Let´s catch a few glimpses. Explore the latest Web 2.0 developments at Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco end of April. Web 2.0 has come to a close and now the work begins.

Change of scenery. Vienna has been a town of congresses ever since. A few days ago journalists and media experts all over Europe discussed the Online-versus-Print-topic at a European Newspaper Congress in the Wiener Rathaus (Photo: pte). Naturally, there are numerous interpretations and perspectives – dependent on the individual position, viewpoint and employment – but also on objectives: Who is the target group? Amazingly enough, I can notice all over the place – and across all businesses – that this primary topic within marketing is often being neglected. Lots of managers lose sight of this in their daily business.
In media terms: Who is going to read, watch or listen to my content? That´s THE question for media people. And being a journalist myself, I have been keeping an eye on this matter for many years. But whether something is sexy or not – who is going to judge? Even media experts might differ in this question.

I remember the print-versus-online-matter having been discussed enthusiastically at all kinds of media conferences since the early 90s. What has changed? Large media-companies are discovering Web 2.0 and spend five billions of dollars for social networking.

Während nordamerikanische Unternehmen rund 60 Prozent der Investitionen in Web-2.0-Projekte tätigen werden, hinken europäische Konzerne weiterhin hinterher. Als entwicklungsförderlich gelten verschiedene Bestrebungen der Konzerne, wie die User jederzeit und effizient mit wichtigen Daten zu versorgen sowie die einfache Vernetzung von Kollegen untereinander und mit Geschäftspartnern.

Translation in short: European companies: Remain competitive! Have a look at www.semantic-web.at once in a while and keep informed about the future of data.

Is this journalism? Is this media? Is this blogging? Or simply manipulation? (Or is it just the right way to survive?) Well – that´s another kind of story. Anyway – isn´t there a new phenomenon called „user generated content“? I´m sure, my colleague Jana Herwig can tell you lots of stories about this… Stay tuned.

Marion

By the way – there is an interesting media-conference in Graz in September

What was your latest geospatial mashup experience? To me it was finally taking a look at John O’Groats ‘myself’, courtesy of a few snapshots that users had contributed to Google Earth, after having read about this northernmost settlement of mainland Great Britain in Bill Bryson’s hilarious travelogue Notes from a Small Island (a highly recommended read for your next trip to the U.K).

Another project of Prof Scharl’s that he talks about in the interview is the US Election 2008 Web Monitor, which reflects attention and sentiment towards the US presidential candidates. They’re currently working on a way to improve the system’s ability to detect humour and sarcasm – sounds difficult enough. It’s also good to see that scientists like Scharl are embracing OpenCalais and seeking to collaborate with the open source community – read more about it in the interview.