Late this September I’ll be traveling with Brynn to speak at a conference in Helsinki called MindTrek. I’m looking forward to this trip for several reasons, and one of them is that I’ll be putting on an independent workshop called “FROM THE TRENCHES: THE SOCIAL WEB WORKSHOP”.
The workshop will start with a synthesis of several of my past talks on the social web.
It’ll cover an abbreviated history of social networking as background for what’s happening now — and lead into a framework for understanding what’s about to happen on the web as it becomes more social based on identity, relationships, and activity streams.
From digital identity to social objects, I’ll dig deeper into emerging technologies like OpenID, OAuth, Portable Contacts, Activity Streams and microformats, and take a look at bleeding edge protocols like WebFinger and PubSubHubBub. I’ll also spend time with the OpenSocial and Facebook platforms.
And though the specific technologies are important, I do want to make sure that attendees leave with an integrated, holistic view of how the open social web operates, is changing, and how it can be used to reach a wider audience and enhance community engagement. I expect that that’s one of the things that will set this workshop apart — providing a more accessible approach to ideas that can sometimes seem obtuse or obscured by jargon or technical terms. Given my background in user experience design and various marketing projects, I’m quite confident that I’ll be able to offer a unique and accessible perspective backed up with real world experience.
The workshop will be held on September 30, from 9am to 4pm. Basic refreshments — coffee and snacks — will be provided. The exact location is still being worked out, but it will be somewhere convenient in Central Helsinki (the MindTrek conference is actually two hours away in Tempere).
I’m open to bringing the workshop elsewhere or taking it to private companies who are looking for a more intimate, personalized experience while I’m in Europe. If you’re interested or want to learn more, do contact me.