Year round learning for product, design and engineering professionals

Web Directions South 09 Resources – many more now online

Thanks to the tireless efforts of Guy in preparing all the pages and producing all the podcasts, we now have a whole raft of the presentations from WDS09 now available online, so, if you’re looking to catch something you missed because you you went to another track, or you couldn’t make it to Web Directions […]

Got your Google Wave invite? Scratching your head?

It looks like all the Google Wave invites for WDS09 attendees, courtesy of Stephanie and Cameron (thanks again guys!) went out over the weekend. If you’re scratching your head as to what to do next though, and you’re in Sydney, why don’t you come along on Tuesday the 20th to the Google offices, for an […]

First batch of WDS09 resources now available

You wouldn’t believe how many things there are to do in the week after an event – I actually feel like I have been busier this week than I was in the week leading up to the conference. But one of the big things we have been treating as an absolute priority is making the […]

Trip to Japan for Web Directions East – winner announced!

A couple of months back we announced that we were going to be giving away a ticket to Web Directions East to one lucky attendee of Web Directions South. Well, that lucky attendee turned out to be Dylan Fogarty-MacDonald, who has already let us know that he is very excited to take us up on […]

Web Directions – The Soundtrack

I’ve got a few enquiries here about the music we played during the conference, so I thought I should really give credit where it is due and write up something comprehensive. Between sessions in the rooms we played XX by The XX – which came recommended by Luke Stevens who alongside being a data driven […]

GovHack, Canberra Oct 30 and 31 – produced by Web Directions

On Friday afternoon at Web Directions South we were excited and honoured to be able to announce GovHack, an event we’ll be producing in canberra at the end of the month. GovHack is an initiative of the Government 2.0 TaskForce, in support of MashupAustralia, a competition encouraging the creation of mashups and apps on top […]

Tech23 startup event in Sydney

Hot on the heels of our amazingly well received Atlassian Startup Space at Web Directions South, Tech23 is a full day startup focussed event in Sydney on October 27. If you are a startup, an investor, or someone thinking about starting up – get along, learn and network.

Web Directions South 09 – Our best ever

Web Directions South is over for another year, and judging by the comments in person, in blogs, via email and of course via twitter, it would seem many think it is the best to date, something we’d have to agree with. Sometimes the stars seem to align – extraordinary presentations by truly amazing people, incredible […]

Dan Hill – Closing keynote: 15 years in

Dan Hill PortraitIt is time for the practice of web development and design to broaden its horizons. How can the skills and experience we’ve acquired over the last 15 years of working on the internet be applied more broadly to, say, the design of cities, buildings, organisations, government and so on?

Kelly Goto – Keynote: WorkFLOW

Kelly Goto PortraitShift your thinking, alter your process, and create a dynamic of doing rather than spinning. Workflow veteran Kelly Goto leads you through a fast-paced session designed to help transcend obstacles and develop a culture of adaptation, progress and flow. Learn the fundamental principles behind The FLOW Method, an actionable series of steps utilizing new processes and techniques to re-invigorate your organization and team. Whether you are an independent, small business owner or the manager of an in-house web marketing team, you will gain valuable insights and tools to bring back to your organization.

Cameron Adams – Keynote: Making Waves

Cameron Adams PortraitIf you work on the web, it was hard to miss the announcement of Google Wave in May. It was especially exciting because this project, designed to leapfrog current modes of online communication, was developed right here in Australia by a Sydney based team. Wave’s interface designer – Web Directions favourite, Cameron Adams – will give us some unique insights into the challenges of bringing such an innovative product to fruition, the problems you face in designing a desktop application in the browser, and how to nurture a startup culture inside a large company. Cameron has given some truly memorable presentations at previous Web Directions – this keynote drawing from his experiences as part of the Google Wave team will be no exception.

Matt Webb – Opening keynote: Escalante

Web Directions South 2009, Sydney Convention Centre, October 8 9.10am.

Matt Webb PortraitThe long run to the turn of the millennium got us preoccupied with conclusions. The Internet is finally taken for granted. The iPhone is finally ubiquitous computing come true. Let’s think not of ends, but dawns: it’s not that we’re on the home straight of ubicomp, but the beginning of a century of smart matter. It’s not about fixing the Web, but making a springboard for new economies, new ways of creating, and new cultures.

The 21st century is a participatory culture, not a consumerist one. What does it mean when small teams can be responsible for world-size effects, on the same playing field as major corporations and government? We can look at the Web – breaking down publishing and consuming from day zero – for where we might be heading in a world bigger than we can really see, and we can look at design – playful and rational all at once – to help us figure out what to do when we get there.

Rob Mitchell & Mike Williams – Test your JavaScript

Rob Mitchell PortraitMike Williams PortraitMike Williams and Rob Mitchell will explain why you should test your JavaScript code, what to test, and how to go about it. They’ll talk about full-stack browser-based tests, as well as true unit tests, and explain where each are appropriate. They’ll also discuss integration of your tests into an automated build, and you’ll leave with a burning desire to try it out on your own projects.

Donna Spencer – Information seeking behaviours

Donna Spencer PortraitEach information seeking behaviour needs very different approaches to information architecture, information design and page layout. During this presentation, Donna will talk about each information behaviour, its key attributes, key design needs, and show good and bad examples of each.

Christian Crumlish – Designing social interfaces

Christian Crumlish PortraitDesigning for social interaction is hard. People are unpredictable, consistency is a mixed blessing, and co-creation with your users requires a dizzying flirtation with loss of control. Christian will present the dos and don’ts of social web design using a sampling of interaction patterns, design principles and best practices to help you improve the design of your digital social environments.

delivering year round learning for front end and full stack professionals

Learn more about us

Three days of talks, two of them in the engineering room. Web Directions you have broken my brain.

Cheryl Gledhill Product Manager, BlueChilli