This was my first year at the Social Technologies Summit. I’m not quite sure what I expected. Robots and brain scanners? Maybe - a little. The future? Certainly. My interest is threefold. Firstly, from a work point of view I’m looking for new technologies, ideas and different approaches. As a blogger I’m looking for new ways of distributing and accessing information online. And from a personal point of I’m looking for - well, something different. Something inspirational and exciting. Isn’t that why we’re working in this sector? Apart from the robots and brain scanners the conference delivered. I came away feeling that I’d been part of a discussion and that, as Sir Tim Berners-Lee was quoted as saying, ‘. . . the original web of documents was just the tip of the iceberg’. There are so many innovative and exciting developments that are already underway.

For me, by far the most interesting discussions were around the Semantic Web or ‘Linked Web’ or ‘Web of Data’ as it is sometimes known. Tom Llube led a thorough and informative discussion on Redefining Identity in a Semantic World. He spoke about a quiet but powerful revolution and the profound effect that this new web would have, both from a cultural and society point of view.

In summary, we’re moving away from the original ‘web of documents’. The way we access data is changing. This new framework will allow data to be shared across numerous different applications and not just on a static page. For example, you may wish to sell products online. Imagine being able to sell them across various sites and applications and not being restricted to an online shop and an Etsy store. You could upload your products once and they would automatically become available across the web. And your customers wouldn’t be restricted to paying on your website.

Another example, from Simon Cross and Ben Smith of the BBC, is that search is going to become so sophisticated that soon we won’t be searching for details of a particular programme or film by typing its name into a search box. Nope. We’ll be asking for all the programmes our friends have watched over the last week that we haven’t seen yet. And yes, that information will be delivered to us.

Pages and walls are out. Links and relationships are in. The impact on traditional web pages and search is going to be significant.

Of course, as with any new technologies there are questions to be asked. The main one being around the subject of privacy and ownership of data. This is something that needs to be discussed further and we need much more awareness around this subject. And as Helen Aspell pointed out, we need to look very carefully at accessibility, both in terms of connectivity to the web and in terms of ensuring that everyone is able to access these new technologies.

As I said, it’s all very exciting and I’m looking forward to next year’s summit. To continue the discussion follow #futr09.

This post has now been filled.

We’re currently looking for a Web Developer / Project Assistant to join our team.

Please find the details below. If you are interested in applying, please contact Jenny Hudson in the first instance for a full job description. The email address is info [at] vanillastorm.co.uk.

Website Developer / Project Assistant
Salary £15,000 - £17,000 (depending on experience)

Vanilla Storm is a rapidly growing web design company based in Heaton Chapel, South Manchester (just 8 mins train ride from Manchester Piccadilly). The company is currently seeking a Web Developer / Project Assistant to join their expanding team to support new and existing customers.

Duties will include:

• Update and maintenance of existing clients’ websites.
• Design and development of new websites to meet with W3C and WCAG standards.
• Developing page mock-ups for client review.
• Liaising closely with clients.
• Project administration including answering the telephone, dealing with customer enquiries, writing emails and other correspondence.
• Uploading web pages to the server.
• Maintaining hosting/email accounts.

Closing date for applications: 29 May 2009
Interview Dates: 9 and 10 June 2009

Any queries, please contact Jenny Hudson at info [at] vanillastorm.co.uk or on 0161 282 4525.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Are you an agency, consultant, recruiter or job bank? If so, please note that we don’t use agencies. At all. Ever. All of our recruitment is done in-house. This won’t be changing. Therefore, we would politely request that you respect this and do not contact us.  Not even to ask how things are going or to ask why we don’t use recruitment agencies. Or indeed to tell us that you’re not in fact an agency but a consultant, recruitment architect, or recruitment job facilitator for IT.