The Australian Web Industry Association chose this weekend’s Barcamp 2.0 event to announce Western Australia’s first web conference, Edge of the Web.

The 2-day event in early November will feature 2 streams; business and technology culminating in the 2008 WA Web Awards ceremony. A lineup of international, national and local speakers have been confirmed and will be announced in the coming weeks.

To keep up to date and help us choose a logo for the event, head over to edgeoftheweb.org.au and sign up for the newsletter.

I can’t wait, never having been to a web conference before, it will be great to have one right on our doorstep!

As my business expands to a point where I may need to consider taking on an extra pair of hands to keep up with the workload, I have been thinking a lot about the next generation of web designers and developers and how prepared they are for the real world of web design on completion of their studies.

When I became interested in working in the web industry I wasn’t even 100% sure there was one! I was 16 and remember trailing into town with the family to get some books on this HTML thing that meant I could make a website of my own and that’s where it started, with books. I taught myself, often neglecting my traditional studies and ended up studying multimedia at TAFE after high-school. more…