Web Directions

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We recognize that there are a great many Australian success stories out there - from the originally Australian Google Maps to folks like high tech bag company STM, to Freshview, to the just today acquired by Google Aussie startup Omnisio, and one of our favourites, Remember The Milk. Of course we can't and won't all follow that path, but there are many who think about striking out for themselves.In 2003, following a similar dream, Australian Anthill, a print magazine focussing on entrepreneurship and business innovation, in small and large companies alike was founded. We are really excited to have them as media partners for this year's conference, and helping us to get the word about the conference out into the broader business community. There's little doubt that unless business (and others) in Australia really understand and embrace the web, we'll find ourselves left at the starting blocks, while economies tap into the huge potential we are only beginning to understand.Thanks to Anthill for their support, and keep an eye out for it on the news stands, or check their website for more." ["post_title"]=> string(18) "Australian Anthill" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(18) "australian-anthill" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 16:04:08" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 06:04:08" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=597" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [1]=> object(stdClass)#115 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(588) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "3" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 14:28:04" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 04:28:04" ["post_content"]=> string(2170) "Just about ever since we started web directions, people have been asking us to help them find just the right developer, designer, or other web professional. Often we've posted a job description on our blog, or put people directly in touch with folks we might think fit the bill (provided they were at that time freelance).But clearly there is a need for a focussed place where employers (and those looking for freelancers and contractors as well) can post jobs they have available that goes beyond such ad hoc arrangements.So, today, we are launching jobs.webdirections - a job board for web industry jobs. And to kick it off, there's already a number of jobs across a range of specialist areas, designers, developers, business analysts and more, from high profile companies like Atlassian, FreshView, August, and even the National Australia Bank.Posting jobs is free, and while it may well be Australian focussed, our networks reach far beyond Australia, so feel free to post no matter where your job is located. We've decided on just a couple of restrictions, to help maintain the value of the site. Firstly, jobs posted must be associated with the web industry. That's not just designers and developers by any means, but the day to day focus of the job, whether in design, development, IA, marketing, management or other, should be largely on the web. There are plenty of general job sites, and even IT sites where more general jobs can be posted, we want this to be a highly focussed site.The second important restriction is that the name of the employing company must be included in the ad. This will help ensure all jobs are genuine, and not simply fishing expeditions for CVs, whether from a potential employer, or an agency.If you aren't really sure about either of these areas, just drop us a line, and we can clarify for specific case. We definitely want this site to be as useful as possible for all concerned.We hope you find this a useful site, whether looking for full time, part time, or contract work, or are looking for someone to add to your team." ["post_title"]=> string(53) "jobs.webdirections - a job site for web professionals" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(50) "jobswebdirections-a-job-site-for-web-professionals" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 14:28:04" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 04:28:04" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=588" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "5" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [2]=> object(stdClass)#116 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(591) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "3" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 10:05:27" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 00:05:27" ["post_content"]=> string(355) "After last years amazingly successful survey of web professionals, which saw over 33,000 folks take part, the second annual survey conducted by our friends at A List Apart is now up and running.This aims to take a snapshot of the industry around the world.So head over and take part now!" ["post_title"]=> string(50) "The second annual A List Apart Web Industry survey" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(50) "the-second-annual-a-list-apart-web-industry-survey" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 10:05:27" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 00:05:27" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=591" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [3]=> object(stdClass)#117 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(584) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-30 11:36:21" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-30 01:36:21" ["post_content"]=> string(1659) "This year at Web Directions South we're trying something new. Craig Sharkie will be using a panel type approach to explore the pros and cons, ins and outs of Javascript libraries in what will be both an entertaining and edifying session. I say "panel type approach" because I definitely don't want anyone to be thinking this will be anything like that tired excuse for a panel we have all had the displeasure of sitting through at some stage. Trust me: there will be preparation, there won't be self indulgence :)I'm really excited about the people Craig has gathered together for the panel:

• In the heavily backed jQuery corner, Earle Castledine
• For YUI, Jason Crane
• Fighting for Prototype/Scriptaculous, Ben Askins
• And lastly raw Javascript, represented by the Underdog in Blue, Cameron Adams

