So who are these WordPress Heavyweights?

Adii Pienaar – @adii

Adriaan Pienaar, better known as Adii made a huge leap into WordPress stardom when he released his first Premium News theme. Adii has since gone on the establish the highly successful woothemes.com along with a few partners, as well as radiiate.co.za and is doing great things in the WordPress world. Adii is based in Cape Town, South Africa. I’ve met Adii a few times and interacted over the last couple of years and find him to be an extremely resourceful and highly entrepreneurial character. Find him online at www.adii.co.za where he blogs and also vlogs about his journeys as a entrepreneur. Adii’s most used twitter hashtags are #wordpress #wtf

Nathan Rice – @nathanrice

Nathan hails form the South Eastern US and is a freelance web designer, developer and blogger. He has been extremely active in developing both free and premium wordpress themes and regularly writes on topics related to WordPress on a number of sites including www.wordpressthemes.com. Nathan spent a while as lead developer for ithemes.com and has recently launched his very own premium themes development company called Mod Themes. Nathan has developed a number of really useful WordPress plugins (eg. wp-cycle) and also developed the Prodigy Theme Frame work. You can find Nathan online at www.nathanrice.net where he blogs about WordPress and web development in general. Nathan’s twitter tagline reads – “I do stuff with WordPress. Not kinky stuff, just normal “code” stuff.”

Ptah Dunbar- @ptahdunbar

I still don’t know how to pronounce his name, so luckily this is not a Video post. Ptah is a web designer & developer also based in the US. He is currently developing a well known WordPress theme framework called wpframework.com. Like most of the guys on this list, Ptah is quite young but has made quite an impact on the WordPress developer community. Ptah is a bit of a hacker and seems to be alot more of a hardcore developer than a front ender. Apparently he loves cooking as well. Find him online at ptahdunbar.com/ where he blogs about some really geeky WordPress and web development stuff.

Ian Stewart – @iandstewart

The man behind the highly successful Thematic WordPress theme framework and child theme evangelist. Ian is a real star in twitter, always replies and is generally helpful and down to earth. He’s a self-taught Graphic designer and confesses: “I don’t play sports but I can juggle and play harmonica. At the same time.” Ian has an extreme passion for WordPress and has single handedly spear-headed the WordPress framework game. You can tell he has a knak for really great web typography as well when you look at www.themeshaper.com. Ian blogs at upperfortstewart.com and is also responsible for setting up www.wpazo.com which is a blog about all things WP.

Jason Schuller – @jschuller

I’m not too familiar with the personal side of Jason as we haven’t really interacted much, but I’m a real fan of his work at www.press75.com. Jason is responsible for developing some of the slickest and most unique Premium WordPress themes available online including some really awesome video themes. You can tell Jason is a really particular graphic designer as well as his themes are real works of art.

Darren Hoyt – @darrenhoyt

Another one of those typographic geniuses as you’ll see when you visit www.darrenhoyt.com. Darren has been around in the WordPress world for a while and recently released a helpful WordPress front end system called Gravy – www.darrenhoyt.com/products/gravy which acts as a framework of sorts to help WordPress front enders with the task of rapid theme development. Darren is an Interface designer based in New York. He’s contributed to a number of popular websites with his tutorials and has been featured for a number of his designs. Most notably Darren is responsible for the well known Mimbo theme series which was one of the first advanced magazine style themes released. Darren’s website is a real typographic feast. Enough with the Bios, here’s the questions.

The Questions:

1. 3 reasons why you chose WordPress

Adii Pienaar

1. It’s the only platform I know how to use.
2. My whole business is built around it.
3. And oh – I started using it, because it was free and simply awesome.

Nathan Rice

1. It was the easiest CMS to install
2. It had the easiest theming method to learn
3. It was hands-down the best blogging software I ever used

Ptah Dunbar

1. open source,
2. great community
3. & easy to learn

Ian Stewart

1. All the cool kids were using it. I started out with Blogger and quickly realized that the majority of professional bloggers were using WordPress.
2. It seemed like it made web design “easy”. Of course, that’s not true in a complete sense but with so many awesome free Themes, it’s hard not to think that WordPress is the shortcut to easy web design.
3. It was free. It’s the tool of choice of professional bloggers AND it’s free. It’s really a no-brainer.

Jason Schuller

1. Flexible – If you put your mind to it, you can do almost anything with the platform.
2. Simple & Efficient – I can typically take any theme concept and have a fully functional WordPress theme in a matter of hours.
3. Fun – I truly do have fun developing on WordPress. I discover great new ways to implement functionality with every theme I develop.

Darren Hoyt

1. For front-end designers and PHP novices, it’s an easy and flexible platform to learn
2. The Codex is a great resource
3. I enjoy online publishing in all its forms and WordPress/Automattic has a great formula

2. How much time did it take you to go from beginner to advanced in your WordPress skills.

Adii Pienaar

I’d estimate probably around 12 – 18 months. Depends on what you really mean with advanced skill though… Also – I’m definitely still learning every single day. So I think that being an “advanced user” means you’re in the WP Function Reference on a daily basis keeping up with what’s happening with WP and learning new ways of coding things within the WP environment.

Nathan Rice

It took about 1 month to become proficient in WordPress theming, but it took about a year to become what I consider an “expert”. Advanced techniques and skills necessary for plugin development is a skill that isn’t easily acquired by someone who primarily works on the front end of web development.

Ptah Dunbar

Depends on how you define “advance” as I’m still learning the ins and outs of the WordPress core. But from a theme authoring perspective, I’d say ~3 months coming from no PHP knowledge.

Ian Stewart

I don’t think I’m “advanced” at all so it’s hard to say. How about, it didn’t seem like it was a long time until I felt comfortable taking on challenges in WordPress? In fact I was quickly surprised at just what I could do.

Jason Schuller

I started developing on WordPress just to see what all the hype was about and was instantly addicted. I want to say that it took me a good 6 months to become an “advanced” user and then another 6 to really hone those skills.

Darren Hoyt

I wouldn’t consider myself advanced in terms of writing innovative code. I always design interfaces first and then experiment with the code until I can get it to do what I want. To get to that point, it took me about 6 months of reading the Codex and testing out ideas.

3. Where would you say WordPress is in terms of it’s Life Cycle?

Adii Pienaar

I’d guess that it’s pretty mature at the moment, even though I still expect it to continue growing; at least in terms of becoming a more generally accepted CMS of choice for corporates / enterprises.

Nathan Rice

That’s a tough one to answer. I really think that 2.7 was a major step forward in the UI, and having one-click updates is a feature that will keep users upgrading for years in the future. I think WordPress has finally reached a level of maturity that will likely make it a permanent fixture in the world of Content Management Systems.

Ptah Dunbar

an 18 year old teenager.

Ian Stewart

I hope it’s still in it’s infancy and think it’s got a lot of life in it. It certainly shows no sign of slowing down.

Jason Schuller

I would say that WordPress is still climbing and has a good few years until it peaks (if it peaks at all). As of now, there seems to be no end in sight, but who knows what the future holds and who the next “Matt” is sitting in his/her bedroom coding up the next best thing.

Darren Hoyt

I couldn’t make that prediction, especially when web publishing is still young and unpredictable.

4. Your thoughts on what should be the next major step in WordPress’ development.

Adii Pienaar

I’m still hoping that WP will become a fully-fledged CMS system, instead of a blogging platform which can play-pretend like a CMS. So maybe something a little closer to ExpressionEngine?

Ptah Dunbar

custom post types!

Ian Stewart

Appeasing people who want it to be a full-featured content-management system. It sorta is now but just isn’t quite there. Best-case scenario: WordPress adopts a suite of plugins—much like what happened with BuddyPress—that add the functionality folks are looking for. Stuff like content-type management. I know there’s plugins out there that can help with this but I don’t like trusting make-or-break content management to them. Throw the weight of the WordPress community behind a plugin project—again, like BuddyPress, or Drupal’s CCK & Views Plugins—and you’ve got a contender.

Jason Schuller

This is a hard question to answer. I really wish there was a bit more flexibility (without the use of a plugin) as to where, when, how posts can be displayed without a ton of work hacking the loop.

Darren Hoyt

I’d love more built-in options when it comes to building forms and implementing custom-field data. More and more people are using WordPress as a CMS, not a blog.

5. Have you ever Used WordPress for anything other than a traditional blog or site.

Adii Pienaar

Sure. Look at WooThemes.com.

Nathan Rice

Of course. It’s a great system for use outside its traditional purpose.

Ptah Dunbar

Totally, it’s my day job.

Jason Schuller

Nearly every theme I have designed for WordPress has been intended for something other than just a standard blog. People need to realize that WordPress can be used for so much more.

Darren Hoyt

I recently used it as an aggregator (WPTopics.com) and with the use of custom fields, found it pretty easy to put together.

6. What’s your top 5 plugins.

Adii Pienaar

I’m not really a plugin man at all. Apart from Akismet, I only install plugins on new WP installs if I actually need them. The new Analytics360 by Alex King is kinda awesome though.

