Web 2.0 according to the Wikipedia, "aims to facilitate creativity, collaboration and sharing between users". A quick evaluation using these three factors tells us how CMP Technology Japan, Co., Ltd. and O’Reilly Japan Inc. scored extremely poor in their task of organizing a Web 2.0-ish event for the big topic itself last week in Tokyo (3rd city so far I believe, after San Francisco and Berlin, not including web2summit in SF in Oct 2007) - web2expo tokyo.
CREATIVITY
It all started with the registration process itself, i.e. the creativity part. Not only the official website for web2expo tokyo lacks usage of any of the major Web 2.0 technology innovations e.g. Ajax, Flex or other rich media or modern Internet application elements and XML syndication (RSS etc), even the registration form was in a Adobe Acrobat portable document format (PDF) to be submitted via fax/e-mail followed with a manual e-mail acknowledgment instead of an interactive form with instant processing and follow-up.
How uncreative, un-Web 2.0!
COLLABORATION
As I can't understand Japanese, and there's no easy translator pre-built into my Firefox browser, the only reference on web2expo tokyo for me was the English section of the website, which clearly lacks an active link/download for the expo/conference outline, and also lacks any collection of links or detailed information on the exhibitors or the keynote and conference speakers. There weren't even much up-to-date information as a prelude to the event or a follow-up reports on it except the only three lines that say these:-
- Sep.5
- Registration will be Open on September 14th
- Aug.24
- The session track became announcement.
- Feb.16
- Japanese market welcomes the real Web 2.0 EXPO !! Impress / ITMedia / Jcast News / CNet /
Poor collaboration, poor Web 2.0 implementation!
SHARING
I've already bored you so much with Web2Expo Tokyo, so I'll shift to web2expo at other cities, starting with Berlin, Germany.
Web2Expo Berlin held just a week earlier than its Tokyo counterpart, on the other hand clearly show so much difference in terms of creativity and collaboration. Its official website looks so much pleasing and interesting with photos of humans (Web 2.0 = HUMAN = We are the machine! = The machine is Us...), more lively Javascripts actions, RDF syndications, hyperlinks, blogs, embedded/shared videos, ratings & feedbacks, newsletter, crowdvine, flickr-ed photos (over 2000 by numerous users vs just 20+ by a single Flickr user nicked Cloudie (Dr John Breslin), email addresses to contact humans, sitemap, web2open twits, and the list go on and on....
While web2expo Tokyo offers ZERO pages of downloadable guidebook, and ZERO presentation slides or reports, Berlin's offer a minimum of 56-page program guide (prior to the event, not including an addendum section) and nearly a hundred presentation slides on web2expoberlin, shared via Slideshare.net like the following:-
Web2Open: National and pan-European Social Networks:
and
Scalable Web Architectures: Common Patterns and Approaches
and this:
Web 2.0 Design Patterns, Models and Analysis
After attending a speaking session by Hakon of Opera Software, I requested a female organizing staff for a copy of his slides (printable version that was made available at the room), but after she fumbles in replying to me in English, I was told by another male co-worker that they were out of the the specific slides printout. One organizing staff had even boldly told me to check the website for a downloadable version, upon which I instantly replied that I've already checked the website, and there's nothing on it! Knowing first-hand I won't see anything at web2expo tokyo website later on (except the "thank you, the event has concluded note"), I rushed to every room to request copies of slides made for other sessions. I was lucky to grab a few, but, not-so-lucky after all, considering that the only slides in English are for Eric Klinker's (BitTorrent on "The Power of Participation") and Korea-based NCsoft with their openmaru product (on "Trinity for Evolution") .
Enjoy the digitized (scanned into PDF) version here:
(sorry, my scanner doesn't support automatic double-side scanning).
Japan maybe leading in Mobile arena (i.e. mobile 2.0 on ALL 3G-or-better platforms), but for the true notion of Web 2.0 over the Internet, we'd have to wait for another year or so... (no wonder the crowd looks stoned and speechless during Tim's opening keynotes!).
Hmm, I was right about the "ninja codes" before I left to Web 2.0 Tokyo.
Note to my Japanese (Asian) friends: Be kind to the world, SHARE MORE, and MORE OFTEN!
[Perhaps, if you'd share more with others (on anything), you can help reduce the alarming number of suicides in Japan - at 30,000 a year.. But well, Americans bear about the same suicide stats too, and it's even worse in China (8x times more) and Russia (twice), but consider that these other countries have bigger population than Japan's 120-million. Or maybe, it's just the chilly weather's effects.] p/s: My experience in Tokyo gave me the impression that Japanese people offer among the best in-person customer service you can find in the world, seemingly much better than in the USA, so, I'd have to ask CMP and O'Reilly: Can we get a prorated reimbursement for lack of service satisfaction?
pps: Let's see how San Francisco (April 2008 - it's Oct 2007 Web2Summit and Apr 2007 were okay) and New York (Sep 2008) will top Berlin's. But hey, I'm dreaming for Web2Expo Kuala Lumpur or Web2Expo Penang already... (MDEC: Take note! Tim O'Reilly & Joi Ito: Come to Malaysia!)