In this extended session the guys will each have the opportunity to talk through the strengths and weaknesses of their libraries, before battling it out in a script off. Heckling, throwing of rotten fruit and gambling will all be encouraged. And if by the end of the two hours an obvious winner has not emerged from the bloody mess, a Push Up Off will be held in the lunch break. I'm joking. Or am I...I told you we were trying something new. " ["post_title"]=> string(28) "Javascript Libraries session" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(28) "javascript-libraries-session" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(52) " http://south08.webdirections.org/?page_id=7#post-57" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-30 11:36:21" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-30 01:36:21" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=584" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "4" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [4]=> object(stdClass)#118 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(580) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "3" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-28 12:02:51" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-28 02:02:51" ["post_content"]=> string(1063) "In all the excitement a couple of weeks back, you might have missed the mention of a competition we are running with Digital Web Magazine, long time friends and supporters of Web Directions here and round the world. For Web Directions North, they've run a "design a snowboard" competition these last couple of years, so for Web Directions South, they're running a "Design a Surfboard" competition. There's also a little open web angle - the design is to be presented in SVG! Best design as adjudged by a panel of experts wins a free ticket to the conference, and there's a number of WACOM Tablet's courtesy of our exhibitors WACOM to give away as well.We've made it even easier with this longboard template to get you started.The competition now closes August 1st, so you have a week to get your entries in.Many thanks to Digital Web for their support." ["post_title"]=> string(40) "Want to come to Web Directions for free?" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(39) "want-to-come-to-web-directions-for-free" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-28 12:02:51" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-28 02:02:51" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=580" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [5]=> object(stdClass)#119 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(579) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-28 11:32:06" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-28 01:32:06" ["post_content"]=> string(11702) "A while back I blogged about the launch of OpenAustralia.org, which essentially remixes Hansard to allow you to more easily track all the debates in the House of Representatives, and keep an eye on your local representative.There's nothing at OpenAustralia that isn't available elsewhere, however, it's the way the information is organised here that makes it a lot easier to find the kinds of things that citizens really want to know about, and participate in discussions regarding.So for example, it's easy for me to see that my guy has been asking a whole bunch of Questions without Notice, or what debates might be going on about the Liverpool Plains with regard to coal mining. And you can keep track of just about anything via RSS. You can also comment on any of the discussions yourself. This could be a great forum for Australians to express their thoughts and ideas "close to the source".I asked Matthew Landauer, one of the very hard working volunteers behind this project, a couple of questions about the project and where it is headed.Maxine: First up, why don't you tell me a little bit about OpenAustralia, and what you see as its great strengths. What does it do that nothing else does?Matthew: The aim of OpenAustralia is to make it easier and more interesting to follow the goings on of parliament. I think you explained it very well in your introduction. You can read what Representatives say, sign up for email alerts, which will email you whenever your Representative speaks or even when they say a particular word, and do searches across all speeches.For instance, if you're interested in a particular issue, say World Youth Day you can get an email when anyone talks about it without having to trawl through an enormous amount of stuff.We're focusing on presenting the information in a way that's useful for people. Rather than thinking about the Parliamentary Hansard as this gigantic bit of text that gets updated every day, you can read the debates almost like a threaded chat with little thumbnail pictures of the people speaking. It's quite amazing what a difference the pictures make. It brings it all alive.I would say, OpenAustralia's greatest strengths in comparison to the official source of the Hansard, are the search, RSS feeds and email alerts. They're what allow you to filter through easily and find out what you want, when you want it and how you want it.We recently discovered that the Hansard on www.aph.gov.au doesn't appear to be indexed by Google. I don't know if that's intentional or not. OpenAustralia is indexed and so that opens up another avenue for people to discover things of interest to them that happen in Parliament.Maxine: How successful has TheyWorkForYou been in the UK? Have there been any stories about debate etc at TheyWorkForYou feeding back into the system somehow and influencing the Parliament itself?Matthew: I guess I should first explain what our relationship to TheyWorkForYou is. Right from the start when TheyWorkForYou was launched in the UK about four years, they open-sourced all the software the runs the site. That included the parser that scrapes all the material off the UK parliament site, the definition of an intermediate XML format, the code that loads the XML data into a database and of course the web application itself. They did this with the intention that people in other countries could build something similar.It's taken a little while but to the best of my knowledge OpenAustralia is the first project that's started from the TheyWorkForYou code base. We wrote a scraper from scratch for the Australian Parliament data that creates that intermediate XML data which then gets loaded into the database and web app. Then, it was just a case of making the content of the site reflect that we're in Australia - changing House of Commons to House of Representatives - stuff like that.What it's allowed us to do is to get a really functional site up and running pretty quickly and so far we have only made use of a subset of its capability. There's so much stuff to come!Back to your initial question - in something like four years since TheyWorkForYou launched it's had a pretty far reaching effect. It's been successful on its own terms - a lot of people use the site, especially during elections. Over the years they've had a significant amount of mainstream media coverage. I think now they're considered something that's expected and normal like Wikipedia, or Google, or whatever.At first, politicians didn't seem to be quite sure what to do with this new thing. There were some speeches in Parliament which criticised them. Some of the younger MP's, though, maybe more internet savvy, were accused of "gaming" the system to increase their ranking on TheyWorkForYou. See this FAQ at the Open Australia site for more detail on this.But now, things are slowly starting to change as politicians realise it's both