Nathan Rice

1. Akismet
2. Contact Form 7
3. Subscribe to Comments
4. WP-Super-Cache
5. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)

Ptah Dunbar

backtype connect, theme test drive, filler, svnup, akismet

Ian Stewart

1. Akismet
2. WP Super Cache
3. Clean Slugs
4. Contact Form 7
5. Subscribe to Comments

Jason Schuller

I actually very rarely use any plugins/widgets (other than askimet) for any of my own WordPress powered sites. For me… it’s so much easier to build the functionality I am looking for directly into the theme.

Darren Hoyt

More Fields, Super Cache, Google Syntax Highlighter, Subscribe to Comments, Tweetbacks

7. Your idea of what a WordPress Framework should be like.

Adii Pienaar

Frameworks? Pfff… Not my cup of tea.

Nathan Rice

Prodigy, http://prodigytheme.com/. Abstracted, Extensible, Lightweight, Feature-Rich, and in constant development. Ideally, a theme framework should be as easy to use for regular joes as it is for hardcore developers.

Ptah Dunbar

An easy to use, flexible, extensible, skin-able, well-documented CMS that provides the infrastructure and basic set of functionality towards building any type of website or online publishing application.

Ian Stewart

There’s a WordPress Developer named Dan Cole who really gets this. He breaks “Framework” Themes into two categories: Starter Themes and Modular Themes. Starter Themes are sometimes called “blank” themes. They don’t have any graphics and minimal CSS. They’re meant for hacking up. Open up a template file, move some code around, add on to the existing CSS and boom, you’ve got a custom WordPress Theme. I think Starter Themes are great. But I don’t consider them true Frameworks. I think a WordPress Theme Framework should be a Modular Theme. One you can interact with via a Child Theme just like Plugins interact with WordPress. Modular Themes typically use the WordPress Hook System to give you way more control than your typical Parent-Child Theme relationship and make WordPress Theming ridiculously easy. Really.

Jason Schuller

The best “framework” in my opinion is a blank template. One folder containing a foundation of blank files (header.php, index.php, footer.php, etc.) and empty folders (images, scripts, css, etc.) necessary to create any WordPress theme. Yes, I have templated styles, functions and code that I reuse and modify for each theme that I make, but for the most part, I can crank out the “basic” groundwork for any theme concept I have made within about 30 minutes using my template. I guess what I am saying is that if you have a relatively solid understanding for WordPress theme development, there really is no need to use a “Theme Framework” developed by someone else simply because it will never be perfect for your specific needs.

Darren Hoyt

I think it depends on the audience. I’m in the process of releasing something that’s part framework, part baseline theme. It’s tough not get bogged down in the terminology. Mine is geared toward front-end designers who want to rapidly build client sites, but others geared toward more ambitious developers (Thematic, Hybrid) are incredibly useful. It all depends on the project.

8. Do you use any framework and so why, if not why?

Adii Pienaar

We use a development framework – with a generic themes backend – over at WooThemes, but it’s not a framework to the extent that Thematic, Prodigy or Hybrid is… I guess I just don’t like the framework + child theme approach.

Nathan Rice

My site, NathanRice.net, is built on Prodigy.

Ptah Dunbar

When I started creating WordPress themes back in the 2.0 days, there weren’t any concrete standards for themes, everyone just pulled code from kubrick. So overtime I developed a blank state WordPress theme which I would use for all my WordPress projects that had all the bells and whistles of the latest offerings of WordPress. I figured others could benefit from this and that’s how WP Framework came into fruition.

Ian Stewart

I tend to use the Thematic Framework a lot. I don’t know why, there’s just something about it I like. (ok ok of course thematic, silly question, LOL)

Jason Schuller

I use the same base template (as explained in the previous question) for all my themes. I really can’t see myself using one specific framework for all my development needs. I don’t like being limited to the boundaries of the framework.

Darren Hoyt

I use the same baseline PSDs and baseline/theme framework (codenamed ‘Gravy’) for every project.

9. Your WordPress Plugin Wishlist.

Adii Pienaar

See my top 5 plugins response.

Nathan Rice

I don’t really have one. Most of the time, if I want a particular piece of functionality, I just make a theme or plugin myself.

Ptah Dunbar

A WordPress fork of cck that’ll integrate with WordPress custom post types (when that’s available). A comprehensive security plugin that has all the bells and whistles needed to keep your blog secure.

Ian Stewart

Drupal’s CCK for WordPress. With some community oomph behind it.

Jason Schuller

I really don’t have any. Plugins are way overrated in my opinion and used in the wrong way for the wrong reasons quite often by the typical WordPress user.

10. Your take on how the GPL affects theme & plugin development.

Adii Pienaar

I think it probably affects plugin development a little more, as plugin authors can learn from each other. On the themes front, I think all of us learned how to code WP themes by looking at other WP themes, which would’ve been difficult had it not been GPL’ed and freely available.

Nathan Rice

Thankfully, there hasn’t been much impact on the market. I think that adopting the GPL is a great thing to do, if for no other reason than to honor the values of WordPress itself.

Ptah Dunbar

My views on the GPL are nothing but positive. I fully support it and I think that if you’re going to try and build a sustainable business around it, you’ll just have to come up with some creative business models, that’s all. It’s changeling but rewarding.

Ian Stewart

The GPL throws a hyperspace warp-drive behind WordPress Theme and Plugin development. It’s as simple as that.

Jason Schuller

Currently there seems to be an influx of people redistributing unmodified GPL code (themes in particular) which is disturbing to me. I realize that redistribution of unmodified code is well within the rights of the GPL, but I would love to see a little more community interaction with GPL’d themes in particular. Take a theme… customize it… make it better… then redistribute it. I realize that some people might disagree with this position, but I honestly do not see the value in redistribution of unmodified GPL’d code.

11. Your all time favourite WordPress based site

Nathan Rice

Probably FITSNews.com. It’s a news site for my home state of South Carolina and I was fortunate enough to get to build the theme for it. It gets tons of traffic, and WordPress + WP-Super-Cache holds up really well.

Ptah Dunbar

None in particular.

Ian Stewart

That would have to be WordPress Bits (http://wpbits.wordpress.com/). I wish it was still around.

Jason Schuller

This is like asking “what’s your favorite song or movie?”… There are just way too many to choose from to pick just one.

Darren Hoyt

I like WP Tavern and the Tavern forums because Jeff genuinely seems to love what he does and the crowd there are productive and helpful.

12. Your WordPress dreamteam.

Adii Pienaar

I’d take Ian Stewart, Nathan Rice, Alex King, Lester Chan & Joost de Valk any time.

Nathan Rice

The theme developers I respect the most are:

• Brian Gardner, for his uncanny ability to strike gold in everything he does
• Ian Stewart for being a pioneer and continuing to do great work
• Chris Pearson for his slick minimalism and serious code skillz
• Justin Tadlock for his unbelievable knowledge of all things WordPress, under the hood.

I also admire the coding style of Ozh from PlanetOzh.com. I learned plugin development by dissecting his plugins and copying his style. You can see his handywork all over my code.

Ptah Dunbar

All the influencers in the community (theme/plugin authoring, ma.tt and core devs).

Ian Stewart

http://wordpress.org/about/

Jason Schuller

I would love to work with some of the WordPress heavyweights to dream up 1 “Dream Theme” (I just checked and that domain is already taken). It would be fun to work with Adii, Brian, Nathan, and the rest of the guys to see what we could come up with.

Darren Hoyt

I would love to design a theme idea, build the HTML/CSS and let Justin Tadlock build the functionality. And then let Jeffro hype it.

13. Do you use any other CMS type systems other than WordPress? If so why & for what?

Adii Pienaar

Not at the moment. If I had more time, I’d probably spend it learning how to develop for ExpressionEngine, because of it’s more advanced CMS functionality (compared to WP’s).

Nathan Rice

Nope.

Ptah Dunbar

I’m dabling with Radient, but that’s only to learn more ruby on rails. I’ve also played with habari which is great stuff (on a technical level), but WordPress is my thing for the moment.

Ian Stewart

I’m a really huge fan of Drupal. It’s an amazing system. Most notably I used it to create a custom private intranet for tracking project status. It lets 3 companies across Canada keep track of where their jobs are at, as they’re being produced. It’s really super-cool but here’s the kicker: it took me less than a day of work to get a working demo ready.

Jason Schuller

Not anymore. I used to use Joomla, but gave it up long ago for WordPress. Everything else just seems so bloated at this point.

Darren Hoyt

I use Expression Engine, but less and less. I’m doing less production these days and trying to just focus on design and interface.

14. Anything you would change about WordPress if you could.

Nathan Rice

Probably. But nothing major. Most of the things I would like to see changed are already on the roadmap for future versions of WordPress.

Ptah Dunbar

I’ve got a few nit picks here and there, but nothing that warrants any mentions. WordPress is in a transitioning period so I’ll wait and see.

Ian Stewart

A non-janky WordPress solution to managing page menus that didn’t involve weight. WordPress needs to take a load off Fanny and get that happening.

