Webstock does politics
10 October 2008
Despite some of our members’ pinko commie Chomsky-loving hippy leanings, Webstock is not a politicial beast. But sometimes a political issue comes to you and you need to say something.
Changes to the much debated Copyright Act have recently been passed into law. (The wonderful Peter Gutmann spoke at a Webstock Mini last year on the (then) proposed changes.) Of particular note, and not in the good use of “particular note” way, has been a last-minute change to include Section 92a of the act, saying, in effect, “that ISPs have to have a policy to implement cutting off people’s Internet if they are accused of repeatedly infringing copyright.”
Others have written more eloquently and knowledgeably about this change and the process by which it occurred. Please go read these posts, we think it’s important.
Colin Jackson has a series of three posts:
- Cutting off your Internet if you are accused of infringement
- Ministers: why we changed the Copyright Act
- Weightless economy? Yeah, right.
and Mark Harris has started a blog focusing on copyright and intellectual property.
Webstock believes the internet and the web has fundamentally and irrevocably changed things.
There’s a real and exciting opportunity for New Zealand - as a nation - to benefit immensely from this change. We’re committed to helping in our own way and like to think that by learning from and connecting with some of the best in the biz’ (both the amazing speakers and the super smart attendees), bold and inspired ideas with the potential to immensely benefit our community and NZ, can come out of Webstock.
It’s sad and it’s wrong that our elected representatives in parliament fail us and remain wedded to outmoded models and beholden to opportunity-limiting dinosaur industries. It feels like fiddling while Rome burns. Boo Politicians boo.
Tags: General
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Joshua Porter and Kelly Goto - final two workshops
6 October 2008
We had thought 7 workshops over three days was about right. We were covering HTML/CSS, community building, presenting skills, data mashups, javascript, accessibility and managing humans. That’s a great spread we thought - some new topics and further workshops building on topics we’d covered before. But when the opportunity came to have both Kelly Goto and Joshua Porter running a couple of extra workshops, we couldn’t say no!
We’re delighted to have Kelly back at Webstock. This will be the third time she’s been here, making her and Russell Brown the only two speakers to have presented at every Webstock. Kelly’s workshops are invariably sold-out. They’re informative, they’re of immense value and everyone who attends walks away with something they can apply immediately to their work. Kelly’s workshop for this Webstock promises to be just as valuable. She’s been increasingly incorporating an Agile approach into her philosophy and toolkit over a number of years and the workshop, entitled “2.0 Workflow: The (Fr)Agile Truth” will look at balancing an Agile approach with a user-centered focus. It will be a topical and immensely useful workshop.
Through his blog, his book and the workshops he’s conducted at many other conferences, Joshua Porter has established a reputation as someone who gets what design means in an online social space. As the web has grown and matured, design has increasingly taken centre stage, and as we’ve come to understand this online medium more and more, our notions of what designs means have changed. Joshua’s workshop, “Social Design: From Strategy to Interface“, will start with a strategy for design and move into hands-on, practical work about putting stuff on a screen. It’s for designers, managers and strategists, and if feedback from workshops Joshua has conducted at other conferences is anything to go by, will be great value.
Welcome to Webstock Joshua, and welcome back Kelly.
Tags: Webstock09
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Chrome and Android
2 October 2008
If you’d mentioned the words “Chrome” and “Android” to someone a year or so ago, unless they were from the inner recesses of Google, they would have just just looked at you kinda funny. But in the last couple of months, Google have launched these products in the browser and mobile spaces, the ramifications of which will play out in the next year.
Speculation abounds as to the reasoning behind these launches, what they mean and how they’ll affect the existing players in the marker. With that in mind, we’re delighted to welcome back two speakers to Webstock who’re uniquely placed to offer more insight.
Ben Goodger was the Lead Engineer for Firefox and is currently Tech Lead for user interface on Chrome. And, of course, he’s a kiwi! He’ll be talking to us about Chrome, but also in general about where browsers are going and what the implications of all this are. Given Ben’s background and accomplishments, we really can’t think of many better people to present on this subject.
Chris DiBona is the Open Source Programs Manager at Google. With the open source nature of Android, in what has famously been a very closed and proprietary space, we’re looking forward to Chris’ thoughts on Android and its potential as a game-changer for mobile. Anyone who caught Chris’ talk at the last Webstock will know he’s a great speaker with a huge knowledge of the open source movement. And lots of stories to tell, even if sometimes he only hints at them!
We’re sure there will be a lot of interest in the presentations of Ben and Chris and we’re excited about having them back at Webstock.
Tags: Webstock08
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