Comments on: Where's Canada's Web 2.0 Party? http://www.markevanstech.com/2006/01/21/wheres-canadas-web-20-party/ A Canadian Take on the Web Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:32:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Ross http://www.markevanstech.com/2006/01/21/wheres-canadas-web-20-party/#comment-978 Ross Mon, 20 Feb 2006 19:17:56 +0000 http://markevanstech.com/?p=1255#comment-978 Sorry, I am a little "late to the party" on this one, but I just came across your "Where's Canada's Web 2.0 ..." and it struck a cord with me, and I wanted to comment further. First, I must agree that the fact things are a little quieter north of the border on the Web2.0 hype, is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I would expect nothing else given Canadian culture. I do, however, share Mark's concerns over the apparent lack of activity/energy that I am seeing. With some notable exceptions, mentioned in previous blog comments, we are not seeing the level of energy that I believe is going to be necessary to sustain any kind of leadership that we have had in telecom related industries in the past. The lack of activity in Silicon Valley North is particularly troublesome. In a 'town' where tens of thousands of people are still employed in technology development, we can only muster a handful of individuals that are participating in this important evolution of communication technology. As the value in the network continues to migrate away from the 'piping'/ infrastructure (whether wireline or wireless), the importance of smaller 'application' oriented companies to take up the slack left by the Nortel's of the world, will become increasingly important. I would argue that innovation rarely happens in a vacumm, and that effective communities of inspired technologists can be the most important catylist for innovation. I believe that in Canada today we lack communities of critical mass necessary to be leaders. IMHO, there is a desperate need to strengthen the broader community of tech zealots in places like Ottawa. This wasn't as necessary in the past, given the size and dynamics of companies like Nortel (Bell-Northern Research) and former Newbridge. Unfortunately, a number of factors contributed to the loss of that sense of community and dynamic. It is important that the community not be based narrowly on some specific technology, but rather on the broad set of technologies related to computing and telecommunications. This, in turn, can help create a crucible for product and business innovation. I am encouraged by initiatives like OGRE, being organized by the folks at <a href="http://blog.jadedpixel.com/" rel="nofollow">Jaded Pixel</a>. In addition to this type of technology focused group, I believe that a broader based tech community is also required. Isn't this an opportunity to effectively exploit the technologies that represent Web2.0? Afterall, isn't Web2.0 in large part about social networks and community? I am interested in knowing whether others see the need/benefit for a community initiative of this sort, or if they feel that something already exists that meets the needs. Sorry, I am a little “late to the party” on this one, but I just came across your “Where's Canada's Web 2.0 …” and it struck a cord with me, and I wanted to comment further.
First, I must agree that the fact things are a little quieter north of the border on the Web2.0 hype, is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I would expect nothing else given Canadian culture. I do, however, share Mark's concerns over the apparent lack of activity/energy that I am seeing. With some notable exceptions, mentioned in previous blog comments, we are not seeing the level of energy that I believe is going to be necessary to sustain any kind of leadership that we have had in telecom related industries in the past. The lack of activity in Silicon Valley North is particularly troublesome. In a 'town' where tens of thousands of people are still employed in technology development, we can only muster a handful of individuals that are participating in this important evolution of communication technology. As the value in the network continues to migrate away from the 'piping'/ infrastructure (whether wireline or wireless), the importance of smaller 'application' oriented companies to take up the slack left by the Nortel's of the world, will become increasingly important.
I would argue that innovation rarely happens in a vacumm, and that effective communities of inspired technologists can be the most important catylist for innovation. I believe that in Canada today we lack communities of critical mass necessary to be leaders. IMHO, there is a desperate need to strengthen the broader community of tech zealots in places like Ottawa. This wasn't as necessary in the past, given the size and dynamics of companies like Nortel (Bell-Northern Research) and former Newbridge. Unfortunately, a number of factors contributed to the loss of that sense of community and dynamic. It is important that the community not be based narrowly on some specific technology, but rather on the broad set of technologies related to computing and telecommunications. This, in turn, can help create a crucible for product and business innovation.
I am encouraged by initiatives like OGRE, being organized by the folks at Jaded Pixel. In addition to this type of technology focused group, I believe that a broader based tech community is also required. Isn't this an opportunity to effectively exploit the technologies that represent Web2.0? Afterall, isn't Web2.0 in large part about social networks and community?
I am interested in knowing whether others see the need/benefit for a community initiative of this sort, or if they feel that something already exists that meets the needs.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.markevanstech.com/2006/01/21/wheres-canadas-web-20-party/#comment-977 Anonymous Wed, 01 Feb 2006 22:29:03 +0000 http://markevanstech.com/?p=1255#comment-977 Ontario, does seem to be a quieter than the west coast. I am suprised that very little is coming out of Toronto. New to me in Ontario are <a href="http://Favourville.com" rel="nofollow">Favourville</a>, from Toronto, and <a href="http://Otavo.com" rel="nofollow">Otavo</a> from St. Catherines who are in 'stealth mode'. favourville feels similar to <a href="http://freecycle.org" rel="nofollow">freecycle.org</a> which is a cool concept. Ontario, does seem to be a quieter than the west coast. I am suprised that very little is coming out of Toronto.
New to me in Ontario are Favourville, from Toronto, and Otavo from St. Catherines who are in 'stealth mode'.
favourville feels similar to freecycle.org which is a cool concept.