necessary and good. Recently Cabinet Office Minister Tom Watson, set up a task force, The Power of Information to look at the opening of all kinds of government information. This is a slightly cheesy quote from a speech he made in March this year:"When the MySociety people established the theyworkforyou web site, I began to understand how the old order of things was going to change. Put simply, I began to understand the power of information."But perhaps the more significant thing is how TheyWorkForYou has been a catalyst for so many other things. It's probably not unfair to say that the site was the first real glimpse of what technology mixed with government transparency could actually look like. There are now projects all over the world doing similar things - New Zealand, USA, Romania, Italy and now Australia amongst many.Maxine:How are you measuring the success of OpenAustralia.org? What would you like to see more of and how do you plan to make that happen? Matthew: Our first priority is to get people to use the site! So, getting a good number of visitors is pretty important. Beyond that we really want to be a catalyst and open peoples' eyes. When you listen to talks, or read policy documents about government transparency it's very easy for your eyes to glaze over. But, when you see something concrete and simple like OpenAustralia which was built by a very small group of people in their spare time you can start to see the possibilities and understand how achievable they are.So, we hope that other groups of developers will come along and build other really cool sites, maybe even using some of the data from OpenAustralia (an API coming soon!). We also hope ordinary people will appreciate the importance of open access to government information and talk to their Representatives about it.Really, OpenAustralia in its current form is just the beginning.Maxine: You've launched the site and started spreading the word about the project: what's next on the horizon?Matthew: There's so much to do. The biggest things we're working on right now are to get the Senate up and running so you can follow what Senators say in Parliament and to get the Register of Members' Interests online. If you've been following our blog, you'll know that we've been tracking down this document which says what gifts they received, what property and shares they own, stuff like that. It's a pretty important public document which ensure the impartiality of members of Parliament. To our surprise it wasn't available online, nor was it available in any electronic form but rather it sits as 1500 handwritten A4 pages in an office in Canberra.We've gotten hold of a paper copy of the entire register, we're going to scan it and now we're working on a web application that will allow everybody to help transcribe these documents and then the plan is that you'll be able to view the Register for each member of parliament on OpenAustralia.Speeches that people make in Parliament are important but the stuff that really matters ultimately are the votes and that's why we're planning on adding all the voting information to OpenAustralia as well. That's a really big task.Maxine: Imagine you had a Bill Gates type benefactor who gave you the team and resources for 6 months to do whatever you wanted with OpenAustralia. What would you do?Matthew: We'd like to to build a site for writing to your Representatives - something where you put in your postcode and it tells you all the people relating to your local area. As well as your member of the House of Representatives that would include your state's federal Senators, your local councillors, your state representative and so on. At the moment, it's harder than it should be to find out how and who to write to. The information is out there on the internet but it's spread out all over the place. We would be bringing that together in one place focused on a single activity which is writing to someone who represents you.There are other advantages to having a service like this - you can gather statistics about how often they reply to messages that are sent to them. This way you make your representatives accountable while at the same time preserving the confidentiality of a private message.Going back to the voting information - there is an interesting and difficult problem associated with that. One of the things that the UK public whip site does is allow users to effectively categorise votes on bills under "policies". So, for instance, to say if a politicians believes that immigration control needs to be tightened they would vote this way on the following bills. This then allows a politicians' actual votes to be compared against the policies. It's a difficult problem to do the categorisation in a way that is accepted by all. The Public Whip's approach to this is to use a wiki style approach. It seems to work but really requires a strong and focused user community.One thing that many people have pointed out in comparing the Australian parliamentary system to the UK one is that the voting information, especially in the House of Representatives, is inherently much less interesting in Australia than in the UK, because politicians very rarely cross the floor and vote against their party. However, I would argue that a deeper problem is that ordinary people do not have a way to understand how votes actually happen or what they mean. Making the votes more accessible and transparent (and open to analysis) will inherently allow people to question the decisions made which I strongly believe, in a fair and democratic system, will lead to better decisions ultimately being made.And then there's getting all the Hansard for the State Parliaments onto OpenAustralia.There's a huge stack more things we would like to do but hopefully that should give you a flavour of where we're headed.Thanks for giving me this oppurtunity to talk about OpenAustralia! " ["post_title"]=> string(47) "OpenAustralia - Interview with Matthew Landauer" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(45) "openaustralia-interview-with-matthew-landauer" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-28 11:32:06" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-28 01:32:06" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=579" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "7" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [6]=> object(stdClass)#120 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(578) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "3" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-26 11:08:32" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-26 01:08:32" ["post_content"]=> string(998) "I know many folks are looking forward to seeing Douglas Crockford at Web Directions South as much as we are. One of the drawbacks of running a conference is that you simply don't get the chance to attend a whole workshop, and this year, I'd definitely be doing Douglas's if I had the chance. For those who want to get up to speed, or improve their Javascript skills, then Douglas's book, JavaScript, the good parts, published a couple of months ago, and ranked #388 in Amazons sales rank of all books, would be just the ticket. Read a detailed review at Slashdot, and pick up a copy at Amazon (not sure about Australian availability right now - we tend to lag some time behind releases in other parts of the world)." ["post_title"]=> string(26) "Javascript - the good bits" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(24) "javascript-the-good-bits" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(48) " http://south08.webdirections.org/?cat=1#post-40" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-26 