Raul Vera – Mashups, web apps and APIs
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 27 2007.
Hear all about the exciting possibilities created by these technologies from Google Australia.
Year: 2007
Rashmi Sinha – The perils of popularity
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 27 2007.
Can web-based social systems with their wide reach, user-generated and user-filtered content harness the wisdom of crowds? Duncan Watts’ recent experiments reveal how popularity based web social systems can throw up fickle, random trends that are essentially unreplicable, and only tangentially related to quality. However, popularity as a way to filter information continues to rise in popularity – replacing hierarchical menus, overtaking tags, and even used in lieu of relevance. Rashmi will link decades of psychology research on group decision making and social influence to what is happening on the web today. She will discuss different models of popularity based filtering such as Digg and YouTube. What are ways to avoid the Watts dilemma – including Google’s model of sociality, tag-based social systems, and object-based social networks. She will present some principles for the design of web social systems and how there were used in the design of SlideShare and discuss how SlideShare as an evolving social system handles popularity.
Paul McCarthy – Which open source tools are fuelling today’s leading sites?
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2007.
Many of the today’s leading and most innovative websites are now running or developed using open source software and tools. This talk aims to provide an insiders look at the growing array of open source software driving today’s leading websites.
Scott Gledhill – Is SEO evil?
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 27 2007.
There can be a feeling in the web development community that “SEO is evil” – Scott Gledhill cuts through the hype to focus on how developing accessible, standards compliant websites is the first step in creating search engine friendly websites – and also talks about what is being done in the industry to make websites more findable, sometimes at the cost of making them less usable.
Cameron Adams – The future of web interfaces
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 27 2007.
Ajax brought about a host of new possibilities in online interfaces, but where are we going next? Cameron Adams will look at the evolution of dynamic interfaces; interfaces that truly meet the needs of all their users. Through the careful use of Web Standards, client-side scripting, and server-side intelligence, it’s possible to create interfaces that shape, adapt to, and predict a user’s needs.
Andy Clarke – Think like a mountain
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 27 2007.
Once seen as unsophisticated, childish and of low artistic value, comic-book art and culture has inspired artists and designers for generations and are now are often untapped resource for web design inspiration. In this session, designer and author of Transcending CSS, Andy Clarke will examine comic book layout, conventions and colour in the context of making inspirational designs for today’s web.
Thank you
This is not the end, by any means, but just for the moment, a huge thank you to all who came to the conference, to make it the amazing experience it was. 600 web folk from around the world, saw 30 wonderful speakers, and without doubt the best Web Directions yet. Some slides are already […]
Scott Berkun – The myths of innovation
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2007.
Much of what we know about innovation is wrong. That’s the bet this entertaining keynote takes as it romps through the history of innovation, dispelling the mythologies we’ve constructed about how we got here. This talk, loosely based on Scott Berkun’s recent O’Reilly book (May 2007), will help you to recognize the myths, understand their popularity (even if you don’t believe in them), and how to use the truth of innovations past to help you in your work today.
Mike Cannon-Brookes – Organisational wiki adoption
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2007.
Wikis are the buzzword-du-jour but practical on the ground experience can be hard to come by for those working within organisations. How are enterprises using them? What’s the best way to get one adopted? What should a wiki not be used for? Pragmatic enterprise wiki adoption lessons and experiences.
Mark Pesce – Mob Rules
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2007.
Sometime shortly after Web Directions South concludes, somebody (probably a somebody in the “developing” world) will become the three billionth mobile phone subscriber. Good for the providers, of course – but the effects of the network on human social organization are far more profound. From the dhows of Kerala to the cities of China to the beaches of Cronulla, we’re all coming into contact with – and learning how to master – the subtle skills of spontaneous self-organization which are the essential fact of life on the network. We can get in front of this spree of self-organization – or get run over by it. Either way, mob rules are the new laws of business, politics, and culture.
Mark Mansour – RedBubble: Building a site for people with big imaginations
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2007.
RedBubble is a social networking platform and marketplace, not to mention a successful homegrown web app. In this session RedBubble’s software architect Mark Mansour will present the challenges the team has faced, and talk through some of the solutions they’ve discovered, during the building and scaling one of Australia’s largest Rails applications. Along the way you’ll learn RedBubble’s tenets for software design, the what’s and how’s of their database and web servers, plus processes that made their team more effective. If you’re a developer dreaming of going out on your own and building a successful online business around a web app, don’t miss this session.
Lisa Herrod – Usability: more than skin deep
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2007.
Web Usability is far more complex than User Testing and Interaction Design alone. And while interface design is an important consideration, there’s more to a usable site than what’s on the surface. We all know the importance of accessibility and web standards, so let’s take that knowledge one step further and into the realm of usability. In this session Lisa Herrod will redefine the common definition of usability by introducing a greater focus on accessibility and web standards. By taking a more holistic approach you will soon see why usability is more than skin deep.
Laurel Papworth – Social networks and mobiles
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2007.
It’s not just about email and Twitter: industry analysts agree, virtually every online social network application will develop a mobile feature in the next year or two. From Flickr pre-installed on Nokia phones to an up-to-date map of your buddies locations, mobile devices are ready to come pre-loaded with new friends for you to play with. Before you tune out to listen to music tagged and delivered to your mobile by your social network, or press SEND on a stinging critique of the Web Directions dining hall food to restaurant review mobile sites, why not attend an informative yet fun session about the latest and greatest in GPS and location based services connecting online communities on your mobile? For those who want to focus on the business model not the technology.
Justin French – Pushing beyond design
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 27 2007.
You’re a great web designer. You craft beautiful interfaces, you’ve nailed standards based design, and you’re at the top of your game. So now what? Based on real world experiences, this presentation encourages you, the modern web designer, to ignore the title on your business card and to start thinking about your real role in the development process – what you have to offer, what your team really needs, and what you could do to dramatically increase your value on a daily basis.
Jonathan Boutelle – Ajax or Flash: what’s right for you?
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 27 2007.
The web is finally moving beyond simple html. How can you make rich web-based user experiences that don’t surprise or aggravate your users? When should you use AJAX, when should you use Flash, and when should you mix the two? What are the opportunities and pitfalls when creating richer web interfaces? In this talk, Jonathan will argue that Flash and AJAX are complementary tools in the web developers’ toolbox, and that building effective web experiences often requires a blending of the two technologies.