]]> By: Scott Lake http://www.markevanstech.com/2006/01/21/wheres-canadas-web-20-party/#comment-976 Scott Lake Tue, 31 Jan 2006 15:33:09 +0000 http://markevanstech.com/?p=1255#comment-976 David, thanks for Jaded Pixel mention. In fact there is quite a bit of Web 2.0 stuff going on in Ottawa aside from what we are doing at jP. Here is a little rundown: First I will mention is Craig Fitzpatrick's company <a href="http://www.devshop.com/" rel="nofollow">Devshop.com</a>, Craig is a former collegue who has been designing and developing an unbelievably useful project management application called Devshop. What makes it different is that it incorporates and corrects for human behaviour. This is ingenious stuff. Craig also writes a super helpful blog called "<a href="http://uncommonsenseforsoftware.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Uncommon Sense for Software</a>" which focuses on getting real about software development. Craig's posts read almost like whitepapers and are really worth looking at. Derek Featherstone writes the very popular <a href="http://www.boxofchocolates.ca/" rel="nofollow">boxofchocolates.ca</a> blog and is also located in Ottawa. Derek is a well respected usability expert who is a member of the <a href="http://webstandards.org/" rel="nofollow">Web Standards Project</a> and has been a recent speaker at such amazing conferences as <a href="http://we05.com/" rel="nofollow">WebEssentials05</a> and <a href="http://2005.sxsw.com/interactive/" rel="nofollow">SXSW Interactive 2005</a>. Although I dont know these guys, <a href="http://www.market2world.com/" rel="nofollow">Market2World</a> is a Web 2.0 marketing company in Ottawa that puts Web 2.0 tools like blogs, podcasts, wikis, and vcasts to work for their clients. As well, Jaded Pixel's co-founder Tobias Lütke is a one man programming machine when it comes to Open Source Web 2.0 apps. If you dont know Tobias, he is a core member on the <a href="http://rubyonrails.com/core" rel="nofollow">Ruby on Rails development team</a> and is responsible for the creation of <a href="http://typo.leetsoft.com/trac/" rel="nofollow">Typo</a> and <a href="http://www.hieraki.org/trac/" rel="nofollow">Hieraki</a>. If you're not farmiliar with those apps, Typo is an open source blogging engine with thousands of installations worldwide and Hieraki is an open source web content management system that allows you to organize digital documents in a hierarchical tree structure. You can read about them all on Tobi's blog "<a href="http://blog.leetsoft.com" rel="nofollow">Too-biased</a>." At Jaded Pixel, Tobias, <a href="http://troubleseeker.com" rel="nofollow">Daniel Weinand</a> and <a href="http://encytemedia.com" rel="nofollow">Justin Palmer</a> have been working/releasing some great Open Source tools to support <a href="http://shopify.com" rel="nofollow">Shopify</a> but which can also be used with other Rails applications. Among them are “Vision” (to make life easy for designers), “Guidance” (our help system), “<a href="http://home.leetsoft.com/opinion" rel="nofollow">Opinion</a>” (our community and discussion tool) and lastly “<a href="http://home.leetsoft.com/liquid" rel="nofollow">Liquid</a>” (a templating engine for ruby). In case your wondering, <a href="http://www.stikipad.com/" rel="nofollow">Stikipad</a>, the newly launched wiki service uses Liquid to render its pages. If your interested you can read all about what we are doing on the <a href="http://blog.jadedpixel.com" rel="nofollow">Jaded Pixel Blog</a>. Lastly, the Jaded Pixel crew has also been organizing the Ottawa Area Group of Ruby Enthusiasts (OGRE). We have had two meetings and both have been huge successes. When was the last time you went to a user group meeting that started 7pm and it broke up sometime after 11pm. Granted we have been holding the meetings bars. In any case, if you spend any time in Ottawa and would like to come to an OGRE meeting you can sign up for the mailing list <a href="http://lists.jadedpixel.com/mailman/listinfo/ogre" rel="nofollow">here</a>. David, thanks for Jaded Pixel mention. In fact there is quite a bit of Web 2.0 stuff going on in Ottawa aside from what we are doing at jP. Here is a little rundown:
First I will mention is Craig Fitzpatrick's company Devshop.com, Craig is a former collegue who has been designing and developing an unbelievably useful project management application called Devshop. What makes it different is that it incorporates and corrects for human behaviour. This is ingenious stuff.
Craig also writes a super helpful blog called “Uncommon Sense for Software” which focuses on getting real about software development. Craig's posts read almost like whitepapers and are really worth looking at.
Derek Featherstone writes the very popular boxofchocolates.ca blog and is also located in Ottawa. Derek is a well respected usability expert who is a member of the Web Standards Project and has been a recent speaker at such amazing conferences as WebEssentials05 and SXSW Interactive 2005.
Although I dont know these guys, Market2World is a Web 2.0 marketing company in Ottawa that puts Web 2.0 tools like blogs, podcasts, wikis, and vcasts to work for their clients.
As well, Jaded Pixel's co-founder Tobias Lütke is a one man programming machine when it comes to Open Source Web 2.0 apps. If you dont know Tobias, he is a core member on the Ruby on Rails development team and is responsible for the creation of Typo and Hieraki. If you're not farmiliar with those apps, Typo is an open source blogging engine with thousands of installations worldwide and Hieraki is an open source web content management system that allows you to organize digital documents in a hierarchical tree structure. You can read about them all on Tobi's blog “Too-biased.”
At Jaded Pixel, Tobias, Daniel Weinand and Justin Palmer have been working/releasing some great Open Source tools to support Shopify but which can also be used with other Rails applications. Among them are “Vision” (to make life easy for designers), “Guidance” (our help system), “Opinion” (our community and discussion tool) and lastly “Liquid” (a templating engine for ruby). In case your wondering, Stikipad, the newly launched wiki service uses Liquid to render its pages. If your interested you can read all about what we are doing on the Jaded Pixel Blog.
Lastly, the Jaded Pixel crew has also been organizing the Ottawa Area Group of Ruby Enthusiasts (OGRE). We have had two meetings and both have been huge successes. When was the last time you went to a user group meeting that started 7pm and it broke up sometime after 11pm. Granted we have been holding the meetings bars. In any case, if you spend any time in Ottawa and would like to come to an OGRE meeting you can sign up for the mailing list here.