11:08:32" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-26 01:08:32" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=578" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [7]=> object(stdClass)#121 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(577) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "3" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 21:45:43" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-25 02:45:43" ["post_content"]=> string(851) "BuilderAU and The Sydney Morning Herald are both reporting on the ongoing disgrace that is online tax lodgement in Australia.In short, only Windows users can lodge tax forms online. If you use Linux, Mac OS, or any other device, then you are out of luck.Various groups are calling for a Mac version, a Linux version and so on. But that misses the point. Why is this simply not a web application that will run in any browser? If you can do your banking online, security is not an insurmountable issue.Can the ATO please give us some idea of why in 2008, electronic tax lodgement is not done via the web?" ["post_title"]=> string(66) "Australian Tax Office - online tax lodging is (still) Windows only" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(62) "australian-tax-office-online-tax-lodging-is-still-windows-only" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 21:45:43" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-25 02:45:43" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=577" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(2) "14" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [8]=> object(stdClass)#122 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(576) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "3" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 21:37:36" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-25 02:37:36" ["post_content"]=> string(609) "The Australian Design Federation is a web based community for the Australian design and new media industries. It features news, interviews, competitions (currently you can win a ticket to web directions!), reviews of shows and exhibitions, and lots of other cool stuff.The Design Federation are on board as partners, helping to get the word out into the design community round the country about the conference, so many thanks to them, and do check them out." ["post_title"]=> string(32) "The Australian Design Federation" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(32) "the-australian-design-federation" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(39) " http://www.designfederation.net/about/" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 21:37:36" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-25 02:37:36" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=576" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [9]=> object(stdClass)#123 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(575) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "3" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 19:51:45" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-25 00:51:45" ["post_content"]=> string(516) "Our good friends over at Clearleft (home of Andy Budd, Jeremy Keith and Richard Rutter) have just released Silverback - a tool to help you do user testing quickly and effectively. When Andy was out here for Web Directions UX he gave a sneak preview to those doing his workshop, and now it is launched.It's Mac only, there's a 30 day demo version, and you can purchase for just $USD50. It's definitely worth a look, if you want to take your user testing to the next level." ["post_title"]=> string(57) "Silverback - your guerilla user testing prayers answered " ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(54) "silverback-your-guerilla-user-testing-prayers-answered" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 19:51:45" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-25 00:51:45" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=575" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "1" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [10]=> object(stdClass)#124 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(574) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "3" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 07:45:43" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 12:45:43" ["post_content"]=> string(23589) "Again, my apologies to those many who posted long, (or not so long) well thought out responses to my initial post. Like Hendrik, I found the level if discourse commendable.One thing I didn't actually talk about in my original article is that even if I wanted to, I can't write iPhone native apps - well, I could write them but it would be pointless, because despite writing applications for the Mac OS for 15 years, through bad times and good, being a non US resident or company, I am not being accepted as a developer. But that's not remotely what motivated my position.The responses, which I'd have to tote up as at least 50% in disagreement, addressed several of my points, and I want to take a look at the nature of those responses in detail in a moment. But, I think, and this may well have to do with my poor advancement of it, almost no one seemed to really get my core point.What characterizes the iPhone is that it is a web native device. It is essentially always on (edge cases like subway rides, plane trips and overseas travel aside). It knows where you are. It is equipped with as good a web browser as available on any device. And yet the vast majority of the applications I've looked at, or read about, live in there own little sandbox. One of the keys to mobile design is context. Providing relevant services and information based on where you are, and what you are doing. And most iPhone apps I've seen or read about just don't tap into the mobile context.Let's take something so humble as a shopping list. There are several shopping list apps available for the iPhone. But imagine this scenario - you are at your desk writing a list of things to buy for your weekly groceries. Hang on, my list is on my iPhone - so I need to get out and use my phone - where using the laptop or desktop might make more sense in this context. Or, I'm on my way to the shops, and my wife remembers something we need - do I have it on my list? She has to ring me and ask. Or send an SMS. But, if my list is in the cloud, she can just check and update my list from her phone, her laptop, or whatever. Even something so humble as a shopping list can become web native. Now, of course, you can have a native iPhone app with this web connectedness - but, frankly, why bother - what do you really get as a developer or user from that? Yes, that's the subject of many of the critical comments to my inital post, and I'll turn in a moment to addressing those criticisms.Commenters addressed a number of my points over and over again. One was how native app performance is far superior to web app performance. Another common one was that the iPhone isn't always connected, and so when not connected, webapps are useless. Another was that webapp frameworks are anaemic in comparison with CocaTouch.Then there were a number of criticisms of my analysis of the business models around native apps.Lastly there were a number of miscellaneous comments and critiques, which I'll turn to at the end.As I mentioned, often more than one person, sometimes several, made the same basic response to my initial argument - I'll try to credit and quote all those points as I address each general area of criticism in turn.So, let's begin with probaby the most commonly raised issue - that of performance.

