I’ve been holding off blogging about this for the last couple of weeks, but as I confirmed my flights this morning, I think it’s time to mention it. I’ve been invited to participate in a WOMWorld / Nokia-sponsored workshop taking place in Helsinki, Finland from September 11-13. I’ll be leaving Vancity on the 9th, and returning the afternoon of the 14th. Funnily enough, I’m also headed off to New York for the Web 2.0 Expo from September 15th to 19th, so it looks like September is going to be an incredibly busy and jet-set month for me.

You might wonder why exactly I’ve been invited to a Nokia and mobile device-related workshop. Unsurprisingly, I was wondering the same thing. It seems that in combination with my posts about the Nokia N73 I owned last year, the WOMWorld folks were interested in my experience with social media and community building, as well as my work with developing Protagonize and its surrounding community. According to the communications I’ve received from them, the workshop will definitely have a focus on the influence of social media and networking in the mobile arena in the near future:

We sometimes help Nokia run events involving participants from social media, like bloggers and forum members. The latest being a new annual workshop that hopes to involve an eclectic mix of the online community in a discussion of what the future holds for everything from mobile technology to media creation. It’s a three day event in Helsinki and we’d like to invite you, flights and accommodation paid for.

It’s taking place in September between the 11th and 14th, and will be the first of its kind hosted by Nokia. We’re contacting everyone from creative’s, designers, video producers to open source software bloggers and mobile tech pioneers. There will be a number of workshops that’ll see discussion with participants, and with Nokia guys, about the future of different online arenas and mobile technology. Workshops that we hope you’d like to join in with and make yourself heard.

I find this all very intriguing. Social media and community-building, in addition to user experience-based design and development, are my true passions when it comes to my work. Having an opportunity to influence (or at least hold discussions with others who may have influence) their inclusion into future devices by an organization as well-respected and recognized as Nokia is a pretty awesome opportunity. Plus it looks as though I’ll get to meet and network with some very cool industry folks, which should be invaluable as well.

The other neat thing about this event (other than being provided with an all-expenses paid trip to Finland, which is pretty sweet in itself) is that the attendees (including another local boy, well-known mobile blogger Roland Tanglao of local web shop Raincity Studios) are being provided with a “trial device” for the duration of the workshop. From what I’ve heard, this trial device is going to be a Nokia E71, a relatively new phone with a full QWERTY keypad that isn’t due to be released in Canada until later this year. I’ve already promised to blog about it (and I’ll likely draw some totally invalid comparisons to my newly acquired iPhone 3G), so look for my impressions shortly after my return.

To those of you are also headed to the same workshop - see you in Scandinavia! Here’s hoping they don’t send me packing for showing up with an iPhone. :)

Photo provided (with permission) courtesy of @ColleenCoplick.

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