Norgdom

Thanks to Ross Dawson for putting together a great list of the Top 60 Web applications in Australia that saw PerthNorg ranked at no 23. It is a real honour to be listed along with such great companies and good friends who I admire greatly.

There was also a fairly prominent Perth presence on the list.

Minti came in at number 5, followed by Scouta at number 6 - both originating here in Perth. Scouta is a notable inclusion in the top 10 as it is probably the “youngest” company compared to many others on the list. So a big congratulations to Richard Giles, who has been a great supporter of us here at PerthNorg - you rock like Jared Leto!

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Next notable Perth company is Kink community at number 12, and then PerthNorg at number 23.

Buzka comes in at number 29, 88 Miles (which is a time based application developed by PerthNorg’s soon to be lead developer Myles Eftos) at number 43.

That’s a pretty good presence - and there could be others on there from Perth that I am not aware of - in fact I am sure there are so let me know.

Lists are a hard thing to compile and not everyone always agrees with the criteria, but I think Ross has put together a great showcase of the innovation here in Australia in the Web 2.0 scene.

Congrats to everyone.

See you round the norg …

Lat Tuesday we switched on PerthNorg Classifieds, which we aim to build up as Perth’s premier free online classified site.

I was pretty determined to make sure that the classifieds would be simple, easy to use and clean - and I think we have largely achieved that. But there are also a lot of features we will be adding that I hope will make them even better. As always let me know your thoughts on how we have set up the system - we are always keen to have your feedback.

As it works now, you can add an ad for free that looks like this:

Then as the database builds up and you want to stand out, you can pay to upgrade, which means your listing appears first in the category and can also be customised with colour. We throw in the rounded corners for free

So hope you flog things round the norg!

Tuesday night saw some of Perth’s  best Web 2.0 companies get together to have a drink and exchange ideas about the web industry for Dinner 2.1.

There certainly is a lot of innovation going on at the moment and it is a great opportunity for those of us working in the area to get together and share contacts and exchange ideas.

Richard from Scouta was there, Mike and Chris  from Crabcat (still in stealth mode), Jinnan, Gerry, Raphe, Lynton and Mannish from Buzka, Duncan Riley who is writing for TechCrunch, Carlo Bertozzi from Clickstream, Myles Eftos from 88 Miles and myself all had ourselves a great time.

The consensus is that Perth has the motivation and innovation to become a viable Silicon Valley option a term we’ve dubbed (thanks to Rich) Silicon Beach. And all of us are determined to put Perth on the map.

Special thanks to Duncan for driving up from Bunbury for the dinner, he’s certainly doing  a great job at TechCrunch. He’s proof that you don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to make an impact. Well done Duncan on getting the gig.

See you round the norg

Perth web developer and Cit J Jordan Brock pointed out an article by Rupert Murdoch at Forbes.com the other day. It is a fascinating read from one of the most powerful men in media today.

Traditional companies are feeling threatened. I say, bring on the changes.

Everyone knows that networking–once a face-to-face affair, sometimes captured in a Rolodex–is now worldwide, instant, and impervious to constraints of distance, time or cost.

Those of us in so-called old media have also learned the hard way what this new meaning of networking spells for our businesses. Media companies don’t control the conversation anymore, at least not to the extent that we once did. The big hits of the past were often, if not exactly flukes, then at least the beneficiaries of limited options. Of course a film is going to be a success if it’s the only movie available on a Saturday night. Similarly, when three networks divided up a nation of 200 million, life was a lot easier for television executives. And not so very long ago most of the daily newspapers that survived the age of consolidation could count themselves blessed with monopolies in their home cities.

All that has changed. Options abound. Fans of small niches can now find new content they could never before. Going elsewhere for news and entertainment is easier and cheaper than ever. And people’s expectations of media have undergone a revolution. They are no longer content to be a passive audience; they insist on being participants, on creating their own material and finding others who will want to read, listen and watch.

Consequently the old media are threatened by the erosion of our traditional profit centers. Certainly we can’t count on things like print classified advertising being around forever. Similarly, DVRs undermine the mainstay of broadcast television’s business model: the commercial.

Nonetheless, it would be wrong to conclude from this that the age of content is over. On the contrary, people want content more than ever, and there is a role for companies that can provide good stuff–”good” being the operative word. Quality is more important than ever, because the marketplace is more ruthlessly competitive. Options are not merely one click of the remote away; devices undreamed of a few short decades ago are at least as tempting as a change of the channel.

Old media can survive–and thrive–in this new environment, but they must adapt. We must learn how younger generations of consumers prefer to receive their news and entertainment, and we must meet those expectations.

The good news is that we are learning–and fast. Take the type of media I know best–news. News is in more demand than ever, but the vast network of Internet-savvy news junkies want their news with several fresh twists: constantly updated, relevant to their daily lives, complete with commentary and analysis, and presented in a way that allows them to interact not just with the news but with each other about the news. They won’t wait until six o’clock to watch the news on television or until the next morning to read it in isolation. This plainly provides a challenge for news providers but also an opportunity to be far more engaged with the audience.