Performance

Probably the most commonly made point was that native apps were fundamentally better than web apps because of their performance.Blucaso wrote

Sometimes the difference between a web app and native app is not WHAT it can do, but HOW FAST it can do it

No download time, no lag on screen changes

Alex wrote

So, the greater speed of a local app makes a difference in usability. A big difference.

flo wrote

native apps are faster, even with the improved speed of mobile safari in 2.0

joeboy wrote

Network performance will alter the user experience, the native iphone app will feel MUCH faster than the web app. The web app has to be downloaded from the web every time the user does anything on it (or loads a new page on it anyhow): all the images, css, javascript libraries and markup have to be downloaded for it to work [we'll see in a moment that this is not the case necessarily]. Native apps only have to be downloaded once, so that when you use them they only have to use the network to get the information that you actually need. This dramatically improves the user experience by making the app far more responsive. It also has the additional benefit of increasing battery life. Win Win.

There's two aspects to this issue. Firstly - this is an assertion, that sounds plausible - but is it necessarily true? Then, there is a second, deeper point. Even if it is true, it doesn't need to be. Let me address each of these in turn.First up - try this little experiment. Add a Facebook icon to your home screen from Fcebook.com. Now, using this icon, log into Facebook. Next, do the same thing with the Facebook native iPhone app. Is there really all that much of a difference? The simple answer is no. I suspect in part, this is because Facebook have worked hard to optimize the performance of iphone.facebook.com (if you want to learn more about optimizing for iPhone, Niall Kennedy has a good summary of Yahoo's Exceptional Pergormance Group's analysis of this issue.) My point is, the perceived, and commonly advanced advantage in performance of native versus web apps is certainly less cut and dried than most asserted in their responses. But, and far more importantly - mobile Safari does not cache web applications, nor give access in any meaningful sense to client side storage for web applications. Yet it easily could (and I am sure in the not too distant future will) do so. Webkit already supports HTML5 client side data storage in their nightlies, and Safari 4 previews are already demonstrating a "Save as Webapp" functionality that turns websites into double clickable applications, which would make even more sense on the iPhone than on the desktop.This is the future, and it is in essence one of the main reasons why I called the iPhone native apps a "great leap backwards". Given the phenomenal amount of work that has gone into the iPhone SDK, had that effort been focussed on adding these features to the iPhone instead, they'd very likely be here already.In fact, Manuel R. Ciosici made this very point

Why couldn’t Apple design a way to store webapps locally so that we wouldn’t be tied to the cloud? An update button in the webapp would suffice the need to update the app (or the app could update itself through AJAX if web is available).

Connectedness

A second, commonly raised concern was of network availability.Blucaso, in his (or her) excellent detailed post wrote

The idea that the internet is always available is still a faulty assumption. No wifi and no signal = no internet. Suddenly all your web apps cease functioning

Alex wrote

What about other subway systems? What about on airplanes? This is iPhone time, but there’s no internet access. (Yes, internet access is coming on airplanes. What will it be? $10/hour? I’d rather have my apps, most of the time. I’ll use them to download the things I want quickly, and then read things offline.)

Well, as soon as we address the performance issue, with local caching of application files, and data, this issue simly goes away. This very objection applies to any web based application - for example Google Docs - until of course, something like Google Gears turns up, or browsers start supporting HTML5 client side storage natively (as Webkit and Firefox do or soon will do).I hope this goes a long way to addressing the two significant technical concerns, performance and connectivity that were raised several times. To be honest, native apps both now, and probably for some time to come, will have an edge when it comes to performance. And where performance is an issue - for example games with intensive rendering, well, there's little choice. But in most cases, performance really isn't a deal breaker. It is of course where you need to pull the entire application across the network each time it loads, but it's not where things like computation and other processing is involved.

Business models

A second main area folks addressed in their comments was that of business models.Once more, Blucaso dealt with this in detail

One [criticism] is that shareware “conversion” rate you cite. Well, as you know, there isn’t a shareware model that really works. Right now the main group of programs are “buy and try” not “try then buy”. This means you don’t need 100,000 downloads to make 3,000 sales, you only need 3,000 downloads.

I probably didn't make my point clear enough once more. I was trying to get some kind of measure of the relationship between a users interest and a purchase, and base it on something other than pure handwaving. In the world of traditional software sales (which native iPhone apps are closest akin to), for every 1000 people who come to your site, fewer than 100 will likely download your software. Of those, about 1% to 3% will purchase. So while Blucaso is right in saying every download is a sale, that misses the point. What percentage of folks who see your app will purchase? Is it going to be higher than the 3 in 1000 or so of traditional software sales. If so, why? Especially when you can't try before you buy. A number of folks weighed in with opinions on this issue, which I'll address in turn.Blucaso continues

Another false comparison could be that most shareware is not $.99 or $1.99 or even $9.99. Some of it is, but good quality shareware is often $20 or more. For this, the price is a pretty big deterrent to any “buy and try” model. However, on the iPhone, most paid apps are $0.99, $9.99 or $4.99. These are the emerging price points (besides free) that are coalescing right now. And my theory is that at $.99, there is almost no barrier to entry. A lot of people will still download at $4.99 based on a description and screen shot. At $9.99, it better look really good in the App store, but still doesn’t seem like a huge investment. $59.99? That’s an investment.

