some thoughts on the real web industry

[chris raettig <chris@raettig.org>]

the web industry is dead. long live the web industry. 

the dotcom crash was undeniably a very healthy thing. i'm glad
it happened. it wasn't much fun for a lot of people involved,
and in the short time made it harder for some talented people
to find work. but it was necessary. 

it removed a lot of the talentless and those who joined for money 
rather than a passion and knowledge of these territories. it also proved 
that the large agency model to which we gravitated in the fumbling
first days of a newborn industry is not the right one for this
kind of work. 

the large web agency model is dead. 

in the last few months i have been talking with a lot of small 
web companies and collectives. i cant help but be impressed with
whats going on here. founded from the ashes of the large agencies,
or just reappearing from behind their shadow, these webshoplets are
flourishing. its not understatement to say that i'm amazed by
these people. the depth of passion, the raw creativity and sheer
quality of output. 

i'm sensing consensus. speaking to a lot of these small collectives
theres something we (for i count myself and warm company amongst them)
seem to agree on...


this is the *real* web industry. 


the real web industry is small collaborative collectives who do what
they do because they cant help it. who have spurned the bullshit
that came before. they aren't giants in competition, they thrive
through collaboration. working together. sharing knowledge, contacts, 
ideas, pitches, projects, resources, even office space. money
is the necessary evil which enables them to keep doing what interests them.

seizing the future which is errupting all around them. 

this has been described elsewhere as the 'hollywood model'. their
size makes them manouvreable in a field which demands it. it
fosters creativity and fresh approaches unstifled by beaurocracy
and corporate dogma. it enables them to offer a greater degree
of honesty and ethical fortitude. its not hard to see why survivors of
the dotcom world might value that so highly. 

basically, its just a better way of doing things. 

the hollywood model is about coming together for large projects, collaborating
intensely before everybody goes their way again hoping to work together
again in the future. it benefits the client who gets a more tailored
end product less costly because it is unhampered by the flab and
redundancy of less flexible giants. 


one of the things that interests me at the moment is in talking to
as many of these webshoplets as possible. for the real web industry
to succeed we need to keep that conversation going at all costs. 

let me give just one example here. 

one of the hardest things for a webshoplet is wresting contracts
from the remaining large agencies. corporations and large companies
often find a great comfort factor in hiring in the largest 
web contractor they can find. they haven't been introduced to the
real web industry, and probably wouldn't trust it even if they had.

my humble opinion at the moment - and its still an area i'm giving
great consideration to - is that what we need is another acronym.

i run the risk of alienating non british readers here, but what we
need is an equivalent to the association of british travel agents. 
a non profit organisation run collaboratively by the webshoplets
and associated organisations, collectives and contractors. which
exists to serve the needs of the whole. which - crucially - can
provide a badge of quality ('abta approved') to give those
corporations comfort that they can buy from any of the members
and they're guaranteed certain things. it would also form a
framework for further discussion and collaboration making those
larger projects a reality and helping the real web industry to
blossom. 

call it a union, an association or a silly idea. but the association
of british web workers (for desperate want of a better title) is what
will turn a thousand small islands into a formidable continent. 
(for want of a significantly less lame analogy). 


it has begun. the seeds have been planted. within the next two weeks i 
will be setting up another new newsgroup on the warm company news
server to facilitate further brainstorming. the conversation continues,
and i'd love to hear from anyone who doesn't think i'm talking crap.