The first large VRM event took place last Monday afternoon in London. Last conversations died down when the pub next door was closing. Sounds like success to me.

We recorded the sessions and hope this captures them as fully as possible. Videos will be uploaded in due course. Many thanks to Alec for being the chief geek and setting it up.

It is hard for me to sum up the proceedings - being both closely involves in the substance and the format of the event. I deliberately kept things open and fluid as I was interested in what the speakers had to say - I have been thinking, writing and talking about VRM for the last two years and it’s nice to see others getting the drift. Also, as a frequent speaker myself I resent being bossed about by some panel chair and straightjacketed into Q&A sessions. The conversations that emerge from a freer structure tend to be of a higher quality. My goal for any public session is to get people think on their feet as well as present their prepared thoughts.

Over the last year or so, as many have been trying to move from concepts to practicalities, I have noticed one thing - VRM vision has a universal appeal. It makes sense on instinctive level and it has not been hard to get people interested in the project. Implementation, however, is another matter - there are as many approaches adopted to make VRM happen as there are people interested in VRM. Each of us project their mental models, experience and expertise on the vision and the nitty-gritty of making the ideas of VRM reality is many and varied.

Mine is, well, Mine!. Its design and implementation reflects my understanding of the web and the expertise I have gained over the years of living on it. It is built around the power of the individual and that of networks. It uses existing technology and is open source.

My experience tells me that the best way on the web to get something that works out there is to give people ability to manage their lives and relationships better and in generally help them do things they couldn’t do before. I also believe that the best way to drive adoption is not to ‘drive’ it. Make something useful, that works, fix bugs and improve things slowly but steadily.

Finally, I believe in the strength of community. My definition of community is a network with a purpose. And so I have been looking for people who are excited about VRM, see what I am seeing and want to join the effort. There are several ways to do that.

VRM Hub: monthly meetings for London VRM scene, good for individuals interested in VRM or already involved, for news, for (heated) discussions, varied speakers and VRM related topics. Social aspect not neglected, most evenings end up in a pub.

VRM Labs: sandbox for businesses and companies interested in exploring VRM and ready to experiment with it - from tools to business models and usage. Good for finding other people from large companies, meeting developers of VRM applications, banging heads together around what VRM means for business and thinking of potential pitfalls etc. etc.

The Mine! project: open source effort to build user-driven infrastructure for data and relationships logistics online. Starting point for other applications that help individuals better manage their data, relationships, their own privacy requirements and relate to vendors on their own terms. Good for developers and social web power users to test the hell out if when it’s ready to face the world and to come up with usage scenarios Mine! will enable.

I am already thinking about the next VRM Hub conference for end of January/start of February 2008. Date will depend on the venue I can get and will post details here, there and everywhere.

cross-posted from VRM Hub

Last week I visited Boston, MA where I gave a talk at the Future of Healthcare technology summit at the MIT Faculty Club. It was a tough one to prepare as the calibre of speakers and audience was rather intimidating for a mere social web guru like me. One of the keynotes, delivered by an HP Laboratories scientist was about: Maintaining Your Health from Within: Controls for Nanorobot Swarms in Fluids. The dinner was accompanied by conversations with Prof. Marvin Minsky of the AI fame and a NASA astronaut Daniel T. Barry.

The safest option was to stick to what I know and talk about online identity, with the aim of helping people see it from a different perspective and enabling them to apply that understanding in their own areas of expertise. VRM and the Mine! were mentioned in this context as practical approaches to patient-driven healthcare, which I see as one of the major implications of online developments in technology and behaviours related to health.

Here are the slides with detailed notes in the slide transcript, which is visible on the slideshare page.

There is a lot more to cover on this topic but 30 minutes was what I had. I hope to work on the VRM healthcare proposition within VRM Labs with companies experimenting with customer/user/patient-driven models and technologies.

cross-posted from Media Influencer

True to the warning, I am organising a half-day conference in London on 3rd November, reaching out to those interested in redressing the balance of power between customers and vendors, people and businesses.

The event is called Unlocking the see-saw (link to the full programme with registration).

We’re going to organise an event in the next couple of months for organisations interested in VRM who want to find out more.

Ideas so far are that there will be two strands:  A Labs strand, to give some organisations who are already starting to apply VRM ideas a chance to talk about where they’re up to; and a Hubs strand, which will give users a chance to talk about what VRM means to them.

If this sounds like the kind of thing you’d be interested in attending, please let us know as it will be a really good chance for people to connect.

More details will be up here as and when we have them, so stay tuned.