one can really agree on what it means.”

    Nothing really changes. When I was studying government at uni in the late 1990s, we were all told that it was vitally important that we familiarised ourselves with the concepts of ‘globalisation’ and ‘post-modernism’. When we pressed our lecturer for more details on what these things actually meant, he admitted that nobody really knew. Yay buzzwords.

    Reply

  8. Stilgherrian’s avatar

    Stilgherrian on 08 February 2008 at 12:11 am

    @Sweet Sister Morphine Yes, a read of Wikipedia’s articles on Globalization and Postmodernism really don’t provide concise answers. I think we need to spank more people.

    Reply