Jason Schuller

Twitter.com limits users to 140 characters or less. I think WordPress should limit users to 4 plugins or less.

15. With twitter stealing the show and Google wave on the horizon, where do you think WordPress fits into the picture?

Adii Pienaar

I don’t think that WP is related to either of those, but I also think that WP will benefit from the growth of both. The thing is, that if WP is used as an aggregation space for what we’re doing online, on other networks / services, then there’s real value in the content / activity that one can aggregate on one’s own domain.

Nathan Rice

With Twitter and Google, you’re entirely dependent on 3rd party networks. The great thing about WordPress, and blogs in general, is that you own the space. That’s something that Twitter and other social networking sites can never duplicate.

Ptah Dunbar

Where it always was, on your domain. If you like owning your own data and having complete control over it, WordPress fits the bill.

Ian Stewart

Twitter hasn’t stolen anything and Google Wave won’t swamp blogging. Simple online publishing from a single, authoritative point will be even more important as the web becomes more and more fractured and cacophonous. WordPress helps you get a voice out there. Something that gets over the din. It’ll fit in nicely.

Jason Schuller

There will always be plugins & widgets bringing the functionality of both into WordPress or content from WordPress into twitter and wave. These things will always be connected in one way or another.

Darren Hoyt

There will always be a need for longform or freeform publishing on the web. It may go through periods of unpopularity, but I’ll always be glad to know platforms like WordPress exist to make it possible.

16. Where is Small Potato?

Adii Pienaar

At home?

Nathan Rice

You’d have to ask him. I’m sure if you asked around, someone has his email address.

Ptah Dunbar

Where is Waldo? I have no clue. He’ll make his grand appearance when the time comes. WordPress & it’s community is just too awesome to be easily forgotten. As for Waldo, well, I’m still looking for that guy…

Ian Stewart

He’s somewhere out there fighting the elephant in the room gladiator style. Keep him in your prayers lest he fall and we all become wamboozled.

Jason Schuller

Hopefully wherever he wants to be enjoying life to the fullest. I think he left the scene for a reason, and he seems to be sticking to his guns.

Darren Hoyt

Shangri-La Me: Yeah I know, silly question, just couldn’t resist and honestly, I’d really like to know where he dissappeared to as he was instrumental in helping me get into using WordPress back in the day. If you’re out there Small P, we miss you and would like a shout.

17. Your favourite new feature in WP 2.8

Adii Pienaar

The widget interface definitely.

Nathan Rice

Definitely the Widgets API. Building Widgets has never been easier. Plus, the new widget interface is much improved as well.

Ptah Dunbar

The WP_Upgrader class.

Ian Stewart

I love the new widget experience. And the Theme installer. Anything that makes getting upgrades out to users—like the new Theme installer—is appreciated.

Jason Schuller

Hands down… the new Widget interface. Finally, widgets have a purpose.

Darren Hoyt

I’m glad they finally included dynamic <body> classes.

18. Your thoughts on HTML5 and how that might affect WordPress development.

Adii Pienaar

Where am I gonna find the time to *really* have a look at HTML5? Dunno, but when I have found the time, I’ll answer that question.

Nathan Rice

Ask me in 2-4 years, when HTML5 is actually relevant. As long as IE dominates the browser market, all the cool HTML5 features are useless. And without those new features, HTML5 isn’t that much different from previous versions.

Ptah Dunbar

HTML5 and CSS3 will open up a slew of new innovations for the web. It’s only natural that WordPress will get some of that action. We just have to wait until they’re fully supported (or at least a good portion of it) in all modern browsers.

Ian Stewart

I think it’s sort of a non-issue at this point. It’s not like XHTML is broken or anything. That said, HTML 5 promises a lot of cool stuff and adds some tags that make your content more semantic. That’s always a good thing.

Jason Schuller

By the time HTML5 is widely adopted, who knows if WordPress will even still be around. Consider how long it has taken IE6 to die. I think the worldwide adoption/support for HTML5/CSS3 is a long ways off.

Darren Hoyt

It will be nice to see HTML 5 tags logically

19. What’s your favourite place to get info about WordPress

Adii Pienaar

There’s no one website / blog, so I tend to follow all the main peeps. WPTavern as however emerged as one of my favourites.

Nathan Rice

WeblogToolsCollection.com is still the go-to resource for all things WordPress. Other than that, I can think of 9 other places that are pretty cool: http://www.nathanrice.net/blog/10-sites-that-produce-quality-wordpress-content/

Ptah Dunbar

WP Tavern and twitter tidbits.

Ian Stewart

The WordPress Tavern. I think it should be in the official dashboard news. It has a real voice and never stoops to bland pointless posting of lists or parroting of rehashed official news. And get this: the posts aren’t built around driving affiliate sales. It’s a must read if you want a handle on the WordPress community. The WordPress Tavern Forum is great too. There’s real live WordPress nerds in there. Approachable ones even. There’s nothing like it. And when Matt Mullenweg needed to get the skinny on Commercial GPL Themes, where do you think he went first?

Jason Schuller

The WordPress.org codex. Anything you need is right there waiting for you. For some really cool code bits, Nathan Rice is starting to provide some great info as well. http://www.nathanrice.net/

Darren Hoyt

WPTopics.com

20. Last Words?

Adii Pienaar

Shot for including me as a WP heavyweight!

Ptah Dunbar

WordPress is in exciting times. You should get involved and join on in the fun!

Ian Stewart

Thanks for letting me take part in this.

Jason Schuller

WordPress has changed my life in more ways than one. I never expected my career to be based on something like WordPress, but things just kind of turned out that way. I have played around with other platforms, but in my opinion, the the community that has been built around WordPress is irreplaceable.

Me: I’d like to thank the guys for their time and their insight. My apologies for some of the silly questions. I hope the readers benefit from some of their points. We’d like to know what you think. Who did we miss out here, anyone you think needs to be on this list. Bear in mind I have contacted quite a few well known WordPress developers and designers. If you like this interview please share, retweet or share your thoughts. I hope to do another few rounds with a few more strategic questions so will be hunting down a list of willing participants. Seeyall next time WP freaks.

I was spurred into action to revive my Web Guru Spotlight Series of interviews when I came across the release of Quirk e-Marketing’s latest online marketing e-book. Rob Stokes, the brains behind Quirk has been a key figure in shaping the online marketing landscape in South Africa.

I have been watching Quirk with interested over the last few years due to the fact that they just seem to be staying ahead and being innovative in a seemingly saturated space.
So enough about Quirk, let’s chat with Rob, the man responsible for getting the Quirk Ball rolling.

Hi Rob, thanks for giving us some of your valuable time to chat and answer a few questions.
So you started Quirk the year after I graduated from design School. What lead up to the founding of Quirk?

I’ve always been a bit of a serial entrepreneur and Quirk was simply the next step for me. Quite honestly at first it was just a way of making some extra cash so I could stop delivering pizza like a poor student…

Are you positive about the direction the online media space is taking in South Africa.

I think we still have a long way to go, but it’s only going up. With SA being a relative laggard in global tech this also has some long term positives. For example you don’t see Neotel laying down copper cables. They will be fibre from the start and that will really benefit us in the long term.

Yes, I’m a glass half full type of guy

Your team are called QuirkStars and your office is called the Quirk Station, tell us a bit about this and the working environment you’ve created.

I absolve myself from all blame on these names! The seemingly silly names have evolved from my staff over the years and whilst we know they are a bit geeky, we’re proud of being QuirkStars so I guess it’s just stuck. As for the working environment, I think we have the best coffee in Cape Town! Seriously though, I think we have created an open working environment where the creative juices can flow.

Do you think the Online Industry is saturated or do you think there’s space for more players?

Definitely not saturated, but definitely fragmented. I think as the industry evolves we will start to see some consolidation and within 10 years I’m sure the online marketing industry will mirror the structure of the traditional ad industry today. I’m happy to mirror their structure as long as we don’t mirror their stereotypical marketing beliefs

What is the potential for the online industry to have an impact on the unemployment rate in South Africa

At the end of the day, pretty much anything that stimulates an economy will benefit unemployment. Ferdie Bester said to me the other day that the best thing we can do as South Africans is start a business and employ people and the internet has made that easier than ever. Now, if only our government would support entrepreneurship as well as the internet does…

How do you think we can nurture better skills in the online space in the strategic, creative & technical spaces? Should the focus be on educational institutions or industry players?

I think there needs to be partnerships between the private and academic sectors. The reality is that cutting edge online tactics evolve from industry and not academia – this is as a result of competition driving innovation.

I’d like to see more companies across the board doing their bit to work with the tremendous academic institutions in SA.

The team you have working for you seem to be a really uniquely chosen bunch and are stars in their own right. Could you give us some insight into your hiring approach?

For starters it is our goal to have a brand which people want to work for. Solving this is half the problem.

Secondly we will experiment with pretty much anything to find people. From Facebook ads to hiring bounties we have tried many things, some have worked, some haven’t, but that’s what online marketing is all about.

