This post was originally published on <a href=“http://socialsim.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/what-is-the-intewebs/”.

I’ve recently been appointed to the position of New Media Sector Champion for the Department of UK Trade & Industry UK Trade & Investment, and what that means is that I get to translate web gobbledygook for civil servants and I get to make key connections for British start-ups. I’m really looking forward to both.

First port of call is New York, where I’ll be joining the UKTI & Chinwag‘s Digital Mission to the Web2.0 Expo 14-20 September. If you’re going to be around then too, please do let me know and we’ll hook up. I’m pretty au fait with the British scene, but am keen to meet webby and game-y companies from around the world so we can best see where the twain can gel. If you’re not coming along (and there are some stellar companies who are), applications for the SXSW Interactive Digital Mission, heading off to Austin,TX next March, will be open soon.

In my translation duties, I’ve delivered a ‘What is the Interwebs’ presentation a couple of times already, and as soon as I sort out the ‘issues’ between what i see on my Mac and what i see on Slideshare, I’ll post it up here. it’s an introduction to Web 2.0 (as it were), why it’s useful to anyone who’s not in the Web scene (something we all-too-often forget about), where the British strengths lie, and what the challenges of being a British company is in a world dominated by Silicon Valley.

More as new things arise, including news from New York’s, Seoul’s (later this month), Toronto’s (next) and Washington D.C.’s (November) digital scene!