The Mailowl Scrolls

If ever you want to get an impression of the state of blogging in South Africa, head off to the 27Dinner events. I attended the last dinner on the 27^th March 2007 (they’re always on the 27^th, hence the name) and I was blown away by the sheer number of people there and in particular the number of non-technical people blogging.

“27 is a get together, held on the 27th day of each month for geeks, marketers, entrepreneurs, writers, media practitioners, speakers - well, just about anybody who is keen - to share ideas and news and opinions over food and drink. Alternating monthly between Jozi and Cape Town, 27 is open to anyone who wants to attend (and/or contribute).”

I have to admit that while I didn’t think blogging was exclusively for software developers, I didn’t think it had much hold for people outside of the IT world. How wrong could I be?

It started, really, with the SA Blog Awards and the “scandal” where people were up-in-arms about the how certain popular blogs (although none that I had heard of) didn’t make it to be nomination finalists and how the judges had their own blogs in the final lists. I had listed on my blog all the technology finalists and started reading their posts and following their links; but I found most of these blogs to just praise technology (”Go Web 2.0! Yay!”), and I felt the technology category should be for blogs talking about how to implement technology.

Anyways, it was through these new feeds that I found out about the March 27Dinner and I saw there were already about 90 people attending so I just HAD to find out what was going on. (I have to hate myself for not taking along my camera, I seem to be forgetting it quite regularly but I can point you to other people’s photos (Thank you Aquila) to see the buzz that was happening there.)

As I was saying, the dinner had lots of non-technical people there; the opening talk was by Graham Knox, who runs what you’d call a business blog about his winery, Stormhoek! (Klein Doolhof Estate, Wellington) and the second talk was by Heather Ford talking about Creative Commons. Unfortunately the audio at the venue (Primi Forum in Melrose Arch) was terrible (no fault to the organizers, there warehouse style of the venue just sucked up sounds) and a lot of people couldn’t hear what was being talked about.

What DID stand out was Dominic White’s talk on security on the web and how vulnerable we are to giving out details about ourselves that without 3^rd party software, we can’t control. I’ve confirmed if he’d repeat this talk at a SA Developer .NET meeting and I must now just arrange the day.

In closing I’d like to shout out to Victorie and Paul of Chilibean who I had a really interesting conversation with regarding driving communities in South Africa; and the guys from ChumpStyle who shared a beer with me when I first arrived as the event not knowing anyone.