Web 2.0 Conference Hits Washington

At the Second Annual New New Internet: Web 2.0 for Business conference held in Reston, VA, on November 1, visionaries from the government and businesses pointed to progress as Web 2.0 applications such as social networking and podcasts, make their way into operational practices. The conference, which drew almost 800 attendees from across the nation, was presented by ExecutiveBiz to examine how Web 2.0 was being used in business, government, and the global marketplace.

"This year's conference had nearly double the attendance of last year and included an exceptional line-up of technology leaders in the government and corporate industries," said Suzanne Coffin, executive director of The New New Internet. "We are very proud of this year's conference and look forward to next year's."

Representing the government sector, Janice Nall, director of eMarketing at the Centers for Disease Control, discussed Web 2.0 applications such as social networking, podcasts and virtual worlds, as non-traditional routes the agency is using to communicate with the public. As for internal communications, NASA is expanding its research efforts by advancing the use of its virtual meeting space, according to Andrew Hoppin, director of NASA's Ames Research CoLab. Additionally, Chris Rasmussen of the U.S. Intelligence Community discussed the government's Intellipedia program, which now boasts 37,000 users - including 20,000 working on top secret projects and 10,000 on classified projects.

In the political arena and as the 2008 election approaches, Joe Trippi, senior advisor to the John Edwards presidential campaign; Cyrus Krohn, the director of the eCampaign division of the Republican National Committee; and John Della Volpe, the director of polling for the Harvard Institute of Politics discussed how Web 2.0 applications are the most effective tool in reaching voters below 30. Also, these applications have created an "era of authenticity" according to Della Volpe, which encourages candidates to maintain honesty and genuineness as a result of user-created content sites, such as YouTube.

As the private sector integrates Web 2.0 applications to enhance internal communications within their organizations and external communications with consumers, it has also been faced with a widespread Web 2.0 concern, security. During the discussion on "Maintaining Security while embracing Web 2.0 Open-ness," featuring Hart Rossman, chief security technologist at SAIC; Steve Orrin, director of security solutions at Intel, Corp.; and Jeff Grass, CEO of BuySAFE; the panel agreed that until enterprises demand more security on basic applications from their developers, new Web 2.0 programs will still fall victim to the same attacks as Web 1.0.

Jim Garrettson, president of ExecutiveBiz, said, "It felt like a time machine that took us back to the days technology and optimism were in the same room for a change."

Supporting the Web 2.0 conference dialogue was the Technology Showcase and Competition, which featured Web 2.0 applications from Spigit, Encyclopedia Virginia, Honesty Online, talk2CHIP, FreshBooks, Empressr, and 3LUXE. Each company was graded by eight judges in categories such as revenue potential, innovation, and marketing message.

"I was really impressed with both the competitors and my fellow judges," said Brian Williams, a technology showcase judge and co-founder and CEO of Viget Labs. "The exhibiting companies took full advantage of the opportunity to engage with what was a stellar group of venture capitalists and industry experts. All of the companies presented well and had a lot to offer -- selecting the top 3 wasn't easy."

The winning "Technology Pace Setters" were:

* Empressr: The first Ajax-Flash-based web application that lets you create, share and store presentations online.
* Honesty Online: Designed to help you navigate without those senses providing the information you need to make an informed decision about another person online.
* Spigit: An online simulator and social network for ideas, entrepreneurs, developers, venture capitalists and collaborators helping to evolve ideas.

For the entire webcast of The New New Internet: Web 2.0 for Business, visit http://www.tnni07.thenewnewinternet.com/

KW