Just found out that I’m going to be able to attend the South by Southwest Interactive event in Austin next weekend. Some face to face time with web-friends sure sounds like fun. I’ll also be doing some interviews for Net Squared.

I’ll also be at NTEN’s Non Profit Technology Conference in Seattle later this month. Just thought I’d let you know. Pretty exciting stuff. I feel pretty lucky to be able to afford this kind of conference hopping right now, so if you’re at either of these make sure to look me up before the winds of fortune change and I’m stuck in my bedroom working in my pajamas again.

The following is an email that bounced back after being sent to ForImmediatRelease PR podcast. Your thoughts on the topic before I try resending? I’d like to know what folks in the non profit world think too.

Re the idea of omitting any mention of new web tools by name in favor
of simply saying to some one in need “here’s a solution for you” –
I’d like to hear more Web 2.0 voices on the question. I am working
right now for two organizations and both make mention of Web 2.0
immediately in their names, Net Squared ( http://netsquared.org
bringing Web 2.0 to non profit organizations) and Weblogs Inc. (Social
Software blog). In both of these capacities, Web 2.0 evangelism is my
top priority and thus usability/ accessibility, etc. – but I introduce
them by name.

I do discuss Web 2.0 tools by name when I propose them to clients
(“you need a blog, you need to read RSS feeds”) but I won’t claim to
know the answer to this question. What does boss man Jason Calacanis
think of this? What do the guys on the Gilmor Gang think? What do the
folks at Web 2.0 Work Group think of it? Very important – what do the
folks at Blogher.org think? Presumably there are infiltrators in old
school media – how do they respond to this question?

My quick stab at it: the changes underway are so drastic, and so
characterized by an emphasis on open communication that people need to
be told relatively early in their process of adoption that they are
joining an emerging world that is made of different stuff. There are
enough anemic blogs out there, the LA Times wiki editorial was so half
hearted, etc. that people really need to grok what’s going on and what
the new tech means functionally and politically. If they’re not told
quickly, the landscape around these new tools is likely to get far
more ugly than it is today.

But I’d like to see this conversation extended. I know that the point
is important that many technologies now widely used were discounted at
first, but I’m not sure that ignorant bliss is the best solution.

Thanks,
Marshall Kirkpatrick
Tech Soup’s Net Squared and WINC Social Software Blog

Wow, it’s been a week since I posted here. I have some thoughts I’d like to write about, but I don’t have time. I want to keep posting here, but am having a hard time doing so when I’m writing a lot on two other blogs.

Folks who stop by here should check out my long interview with international digital divide fighter and super video blogger Andy Carvin over at Net Squared.

Microsoft super blogger Robert Scoble did a short email interview over at Net Squared and one of the questions he was asked was whether Web 2.0 is hype or for real. Part of his response included the following:

Yes, there’s a bit of hype there, but there’s also a trend that you can’t escape. More and more people are using the Web everyday and for more stuff. We’re now even able to see when our next bus will arrive in Seattle using a Web browser. Is there something unique? Yeah, the bandwidth has gotten better, the browsers with the latest technologies have gotten much more ubiquitous…

I agree that there is some hype (imagine the mockery if I didn’t!) But I think there are major indications that Web 2.0 is a real cultural change underway.

What are my favorite examples of this? The fact that RSS feeds are now available from most major online news sources and search engines is one. The fact that Yahoo has bought Flickr, Del.ico.us and Upcoming.org all in the last year or so is another. (I’m not necesarily thrilled about these acquisitions, but I think they are demonstration of the reality of Web 2.0) The fact that the number of blogs coming online is absolutely exploding and that this is occurring in a number of different contexts. My three favorite examples of late demonstrating the applicability of blogging in a variety of contexts? SciencBlogs.com (a network of science blogs), Blogging for a Cause (cancer support and networking blog) and Blue Fox Farm (a small organic farm and CSA that blogs).

What evidence do you have or is your favorite that Web 2.0 is not just hype? Plus don’t forget to check out the rest of the Scoble interview.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
scoble, interviews, web2.0, evidence, reality, myth, net2

I just posted an interview with Barb Dybwad over at Net Squared. Barb is the associate editor of Weblogs Inc. and blogs on the Social Software Weblog there. We had a long conversation about everything from Flickr to future applications she’s dreaming of to tips for new bloggers and blog readers. It’s such a long interview (done via IM) that I created a tag cloud to let readers skip around. The larger the text, the more accessible/less technical the section of the interview.

Huge thanks to Barb for taking the time to this interview.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Barb_Dybwad, WeblogsInc, Web2.0, interviews, flickr, webjustice2.0