Once someone cracks an interview, they are generally seen by their possible team leader and our COO. It might take a few interviews, but if they prove that they have the skills, they then get to be grilled by me to ensure they will fit into our culture. I ask a lot of strange questions, but if you make it through, chances are you rock.

Apart from that, the only other unusual thing is that we work on one man one vote. Inpsired by Ricardo Semler, this means that I, as the CEO, can get outvoted on hiring people. In fact I’ll admit that in the past I’ve voted against hiring someone who the team wanted. We hired that person and I’ll admit that I was wrong and they turned out to be awesome… ah the power of democracy.

Is there a difference between online & offline entrepreneurship?

The fundamentals remain the same only the tactics change.

Many people see online entrepreneurship as this ultimate money making space similar to the way they did before dot bomb. Do you think a crash might be headed our way?

No. Some will fail, some will succeed, but I don’t see an industry wide crash.

I’ve spent the last few weeks teaching some newbies XHTML, CSS & WordPress. What do you think would be the most essential additional skills to pass on to newbies.

Basic HTML, SQL, SEO and PPC. Once you’ve wrapped your head around those concepts, marketing on the internet becomes a far easier and more intuitive process.

You’ve been very involved in the web community since I started getting into the whole meetup / (un)conference scene, has this added value to your organisation?

I think it’s important that we are a contributing member of the community in which we work. Being part of these events goes a long way to achieving that so yes, I do think we have benefited.

Would you recommend all businesses go social in this way?

I think businesses need to interact with their customers and community on their terms and in their space. If this means an unconference then so be it.

I’ve always been an advocate for giving before receiving and admire your gesture of releasing your e-marketing textbook. Does the cost of producing it really justify this type of approach?

Publishing a book is not an easy or cheap exercise. The Quirk eMarketing book took us 8 months and all in all cost us almost half a million Rand.

On the surface we will make a massive loss, but we’re not looking at book sales to drive any sort of ROI for us on this.

This is an example of capitalist driven social development. Quirk will gain from this if we can get thousands of students each year to enjoy learning from our book. These students will become our future staff and customers and it’s very difficult to put a price on that.

So that’s how we justify it from a business perspective. From a personal perspective we have done something really good here. This book will improve the lives of many people and that makes us feel incredibly good.

Lack of access to information and knowledge tools & resources is a big disadvantage for the majority of South Africans.

Do you think there is a serious business case for corporates developing capacity in this area?

YES!

We want the Quirk book to be an example to companies in all industries to do the same.

Open Education began primarily as an initiative at school level, but eventually I hope it will permeate all areas where skills are required. Imagine if De Beers wrote a Geology textbook…

Have you focused much on mobile strategies and where do you think the coming mobile revolution could have the most impact?

No, this version of the textbook is very thin on the mobile side. However as we needed to have the book ready for the second university semester of 2008 we left out a few chapters.

We plan to update the book over the next few months with about 5 new chapters of which mobile is definitely one.

Do you think consumer action or provider competition could ever have an impact on the cost of bandwidth in South Africa?
Without doubt. Both are fundamental to economic efficiency and the internet itself promotes both by giving consumers a voice and lower barriers to competition.
I found the launch of Brandseye very interesting. How has the uptake of this innovative solution been so far?

It’s been OK. Internationally it has been well received but locally the mindset isn’t fully there yet and I do acknowledge that the price makes it pretty exclusive.

However we have a plan to cater to a wider audience so watch this space…

Do you guys use Brandseye for Quirk?

Of course!

Do you think knowledge work and mobile workers are on the rise in South Africa?

Definitely!

What are your favourite tools you use as a knowledge worker on a daily basis?

Twitter, our internal Wiki, RSS

Mac or PC?

Sigh…. PC

Firefox or Safari?

The Fox… it’s the only way!

How do you feel about IE6?

Poef

What’s next for South Africa Online?

Video. Currently it’s a pain to watch online video locally. I’d like to think that in the next 2 years South African’s will forget what “buffering” means…

Any last words?

Thanks for a thought provoking interview…!

Thanks to “YOU” Rob and we look forward to hearing you speak at the Heavy Chef session on the 27th.

Today we’ll be hearing a little from Rafiq Phillips, who needs little introduction, especially if you’re based in South Africa.

Today we will be speaking to Rafiq Phillips, SEM(Search Engine Marketing) Whizz Kid, web entrepreneur, collaboration enthusiast and general web guru. Rafiq Has a long list of achievements most notably the much respected blog Web AddiCT(S); (Web Application Development, Design & Innovation in Cape Town) which has been going for about 2 years, His Pillar Position at Quirk e-marketing, iDrive.co.za, a web application to help find driving school instructors, SEO blog and a host of other initiatives in collaboration with some of the top names in the SA new media industry.

Just google ‘Rafiq Phillips” and you’ll be shocked at the long list of results. He’s an advocate of the googleCV! When I first saw his picture and didn’t know too much about him I would have thought him to be a junior just moving his way up the ranks, but don’t let his unassuming presence fool you, We’ve got a real Guru in our presence.

So let me welcome to nomad-one, our favourite Web AddiCT.

It’s obvious you’re not a shy guy and don’t lack confidence at all in going out there and saying your say. What has been the greatest influence in pushing you to strive the way you have in achieving your goals.

I’m on a mission to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave, you know where that’s from

No doubt you’re proudly South African. Seems we have some interesting & challenging times ahead of us. How do you think we can succeed in meeting these challenges.

Most obstacles facing internet start-ups in developing regions of the wwworld, I believe, have been put in place back bureaucrats and ill-informed policy makes. Look at the ODF vs MS debate.

Their is a great opportunity for organisations and individuals to wwwork together and innovate around those man-made constraints and achieve the unthinkable, unthinkable to those who put difficulties in our way or fear the future.

Rafiq, though I envy your success I am sure I’ll not envy your workload. Someone like you must be snowed under permanently. Tell us about a typical day in the life of Rafiq.

If you’d like to follow me around for a typical day the best and easiest way would be to follow me on twitter. The Carte Blanche interview also sums up a typical day of my life in the public timeline..

Technology as we all know is not an end in itself, something I was reminded a while back by Chris Garrett in an interview with him. I’m always full of big ideas and great ambitions but follow through is where the real test lies. How do you go about putting into practice your ideas, or do things happen in a random or more unplanned manner in your wwworld.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi says it best: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

I have a final destination in mind but the path usually unfolds as the journey continues.

I’m always reading up on a whole range of productivity methods & Techniques. Tell about your approach to getting things done quicker & better.

Many hands, eyes, minds make wwwork easy. Asking for help is the best way to get things done right. At Quirk my work would bee nothing without the SEO Crew, Carlos Menezes , Suzan Gray, Sarah Manners and Tim Shier just to name a few.

The web Is a great place to promote causes and to initiate projects towards positive change in society. Recently I’ve set up a website to initiate dialogue around a project which has been floating in my mind for close to 10 years now but in the mix of everything else that everyone is trying to achieve it seems each endeavour becomes a little more watered down on its own. Any ideas on how to solve this problem?

Like the various chapters in the emarketing textbook each aspect of emarketing is separate but combined have the ability to achieve your holistic marketing goals on and offline.

In a similar manner, when looking at all the projects you are involved in, do not approach each of them as separate but rather as one project aimed at achieving your big hairy audacious goal. If all the projects you are involved in are not all heading in the same direction should you really be re-thinking and re-aligning your involvement to ensure that your goal is met with each of them.

Where would you position South Africa as a player in the global knowledge economy.

No matter what those on the outside might think. South Africa IS a first world country, with 3rd world problems. That puts us in the best position to use the best of both worlds top offer world class services at the fraction of the cost of our closest competitors

Having followed the social bookmarking onslaught which has hit the South African web do you think its in danger of becoming too dominated by an elite group of web enthusiasts and rules out the rest of the web using population?

no comment.

I know I’m jumping around from topic to topic but please bear with me, I’d like to cross question you on any and everything that comes to mind. What role do you think design plays in the success or failure of web initiatives.

Embed this video by the SEO rapper as my answer.

Can design & technology solve South Africa’s problems?

Can design and technology solve problems? Yes it can. Road Safety and Driver Education are one of the biggest problems facing ALL South Africans on a daily basis. Sites with little or no help from external sources like www.idrive.co.za, www.arrivealive.co.za, www.saidi.org.za and roadsafety.wordpress.com helps the ‘normal’ person on the web, mobile, MXit but could have a greater impact offline with a little more assistance from the right individuals or companies.

What’s your favourite web initiative?

WordPress FTW!

What’s your favourite activity?

Eating home cooked meals.

Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years time?

I’d love to be invited to TED…

How do we prepare ourselves online for 2010 and what effect do you think this event will have on the SA web?

I believe eDucation is the key. Let’s look past the FUD and focus on solving our own problems and not wait for a hand out. 

First project I did in PHP while at Cape Tech in 2003, www.tourguide.co.za, is still running (fully automated) today and could help 100′s of 1000′s of South Africans in the tourism industry with a little work. If anyone would love to get involved with this project which is currently lying dormant. Please contact me directly.

