Keynote speaker, Thomas Vander Wal opened up the day with a speech on the progression of how we interact with the web, social networking communities, and folksonomy among other things. According to Vander Wal, the original “I go get web” model of the internet consists of a person accessing the web through a single device (their desktop) and actively seeking information. The newer “come to me web” is much more complex, involving many individuals interacting with each other and via numerous devices (laptops, blackberries, etc.). The central characteristic of the “come to me web” is our ability to save important information and streamline the retrieval process according to our own taxonomy (enter tags and folksonomy). No longer are we expected to navigate through layers of webpages before we finally connect with what we are looking for. As the web develops, more and more information is being delivered to us based on our preferences and online behavior (enter social communities, RSS feeds, and yes….more tagging). The overall model is shifting from navigation to attraction and the new web is multiplying the power of the internet instead of adding it.

Additional information on the conference and Vander Wal is available here, here, and here.