The technical decisions we make are based on things we know. But how did we get to know what we know in the first place? Did we learn it from trusted advisors? Technical forums? Experience? Word of mouth from peers? Importantly, how does the way we learned what we know affect the decisions we make every day?

Tom Kyte is a senior technical architect in Oracle's Server Technology Division. Before starting at Oracle, Tom worked as a systems integrator building large-scale, heterogeneous databases and applications, mostly for military and government customers. He spends a great deal of time working with the Oracle database and, more specifically, working with people who are working with the Oracle database. In addition, he is the Tom behind the AskTom column in Oracle Magazine, answering questions about the Oracle database and its tools (http://asktom.oracle.com/). Tom is also the author of Expert Oracle Database Architecture (Apress, 2005), Expert One on One Oracle (Wrox Press, 2001/Apress 2004), Beginning Oracle Programing (Wrox press, 2002/Apress 2004), and Effective Oracle by Design (Oracle Press, 2003). These books are about the general use of the database and how to develop successful Oracle applications.

Today's consumers expect Web 2.0 capabilities­ from blogs to wikis to communities and social networks ­in the Web sites and composite applications that they frequent. Now many organizations are bringing those same Web 2.0 capabilities into their enterprise applications and need to enable the business user to help evolve the user experience. Vince Casarez, Oracle’s vice president of product management with a focus on Oracle WebCenter, will talk about Web 2.0 in the enterprise and how Oracle will provide a platform for rich, customizable applications that are resilient to changes of the base application and still promote enterprise mashups to include gadgets, portlets, and other pluggable components.