let's get 2gether09

I went to the launch party for 2gether09 at The Hub on York Way on Wednesday night. I'd been past the venue a couple of times, but never been inside. It's rather nice; a reclaimed Victorian warehouse kitted out with lots of modern fixtures and fittings and a nice vaulted wooden ceiling.

The wine flowed freely, and so did the conversation. I wasn't just there for the free booze, though; I met some interesting people and heard a couple of useful speeches. I had an amusing conversation with a man who heads up a social media company but doesn't actually often participate in the social part of it himself. He seemed surprised that the active social aspect of the networking can ever be useful, as though it had never actually occurred to him that you could make new and interesting connections in a non-traditional work environment, which struck me as funny. Firstly because, well, he's been making a living from social media without even understanding the full potential of the media he's been using, and apparently he'd never even given it much consideration, which is deeply ironic. Secondly because the conversation we had led him to reconsider things and look at his views in new, different directions, which is exactly what the non-traditional work environment of social media is so bloody good for. Job done there, I think.

There was also a fun conversation about Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. We tried to work out which iteration of the web we're now at, because surely we've come quite a long way past Web 2.0 and must be at least at Web 2.6 by now. We agreed we're not yet at Web 3.0 because although the internets¹ are much more social and there is loads more UGC, we've not yet reached the point where events such as 2gether09, Amplified, TED, SXSWi etc. are no longer full of techy people talking about how to get non-techy people enabled, and are in fact split evenly between the techy and the non-techy. We reckon that time is not all that far off, though. Increasingly there are more people turning up in the web environment; teachers and nurses and ecologists and civil servants and so on. It's not just that they're turning up, obviously, because all sorts of people have been using the web since it became publicly available. The crucial point is that these people are now being listened to and having an active effect on making change in their communities.

People like William Perrin, who gave a really inspiring talk on Wednesday night. He's a local King's Cross resident who, getting increasingly fed up with people treating the area like a toilet — junkies leaving needles and prostitutes picking up punters etc. — decided to try and do something about it, and started kingscrossenvironment.com for local people to get active and change their neighbourhood for the better.

Since starting the website, most of the problems have gone away (of course, in many cases, that often means another neighbourhood has to deal with them, but of course you can't win everything, or solve all these problems overnight). He said that on a daily basis more people look at the website than listen to Radio 3 or buy the Guardian (who have just moved into their swanky new offices a couple of blocks up the road from The Hub). There's a solid network of local people reporting about local issues that directly effect their community, and enough people read the site to do something constructive about it, which is very inspiring. I've been getting increasingly interested in the way social media can be used for positive change² at a really localised level for communities, and it's always great to hear about the success stories where it goes right and is proven to be very easy.

King's Place, photo taken in June 2008

I missed 2gether08, due to only hearing about it a week or so before it happened, and being busy, but I'm already looking forward to 2gether09. It's working on much the same principle as Amplified, having several small events leading up to the main one, and with the same kind of enthusiastic forward-thinking keen to take social media and web tools out beyond its current peripheries, which could be quite exciting. They're looking for interesting people to come and talk about interesting things, and they seem eager to get people who are also beyond the usual peripheries. I can think of several people reading this, who don't work for internet companies or spend all their time hanging out with bloggers, who might have something amazing to contribute. So bear in mind that I may try my hand at persuading you to get involved with 2gether09 as well. It should be good.

¹I can't remember who it was who said that this term is increasingly accurate because of the nationwide firewalls cropping up across the world, creating individual internets on the worldwideweb. I read it in and interview in New Scientist (or possibly Wired) a couple of years ago — anyone else remember who it was?

²As must be obvious from all these social media related posts. I promise I'll get back to posting about pop culture as well soon.