This all sounds very reasonable, and it might be right - but it is handwaving. There's no evidence for it. For example, in my experience, shared by others, putting prices up (within reason) does not impact software sales. With a lite and full featured version of an app, at two separate price points, the full featured version will on the whole outsell the less expensive one, typically significantly. But there is a matter of degree between $19.99 and $39.99. There's a matter of substance between free and $.99

In fact, I have long thought that shareware (while I use it all the time, and enjoy its benefits) is in actuality a terrible model for running a business. If I were a software developer I would be horrified at the prospect of 97% of my customers wanting to use my software and never pay for it, still give me feedback, expect support, and use and abuse my servers. Ugh.

The thing is, how you or I as the developer feel about this is irrelevant - this is a business issue, and it is better business to give folks a demo, and indeed, a generous demo, despite how unfair or infuriating a developer might feel. This is a lesson learnt over and over again over 20 years.

The app store eliminates this, and charges 30% for transaction fees, servers, update support, and all the hassle of dealing with the user at the outset. Not a bad deal from my POV.

What remains to be seen is whether the appstore also eliminates purchasing as well. It certainly eliminates choice and flexibility for developers. Now, time might tell - as we see download numbers of free versus paid for apps, but here is my prediction - we won't see those download numbers. Right now those counters are all set to zero. As soon as they report numbers, we'll see how much apple, and every developer is making down to the cent. We'll see by how many orders of magnitude free apps are outperforming paid for apps as well. But as I said, I suspect we won't see those numbers.In a similar vein, Hendrik wrote

To me the App Store definitely seems like an amazing opportunity for developers. Very few people pay for shareware apps (or commercial applications too in fact). Just as pretty much nobody used to pay for music online. Before the iTunes store came along. Making it super convenient made people actually pay for music online. When it first came out I thought there was no way in hell that people would stop downloading music for free and start paying. But they did.

But here's the thing. When was the last time you bought a song, let alone an album, that you had never heard before - not on the radio, not even a 10 second snippet. No one even buys .99c songs like that, let alone albums. So why are folks going to buy legions of applications site unseen?By the way, in essence pretty much all applications are shareware. Just about any app you can buy has a demo version.

And now buying applications at the App Store is so convenient that I am sure tons of users will buy. Of course if you are trying to sell a 1.99$ tip calculator and there is already a 0.99$ version plus a dozen free ones doing the same thing your sales might not be so hot. That being said, if for example the 0.99$ version looks nicer than the free versions and gets good reviews than I am sure it will still sell quite a few copies.

I'm not so sure at all - because price discrimination is one thing when comparing 1.99 and .99 - it's another thing altogether when comparing 0.99 and free. This classic article by Clay Shirky addresses this in the context of micropayments.By the way, right now, with the exception of games, the top selling apps are largely games and entertainment, and price points well and truly under $10 (and even under $5) for all but entertainment apps. I repeat my observaton that even individual developers will need to sell a great many apps to make even a decent living selling an iPhone app.

Try to get anyone to buy a subscription to your tip calculator web app.

That's a fair point - but not an argument against looking to the business model of subscriptions and services, rather, an argument against trying to sell software . If I were looking to monetize a tip calculator, I wouldn't look to do it as an app for sale. I'd look at the service you could build around tip calculating. That's folks going out to dinner. So, a tip calculator makes sense in the broader context of dining out (restaurant guides, and so on). That's where the business is.Mitch writes

However, I don’t agree with a lot of second part. The ease and experience of buying something (a music album, a game, a program) from the iTunes store and App store is so easy and quick. That makes a big difference. It’s even simpler than buying software off a website

Now, this is a different angle - and the argument of convenience holds water - people do pay a premium for convenience. The drawback continues to be that you have to buy sight unseen, and there's little evidence folks are willing to do that. Perhaps they will. But I'm yet to be convinced. I return to my analogy of music. It is extremely rare for folks to buy music without hearing it first - yes, for the odd artist who we follow very closely we might buy their new album - but it is likely we've heard a track or two at least first. But even still, when was the last time you purchased music like that?

Regarding pricing: I think it is not correct to compare the sale of a $4.99 app to a service you pay $5 a month for. $5 once is easy to spend while waiting for a train

It might not be correct to compare them, but the business model for one looks far more attractive to me as someone who has made a living from the business of software for 15 years, than the business model for the other (and that's a business model I've been relying on for those 15 years). I guess I'm trying topoint out how viable, or otherwise, the App Store really is from a business model perspective.Martin Pilkington writes (quoting my initial article)

“As developers, you need to rewrite your apps for other platforms, as well as, of course, for the platform that really matters - the web.”

This all really depends on whether the developer has any interest in releasing for other platforms. As you pointed out earlier, many of those coming to the iPhone are already Mac developers, many of whom develop solely for the Mac with no real interest in other platforms.

