Record numbers at Wellington's Webstock

More than 600 web enthusiasts gathered in Wellington for the five-day annual Webstock conference.

Organiser Mike Brown says this year's conference attracted record numbers of speakers and participants, despite the tough economic background. "We were a little nervous, but I guess we're coming out of the trough and to give ourselves some credit we put on a great event."

Webstock does not have a theme as such, Mr Brown says. "We just pick interesting speakers and ask them to talk on what they're currently most passionate about."

The conference's 24 international speakers included Shelley Bernstein, chief of technology at Brooklyn Museum and Kevin Rose, the founder of social news website Digg.

New to this year's Webstock were the Onyas awards, which were judged by international panelists and recognised the best of the web in New Zealand, including best web content and best web application. About 80 per cent of the conference's attendants were from New Zealand, Mr Brown says.

Wellington open source software development firm Silverstripe was the main sponsor of the event. The firm's booth consisted of a canvas "wall" and attendees were invited to stick cards with ideas about "how do humans win" on it.

Head of sales and marketing Lee Middleton says it left the the statement open to interpretation.

"We got all sorts of different kinds of answers, from complex to simple and serious to funny. People put, `By having the biggest guns', and, `As long as Chuck Norris is alive, humans will win'."

- © Fairfax NZ News