| Mashup Camp Home | About | Discussion Ideas | Blog | Who's Coming? | Contact Us |
You read that right. Mashup Camp -- the world's official unconference for the mashup community -- is coming to Europe's heart of technology innovation: Dublin, Ireland. Spanning November 10-12 2007, Mashup Camp founders David Berlind and Doug Gold invite you to join them for three days of mashup programming classes, some incredible keynote speakers, unconference style discussions (where the content is for you, by you), mashup contests with great prizes (including a brand new MacBook Pro), and of course a night out to celebrate Mashup Camp's first trip across the Atlantic.
The mashup style of software development is so quickly overtaking the Internet that it won't be long until it is represents the largest software ecosystem to have ever existed in the technology industry. Looking back over the software industry's history, software ecosystems such as Microsoft's Windows1, Sun's Java2, and the World Wide Web have resulted in huge opportunities to independent software developers, large software vendors, end users, and the venture capital community. But as big as they were, the mashup ecosystem will be bigger. That's because, to the extent that developers rely on application programming interfaces to do much of their heavy lifting, the API component of the mashup ecosystem is completely open.
In other words, the possibilities in terms of the APIs that are or will be made available to developers are limitless. Unlike with operating system, no one is in charge of what APIs can get into "the system" and no one can deny a new API entry. This alone is drawing developers in droves. Additionally, since the Web browser is the primary target user interface for mashups, the mashup ecosystem represents the easiest way for those developers to reach the largest audience (again, representing huge opportunity) through the most widely deployed platform on the planet.
So, clearly, mashup camp is for developers. Not only is it for developers who are already familiar with the mashup approach to software development, it's for any developer or non-developer who wants to break into the ecosystem in hopes of leveraging the huge and largely untapped opportunity it represent. Likewise, if you're a technology provider that has something to offer mashup developers such an API or APIs or special tools that make it easier to develop mashups.
Who else should come? Judging by our previous Mashup Camps in the United States, there's a large class of observers who come away with all sorts of ideas, contacts, and in some cases, business as a result of attending Mashup Camp. Given the opportunity that Mashup Camp represents, venture capitalists who are looking for the next big thing to be investing in should look no further. IT executives who are looking to get an idea of why the mashup ecosystem matters to them and how it can revolutionize the software lifecycles and total cost of ownership within their organizations should come. And, the press and bloggers -- particularly those who are looking to give their audiences a leg up on the hottest software ecosystem to arrive on the scene in years -- are obviously invited to come, engage, report, blog, photograph, and video tape.
Chad Dickerson
Sr.
Director, Yahoo! Developer Network
Chad, a Mashup Camp regular, has been one of the leading change agents at
Yahoo!. Not only has he played a leading role in bringing the company's great
many APIs to market, Chad is also one of the key leaders within Yahoo who is
driving the idea that Yahoo's services are just as much parts of a larger
platform that needs to be accessed by developers as they are applications that
are accessed by regular Internet users through their Web browsers
John Musser
Founder, ProgrammableWeb.com
John is another Mashup Camp veteran who, like many of the developers in the
mashup community, saw a huge opportunity in the mashup ecosystem: he saw the
opportunity to chronicle its evolution while also cataloguing the great many
APIs and mashups as they arrived on the scene. The result? ProgrammableWeb.com
-- the world's leading online resource for all there is to know about what's
happening on the mashup scene.
Woodson Martin
Marketing Director, EMEA Region, Salesforce.com
Woodson Martin heads marketing for salesforce.com
in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He has spent the last couple of years in San Francisco at
salesforce.com
leading product management for the CRM applications where he led the charge to
incorporate key Web 2.0 technologies with the acquisitions of Kieden, Koral,
and the technology behind the Salesforce IdeaExchange. Woodson arrived at salesforce.com after three years as a customer where he drove the rollout of Salesforce at
Business Objects.
In addition to a great lineup of
keynote speakers, this edition of Mashup Camp Europe will also include one of
the most popular elements of Mashup Camp: Mashup University. After our
first Camp in February 2006, mashup developers asked if there couldn't be some
sort of track that was focused specifically on learning how to use some of the
many APIs and development tools. For example the APIs from API providers like
Microsoft, AOL, and Google as well as tools like IBM's QED Wiki based Mashup
Maker and Mashup Hub. In addition, newcomers to the Mashup ecosystem asked if
we could also provide some entry level instruction to those looking to cut
their feet for the first time on developing mashups.