Companies that take advantage of this new meaning of network and adapt to the expectations of the networked consumer can look forward to a new golden age of media. Far be it from me to suggest that either I or my company have all the answers. No one does. But the future of media is a future of relentless experimentation and innovation, accelerating change, and–for those who embrace the new ways in which consumers are connecting with each other–enormous potential.

I admire Rupert for his honesty - bring on the golden age!

About a month ago I was invited to give a talk at Perth’s Port 80 mini talks, a great little event put on by the innovative IT crowd here in Perth.
A few weeks ago it was my turn to be in the audience to hear Richard Giles from Scouta give a presentation on Digital Social Networking for Fun and Profit. Richard and I have been on a couple of panels together so it was a change to actually listen to what he had to say and I can say I learnt a lot. While Richard’s focus was on using the internet to socialise and build contacts, his talk had some invaluable tips for Cit Js’s as well.

One of the areas Richard is well known in is podcasting, he was one of Australia’s early podcasters and until recently co-hosted G’Day World with Cameron Reilly on The Podcast Network. He also had his own very popular show The Gadget Show. What Richard was essentially doing was acting as a citizen journalist - he was just a guy with an interest who successfully took it upon himself to approach others to interview, record it as a podcast and broadcast it through TPN. He got to talk to some big names like Robert Scoble, John Romero and Chris Messina. So how did he do it? Here are his tips for digital networking and what I got out of them as a Cit J.

SET A GOAL

Richard said he’s always operated by setting himself a goal to do something and then working towards that.

It’s probably an obvious one, but that also makes it easily overlooked. It can be a long term goal like building a name for yourself in a particular area or simply ‘writing a story on the Tech scene in Perth”.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK

This is the most important point for me. What’s the worst someone can say? No. They could even say “yes” and in most cases you will find people like interest in themselves so let them know that’s what you are.

If you would like to do a story on something or get some more information on a subject - just ask. You have nothing to lose and so much to gain.

IT TAKES TIME

Setting yourself up as a recognised Cit J can take time, so be patient. But if you are persistent with points one and two - it will happen.

BE YOURSELF

Be honest, be transparent and be yourself.

USE SOCIAL SOFTWARE

By this Richard means - put yourself out there, get involved. PerthNorg is very much an avenue people can use to build up their online profile. So use it!

Apologies to Richard if I have done his great talk any injustice. I’ll put up the link to the talk - it was recorded as a podcast - when that’s done.

So go forth and norg it! Hope to read you round the norg …

Jinnan from Perth-based start-up Buzka contacted me the other day to see if I knew of anyone interested in the position below. It sounds like a great way to earn a bit of extra cash for those who spend their days browsing the web anyway :).

Get paid to surf and share the web!

Buzka is a free web service that makes it easy for anyone to build dynamic, online community websites called “Spots” to share their favourite interests with friends. Our unique interface allows users to create and share complex, creative structures of knowledge using any combination of web content.

Buzka is a social network for consumers who want the interests they feel passionately about to command centre stage, rather than their own personality. In this regard, Buzka is a social knowledge network: “here is some important information on climate change I’ve found, and what I think it means – I’d like to share it with you and see what you think”, see here.

Our service is currently in beta and we are looking for a web-savvy, creative and passionately curious individual with a thirst for knowledge to help us build Spots and promote our service online.

This is a casual position 10hrs per week with the flexibility to work from home.

Please express your interest and submit your CV to:

Jinnan Cai
jinnan at buzka dotcom

As of July, PerthNorg will have its own developer Myles Eftos, otherwise known as Mad Pilot, who will be dedicating himself to making some changes and improvements to our already awesome Cit J site - including some suggested by you our community of Cit Js.

The photo is of him trying to get a server on the other side of the country running , using a borrowed laptop and mobile phone, while everybody else was partying around him. It was convincing evidence for me, that I had found the right developer.
Freckle Creative, who have done a great job at getting PerthNorg up, will still be overseeing some ongoing aspects to the site.

Having our own developer will mean we can move at the pace we need to and we’ll be able to respond and adapt quickly as things hot up in the online media world. I already have a long list of things for Myles to get started on and as always I’d love to get feedback from you as to what sort of features you would like added.

Here’s a bit about Myles in his own words:

Myles is a UWA Computer Science graduate. He has been playing with (read: breaking) computers from a young age. Luckily, he wasn’t too bad at fixing them either. He has a passion for programming and a love of design, so the web was an obvious choice for him — although sometimes he wishes he took up something simpler, like brain surgery.

He is currently the events coordinator for AWIA.  He would like some sleep soon. Read his Blog.

And I should also add that his typing appears to be as bad as mine, so apologies in advance from both of us.
Cheers to Nick Cowie, for letting me use his photo.