]]> By: David Crow http://www.markevanstech.com/2006/01/21/wheres-canadas-web-20-party/#comment-975 David Crow Mon, 30 Jan 2006 16:30:19 +0000 http://markevanstech.com/?p=1255#comment-975 It does seem like there is a shortage north of the border. Almost everyone I can think of has posted a comment except for the <a href="http://www.shopify.com/" rel="nofollow">Shopify</a> and <a href="http://jadedpixel.com/" rel="nofollow">Jaded Pixel</a> in Ottawa. It does seem like there is a shortage north of the border. Almost everyone I can think of has posted a comment except for the Shopify and Jaded Pixel in Ottawa.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.markevanstech.com/2006/01/21/wheres-canadas-web-20-party/#comment-974 Anonymous Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:06:08 +0000 http://markevanstech.com/?p=1255#comment-974 <a href="http://sxip.com" rel="nofollow">Sxip</a> has <a href="http://sxore.com" rel="nofollow">sxore</a> a blog spam prevention service, which scores well on the <a href="http://web2.0bingo.com/" rel="nofollow"> web 2.0 bingo board</a>: "social" something feeds everywhere public beta integrates with Flicrk big fonts Sxip has sxore a blog spam prevention service, which scores well on the web 2.0 bingo board:

“social” something
feeds everywhere
public beta
integrates with Flicrk
big fonts

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.markevanstech.com/2006/01/21/wheres-canadas-web-20-party/#comment-973 Anonymous Mon, 23 Jan 2006 13:39:41 +0000 http://markevanstech.com/?p=1255#comment-973 Secveral VC's have contacted me to express their interest to invest in 2ndSite. Not one of them was Canadian. I live in Toronto. Mike McDerment | 2ndSite http://www.michaelmcderment.com/ Secveral VC's have contacted me to express their interest to invest in 2ndSite. Not one of them was Canadian. I live in Toronto.
Mike McDerment | 2ndSite
http://www.michaelmcderment.com/

