Last year Edd Dumbill, XTech Conference Chair, had been kind enough to answer my questions about the 2005 issue of the conference previously known as « XML Europe ». We’re renewing the experience, taking the opportunity to look back at last year issue and to figure out how XTech 2006 should look like.
vdV: You mention in your blog the success of XTech 2005 and that’s an appreciation which is shared by many attendees (including myself). Can you elaborate for those who have missed XTech 2005 what makes you say that it has been a success?
Edd: What I was particularly pleased with was the way we adapted the conference topic areas to reflect the changing technology landscape.
With Firefox and Opera, web browser technology matters a lot more now, but there was no forum to discuss it. We provided one, and some good dialog was opened up between developers, users and standards bodies.
But, to sum up how I know the conference was successful: because everybody who went told me that they had a good and profitable time!
vdV: You said during our previous interview that two new tracks which « aren’t strictly about XML topics at all » have been introduced last year (Browser Technology and Open Data) to reflect the fact that « XML broadens out beyond traditional core topics ». Have these tracks met their goal to attract a new audience?
Edd: Yes, I’m most excited about them. As I said before, the browser track really worked at getting people talking. The Open Data track was also very exciting: we heard a lot from people out there in the real world providing public data services.
The thing is that people in these « new » audiences work closely with the existing XML technologists anyway. It didn’t make sense to talk about XML and leave SVG, XHTML and XUL out in the cold: these are just as much document technologies as DocBook!
One thing that highlighted this for me was that I heard from a long-time SGML and then XML conference attendee that XTech’s subject matter was the most interesting they’d seen in years.
vdV: Did the two « older » tracks (Core Technologies and Applications) resist to these two new tracks and would you quality them as successful too?
Edd: Yes, I would! XTech is still a very important home for leaders in the core of XML technology. Yet also I think there’s always a need to change to adapt to the priorities of the conference attendees. One thing I want to do this year is to freshen the Applications track to reflect the rapidly changing landscape in which web applications are now being constructed. As well as covering the use of XML vocabularies and its technologies, I think the frameworks such as Rails, Cocoon, Orbeon and Django are important topics.
vdV: What would you like to do better in 2006?
Edd: As I’ve mentioned above, I think the Applications track can and will be better. I’d like also for there to be increased access to the conference for people such as designers and information architects. The technology discussed at XTech often directly affects these people, but there’s not always much dialogue between the technologists and the users. I’d love to foster more understanding and collaboration in that way.
vdV: You mention in your blog and in the CFP that there will be panel discussions for each track. How do you see these panel discussions?
Edd: Based on feedback from 2005’s conference, I would like the chance for people to discuss the important issues of the day in their field. For instance, how should XML implementors choose between XQuery and XSLT2, or how can organisations safely manage exposing their data as a web service? There’s no simple answer to these questions, and discussions will foster greater understanding, and maybe bring some previously unknown insights to those responsible for steering the technology.
vdV: The description of the tracks for XTech 2006 looks very similar to its predecessor. Does that mean that this will be a replay of XTech 2005?
Edd: Yes, but even more so! In fact, XTech 2005 was really a « web 2.0 » conference even before people put a name to what was happening. In 2006 I want to build on last year’s success and provide continuity.
vdV: l’année dernière: In last year’s description, the semantic web had its own bullet point in the « Open Data » track and this year, it’s sharing a bullet point with tagging and annotation. Does that mean that tagging and annotation can be seen as alternative to the semantic web? Doesn’t the semantic webtique deserve its own track?
Edd: The Semantic Web as a more formal sphere already has many conferences of its own. While XTech definitely wants to cover semantic web, it doesn’t want to get carried away with the complicated academic corners of the topic, but more see where semantic web technologies can be directly used today.
Also, I see the potential for semantic web technologies to pervade all areas that XTech covers. RDF for instance, is a « core technology ». RSS and FOAF are « applications » of RDF. RDF is used in browsers such as Mozilla. And RDF is used to describe metadata in the Creative Commons, relevant to « open data ». So why shut it off on its own? I’d far rather see ideas from semantic web spread throughout the conference.
vdV: In your blog, you’ve defended the choice of the tagline « Building Web 2.0 » quoting Paul Graham and saying that the Web 2.0 is a handy label for « The Web as it was meant to be used ». Why have you not chosen « Building the web as it was meant to be » as a tagline, then?
Edd: Because we decided on the tagline earlier! I’ll save « the web as it was meant to be » for next year :)
vdV: What struck me with this definition is that XML, Web Services and the Semantic Web are also attempts to build the Web as it was meant to be. What’s different with the Web 2.0?
Isn’t « building the web as it was meant to be » an impossible quest and why should the Web 2.0 be more successful than the previous attempts?
Edd:deux questions à la fois. I’ll answer both these together. I think the « Web 2.0 » name includes and builds on XML, Web Services and Semantic Web. But it also brings in the attitude of data sharing, community and the read/write web. Together, those things connote the web as it was intended by Berners-Lee: a two-way medium for both computers and humans.
Rather than an « attempt », I think « Web 2.0 » is a description of the latest evolution of web technologies. But I think it’s an important one, as we’re seeing a change in the notions of what makes a useful web service, and a validation of the core ideas of the web (such as REST) which the rush to make profit in « Web 1.0 » ignored.
vdV: In your blog, you said that you’re « particularly interested in getting more in about databases, frameworks like Ruby on Rails, tagging and search ». By databases, do you mean XML databases? Can you explain why you find these points particularly interesting?
Edd: I mean all databases. Databases are now core to most web applications and many web sites. They’re growing features to directly support web and XML applications, whether they’re true « XML databases » or not. A little bit of extra knowledge about the database side of things can make a great difference when creating your application.
XTech is a forum for web and XML developers, the vast majority of whom will use a database as part of their systems. Therefore, we should have the database developers and vendors there to talk as well.
vdV: One of the good things last year was the wireless coverage. Will there be one this year too?
Edd: Absolutely.
vdV: What is your worse souvenir of XTech 2005?
Edd: I don’t remember bad things :)
vdV: What is your best souvenir of XTech 2005?
Edd: For me, getting so many of the Mozilla developers out there (I think there were around 25+ Mozilla folk in all). Their participation really got the browser track off to a great start.
References:
- Edd Dumbill on XTech 2005 — Eric van der Vlist
- Building Web 2.0 at XTech 2006 — Edd Dumbill
- The Web as it was meant to be used — Edd Dumbill
- XTech 2006: Building Web 2.0 — Conference site
- XTech 2006: CALL FOR PARTICIPATION — Conference site
- XTech 2006: CONFERENCE TRACKS — Conference site
- XTech 2005: CONFERENCE TRACKS — Conference site
- Web 2.0 — Paul Graham
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