How can each one of us make a difference in the building of the “new new South Africa”

By not repeating the mistakes of our fathers.

Like we’ve come to know him and in typical Rafiq style, a man of few words with one or 2 gems tucked in there. Thanks for chatting with us Rafiq, we’ll be looking forward to your talk at Flying Solo

I’m proud to say that with us today, we have someone who has had a major impact on the direction of the new media Industry in SA over the years, and who I am sure we are gong to be hearing a lot more from in the coming months and years. You must know Vincent Maher, online media strategist to the Mail & Guardian Online and key player in the social-bookmarking website, Amatomu. He’s currently in the process of re-developing the Mail & Guardian online and it’s Thoughtleaders blogging platform as well.

Vincent’s own site www.vincentmaher.com serves as a doorway into his personal and professional journey in the online space which he calls, “My Digital Life”, and it gives us a good idea of the insightful yet witty personality behind the name.

So! lets get dig a little deeper. I’ve been in the web industry in some way or other for the past 7 years now Vincent, but admittedly not been exposed to many strategic developments in the online space over the past years.

I believe you have been involved in the online space for around 11 or 12 years now, what was your entry point to the industry, and what did you study to prepare you for the road ahead?

I studied journalism at Rhodes and from 1993 – 1997 and in my final year I was supposed to finish the Bachelor of Journalism course. The department didn’t accept my transition from the 3rd to the 4th year so I did a joint honours in Journalism and English, mixing 2 Journalism courses with 3 from English. In English I did literary theory, gay and lesbian fiction – basically another name for more literary theory – and revenge tragedy. The revenge tragedy has helped me countless times in my life because I know how to wait until the time is right. In Journalism I did print design – you can see that influence in my web design – and an experimental course called online publishing.

At the time I thought the Web was &^$@$^$, and that all networks were good for was fragging your mates in Doom. I still sort of believe that but don’t tell anyone.

Anyway, giving the online publishing course the credence it deserved I missed the first 4 classes. One day I bumped into one of the other suckers doing it who let out a long whistle and told me there was this stuff called HTML that was keeping him awake at night. So before the next class I decided to read up a bit about this HTML business, you know, in case the lecturer asked me a question. We had to create a web page and present it to the class.

So there I sit, basically &%^&*@ myself about how far advanced everyone else is and the first guy gets up to show his page with a light green background. In those days white wasn’t the default bgcolor in Netscape. The next person had the same thing and so when I got up to show off my page that had shockwave mouseovers on the nav and a frame with a tile background people almost fell off their chairs. From that day my ego was intrinsically tied to my ability to make good web sites.

When I graduated I was hired by my friend Jarred Cinman who was the technical director at VWV Interactive.

You call yourself an online media Strategist, could you give us a quick low down on what exactly that is for the not so web savvy.

That’s my official job title rather than a self-anointment. What I do is define the direction for the company in terms of what digital products to roll out when and how.

What’s a typical day in the life of Vincent Maher like?

I get up at about 6AM, look after my 7-month-old boy while my wife gets ready for her day. I leave the house at around 8, and get to the office half an hour later. Checking email, facebook, my blog and all the other stuff takes about an hour and then I meet with Matthew Buckland and chat about whatever I am working on.

After that, coffee and write code for a few hours. I often meet up with friends who work at Avusa for lunch, seeing as we’re so close and the afternoons are generally more code or meetings.

Being a founding partner of Amatomu, maybe you could give us a little sales pitch so to speak, of how Amatomu differs from the other social bookmarking services out there.

Amatomu combines aggregation with analytics, so there are generally two kinds of users – those who go there for blog content and those who go there for their statistics and overall rankings. It’s different to Afrigator in the sense that its strictly South African and has a heavy emphasis on public ranking and statistics and it’s different from Technorati in that it isn’t a dog.

In the end I think it’s the subtle things, like how content is displayed that make all the difference. Most of the site, after the initial two days of testing, has been based on user feedback so about half of what you see there is stuff that users requested or that Matthew and I discovered we needed, as bloggers.

I recently started visiting Amatomu, started tracking my own performance on the site & noticed that Amatomu has attracted a certain type of blogger, one with a little more know-how.

I feel there’s a need to open up the space to a more general type of blogger. Don’t you think that the requirements for entry into this space are a little high in terms of having web knowledge?

You might be right, there are definitely some usability issues we want to iron out before we go into beta. For instance you can’t reset your password and those types of things.

The beta plans are currently on hold while we decide on an international strategy. If we go international we’ll rewrite the whole thing because it won’t make much sense with a few million blogs in there. Once we know how we’re going to move forward we’ll put all the bits in there for the less savvy bloggers.

What are the ingredients for a top rank on Amatomu in terms of amount of posts, shmaaks etc.

Shmaaks have just been downgraded and we’re phasing them out because people don’t use them enough. Sites like Muti do a better job of that anyway. To be honest, the way to get to the top is to either blog about rugby or do a deal with a big web site that can send you lots of traffic. Or you could become a big celeb in the Afrikaans entertainment world. A lot of it has to do with personality and regular posting though.

Enough about Amatomu now. I recently checked out a wireframe you’ve been working on for the M&G online. Are you a web designer as well or more of an information Architect?

I am lucky in that I picked up a lot of different skills, so I can do all the database design and deployment, i can design the interface, I can program the application and I can add whatever multimedia bits with Flash. It has been a conscious decision of mine always to be able to do everything in the production workflow so I can take over when necessary. It’s also a fall-back when the market for strategists collapses LOL

Something which has bothered me greatly over the last year or 2 is the rise of tabloid Media in South Africa and the effect it seems to be having on the minds of the average South African. I haven’t seen much of this trickle into the online space. What does that mean exactly in terms of web users in South Africa and how do you think the web can play a role in countering the negativity spread by these tabloids.

Tabloids are a complex medium and the discourses they contain are not as easily generalised as most people think. In many ways they offer the most compelling reading about any given topic because they are necessarily emotive and induce a kind of cognitive limit experience that helps people make up their minds about an issue.

The sad reality is that most serious media have become pathologically boring to read.

I see Keo.co.za is currently ranked at the top of the SA blogosphere in terms of reads, this gives anything little insight into the SA blog reader profile. Are there any stats on who’s reading blogs in SA?

Not that I know about – Keo is a respected rugby journalist and has built a loyal audience which should be commended. I don’t think it says much about the online readership but it says a lot about his blog.

Is the SA online space reflective of the population, it’s thoughts and ideals and if not what an we do to reach a more representative online space.

I seriously doubt that there is any correlation between the political or social belief structures of the 4 million online readers and the rest of the population. They live in a different world, almost literally.

The problem is not access to technology or bandwidth, its the economic divide caused by apartheid and the government’s failure to create jobs fast enough.

Do you think the blogger community or wider web community in South Africa can play a major role in shifting the tide of negativity sweeping across SA, and instigate some meaningful and positive changes in Society?

Honestly I think the blogger community has limited power but it can do both – it can enhance the negativity and it can dispel some of it. SaRocks is a good example of a blog trying to make a difference, though the evidence of any real difference is hard to see.

When we look back and do content analysis – that’s the archaeology of the future – we’ll probably see that there was too much noise for a big impact. I suspect though, that Thought Leader is doing some interesting things in the political space and I am very glad to have been part of that project because it has people who are normally apathetic talking about politics in a fresh way.

Talking about change in society, I’ve started a site called www.one-project.org with the aim of working towards something positive and starting a conversation. What advice would you give in terms of getting a project of this nature off the ground and getting some great minds on board.

It is a chicken and an egg – you need to have something to offer in terms of either kudos or traffic, but you need the contributors to get to that stage. The best way to get there is to start now and keep going. Ignore the days when it seems like it’s not worth it.

I read a post on your site a short while ago discussing the phases of the web from 1.0 through to 3.0. Threw in my own 2 cents as well. What I’m interested in is how you think the next wave of “quantum shifts” will affect society. Are we seeing a new type of segregation in society, that of the web enabled & those who are not with the knowledge and benefit of web usage being shared by only an elite few.

The web has already shifted from static publishing through the phase of dynamic content and now its a web of applications. A lot can still happen in that phase but the big thing, from a user perspective, is going to be applications combined with mobile and on the server side it will be the semantic web or a web of structured and indexed data and APIs.

The explosion of mobile internet will make the web more or less ubiquitous and everywhere, which is good for democracy and society as a whole. One can argue, as Mark Poster has, that the economy has already shifted from the mode of production to the mode of information. If this is true then there are masses of people already disenfranchised from the fundamental workings of the global economy. Maybe this is obvious already, i don’t know. It certainly isn’t consciously like that for most.

One of my favourite books is 1984 by Geo rge Orwell. Lately I’ve been thinking with all the online profiling taking place on the facebooks & other social networks it seems like it’s only a matter of time before the Big Brother effect becomes really prevalent in the Global Society. What’s your take on this?

The more information I can share the better. I am not paranoid about big governments using that information against me later – if that happens then I bet on the wrong outcome and I deserve to be tortured.