I've developed for the Mac, Windows, and the web for over a decade. One reason why folks don't do it is that it is really hard. Not only do you have specific platform coding issues (and the lack of very many cross platform development tools), you also have specific platform user experience issues to address. From a business point of view, I can assure you, the more viable platforms you can target the better. But as a small development team, it is very resource intensive. Except of course, if you target the web. Suddenly, everything with a browser - from the iPhone to the Mac to the Wii, to your PC to your fridge can run your software. Now, if you are writing a word processor, this might not be particularly useful. But I see almost limitless possibilities enabled by the web. In my not so humble, any developer with no interest in developing web native applications really does have a limited shelf life. Indeed, my feeling is that there really won't be a business in selling software in not too many years. There'll be a business of software, it ust won't be in selling it on a per license basis.On the same issue, MP writes

You have managed to extremely simplify and incredibly complex issue. If you tell someone “This is only $5 a month” they may look interested before they realise it’s $60 a year for however long they wish to use it. Now this may work for web apps accessed via the desktop where you can access a decent amount of features, but on the mobile it’s different. You need to design for smaller screen which means simpler UIs and less functionality exposed (and some functionality just not really possible). Now try to get someone to pay $5 a month for that. It’s very unlikely.

I see the issue a little differently. What you tell someone is that it is free. Then they use it. And if they use it and realize they get value from using the application - it makes their life easier, more productive, more fun - well, they may well upgrade to a $5 a month, or $30 a year, or whatever plan.In terms of simplified UI and smaller feature sets, that's true. But I think it reinforces that increasingly applications aren't islands, but part of eco-systems. Think of a Facebook client application (web app or iPhone native, it doesn't really matter) - it is literally useless without it being part of the ecosystem that is Facebook. Increasingly I think all applications will similarly be part of broader eco-systems - either explicit like Facebook or Flickr, or more tenuous. But to my mind the days of the stand alone isolated app is coming to an end. On the desktop, as well as elsewhere.As a counter to this, Alex writes

I believe ultimately your argument is founded on the assumption that the Web is always a better platform for both developers and users and that both these groups will eventually completely move to the web. The reality is that the web is an important platform, but will never be the sole platform, the basic physics behind computer networking makes sure of that. There is always a claim that the web will match desktop apps in X years. The problem is that by then desktop apps will have progressed X years.

Alex has hit the nail on the head. I essentially do think the "Web is always a better platform for both developers and users and that both these groups will eventually completely move to the web". I think we often overstate the benefits of the desktop app. For example, I think it is just a matter of time before the ultimate desktop apps, those which more or less define the desktop era, namely, Office apps (word processors, spreadsheets, presentation apps, databases) become entirely web based. While Google Docs is far less full featured than Office, its connectedness will trump the millions of man years of development which went into adding to the number of features in Office over the last 20 years. A text document that can be simultaneously edited by several people is a fundamentally different thing from a beautifully polished document isolated on a single system.There's much more I could address tat emerged from these discussion, but I've indulged your time too much already, so I'll close with this comment by Tim Swan.

If all of your assumptions are true then I suppose we’ll see over time whether people prefer native or web apps. After all, the iPhone’s strengths as a web client remain and some application developers will still prefer to develop web apps.

