SAO 2.0

By Harvey Mathews, SAO president

Do you ever see a picture of yourself from a few years back and realize how you’ve aged? Fashions change, hair turns color and body weight gets re-distributed, for example. In other words, time flies and you hope that it doesn’t run you over.

The SAO Board went on a retreat to take a long look at itself and decided it was time to avoid getting run over. Coming in as the new president, I felt like someone who was selected by Xzibit on MTV’s show, Pimp My Ride. But instead of new paint, video game systems in the trunk and spinning 22-inch rims, the Board decided it was time to adopt a more “Web 2.0” mentality and increase this type of company within our membership. Needless to say, I am very excited be a part of this timely change.

What is Web 2.0?
Before I address how the SAO is going to change, allow me to give a little “2.0” background. People who discuss Web 2.0 generally fall into two camps, which I will refer to offhandedly as the Clueless and the Jaded. Before you tune out from overwhelming ignorance or complete lack of interest, here’s my best explanation as to what 2.0 means:

1. Clueless. Some people think the web really hasn’t changed that much since they signed up for AOL 2.0. These people go to the same sites and pretty much do the same rote things. Google, AdSense, Flickr, BitTorrent, Wikipedia and Facebook are common examples of 2.0 Websites. They harness collective intelligence through participation, get better with use, are decentralized, optimize searching and provide maximum relevance for both the user and advertiser.
2. Jaded. The term “Web 2.0” has become so widespread that it lacks meaning. It refers in overly general terms to many discreet applications used in modern website architecture: Ajax, CSS, XHTML, RSS, Mashups and other technologies. These allow for information storage, creation and dissemination capabilities that go beyond what the public formerly expected of web sites. This is not a new version – or “2.0” of the Internet. It’s just another evolutionary advancement due to changing tools.

What it means for the SAO
Regardless of which camp you’re in, here’s what it means for the SAO in the upcoming year:

• We recognize that the “2.0” business is different and requires different services from an association. The concepts of “community,” “networking” and “services” are changing rapidly. We can no longer be satisfied to be the organizing body of physical meetings; we need to provide rich content and networking opportunities through these new formats. For example, I plan to have the SAO use sites such as: www.meetup.com to let people know about our events; www.splashcast.net (an Oregon company) to communicate with members using streaming media that combines video, music, photos, narration, text and RSS feeds; and www.aboutus.org (another Oregon company) to create an online SAO community.
• Entrepreneurs are able to bootstrap a company out of relatively little money compared to “1.0” companies. The Board has committed to review the financial burdens of SAO membership and event costs as they affect start-up companies. Concepts under discussion are to waive or drastically reduce the cost of membership for small (25 employees and under) companies for up to three years, provide a different set of financial services for this type of business and advocate in the legislature for more tax incentives for start-up companies.

It’s a great time to be a part of the SAO. We aren’t afraid of change as much as we fear irrelevance. The Board is committed to making sure that we continue to evolve to help Oregon’s software giants and entrepreneurs derive many benefits from their association membership.

About the author
Harvey Mathews is president of the SAO. Prior to this role he was the lead advocate for education, technology, elections and fiscal policy issues for Associated Oregon Industries (AOI), the state’s largest comprehensive business association. His achievements in that role included $100 Million investment into Oregon start-up companies, creation of the Expanded Options program for high school students, and the development of the Oregon Open Primary. Mathews also worked in the Speaker’s Office in the Oregon House of Representatives and was a public school teacher at Sam Barlow High in Gresham. He is a proud alumnus of Western Oregon University. He can be reached at president@sao.org.