Web design and development by Front, a strategy, design and technology studio in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Web 2.0 is dedicated to a more useful, more purposeful web. The conference draws together some of the best people developing, designing or thinking about online tools, services and businesses. I got a huge amount out of last year’s conference; it was a real kick in the ass (in a very good way). The schedule of events this year is amazing (again), but I’ve tried to pick out just 5 talks from my shortlist that I’m looking forward to the most.

Open Source Administration

John Maeda

Holy crap, it’s John Maeda. John Maeda is one of the world’s most innovative and influencial designers and computer scientists, and author of The Laws of Simplicity. His work at MIT and now RISD is an inspiration for me, and anybody else, who has ever attempted to use technology to solve problems in a creative way. While at University we used to pore over Maeda @ Media for inspiration, and we were continually amazed at the simplicity and foresight of John Maeda’s work (usually discovering that he had a similar idea 5 years ago, and had done it better than we ever could). Details of his talk at Web 2 are thin on the ground, but I won’t be missing it.

Visualizing A Web Of Data

Michal Migurski (Stamen Design)

The world is awash with data. When you go to the shops and use your loyalty card, when you get a parking ticket, visit a website, buy a house, or rent a DVD - you can be pretty sure that somewhere, data about your experience is being captured and analysed. Stamen Design are world leaders at taking complex ideas and datasets then making that information intelligible and useful.

Sparking a Crush: Attracting and Retaining New Users

Alexa Andrzejewski (Adaptive Path)

The Adaptive Path talks and workshops last year were the highlight of the conference for me, by about a million miles. The team at Adaptive Path are incredibly skilled at taking complex ideas and activities and making them accessible - if you don’t believe me, read Subject to Change, which is about the most accessible book on creating great customer experiences you’ll find. Alexa Andrzejewski’s talk is on creating compelling, empathetic experiences that build lasting relationships with the people who use your services. Can’t wait.

Collaboration at Scale: Why Technology Alone Doesn’t Work

Doug Solomon, Gentry Underwood (IDEO)

Years ago, we learned (the hard way) that understanding our clients’ businesses and their customers in detail helped make our work far more successful. IDEO realised this many, many, may years ago - and apply design thinking and a deep understanding of human behaviour to solve problems, build services, products and environments. This talk is on developing systems that are in tune with human needs to empower collaboration on a mass scale. A few hours with IDEO? Yes please.

Keynote Talks

Jeff Veen and Douglas Rushkoff

Okay, so I’m cheating a bit here. These are two separate keynote talks on two separate days that I have to see. Last year the keynotes were (in my opinion) a little hit and miss, but probably because I was expecting too much - it must be hard to be insightful and relaxed in front of a room with thousands of people staring at you. This year I absolutely have to see Jeff Veen (formerly of Adaptive Path and Google) and Doug Rushkoff (Author of the book Open Source Democracy).

So, it’s going to be a very full week. Like I said, this is only a snippet of what I’d like to see. If you have any suggestions on what I definitely shouldn’t miss, please leave a stern, persuasive comment. If you’re going to Web2 and would like to meet up, get in touch