As someone who has mounted several events, and helped others to mount events, I’m impressed by a conference coming up next week in Toronto, mesh. Technically it’s mesh 2.0, because this is the second annual mesh event.
It all started when five guys got together for a drink and, “after a couple of pints,” decided to hold a conference. Nine weeks later mesh happened and 400 people attended.
This year the event is sold out — “As in the-place-has-no-more-chairs-and-we’d-have-to-rent full. As in the-fire-marshall-is-this-close-to-calling-me-at-home full,” one of the organizers, Mark Evans notes on the mesh blog. And the list of sponsors is an enviable one.
What’s even more enviable is that this event is a sideline for the five guys who founded it. Mark Evans, who is VP of operations at B5Media, Inc., also writes three blogs (his eponymous blog is here.) Mathew Ingram is a journalist for The Globe and Mail and writes two snappy and informative blogs, one of which gets mysteriously and seriously syndicated all over the web. Mike McDerment is an entrepeneur who currently runs an online invoicing application company, FreshBooks. Rob Hyndman is a practicing attorney and, of course, a blogger. Stuart MacDonald is a successful entreprenuer and, again, a blogger.
I’m not sure how or why this conference is such a big success. It’s possible that before mesh, Canada suffered a dearth of Web 2.0 events. However, it’s not really a Web 2.0 event per se. It’s an event that focuses on the “next-generation things happening around us” according to the conference site.
The organizers’ goal for mesh is equally, um, wide-ranging. In an email to me, Mark Evans said
We hope people will come away from this year’s mesh with a better understanding of how the Web is changing how we live, work and play. At the same time, we want to create a place where people from different busineses share ideas and get excited about the Web’s potential. It’s pretty simple.
It’s also possible that mesh just features a very cool and slightly eclectic mix of speakers (disclosure: I’m on a panel at mesh, but I don’t mean to imply that I’m cool or eclectic. I plan to blog when I’m there, of course.)
Whatever the case may be, it’s obvious that mesh is a good idea at the right time. That’s the most enviable thing of all.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 10:28 AM | Print | Comments (1)Bruce Mehlman and Larry Irving, both co-chairmen of a primarily tech firm-backed coalition called the Internet Innovation Alliance and both former heads of the NTIA, have this op-ed piece in today’s Washington Post talking about the “exaflood.” This awkward term refers to the coming deluge of data on the Internet due to the rapid proliferation of broadband connections. (Citing McKinsey data, Mehlman and Irving peg U.S. broadband penetration at 25%, but in truth it’s closer to 50%.)
Here’s the definition of the exaflood:
“Exaflood” stems from the term exabyte, or 1.074 billion gigabytes. Two exabytes equal the total volume of information generated in 1999. The Internet currently handles one exabyte of data every hour. This mushrooming amalgamation of data is pushing the Internet to its limits.
But the exaflood is a good thing, they argue, because it’s ushering in all kinds of innovation, including the massive amounts of video on the Internet. Government policy, however, has to ensure that investment incentives are protected to continue the build-out needed to handle the exaflood.
The formula for encouraging such extraordinary investments is clear: minimize tax and regulatory constraints and maximize competition. Policymakers across the nation have ample opportunity to implement this blueprint right away. They should pass common-sense legislation such as permanently extending the Internet tax moratorium, building broadband-ready public housing, and cutting depreciation schedules for network equipment and infrastructure.
The timing of the op-ed is not a coincidence. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law held a hearing Tuesday and the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing yesterday on that evergreen issue, maintaining a moratorium on Internet taxation — the current moratorium expires on November 1. Grant Gross at PC World notes that some Senators are raising that other evergreen issue, namely whether states are getting short-changed by not being allowed to charge taxes on such things as television services sold over IP-based networks.
Aside from that, however, it looks like the moratorium will again be extended, so Mehlman and Irving have little to fear on that key issue.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 9:55 AM | Print | Comments (0)
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