O'Reilly Network Weblogs: Orlowski Slams O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference

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http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/3100

Orlowski Slams O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference

by Tim O'Reilly
Apr. 23, 2003

I've admired Andrew Orlowski's provocative style of journalism in The Register, but now, having been subjected to one of his flames, I have to say how disappointed I am by the apparent shallowness of his journalism. The article in question details the claims of one potential speaker, purportedly excluded from the conference because he advocates a technology that didn't meet a particular litmus test by social software track chair Clay Shirky.

I was not party to the deliberations about which talks were in and which were out. But I do know from organizing past conferences how hard it is to fit everyone in, and how often would-be speakers claim bias when their talk isn't chosen. So one thing struck me immediately: Orlowski didn't do any real journalism. He got a complaint from a speaker who didn't get included, and made that complaint the basis for a rant. He didn't talk to anyone at O'Reilly. He didn't make any effort to get background or hear the other side. He wrote a flame, not a story.

I now know that Orlowski has defined himself as a gossip columnist, not a real journalist. I had thought better of him. I will take his stories with a heaping dose of salt in future.

I've written to Andrew, asking him to give me a call. Whether he does any more homework on this story or whether he was just taking the opportunity for drive-by controversy in hopes of getting some easy page views will tell us a lot about his motivations and the value of his comments.

Tim O'Reilly is the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world, and an activist for open standards. O'Reilly Media also publishes online through the O'Reilly Network and hosts conferences on technology topics, including the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, and the Web 2.0 Conference. Tim's blog, the O'Reilly Radar "watches the alpha geeks" to determine emerging technology trends, and serves as a platform for advocacy about issues of importance to the technical community. For everything Tim, see tim.oreilly.com.