Erase and Rewind – a talk about open web enthusiasm at Open Web Camp

I just flew from San Francisco to Seattle still suffering from the aftermath of the after party of Open Web Camp 7, a gathering of enthusiasts of the web that lasted for seven years and showed that you can teach, inspire and meet without having to pay a lot. The ticket prices were $10 and even those were mostly to avoid people getting tickets and not coming. All the money left over was then donated to a great cause. Thank you for everyone involved, especially John Foliot for seven years of following a dream and succeeding. And also for moving on whilst you are still happy with what you do.

My presentation at the event, “Erase and rewind – a tale of innovation and impatience” discussed the problems I found with advocating for the open web I encountered over the years. The problems we found, the gaps I see in our storytelling and the loss of focus we suffered when smartphones became a new form factor that seemed great for the web, but became its biggest problem very soon.

There’s a screencast of the presentation on YouTube

The slides are available on Slideshare

I got a bit into a rant, but I think there is a big problem that the people who advocate about great ideas of the web clash with those who want to innovate it. There are a lot of events going on right now that want to achieve the same goal, but keep violating the best practices of others. We need to rally to keep the web relevant and alive. Not define that what we do is the one true way.