As in previous years I'm really looking forward to the XML Summer School, which after skipping a year is being held in Oxford on 20-25th September. More "tutorial" than a conventional conference, the emphasis is on learning by hanging out with the highest calibre of lecturer. Each year I've come away buzzing with new ideas and improved technical techniques, and this time I'm particularly keen to sharpen my semantic chops in particular light of Osmosoft's involvement with wiki-data.

For my part I'm putting together two talks: an introductory compare and contrast of SOA, REST, Web services and The Web and a practical explanation of how to survive the perils of Rich Internet Applications, especially for those of us who believe in a Web of documents and data.

The RIA rant is for the Trends and Transients Track, which based on previous years is an excellent day worth attending alone, and something I'm excited to be a part of, especially warming the room up for Rich Salz talking about plume cloud computing and Tony Coates on how we could have averted the recession with XML, both of which sound great!

I've a couple of ideas for some interactive learning fun, but sadly had to give up on the idea of SOA-duku. Nothing I could come up with could possibly live up to that egregious pun!

And there I should stop, because there's not much I can say about the school which hasn't already been better said by the likes of Jeni, Lauren, Eve, Bob, Duncan, Priscilla or @me Enough of the fanfare: Join us!