Umamiblog

This Thursday and Friday Wellington sees the inaugural Webstock Web Conference. The workshops are running over the Tuesday and Wednesday before the conference and include some big names of the web world. The stated aim of the conference is: “to improve how websites are built through inspiration, education, insightful analysis and practical application.” Personally I think I’m looking forward to Kathy Sierra and Doug Bowman the most.

It has been interesting listening to comments friends and contacts have made about the conference. I’ve felt that Wellington is very lucky to be the first city in NZ to host a major web conference. I pushed work early to support the conference and was really happy to see that happen. A programmer I used to work with in Dunedin was very excited about the conference and was sharing half the costs with his employer just to make it up. That contrasts with another person I know whose employer decided it was just too expensive to send anyone along. That’s definitely their decision to make but I can’t help but feel that its somewhat short-sighted. The real cost is probably in time lost (well, time that could’ve been spent on billable work :D) rather than the cash cost of the conference (which can be expensed anyway…).

Work is sending me along as well as almost all of my team. Nice. Be sure to check out our stall at the conference in the Ilott Theatre foyer. We’re going to be running a little competition that includes these cool little remote controlled fork lifts, you’ll have to maneuver it through a course with the fastest 2 times picking up a rugby ball signed by the NZ Rugby 7′s team. We were one of the first companies to jump on board and sponsor Webstock and we’re helping bring out Joel Spolsky for breakfast (really!).

I’m using the conference as a chance to experiment with semi-live publishing. Wifi access at the town hall is being kindly provided by Signify so my plan is to bring the laptop and camera along and see what I can accomplish or post in that time. Mind you, home is only about 300 metres away from the conference center so it’s not really an issue if the place has internet access or not.

I do have to question the choice of slogan; “Code for freedom”. Really? I guess they’re webbies rather than marketers but it doesn’t scream lovemark to me. Registrations are still open if anyone still wants to come along. That does say to me that they haven’t been able to get near selling-out but I hope it’s close. This year is definitely the test case, if it is successful then this should become a permanent fixture. Knowing the fickle nature of New Zealand and the support of new ideas and events, we won’t know until just after the conference starts as to whether or not it will fly or sink.

There is a blog and a flickr feed for the conference.

After publishing my last post on what I feel Wellington needs I came to realise that maybe I was being overly negative and saying Wellington isn’t doing enough to remain a competitive city. That definitely isn’t so. Following the last post’s formula here are three things, in my personal opinion and based on nothing more than anecdotal evidence, that Wellington has that helps make it a globally competitive and relevant city.

1. Internet infrastructure.
I remember when I used to live in Dunedin, we were terribly jealous of Wellington’s inner-city fibre loop. One of the things we couldn’t believe was that a council would have the foresight and the ability to drive something like this forward. It really is amazing. And people have heard about it all over the world, it’s kinda scary how much so…

Obviously Wellington lends itself really well to this kind of network as it is a compact city with a lot of high users in a small area but it still is an impressive accomplishment and asset while providing an excellent model for other cities to follow.

2. Transport infrastructure
While our transport network and infrastructure isn’t perfect (and a key focus of my last post) it is still very good compared to other cities especially in our corner of the world. Let’s recognise that a lot of good progress has been made, but let’s not stop or rest there.

A good friend of mine who recently moved to the Wellington region remarked firstly how good public transport was but how easy it made his life… that’s fantastic. Again, Wellington really lends itself to this kind of network as a compact city with a few corridors of population that can be efficiently and effectively served by public transport.

3. Compact village-city
One of things many people love about Wellington is it’s compactness. As an example, Wellington has the largest numbers of people who walk to work in New Zealand (11%). As Tom Beard has said: “Wellington is a city pretending to be a village”. It forces people to interact and come together in a really comfortable way. It saddens me to think humans couldn’t build a city like this unless forced by some limitation or factor. Wellington’s geography is the only real reason that this has come about; wedged together between mountains and sea. While urban sprawl does rears it’s head from time to time, it has been starved compared to other cities.

Mainly here for my own archives, the infamous Crossfire interview with Jon Stewart. Rumoured to have contributed to the show’s cancellation.

There are about 7 wireless networks I can detect from my apartment. Including:

Recently we spent a 3 day weekend in Dunedin. Caught up with some old friends, re-experienced Dunedin hospitality and even caught a game at the House of Pain. Here is a shot of Dunedin from Signal Hill, city to the right, harbour to the left.

In my personal opinion and based on nothing more than anecdotal evidence Wellington needs these 3 things to remain globally competitive and relevant in the next 100 years.

