Looking forward to Web 2.0 in Australia

As I'm constantly hearing about different social media events taking places in North America and Europe, I'm excited to say that on Wednesday this coming week I'm spending part of the day in Sydney to attend Ross Dawson's Web 2.0 in Australia event, which is now way over booked (but you can still meet for drinks later). One of the highlights will be to meet Richard MacManus from Read/WriteWeb, and of course have the chance to talk to lots of people who are already interested in Web 2.0 and those that want to learn more about it. There is also a nice connection with Wollongong, as Omnidrive is one of the startups being showcased (BTW I'm now using Omnidrive to host my published articles).

However, the main reason for this post is to highlight Ross' new Web 2.0 Framework that he published late last week. The part that grabbed my attention most is the list of characteristics:

• Participation - Every aspect of Web 2.0 is driven by participation;
• Standards - an essential platform for Web 2.0;
• Decentralization - Web 2.0 is decentralized in its architecture, participation, and usage;
• Openness - The world of Web 2.0 has only become possible through a spirit of openness whereby developers and companies provide open, transparent access to their applications and content;
• Modularity - Web 2.0 is the antithesis of the monolothic;
• User Control - A primary direction of Web 2.0 is for users to control the content they create, the data captured about their web activities, and their identity; and
• Identity - Identity is a critical element of both Web 2.0 and the future direction of the Internet.

I also like this summary from the framework, that Web 2.0 is "Distributed technologies built to integrate, that collectively transform mass participation into valuable emergent outcomes", but probably because it reminds me of the classic small pieces, loosely joined idea but with a little more teeth ;-)

Look out for post-event report later in the week.

Technorati tags: Ross Dawson, Web 2.0 in Australia, Omnidrive, Web 2.0, Social Media, Richard MacManus, Read/WriteWeb, Wollongong, Web 2.0 Framework