]]> By: Mack D. Male http://www.markevanstech.com/2006/01/21/wheres-canadas-web-20-party/#comment-972 Mack D. Male Sat, 21 Jan 2006 22:15:06 +0000 http://markevanstech.com/?p=1255#comment-972 I don't much like the term, but I guess you could say we're building a Web 2.0 related company. Thus far, funding has not been easy! (If you know of anyone interested, send them my way!) I read stories of how Google was bascially given $100,000 right at the beginning, or posts like Om's, and sometimes I long to be in California! On the other hand, the cost of living in Alberta is much lower, so that's a positive. I don't much like the term, but I guess you could say we're building a Web 2.0 related company. Thus far, funding has not been easy! (If you know of anyone interested, send them my way!)
I read stories of how Google was bascially given $100,000 right at the beginning, or posts like Om's, and sometimes I long to be in California! On the other hand, the cost of living in Alberta is much lower, so that's a positive.

]]> By: Darren Barefoot http://www.markevanstech.com/2006/01/21/wheres-canadas-web-20-party/#comment-971 Darren Barefoot Sat, 21 Jan 2006 18:43:06 +0000 http://markevanstech.com/?p=1255#comment-971 I was just going to spring forth and defend Vancouver's Web 2.0ness. Coincidentally, I'm an organizer of Northern Voice. Vancouver's also hosting Canada's first Ruby on Rails conference: http://canadaonrails.com/. Regardless, here's my short list of Vancouver-based Web 2.0 companies: Sxip Bryght Yibuu Qumana Now Public Flickr (formerly) Raincity Studios (kinda) That's what I've got off the top of my head. There's even a Vancouver Web 2.0 forum: http://www.van2.ca. I was just going to spring forth and defend Vancouver's Web 2.0ness. Coincidentally, I'm an organizer of Northern Voice. Vancouver's also hosting Canada's first Ruby on Rails conference: http://canadaonrails.com/.
Regardless, here's my short list of Vancouver-based Web 2.0 companies:
Sxip
Bryght
Yibuu
Qumana
Now Public
Flickr (formerly)
Raincity Studios (kinda)
That's what I've got off the top of my head. There's even a Vancouver Web 2.0 forum: http://www.van2.ca.

]]> By: bigfish http://www.markevanstech.com/2006/01/21/wheres-canadas-web-20-party/#comment-970 bigfish Sat, 21 Jan 2006 18:02:59 +0000 http://markevanstech.com/?p=1255#comment-970 http://2006.northernvoice.ca/ Thats a blogging conference in Vancouver next month with a lot of A-list bloggers. Vancouver is humming with internet startups. Lots of money flying around and lots of ideas. Vancouver startups are far better prepared to do it without funding and VC's. Vancouver is basically the SEO capital of north america. Not to mention many of the top people in porn, spyware, domainers etc live here. http://2006.northernvoice.ca/ Thats a blogging conference in Vancouver next month with a lot of A-list bloggers.
Vancouver is humming with internet startups. Lots of money flying around and lots of ideas. Vancouver startups are far better prepared to do it without funding and VC's. Vancouver is basically the SEO capital of north america. Not to mention many of the top people in porn, spyware, domainers etc live here.

]]> By: JPWP http://www.markevanstech.com/2006/01/21/wheres-canadas-web-20-party/#comment-969 JPWP Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:30:19 +0000 http://markevanstech.com/?p=1255#comment-969 Web 2.0 is characterized by "community, mobility, participation, useability and frugality" just to name a few. Forget your fancy VC funded parties, splashy marketing campaigns and SuperBowl TV Launch Ads... in Canada or in the Valley. Even though tech and telco markets are awash with institutional investment money right now VC's are freaked out 1) because of the GYM effect (Google, Yahoo!, MS) e.g.: the flicker [Ludicorp] buyout by Yahoo! and 2) the fact that many entrepreneurs can start a company with a Laptop and Skype account -- totally skipping the VC process altogether. Without VC funding all a company needs is one or two paying customers to reach profitability. Web 2.0 is happening in Canada -- it's just under the press and blog radar... where it belongs. -Jim Parsons Web 2.0 is characterized by “community, mobility, participation, useability and frugality” just to name a few.
Forget your fancy VC funded parties, splashy marketing campaigns and SuperBowl TV Launch Ads… in Canada or in the Valley.
Even though tech and telco markets are awash with institutional investment money right now VC's are freaked out 1) because of the GYM effect (Google, Yahoo!, MS) e.g.: the flicker [Ludicorp] buyout by Yahoo! and 2) the fact that many entrepreneurs can start a company with a Laptop and Skype account — totally skipping the VC process altogether. Without VC funding all a company needs is one or two paying customers to reach profitability.
Web 2.0 is happening in Canada — it's just under the press and blog radar… where it belongs.
-Jim Parsons

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