1. A longhaul capable airport
In New Zealand there are only 3 airports capable of landing a 747 and one of them is run by the (RNZ)Air Force, the others being Auckland and Christchurch. Christchurch has benefited greatly by having that infrastructure. Millions of passengers each year visiting the South Island disembark through CHC, their businesses have access to shipping direct to many of our largest trading partners. Those same businesses also have the benefit of being able to ship themselves directly or to have people (customers/colleagues/investors) arrive directly from major Asia Pacific transport hubs.

A proposal has been put forward to lengthen Wellington’s runway to accomodate the new Boeing and AirBus planes that are capable of longhaul on short runways. While this is definitely a step in the right direction, Wellington needs direct access to hubs like Tokyo, Dubai, Los Angeles, not just Singapore and the best way of accomodating this is with the 747-level jets, which is where most airlines have invested millions upon millions in their fleets.

One of the things I absolutely love about Wellington is that it’s airport is a stone’s throw from the city. This is a very real competitive advantage (and limitation). The ideal scenario would be to keep the airport where it is and lengthen the runway into the sea to cater for the longhaul jets. This would cost inordinate sums of money. Can we afford not to do it?

2. Light rail to the airport
Wellington is unique in NZ and most of Australasia in that it has a very good (by southern hemisphere standards) rail network. This network needs to be extended to the airport and in doing so it connects the majority of the CBD to the said rail network. This will increase patronage for commuters who are reluctant to either walk another 10-30 mins to work or to transfer to a bus. This will also make the network a Wellington thing, currently it is more of a satellite city thing. This move would also link up major transport assets in the urban area – needed with this is a review of the service provided (make it effective and efficient, read: cheap-ish and more often).

3. Adequate northern access
Cars, trucks, SUVs. Love ‘em or hate ‘em the reality is that we need to allow for their free and efficient movement. The fact that it takes 2 hours during peak time or that we are heavily reliant on a tiny 2 lane stretch of road is a risk that the city and region shouldn’t have to put up with. Transmission Gully has got the go ahead, but the evidence it will adequately solve this problem is scant (much like the inner-City bypass). Regardless, shame it will be 2020 before it is complete.

Hand in hand with this is a commitment not to allow residential development not inside the corridors of Wellington to Johnsonville to Porirua or Hutt Valley. Our compactness is an asset and will become more important in the future especially if we run out of cheap (sub $100/barrel) oil. We don’t need more SUV-loving sub-divisions.

Note: This post inspired by reading “Back on track: CBD light rail” on WellUrban

Last week the New Zealand Government, for the first time in my life, moved into the black with no net debt. David Farrar (naturally) thinks Ruth Richardson should take the majority of the credit for this achievement.

It will be interesting to see where we go from here. Will we continue to strive into the black, stay about the same, or wait for a recession or conservative govt (or both) to take us back into the red? How will history see this moment and great opportunity before us?

This is brilliant on soooo many different levels.

Makes me wonder what the flick I’m doing with my life.
“Yeah, I help develop websites… No, it matters. Really”

Q: How do you know Google when has jumped the shark?

A: When you need a cheat sheet to get the most from it…

Google Cheat Sheet

An absolutely brilliant quote on systems/process:

If process makes you nervous, it’s probably because it threatens your reliance on intuition. Get over it. The best processes leverage your intuition and give it room to thrive.

– Why are you afraid of process? Seth Godin

Have a look at this photogallery of female Israeli soldiers shot by photographer Rachel Papo, it’s absolutely amazing. This shot I chose because I feel it represents so much of what this assignment would have been trying to acheive. Young women being young women while completing 2 years of mandatory military service in one of the most hostile regions of the world.

In the last few months it has struck me as to how much Wellington has been invaded by Dunedinites lately. This month I’ve been here for a year, maybe that’s got something to do with it

Seriously though, Dave my old iVISION business partner has moved up (with a newborn too). I noticed Chris Auld of Kognition fame (who incidently should win an award for the ugliest website) has made the move too. And I seem to have lots of old friends and colleages asking what the work environment is like, what the wages are like, what average rents are, what the nightlife is like, etcetera. Half of the people I went to University with are already here.

To be frank, and having made the move, the weather is better, the wages are better as is the work you are doing, the social/night life is better, and the city is easier to live in (purely subjective!) – its little wonder people are looking at jumping on up.

I can relate to what they’re probably thinking too. Most people from Dunedin are fiercely proud of the city and living there. Making the move actually involves reconciling yourself to the fact that you want to leave a city you love. It can be tough. The thought of Christchurch or Auckland is usually a little much for us Southerners so it often ends up being Wellington. That said there are some similarities between the two cities…