Tim's right of course - the market place of ideas will win out, and my bet is that in time, it is web applications, not native apps, which will become predominant. Because the iPhone isn't, and won't be the only sophisticated mobile platform out there, because desktops and laptops will be with us for some time yet, because the web will be on our televisions, gaming devices, fridges, wrist watches, and countless other devices as yet undreamed of. And applications are what will bring all these devices into one extraordinary digital ecosystem. To do that, it won't be possible to have a myriad different languages. We need a Koine, a lingua franca. But we don't need to find or create this common language. We have it already - it is the set of open standards that make up the web. They work. They are supported on an enormous range of devices. Hundreds of thousands of people, if not millons, know how to develop with them. I wouldn't bet against the web. And to me, iPhone native apps look exactly like that - betting against the web." ["post_title"]=> string(24) "iPhone native Apps redux" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(24) "iphone-native-apps-redux" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(145) "http://yuiblog.com/blog/2008/02/06/iphone-cacheability/ http://news.worldofapple.com/archives/2008/06/10/apple-gives-developers-safari-4-preview/" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 07:45:43" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 12:45:43" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=574" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(2) "10" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [11]=> object(stdClass)#125 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(573) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "3" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-23 23:28:31" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 04:28:31" ["post_content"]=> string(702) "Curiously, the world over, there is only a handful of print magazines for web designers. Japan has several, but elsewhere there are few if any magazines focussing specifically on the web design and development industry. Bucking this trend, Web Designer magazine was recently launched in Australia. The magazine covers a mix of technologies, techniques, and big picture thinking for the web design industry, and can be found at many newsagents, or you can subscribe online. Keep an eye out for it.Thanks to Web Designer for getting involved as a media partner, and look out for copies of the magazine at the conference." ["post_title"]=> string(53) "Introducing our media partner - Web Designer magazine" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(51) "introducing-our-media-partner-web-designer-magazine" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-23 23:28:31" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 04:28:31" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=573" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "5" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [12]=> object(stdClass)#126 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(570) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-22 23:06:17" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-23 04:06:17" ["post_content"]=> string(1346) "We're looking for a Joomla expert to help us out with one of the panels in the development track at Web Directions South this year. This session, to be run by Lucas Chan, is going to showcase the strengths and weaknesses of a number of backend frameworks in a fun, maybe slightly competitive, though never dogmatic, spirit. The aim of the panel is for less experiences developers and managers to get a bit of a handle on how to make these sorts of decisions. At the same time we hope to have a bit of audience participation from more experienced developers willing to share their opinions and expertise. It's my wish that no one will get bloody on their shirts, and everyone will learn something. We shall see :)We'd be really like to have Joomla represented, so if you're a Joomla developer and you think you've got what it takes, please let me know.There will obviosusly be a little work in preparing for this - in fact the one thing I want to avoid even more than blood on anyone's shirt is one of those ill prepared, self indulgent panels like so many you see at SXSW - though not at much as a full on presentation I shouldn't imagine.Of course, participating gets you a free ticket to the conference as well." ["post_title"]=> string(58) "Joomla developer? Keen to participate in a panel at WDS08?" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(56) "joomla-developer-keen-to-participate-in-a-panel-at-wds08" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(92) "http://south08.webdirections.org/?page_id=7#post-42 http://www.webdirections.org/contact-us/" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-22 23:06:17" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-23 04:06:17" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=570" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "2" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [13]=> object(stdClass)#127 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(569) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-22 19:50:43" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-23 00:50:43" ["post_content"]=> string(1418) "Yesterday I caught up with Todd Trevillion and Mark Stanton of Gruden - those of you who came to the very first Web Essentials way back when will recall that Mark gave a presentation on semantic markup - it all seems so quaint now! Sadly pre podcasting, so we can't relive it.Anyway, they've got their own event going. This year, for the second time, they're hosting Web on the Piste: a two day conference focussing on usability and RIAs - WPF, Flex, AIR, Silverlight, Flash, .Net, Coldfusion and AJAX. But the really cool part is the location: Queenstown NZ, and the dates: August 21 and 22, right in the heart of snowboarding and skiing season. The conference is followed by a couple of optional days up on the mountain. Featuring Robert Hoekman Jr on only his second trip outside the US (he spoke for us in Melbourne and Canberra back in May and must have decided he liked the Southern Hemisphere so much he just had to get back there again pronto), Aussies Jeff Bowers, James Breeze, as well as a whole host of experts covering off the various RIAs. If the success of last year is anything to go by, this will be a fun filled, entertaining and instructive few days, so dust off the gear, forget Thredbo, and register today!" ["post_title"]=> string(60) "Web on the Piste: got a hankering for a bit of snowboarding?" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(58) "web-on-the-piste-got-a-hankering-for-a-bit-of-snowboarding" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-22 19:50:43" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-23 00:50:43" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=569" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [14]=> object(stdClass)#128 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(568) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-21 20:21:45" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-22 01:21:45" ["post_content"]=> string(1327) "Seb Chan has written a very comprehensive and intellectually generous overview of The Powerhouse Museum's experiences in the first three months of having the images from the Tyrell Photographic Collection available in the Commons on Flickr.An interesting observation that maybe a lot of us could think about when we think about social media more broadly:

All of this is ‘user generated context’ (cf. Haque) as much as it is ‘user generated content’. Context is increasingly what matters in a world overloaded with content, and museums through the exhibition medium should be specialists in understanding the importance of ‘context’.

(My emphasis)Check out the full article to see just what people are doing with the images, and learn all about the success of the project." ["post_title"]=> string(79) "Seb Chan reflects on first 3 months of Powerhouse Museum Flickr Commons Program" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(79) "seb-chan-reflects-on-first-3-months-of-powerhouse-museum-flickr-commons-program" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-21 20:21:45" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-22 01:21:45" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=568" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } } ["post"]=> object(stdClass)#114 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(597) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "3" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 16:04:08" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 06:04:08" ["post_content"]=> string(1484) "One of the things we try to encourage with Web Directions is a more entrepreneurial approach to development. We recognize that there are a great many Australian success stories out there - from the originally Australian Google Maps to folks like high tech bag company STM, to Freshview, to the just today acquired by Google Aussie startup Omnisio, and one of our favourites, Remember The Milk. Of course we can't and won't all follow that path, but there are many who think about striking out for themselves.In 2003, following a similar dream, Australian Anthill, a print magazine focussing on entrepreneurship and business innovation, in small and large companies alike was founded. We are really excited to have them as media partners for this year's conference, and helping us to get the word about the conference out into the broader business community. There's little doubt that unless business (and others) in Australia really understand and embrace the web, we'll find ourselves left at the starting blocks, while economies tap into the huge potential we are only beginning to understand.Thanks to Anthill for their support, and keep an eye out for it on the news stands, or check their website for more." ["post_title"]=> string(18) "Australian Anthill" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(18) "australian-anthill" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 16:04:08" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-31 06:04:08" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(35) "http://www.webdirections.org/?p=597" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } ["queried_object"]=> NULL ["queried_object_id"]=> int(0) }