But seriously, privacy is obviously a concern but not necessarily from the data repositories themselves but from people piecing a composite together from multiple sources. Take Bolton Deventer as an example – he may as well have been real because all the signs were there, the kind of signs one looks for when validating an identity. Other than physical presence obviously, but one of the things the Web has done is taken away the need for physical presence. Bolton, if he was set up to be a credible person, i.e. not a parody, could have done business deals, had cybersex and forged some strong relationships. In fact, I think he probably did all of that. I can see the “I cyber-shagged Bolton Deventer” t-shirts now, ew.

It seems like the skills needed to keep up with developments in online technology are simultaneously running away from your average web user and becoming more accessible on different levels. The web is being pushed in the strategic direction chosen by the few who have the skills & investment to make major decisions, and the technology does not allow for the lay web user to really play a major role in the future developments.

Examples would be online social networks, publishing platforms and other fundamental web application technologies are shaped by the googles, facebooks and other big players, or by those who have the high end skills to develop. They include the ingredients voted upon by a certain group of people, even when it comes to web applications, one has to abide by certain criteria before being allowed to make use of these applications and one has to use them in the way they have been fashioned.

Do you think we’ll ever reach a point where powerful web application development will be in the hands of the average web user allowing a more democratic system to follow.

I doubt everyone will have the power, in all things not just the Web. In defense of Google and Facebook, both depend heavily on how easily accessible their services are and I don’t really agree that organisations like them hold all the power. For one thing, Blogger.com has made blogging really easy for non-geeks and this was the catalyst to blogging exploding as a medium. So everyone who builds these kind of things knows, or finds out, that usability is very important.

It’s true that the decision-making in terms of what gets built and how it gets marketed rests with those who have the technical know-how to make it happen. Web technologies have become more powerful though, making it easier for programmers with some skills to build applications that they wouldn’t have the time and resources to create if they built them from scratch. Here I am referring to the Facebook application framework and development frameworks in general. As a practical example, we’re rebuilding the M&G web site and have chosen a framework called Symfony that will probably save us a few hundred hours of hard programming.

What do you think will be the next big wave in web development?

If Google’s Android platform takes off on mobile platforms then the next big wave will be mobile apps. On the server side, semantic applications will start to become mainstream and there are changes underway with HTML 5 that will make it more semantic too, so all of this combined will probably result in a very rich web of applications in the next five years or so. In the longer term we’re looking at a breakthrough in either quantum or biological computing that will change things much more fundamentally.

What are your plans for your career going forward and where would you like to see yourself in the next 2 – 5 years?

It’s hard to say but I think I want to stay in media or, at the very least, continue to build applications for the media. My main priority right now is getting more control of my own intellectual property, so that may mean doing my own thing, some time down the line. Something I didn’t mention is that I ran a web dev company for five years right in the middle of the dotcom crash and that took its toll mentally and financially.

The past four years have been about regrouping and figuring out what my real areas of specialisation are. My time running the Rhodes New Media Lab helped a lot with that because it gave me a lot of time to reflect and think. It is so important to understand, from a theoretical perspective, the impact of what we do on society as a whole and where we fit it.

I tend to fluctuate between a modern and postmodern take on the world and both provide a type of ethical or moral imperative that comes in handy when planning web applications aimed at the general public.

Thanks for that Vincent, now that you’ve given me a taste of what to expect I’ve got a bucket load of new questions, and maybe a few more specific ones in relation to those you’ve already answered. Great getting to know you a little better and learning from your web experience. You’ve certainly got me interested in further exploring the strategic potential of the web and maybe even working with you on some project in the future.

I look forward to taking this dialogue a little further and to explore a few more topics regarding the edges of the web with you some time soon.

Today we will be speaking to Matthew Buckland, General Manager of the Mail & Guardian Online and co-founder of award-winning blog aggregator amatomu.com. I had the pleasure of working with Matthew years ago at iafrica.com in the early days when I just stepped into the new media space. Back then Matthew was an online editor. I can imagine it was the beginnings of what now is a real passionate relationship with digital media.

Matthew regularly speaks at media events both locally and internationally and is at the forefront of new media developments in the new media industry & the blogosphere in South Africa.

Hi Matthew. Firstly, let me say it’s great chatting to you again after all this time and I’m impressed with the way you’ve moved since those days back at iafrica.com.

So tell me, what’s your current job description?

As the GM I am responsible for the overall business and strategy of the Mail & Guardian Online. A large part of my role is conceptualising and building new sites that attract audience and provide a service to users. It’s what I’m passionate about, so I am pretty hands on when it comes to development, design and interface issues.

Here I work closely with our Strategist Vincent Maher, who I have known since my student days at Rhodes (We did the same new media course). Our brainstorming sessions can be pretty out there sometimes. We seem to be on the same wavelength so have been a great team.

I also had to get involved in business and sales side about three years ago, because I realised it was the only way M&G Online was going to expand and I would be able to bring onboard the fabulous talent we have working for our division: start bringing in the revenues.

Has your career developed the way you envisioned it to up until this point?

I’d always thought I’d work closely with computers. I had a ZX spectrum since age 7, where I programmed games in Basic and then later in high school used Pascal on my first 486 PC. Then I lost interest in computers to study journalism… but I naturally gravitated towards computers again when at Rhodes University. The University was one of the first places to get internet in South Africa in the mid 90s and I became heavily involved in new media.(For a short while Rhodes was the main hub for all SA’s international web traffic).

My first website was a shocker I built in 1995 for Netscape 1 for the Rhodes Drama Department. To some extent my career has developed the way I envisioned it, although being a new media graduate, I didn’t expect to be involved in the business aspect of the site so early.

What are your career plans for the next 5 years?

I think I’d eventually like to run my own company and I probably need to do another stint overseas, probably New York, for a while with a web operation there. But we have so much fun at the M&G, it’s difficult to leave.

What are the greatest challenges you experience on a daily basis?

Keeping to my own deadlines. Exercising patience and caution. I get excited and want things yesterday. Managing the shareholder relationships and politics in our company. Trying to grow the M&G Online, but on a very tight budget. The next big challenge is redesigning and redeveloping the M&G Online. Badly needed!

Describe a typical day in the professional life of Matthew Buckland.

Get to work 8.30am. Check my diary, check M&G Online homepage, check my mail, check my blog, check Facebook, check Thoughtleader. If its a production day I meet with the editor (riaan wolmarans) and strategist (vincent maher); if its a sales day I meet with the online sales manager (Bryan Khumalo). If its an exco day I meet with the M&G CEO, Trevor Ncube, and heads of the other divisions.

What in your estimation will be the next big evolution of the web?

I think we will see a big competitor rise up to challenge Google. I think most of our applications will be online, including our desktop. I think advertising will be everywhere online, even on your desktop — but it will be ok because it will be relevant and non-intrusive advertising. We will see more aggregators to try and make sense of the intense information clutter that will characterise the digital age. I’ll be talking to my computer and telling it to do things most of the time.

All digital devices will be connected and networked via the web and the mobile web will grow in importance, especially on this continent. All digital media: TV, radio etc will be web based. Cellphone calls will be internet based. I think there will be a place for niche social networks services, catering specifically for those communities as opposed to the generalist Facebook approach. Most major publishing websites will be social networks too.

Excuse the use of the terms web 2.0, how would you define this most controversial term essentially?

Yeah it’s really just a marketing term, which I know has been the object of derision, but it has been useful in mainstreaming a new culture and wave of practice on the web. People were building web2.0 apps and blogging before there were terms to describe these things, but the term has now helped mainstream these practices.

For us, it means looking at ways of involving users in the publishing process, building online applications, creating websites cheaply and efficiently. It means treating your users as intelligent contributors, not faceless masses. It means harnessing the network effect of the internet.

Having followed a bit of the writing on ThoughtLeader.co.za, I’m wondering if any, what the requirements are for qualifying as a Thought leader.

We want opinion leaders, experts, and commentators from all political spectrums and fields — established and up-and-coming. Above all we want good writers to write on issues. If any of the apply, contact us.

Do you see a platform like thought leader having a major impact on South African Society?

Yes I think it is making an impact. As more influential people join Thoughtleader.co.za and begin writing, the site will grow in influence. Making influential people part of your media plays a role in audience generation. Thought Leader recently made the Sunday Times Hogarth column; unfortunately it also played a part in the first SA case of a blogger being fired from work for blogging. We have major commentators including Steven Friedman, Guy Berger, Arthur Goldstuck, trade unionists, intellectuals, writers, government spokespeople, the president’s biographer on it.

Ndumiso Ncgobo is going to be the country’s first accredited blogger covering/blogging the upcoming ANC conference. The newspaper’s editor and CEO have blogged on Thought Leader. We tried to get President’s Thabo Mbeki’s weekly newsletter published on the site (as we think it’s a blog anyway ) but sadly this was rejected. It’s only 3/4 months old. There’s more to come.

With the recent controversies surrounding press freedoms and the attempted curtailing of them, what challenges lie ahead for online journalists or citizen journalists in the South Africa of the future?