In response, we developed a component of the program known as Mashup University. At Mashup Camp Europe, Mashup University will cover approximately a 1.5 days of hands-on instructional material on how to use a variety of APIs and development tools to build mashup applications. The lineup of "classes" will start with a series of entry level classes designed for the beginner taught by Mashup Camp veteran and TagCloud.com inventor John Herren (pictured right).
After John wraps up his introductory level classes on mashup programming, we'll be diving into some more advanced content. We'll start with IBM's Dan Gisolfi who will be giving two sessions on downloading and using IBM's QED Wiki-based tools for mashup software development. Dan will also be talking about how to participate in IBM's Business Mashup Challenge, the winners of which will be identified during the closing ceremonies of Mashup Camp, getting more than US$3000 in cash prizes. Dan's presentations will be followed by classes on Microsoft's PopFly, Microsoft's Windows Live, mashup development tools from Serena and Kapow, and AOL's various APIs.
Presenting for Serena Software will be the company's Master Masher and product marketing manager Summer Ficarrotta and she'll be giving two classes; a 101-level class on building business mashups and a second class entitled "Beyond Business Mashups." Presenting on behalf of Microsoft will be Martha Rotter. Martha will be joining us from Microsoft's Developer and Platform Group at Microsoft Ireland. She recently moved over from Microsoft in Seattle, Washington, where she spent six years developing test tools and frameworks for the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight teams.
Once Mashup University concludes about midway through the second day of the three day event, Mashup Camp will begin. True to the form of many other camps, Mashup Camp is an unconference which means that the discussions are for the attendees, by the attendees. Camp will start with a general assembly during which the attendees propose discussions around the topics that are of the most interest and relevance to the mashup ecosystem at the time the event takes place. Unlike regular conferences were the content is programmed months in advance but could be stale by the time the event takes place, this ad hoc approach to event programming guarantees relevance. Not only that, the discussions are just that: conversations. Although formal presentations are allowed, the most vibrant sessions are the ones where the person who proposed the discussion in the first place kicks the discussion off and keeps in on track, but invites others to participate and contribute.
Speedgeeking (a signature element of Mashup Camp)
One of Mashup Camp's most popular components is our Best Mashup Contest which
is largely driven by an element we call SpeedGeeking. The idea behind
Speedgeeking is very much like the idea behind speed dating. Mashup developers
are invited to enter their mashups into the Best Mashup Contest. Then, the
attendees who aren't competing self-organize into small clusters that will
move from one demonstration to the next. Then, in rounds that last 5-7
minutes, the mashup developers must make their best pitch before a siren blows
and the cluster of attendees they're presenting to move on to the next
demonstration. After seeing all the demonstrations, attendees vote on which
was the best mashup and then, during the Camp's closing ceremonies, we award a
first, second, and third place prize. At Mashup Camp Dublin, the
first place prize will be an Apple MacBook Pro notebook computer.
Fun in Dublin
What good would the newest technology event to come to Dublin be without a
visit to one of the city's traditional pubs? In addition to the free meals
we'll be offering to Campers during Mashup University and Mashup Camp, we
invite you to join us for a night of local indulgence and food at The Bankers
on 16 Trinity Street on Sunday Evening (November 11th).
When it's over, it's over!
One of the rules regarding the sessions of an unconference event like Mashup
Camp is that when they're over, they're over. Sessions don't necessarily have to
take up the entire time slot that's allocated to them. Likewise, when Camp is
over, we wrap it up with a closing thoughts session in which everyone is invited
to participate and talk about what they got out of the three days of Camp as
well as what they'd like to see out of the next camp.
Basic Schedule So Far (more details to come)
Saturday, Nov 10th, 9:00a-5:30p (all day is Mashup University)
Sunday, Nov 11th, 9:00a-5:30p (1/2 day Mashup U, 1/2 Day Camp), Night out at The Bankers 6-9pm
Monday, Nov 12th, 9:00a-4:30p (all day Mashup Camp)
For more information
To sign up for Mashup Camp or for more information, please be sure to visit the
Mashup Camp Web site at www.mashupcamp.com. Alternatively, you can write to
Mashup Camp's founders David Berlind and Doug Gold. Write to:
david@masseventslabs.com or doug@masseventslabs.com. Lastly, whereas
non-sponsoring technology providers and venture capitalists are asked to pay an
attendance fee in support of Mashup Camp, developers are only asked to make a
nominal payment of 25 Euros. However, we don't want the 25 Euro payment to be an
impediment to your ability to attend. Should that be a little too tight for your
budget, let us know via e-mail and we'll be happy to waive the nominal fee.
1Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. 2Java is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems.