So Mike Maddaloni tells me that it’s been six whole months since Nokia brough a rag-tag bunch of geeks (including me) in Helsinki by Nokia for Nokia Open Lab 2008. Toward the end, I remember someone saying that if only we had had another couple days, we could’ve mapped-out Nokia’s entire strategy for the next year. Well, I think that if we had had any idea of what to expect, we wouldn’t have needed another few days to do that.
For one, I wish I’d known what to expect so that I could’ve scheduled a few video interviews in advance. It’s not every day that you get access to a pool of both Nokia execs and some really forward thinking bloggers from around the world. Then again, with everything that went down, I imagine that scheduling more than a couple interviews would’ve been hell.
All in all, the experienced really changed the way I think about social media and the web. For starters, it taught me that the web and desktops/laptops are not inextricably linked. More importantly, though, it made me realized that, insofar as social media is about people connecting and sharing with other people, the mobile web is going to be a hell of a lot more important than I think most of us realize. In a word, the mobile web will merge the internet and physical world, making for a much more tribal web:
The social web […] made it possible for people to transcend a physical divide and come together to form a community. What it didn’t do, was afford them the physical experience of community participation.
The mobile web is going to close much of that gap. It will enable to transcend the physical divide when forming and joining communities, but still have some physical experience by including our physical environment in our community interactions.
Other things I learned included (1) don’t trust baggage handlers at Charles de Gaul with your luggage, (2) no matter how Irish you think you are, never try to out-drink a Finn, and (3) keep a close eye on your drink when Estonian hookers are lurking in the club (Nick Bouton can back me on this one).
In any case, here’s the official video diary of the event produced by Nokia. And if you have troube getting it to load, you can always check it out here.
I’m glad I helped remind people about it! I guess that paper calendar on my office wall comes in handy every once in a while. That, and having a newborn, I think in months these days.
One thing I hope for as the mobile Web evolves is that it retains its simplicity of use.
And if anyone invites me back, I’ll be there!
mp/m
I audibly gasped out loud when I saw this post in my GReader…
Has it really been six months?!
Wow.
*falls over in shock*
:)
Would love to gush myself but I’m hoping to pull a post together myself this weekend so I’ll save it for then..
But CT? You know you’re one of my highlights right?
:D
Oh man, nothing beats being mentioned in the same sentence with “estonian hookers” when it comes to optimizing your SEO… :p
-nick
i have a vision for an distributed, self organized mobile open lab 2009:
http://www.rolandtanglao.com/archives/2009/03/13/mobile-open-lab-2009-proposal
edit the wiki page and let’s have fun!
I agree with the points you made. Had I known more before it took place I would have brought a whole bunch of equipment – video cameras etc. to capture the event better.
I think it also would have been good to go more deeply into the issues. The brain storming sessions were really good in that we threw out a lot of ideas, but it would have been more satisfying had we had the opportunity to develop those ideas further and maybe even see them come to fruition ultimately.