Regarding politics around the media — despite recent ructions I think we are long way from press freedoms being curtailed. Citizen media is impossible to regulate, anyway. It is democratic expression in its truest form.

I noticed that the vast majority of writers, be they bloggers or traditional journalists, spend a lot of their time merely focussing on popular issues. Do you have any advice for those looking to break from the monotony, produce original and engaging content and stimulate conversation in unchartered territories?

The great thing about blogging is that you can find an alternative to what you would find in mainstream media. Media focuses on mainstream issues, but the blogosphere provides valuable information on niche topics.

Bloggers should write about things and issues that interest them, no matter how niche — there will be a reader somewhere that will be interested. Blogging should not try to be like media ie. formal in style like the Economist, but should be more direct, conversational and relaxed. Let you hair down. have fun and inject your personality into the writing.

Could you identify any unchartered or untapped avenues online which may prove to be useful areas to focus on?

Niche social networks and niche business network applications…

What do you like most about blogging?

It’s my media. All mine. To express myself and write on issues.

What do you think could be the next big development in the blogosphere?

I think the big challenge for many bloggers is: how do I generate revenue on my blog? For many, Google Adsense doesn’t touch sides. A specialist blog agency could change all that. I think there is a gap in the market for a specialist social network for bloggers and media people. Maybe we should create one

If any, where do you see people falling short in fully understanding the power of blogging? I mean this for those who are already sold on the concept of blogging.

I think the local blogosphere is too obsessed with navel gazing and talking about itself. And I am a guilty party.

Do you think a blog has the power to change society, the world?

Yes I do. And it’s not hype. Fundamentally its not only a change to the media publishing model, but also of power structures in society.

We know the long tail is getting longer, but how do we make it fatter? How do the majority of blogs start attracting bigger audiences?

Do you have any big plans for your own blogs development?

Need to work out how to get Tech Crunch and Mashable to link to my blog again. Wow that was fun.

I second that Matthew, lots of fun and quite insightful as well. One can never predict the outcome of any conversation which is why we should keep the lines open. I’m disappointed I hadn’t prepared a few more juicy questions to keep this one going. Hopefully we can do this in the future again and maybe work together on one or 2 of those much needed niche social networking ideas you spoke about.

Ladies & gentleman, that was Matthew Buckland, an all round interesting fellow with a wealth of experience in the online space and someone I look forward to hearing much more from in the near future.

So who is Adii (Adriaan Pienaar)

Adii is a great guy, holds an interesting conversation, is full of great ideas and is an example of a real success story in the making. I say in the making because I think he’s only just scratched the surface of his own potential, and has age on his side so to speak. I won’t divulge his age, but let’s just say he quite a bit younger than I thought and has achieved a huge amount in a very short space of time. I learnt a few interesting little things about his journey to becoming one of the most spoken about web 2.0 stars in South Africa. I can’t believe he’s only been in this game about a year now, it’s a true reflection of how the dynamics of the web has completely changed in a matter of months. Adii’s also gaining fame in the international wordpress community. I first started tracking Adii’s movements online when I saw an ad of his posted on wpdesigner.com, the site I found the free theme which currently powers my site.

The Premium vs Free Theme debate

An interesting and ongoing debate was sparked between Adii and Small potato of wpdesigner.com concerning whether wordpress themes should be sold or kept free. Even though the debate is ongoing, Adii has definitely changed my personal perspective on this issue. While wordpress was gaining momentum loads of free themes were developed and still are being developed and put out into the community as free downloads. With the need to set one’s apart becoming increasingly important, it’s only natural that uniquely designed themes would become much more valuable. The fact that a huge market for uniquely designed professional themes exists should speak for itself. I think the rise of “premium themes” for wordpress has definitely opened up the development of much more advanced layout, functionality and design streams in the wordpress community and can only be a good thing for wordpress development in the long run. As the premium theme space develops those offering free themes will keep pushing the premium developers to up their game. I’m definitely looking to enter this new market and hope I don’t miss the boat as I think wordpress has the potential to be a major problem solver for anyone looking to build a powerfully interactive website of almost any kind.

Adii’s latest creation, Premium News Theme which is a online magazine style theme has met with huge success and from what he tells me he’s making a pretty penny from it so far.

I’d been planning to do a Web Guru Spotlight with Adii for a while but sitting down and just chatting casually about a few things was much more insightful. I’ve still got a series of probing questions on their way to you soon Adii so be prepared to share your secrets to success.

Popularity can bite

We spoke about some of the challenges a web 2.0 entrepreneur faces, some of the strange interactions which sometimes happen in the online social networking space and about some of Adii’s plans going forward. You can be sure if you become popular online for whatever reason someone will come along to challenge that popularity in some way, not always in the most honourable way either. Adii has had to put up with his fair share of controversies. I know for a fact when it comes to staying popular you have to be good at keeping in touch with your readers and those who are using your themes. I think this is one of Adii’s strong points. Even when people comment on his site, and he gets alot of comments, he’s always there responding and engaging, something any blogger needs to learn how to do well. Speaking of his latest plans, One in particular is for a wordpress focussed community portal or online magazine which he has spoken about a bit on his site. I think the timing is right for something with a different approach and something which has a bit more of a community flavour.

The politics of the web 2.0 space has found it’s way to Adii in more ways than one, with more controversy surrounding using the name wordpress for his new wordpress magazine style portal. It’s still uncertain whether he will be allowed to use magazine in the name as well. In the run-up to establishing this new and much awaited community portal, one of the main tasks ahead is establishing a Brand. Adii’s insight into its positioning is much more mature than I would have expected from a man of his age and experience, and I’m slowly beginning to think I need to be upping my game in order to keep up with today’s web “Rockstars”.

I hope to play a role in the Branding of Adii’s new site, a much needed challenge and something I think might help promote my skills in the community, but lets not get ahead of ourselves quite yet.

Adii is currently undergoing a re-brand with an adventurous new logo design, something which will no doubt create even more attention for this already famous web “rookie”. I call him a rookie because I’ve been doing design since he was around 11 years old, but he’s definitely an inspiration to me and someone who has already influenced and I think will keep influencing how I go about what I do. He’s definitely inspired me to tackle my very own blog theme from scratch, something I’ve been putting off & procrastinating about for while now.

All in all it was a beneficial meeting, I learnt quite alot, made a good friend and become more of an Adii fan. Adii is a really down to earth kinda guy, very different than what you might expect from his Corporate looking Business man pic on his homepage, but an innovative business mind he most certainly is. Thanks alot for the meeting Adii, I’m looking forward to a repeat soon. Just so you know, this is not a paid for review, it’s just my take on meeting Adii.

Coffee Anyone?

Finally, I must recommend Seattle Coffee at Exclusive books in Canal Walk, Cape Town. They have a few comfy leather coaches at the back which creates a cool little chill lounge. Being surrounded by all those books has an interesting effect on ones thinking as well, and you can just pop into the store and grab a Mag or browse through some books for ideas and inspiration. Anyone else interested in meeting up for a coffee, a chat and sharing some ideas give me a shout.

PS: If anyone knows how to help me quit my coffee habit send me your recommendation. Ciao for now.

Good day Chris and welcome to nomad-one, my humble beginnings of a blog. Having scoured the blogosphere over the past few months in the hunt for gems of wisdom on blog strategies, forgive me for using such a silly term, I was pleasantly surprised by what your site had to offer. I’ve come across quite a number of “professional blog strategists” who claim to offer miracle cures and instant success strategies but your approach seems much more grounded and based on good wholesome experience.

How did you get into blogging?

I’ve always had a personal website since I first discovered the web back in the early 90′s but I started what you would consider my first blog as a personal journal around ten years ago, as was the fashion of the time. I found it fun so kept at it.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

As I say, I find it fun, I enjoy the process of writing. I think though the biggest benefit is the people you meet. Like the conversation we are having now!

Why did blogging attract you so much to the extent that you are now a professional blogger?

Why would anyone not? Heh. Really it shocks me sometimes that people are willing to pay me to do something that I get such a kick out of.

What are the greatest challenges you experience on a daily basis?

Lack of time is my biggest challenge. That and the other side of the coin, when I am not busy it tends to mean I am not earning quite so much. That pendulum effect keeps me paranoid and working 24/7

How would you define a blog site?

A regularly updated website with a bias towards conversation.

What is a professional blogger?

Someone who earns money through blogging.

Is web 2.0 and blogging as it is today just in a trend bubble which may burst sometime soon? Any web 2.0 dotbombs on the horizon?

Markets go through cycles. I foresaw and lived through the previous dotcom bubble because the projects I was working on seemed to live in a parallel dimension where nobody had ever heard of ROI! There is bound to be a correction but I am hoping people are smarter this time round. Blogging will evolve, I believe the word “blog” is already on the way out.

What would you say are the main benefits of a blog over a regular cms based site?

