Collaborate 12 is Just around the Corner

Don’t look now, but Collaborate 12 starts less than 10 days from now on April 22 in Las Vegas.

Collaborate is the annual user group conference that brings together several of the largest Oracle user group communities, OAUG (@oaug1), IOUG (@ioug) and Quest (@questusergroup). I haven’t been to a Collaborate since 2008 in Denver, and this time, I’ll be pretty busy, a good thing.

If you’re going to the show and you’re interested in WebCenter (@oraclewebcenter) and/or hanging out with me and my three of my four fellow WebCenter evangelists, i.e. Christian Finn (@cfinn), Noel Portugal (@noelportugal) and Peter Reiser (@peterreiser), read on for details.

The show gets started for us right away at 0900 on Sunday with the WebCenter Deep Dive, one of the IOUG Deep Dives that run 0900-1500 on Sunday.Here’s the skinny:

#918 Deep Dive on Oracle WebCenter
Date: Sunday, April 22 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location: Room 6
Product Line: Oracle WebCenter
Track: Infrastructure Technologies
Description: Spend your day with the experts from the Oracle WebCenter product management and development teams as they go in-depth on all of the pillars of Oracle WebCenter, from Portal and Content to Sites and Oracle Social Network. They will show you the power of each pillar and how they integrate, as well as share a sneak peak of what’s coming in WebCenter 12c. This can’t miss session will be detailed and demo-heavy! To keep things lively, throughout the day we’ll have great giveaways. And to top the day off, you’ll get to “Meet the Developers” behind WebCenter and get your questions answered directly from the development team in a moderated open mike forum. Bring your enthusiasm and your questions to this WebCenter showcase so you’ll be ready to Collaborate on all things WebCenter after you have spent your Sunday with us!

I don’t where Room 6 is, guess I need to figure that out pretty soon, given how large the Mandalay Bay conference center is.

Here are some other WebCenter sessions presented by various Friends of the ‘Lab that might interest you.

#773 – Build an iPhone app using WebCenter Portal REST APIs
Date: Wednesday, April 25 9:30 am – 10:30 am
Location: Surf E
Product Line: Oracle WebCenter
Track: Infrastructure Technologies
Description:
WebCenter Portal’s Spaces iPhone app was built using the powerful RESTful APIs. Come and learn from the people who built the iPhone application and get an overview of the techniques they used.

Chris (@cbales) is an old pal of mine, and he and Rodrigo Lima (@rodrigo_lima) are responsible for the WebCenter iPhone app, which debuted on the App Store back in July 2010. That’s a dog’s age when it comes to iOS, and they’ve been through several versions and have done a great job designing a useful app that uses all the power of iOS.

They’ll be talking about how they built the app and the REST APIs into WebCenter that underpin it. This will be fun, and I’m bummed that I won’t be able to make it. Read on for why.

John Sim (@jrsim_uix) of Fishbowl Solutions will be giving three sessions, showcasing the WebCenter REST APIs at work.

#600 – Exposing WebCenter Data on Mobile & Desktop Devices through the REST API
Date: Tuesday, April 24 10:45 am – 11:45 am
Location: Reef C
Product Line: Oracle WebCenter, Oracle Universal Content Management
Track: Application Strategy and Services
Description:
This session will cover how best to leverage the WebCenter REST API and create cross-device compliant mobile and desktop applications using a single code base. We will review web-based frameworks like Jquery mobile, Zepto, Sencha Touch, Phonegap, Appcelerator & Adobe Air. Learn how these frameworks can enable content from WebCenter to be pulled, synced, and even stored locally for when instant access to content without internet access.

#595 – Achieving Real-Time Social Collaboration in WebCenter 11g
Date: Wednesday, April 25 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: Reef C
Product Line: Oracle WebCenter, Oracle Universal Content Management
Track: Application Strategy and Services
Description:
This session will cover the latest 11g PS5 Presence Integration in WebCenter Portal as well as discuss and demonstrate custom taskflows that leverage WebSockets via nodeJS and ADF comet integrations. We will review the pros and cons of using AJAX, WebSocket, and Comet communications in a browser to enable real-time communication and collaboration across a team or organization from a single social platform.

#604 – WebCenter User Experience and Interaction – From iPads to Xbox
Date: Wednesday, April 25 4:15 pm – 5:15 pm
Location: Reef B
Product Line: Oracle WebCenter, Oracle Universal Content Management
Track: Application Strategy and Services
Description:
This session will showcase and demonstrate the evolution of User Interface design and experience including how we can now bring other input technologies like touch, gesture, and voice interactions into a web browser. Examples will include multi-touch gesture interactions from an iPad to quickly scroll through a web-based image library and manipulate on content on the fly. We will also demonstrate how organizations can bring in visual hand gestures and voice-activated support to WebCenter Spaces by using the Xbox Kinect as a low-cost plug-and-play device for Windows. Learn how to escape from your keyboard and explore new approaches for interacting with information.

I’m looking forward to meeting John IRL; I’ve been following his work since he built the Iron Man skin for WebCenter Spaces.

Another guy I’m looking forward to meeting IRL is John Brunswick (@johnbrunswick), who builds fun projects on WebCenter, e.g. the Dropbox Experience on WebCenter Content.

#775 – WebCenter Portal Template Design and Development Best Practices
Date: Wednesday, April 25 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Location: Surf E
Product Line: Oracle WebCenter
Track: Infrastructure Technologies
Description:
Organizations deploying extranets and intranets need to maintain corporate branding and apply user interface designs often developed by traditional web designers. By understanding a few key aspects of WebCenter templating, it is possible to style your portal to adhere to these designs. During this session you will learn how to: – Develop dynamic navigation based on CSS standards – Accurately style ADF components added to a WebCenter template – Apply common patterns to update common key UI areas – Best practices to externalize styles and images to empower design teams

Aside from my session duties, I’ll be manning the WebCenter Sites booth on the Exhibit Floor Tuesday and Wednesday morning. I’ve told you about Sites, so you should come by and see for yourself.

This only scratches the surface. For the big picture of all the WebCenter goodness at Collaborate 12, check out the WebCenter blog, where you can also get a handy pdf of all the WebCenter sessions.

So, are you attending Collaborate 12? Drop a comment, and we’ll hang out or something.