I just came across a nice article on ZDNet talking about Ireland being a thriving hub of web development and I thought I’d pass the link along here.

David Berlind writes in “Ireland: Where the soul of the developer can be found” about why Ireland was the obvious choice as a venue for Mashup Camp’s first venture to Europe.

To be honest, I have no empirical rationale for why, in our minds, Dublin was beckoning louder. That said, in my 16 years as a tech journalist, most invitations from American hi-tech outfits to see their European facilities were invitations to go to Ireland. In my mind, I’ve always pictured Ireland as a tech hub. And, with some of the most outspoken members of the European software development and Web 2.0 communities hailing from Ireland (not that they aren’t in other European locations as well), there was was a certain buzz emanating from Ireland. Though Doug and I couldn’t put our thumbs directly on the pulse of that buzz, we both sensed that there was something special about Ireland. And with hardly a second thought, we picked Dublin for our first European venture. Now, in hindsight, we’re glad we did.

What is a mashup? I know what the traditional Irish mashup involves (a lot of potatoes, too much butter, and if you’re feeling fancy, some cream), but when it comes to something a little more digital, what have we got?

In the new world of web applications people are taking the opportunity to take the features of two or more services and hammer them together to create something new and, hopefully, incredibly useful. If you want to browse through some examples of mashups, I’d suggest having a look at the mashup awards website.

Wikipedia defines a mashup as:

A web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool; an example is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps to add location information to real-estate data from Craigslist, thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source.

As a result of recent fascination with mashups, and in an effort to delve a little further into the possibilities that they bring, David Berlind and Doug Gold decided to create Mashup Camp. It’s an event that brings together the Internet software mashup community for a face-to-face collaborative meetup. Their emphasis is on forming relationships, sharing ideas, and innovating in real-time.

David goes on to write in glowing terms about the success of Mashup Camp in Dublin and how it felt like more than just a technical success:

The conversation happening at Mashup Camp was “absolutely world class.” I’d add to that that so too were the friendships we forged. As much as events like Mashup Camp are about technology and opportunity, Mashup Camp Dublin served as a reminder that it’s just as much, if not more, about people and relationships.

It certainly sounds like they’ll be back, enticed not just by the rich developer technology talk, but by the Irish favourite, Guinness (and with any luck they’ll make sure to throw some good Irish potatoes into the pot as well).