Basically, what has made blogging take off like it has over the past few years
Immediacy and simplicity. My Dad can (and has) a blog. I worked on big CMS projects around the dotcom times, they were unnecessarily complex and sold by highly paid consultants to companies that didn’t need them via wined and dined IT Departments. A blog just works and is simple enough but powerful enough to get the job done.

What’s your take on synthasite type projects, and do you see potential for a build you own blog type service online?

I am all for anything that puts the power of web publishing in the hands of all. It’s like the desktop publishing revolution (in both good and bad ways).

What’s your favourite blogging platform?

WordPress, Drupal and CommunityServer in that order. I am closely watching Movable Type though.

Do you believe that a blog can suffice the web needs of most if not all companies and organisations?

When you love your hammer it is sometimes it is easy to see every problem as a nail. Not all companies need a blog, just as not all companies need to be online. Sometimes doing something really badly or inappropriately is worse than doing nothing at all. Having said that, if you want to publish a website for your company I would almost always recommend WordPress or Drupal as a CMS.

What if any is the most important point bloggers should focus on to improve their blogs effectiveness?

Focus on them not you. Blogging started out as Me-Me-Me but that doesn’t cut it any longer. It’s all about your audience and providing value in original and remarkable ways.

Do you think its possible to successfully run a portal type website off blogging software?

Yes. Absolutely. Drupal was built for that, CommunityServer rocks at portals.
What do you see could be the next big development in the blogosphere
The end of the blogosphere and the start of what replaces it.

If any, where do you see people falling short in fully understanding the power of blogging, I mean this for those who are already sold on the concept of blogging?

People both underestimate blogging and over estimate it. On the one hand blogs have massive influence, on the other hand the percentage of people who are aware of blogs overall is small. It’s strange, blogs will likely influence the next USA presidential election but at the same time if blogs disappeared tomorrow the world wouldn’t be much worse off. What I see most often is people getting comfortable with blogging and then letting loose with no sense of organization or boundaries. It can be like giving your drunken uncle the microphone at a wedding. It starts off funny but will almost always end in tears.

Do you think a blog has the power to change society, the world?

Every one of us has that power. We can all name individuals who have changed the world. Why not through a blog? I would say though it would not be a blog that changes the world but the person writing it.

Do you have any big plans for your own blogs development?

No. My blog is a part of my big plans but not the biggest part. Maybe some small plans, heh.

Well, That’s a wrap of it Chris, thanks for speaking to us and giving us some insight into what you do. You can visit Chris at www.chrisg.com. Belo is a feed of some of his latest Content from his blog. Enjoy.

We will be speaking to Small Potato of WPDesigner.com, professional blogger and wordpress theme guru. Well at least he’s my Guru for now. SP runs a blog which focusses on the development of wordpress themes and all things wordpress in general. He offers a range of free wordpress themes which he has developed in a very short period of time and gives advice to other theme developers and wordpress users on how to make the most of wordpress.

Good day Small Potato and welcome to nomad-one, my humble beginnings of a blog. Visiting your website, wpdesigner.com has become somewhat of a fixture on my daily to do list and is now also one of my RSS feeds I regularly keep my eye on. It seems that you’ve managed to achieve quite a bit of success in the last few months in increasing the size of your readership and subscriber base on your blog. I’m particularly impressed by what seems to be a very clear strategy you are implementing in achieving this growth.

So lets get to it then!

When did you first start developing themes for wordpress?

I think it was back in 2005. I was busy designing themes for my own blogs. I wrote for multiple blogs back then.

Why do you call yourself Small Potato? I must say the name has grown on me.

The name Small Potato stems from old Chinese triad movies . It’s doesn’t necessarily represent who I am as a person. No one particular name can do that. However, it does give you the feeling that I don’t take myself too seriously and that’s what I want out of the Small Potato moniker.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

As far back as I can think, I’ve always been interested in web design, specifically creating flexible designs. It’s just a hobby that turned into something meaningful.

What influenced you to get into developing themes for wordpress?

I would have to say the lack of high quality WordPress themes. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to ring my own bell here. I think quality lies in details, time, and effort, which is something anyone can put forth. It doesn’t take exceptional talent to create a high quality WordPress theme.

What are the greatest challenges you experience on a daily basis?

Sitting down everyday to produce something unique is challenging, especially when you have hundreds and hundreds of people to look after because they need to be able to easily use your product, which in my case is a free WordPress theme.

What in your mind are the ingredients of a good theme?

That answer depends on whether you’re creating a custom WordPress theme for one person or creating a free theme for potentially thousands of people.
For a free WordPress theme, it needs to be flexible and unique, but it needs to be generic enough that bloggers can adapt it for their own blogs.That balance is what WordPress theme designers will continue to struggle with as they try to find success within the free WordPress themes niche.

Like everything else, the fundamentals are important. That means efficient codes, xhtml and css-wise, and a reasonable overall size of the codes.

The first important detail is cross-browser compatibility. I cannot stress that enough.

Furthermore, for example, you should design around ads because you never know whether you’re theme users are going to monetize their blogs. If they can’t fit a banner into your small little sidebar, they’re probably not going to use your theme.

What would you term to be a professional blogger?

Someone that gets paid. Hahaha. I have no idea. What is a professional designer?

What does the future look like for wordpress and blogging in general?

For blogging in general, my guest is more multi-author blogs that are not branded with any one author’s name or image.

In the future, blogs like John Chow and Problogger by Darren Rowse is going to be more rare.

What would you say are the main benefits of a blog over a regular cms based site? Basically, what has made blogging take off like it has over the past few years? The size of it. Blogging platforms are generally smaller, easier to install, and easier to manage than a CMS packed with many feaures.

I think blogging platforms and full CMS (content management systems) can be interchangeable at this point. Especially in the case of WordPress, WordPress theme users are moving away from the traditional blog look, which ends up looking like… I guess you can say the CMS look. Although, I don’t know what that looks like.

The “CMS look” is just the easiest way for me to phrase it.

Personally, it doesn’t feel like CMS(s) and blogging platforms have played a big roll in the growth of blogging at all. Blogging has always been pretty easy to start and there have been many different tools available for everyone to start blogging.

Have you tried any other blogging platforms? Why wordpress?

Yes, I’ve tried other management systems before. I’ve tried b2, which was like the root of WordPress? I think, I’m not sure.I’ve tried Drupal, Mambo, PHPNews, PHPNuke, and etcetera. Basically almost everything in the HotScripts.com directory, I’ve tried it.

Whether it’s a full-blown CMS or simply a blogging platform. I was looking for a publising platform with an easy template system and that’s what WordPress did for me and continues to do for millions of bloggers.

Do you believe that a blog can suffice the web needs of most if not all companies and organisations?

For companies and organizations, I think blogging is a way to establish a closer relationship with clients and everyone involved in the company. Beyond that relationship, I don’t think a blog can satisfy most companies development needs.

What if any is the most important point bloggers should focus on to improve their blogs effectiveness?

I have no idea.

Do you think its possible to successfully run a portal type website off blogging software?

Yes it is possible. I have to bring up WordPress again because of its wide selection of available open source plugins that anyone can modify to run their desired type of portal website.

What do you see could be the next big development in the blogosphere?

This goes back to my guess about more multi-author blogs. I’m assuming that distinguished bloggers like Michael Arrington and Perez Hilton will spread their wings to build network after network of multi-author blogs. You also have to consider companies that you haven’t heard about, trying to do the same thing without an established blog before-hand.

Take 459 Press for example. Within a short amount of time, I think they hired hundreds of bloggers and started hundreds of blogs. Time will tell if that approach will pay off. But for sure, others will imitate it.

If any, where do you see people falling short in fully understanding the power of blogging? I mean this for those who are already sold on the concept of blogging.

I don’t know. I think people that are already sold on the concept of blogging knows what’s possible. The downfall might be the fact that many new bloggers underestimate the amount of work, patience, and effort it takes to run a blog.

JohnChow.com is a perfect example. People get hyped up by reading about his success in blogging and runs out to start a blog because they believe they can duplicate that success.

It’s not that easy and JohnChow.com is an exception.

Do you think a blog has the power to change society, the world?

No. I think influential tools and people can try to change the world, but what matters most is good ideas. If you have a great idea, it doesn’t matter if you’re blogging it out to the world. It’s going to spread.

Do you have any big plans for your own blogs development?

Yup. But, it’s not complicated. My goal is to increase traffic and get into Alexa’s top 500 for bragging rights hahaha. After that, we’ll see.

Without giving away too much about your own strategy for success, could you give us a few strategic tips on how we can develop our own sites further.

Development-wise, there are many concerns, but I can’t think of any specific tip that are more important than others.But as for keeping you interested in blogging and driving more traffic to your start-up blog, I can offer one tip. Create a tool related to your blog’s topic that people can download, use, and share, similar to my WordPress themes.

It doesn’t have to be complicated and the word “tool” doesn’t necessarily require coding.

I’m honoured to have had this opportunity to spend a few moments with you and get an insight into your thoughts and ideas on wordpress & blogging. Thanks a stack for visiting me at nomad-one and I look forward to hearing alot more from you in future, maybe once you’ve reached that Alexa ranking you’re going for.