Does the Open Web Exist Outside of Silicon Valley?

The open web is quickly becoming reality. Technology is progressing at rapid speed. So fast even, it’s difficult to keep track of what’s happening if one isn’t online 24/7. There are new drafts of open standards almost weekly – and even some are deprecated already before most internet users even heard about them -, and demos of new implementations of those standards are presented at conferences. Basically, more and more companies are putting the pieces of the open web puzzle together to make the web more social and, of course, more open. Everything seems to be fine. Hooray! All of our dreams have become true. And actually faster than we thought.

Having a closer look at this technological progress it becomes apparent that always the same people are involved, though. People who write blog posts about the topic are the same people who attend and speak at conferences and summits, are the same people who are (board) members of foundations, working groups, and initiatives, and are the same people who write specifications. And if I was mean, I’d say those people are only making the open web for themselves. Well, I am not. Actually, I appreciate the work of them!

However I think development and discussion about the open web has to be spread wider. More people have to be involved. With different backgrounds. From different countries. From my observations, the topic is hardly discussed outside of Silicon Valley. Where are the European developers? Asian developers? Don’t they care about the new possibilities? Don’t they know about them? Or are they just not heard? Where are bloggers and news sites to put technological progress in perspective? Give guidance to readers (=users)? Where are people who could provide a legal framework for all this stuff? Yes, there is a TOS and EULA task force at DataPortability.org. But what else? Is there a privacy discussion happening somewhere?

I am generalizing in this post, of course. But one could easily get the impression described above and maybe I am just blind and don’t see the wood for the trees (provide links in the comments then, please). Anyway, the situation has to change.