@oow: on following Oracle OpenWorld
I'm impressed. The folk at Oracle Technology Network are marshaling a bunch of web 2.0 style resources to bring everyone within touching distance of Oracle OpenWorld. While we have seen tools like YouTube, Flickr, ustream.tv and Twitter start to appear in ad hoc fashion at conferences, this is the first time I've noticed a slew of tools brought together for the purpose. It is the classic consumer-to-enterprise adoption that many have predicted.
Eddie Awad provides a helpful list of all the tools available, both official and unofficial. I recommend the two Twitter channels @oww and @eventtrack but then I noticed OTN leader Justin Kestelyn has set up a YouTube channel. His introductory three minute video is well worth the time investment. They've included a social networking tool called Oracle Mix, a solution based on ThoughtWorks. This provides 'people and group' functions but primarily serves as a place to put out ideas, ask questions and get answers.
It's 6.55 pm Pacific Time but already the Tweets are coming in, providing color to CEO Larry Ellison's conference introduction. These provide that human dimension that's difficult to capture in single person reporting. I've often said that Ellison is one of the IT industry's consummate performers and he seems to be working the crowd in classic fashion: Marius from the Vino Club says:
Pizza delivery guy was the first CFO of Oracle
Charles P. was part of a youth gang
Snippets like this beat the heck out of product announcements and strategy statements. The question is, what are we to do with all this new information? Will it better inform us about the companies with whom we interact? I sense it will and we will be the richer for it. Sadly I can't be there but a number of my Irregular colleagues will. Still, I can have the vicarious pleasure of watching what others think.
