The Web 2.0 conference was a real thrill for me. The words 'energy' and 'enthusiasm' are ones that I've been associating with my experience of the conference. I've seen a lot of cynicism and even criticism of the bubble-ish nature of the conference, but it's difficult for me to identify with that because my experience was overwhelmingly positive. Perhaps that only proves I'm a conference newbie in Silicon Valley, but I'd like to hope I always maintain my enthusiasm for the Web and its growth. It's exciting when people are building so many great products and services on the Web platform. I wanna be in the middle of that :-)
I've met a lot of amazing people while I've been over here. Too many to list, but one highlight was the spicy noodles dinner with the father of RSS Dave Winer, the Workgroup founding fathers, and father of News Readers 2.0 Gabe. It was also great to meet the people I've been working for over the past months - Susan Mernit, Marc Canter, Dan Farber, and others I've done projects for. I also met my book co-author Josh Porter and briefly met Tim O'Reilly. Plus I met people I'll be working with in future (or hoping to, in some cases). I met so many great people and I ran out of time to meet others. Apologies to those people who I didn't get to meet.
I'll be back in Silicon Valley soon, with my family this time. I hope I can get a US working visa, because this is the place where I belong. In the meantime, I'll be back in New Zealand pumping out the Web 2.0 posts on Web 2.0 Explorer and Read/WriteWeb.
]]>I'm all for globalisation, but I've never claimed that web networking will replace face-to-face networking. Remember I've built up my network and reputation over the last few years purely based on writing my blog from NZ and utilising other Internet technologies to overcome the 'tyranny of distance'. The fact that I was able to make it to the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francicso in the first place - is testament to the power of Web networking. I would never have made it but for the Web (and my blog in particular). And then almost everyone I met in SF read or knew about my blog - again hooray for the Web and globalisation!
The fact of the matter is: Silicon Valley is the Home of the Web. That's where most of the action is and why someone like me wants to be there. The F2F networking, the energy and enthusiasm, the sheer history of the place re the Web, and yes the VC money. *That* is what I want to be a part of.
]]>Remember that cartoon "On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog. It was drawn back in 1993, before Web 1.0 "lost its innocence". Well, I think that is how the web has been since the crash. On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're in NZ, or whereever. I think that has been a strength. Now though, we are entering a new "let's monetize this stuff" phase, and with that it starts to matter more where you are, and with this trend, something that has been a strength of the community at large for the last few years, and brought us to where we are today, is changing. Instead of disconnected people helping themselves and each other building tools to shorten the distance etc. we have something else. That's the shame.
But it's not a crying shame though, just a difference, and I'll live with it. I can totally see where you are coming from and wish you the best for your Silicon Valley adventures. (Also, if it puts any perspective on things, I'm a dislocated kiwi living in Denmark.)
Cheers
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