BloggerCon: RFC: Technology Panel Requirements

BloggerCon II Weblog - Celebrating the art and science of weblogs, April 17 at Harvard Law School.

RFC: Technology Panel Requirements

Greetings..

I'm starting to plan the technology panel for BloggerCon, the one I saved for last, because I needed the most time to think about it. The subject is technology and weblogs.

I don't want to do the usual thing which would be to put a representative of each vendor on stage, and have them talk about their products. I've always wanted to flip it around. Put the vendors in the audience, and put the users on stage. The vendors compete at listening to the users.

It's been done before, but it's often endlessly boring. I don't want "how I did this last summer" narratives, I want sweeping conclusions, "the industry is failing at this," or "users would pay for this, but no one is supplying it." Or whatever it is that users have to say about the state of the technology. I want opinionated big-thinkers, who happen not to be vendors.

So what I'm looking for are three or four people who fit this bill:

1. They're fully knowledgable about the technology behind weblogs. They've peeked under the hood, seen the content management system, written a few macros, installed plug-ins, edited the database without breaking the blog. They are fearless and smart about the technology. They are not vendors.

2. They've used two or more different blogging tools. The more the better.

3. They have a weblog that's fairly well-read and fairly long-lived.

4. They have never advocated on behalf of one tool.

Please let me know if you know someone who fits the bill. I'm trawling for recommendations.

Also let me know if you like the idea, or think it's nuts, or something inbetween.

Post a comment here:

http://bloggercon.org/2003/07/24#a56

Or send private email.

Dave