Given that much of the material published in this column over the past five years has dealt with the incompetence, carelessness and, in some cases, potentially fraudulent activities of those who profess to be "Internet Experts" -- I certainly hope that a significant portion of the agenda is dedicated to showing would-be online traders how to sort the men from the boys.

One only has to look at how often the "big name" web designers and site-builders make a God-awful mess of what would seem to be the simplest tasks to realise that there is a huge potential for many of those who decide to equip their business with an e-commerce component to get their fingers badly burnt.

Readers Say (updated hourly) No Messages Yet Today Have Your Say

Whenever a government has an epiphany as the present one would seem to have done in respect to the importance of e-commerce, there's always the risk that benefits will be overstated while risks are played-down.

It's also important to realise that some of those delivering the pitches (such as the summit's chair Sir Gil Simpson) clearly have a vested interest in promoting e-commerce to local companies. Sir Gil's company is now focused on the Jade product which is touted as an e-commerce development tool.

Certainly in the case of Sir Gil, I'm not suggesting that commercial pressures would over-ride altruistism and an objective perspective -- but who's to say there aren't others attending who might be a little less scrupulous during the tea-breaks?

While I know there are some involved in the Summit who have level-heads and an objective view, it's still a worry that there will inevitably be some present who see the event as an opportunity to flog a little snake-oil to a group of attendees that is, as-yet ill-informed and somewhat naive.

Let's not go overboard on this -- while I'm one of the very first to promote the use of the Internet by business, I think it would be a big mistake to send everyone away from the Summit with the belief that all business can benefit by putting up a website loaded with products and a virtual shopping-cart. That's a long way from reality.

The government is to be commended for holding this summit, my only criticism might be that with the hefty admission charge, a huge percentage of those very small business who might best benefit from such an event have simply been unable to afford it.

One of the real strengths of e-commerce is that it empowers the very small trader -- especially the sole-trader who works from home and can't easily find any other export channels due to the small quantities and value that their output represents.

Cumulatively, these tiny traders can represent a respectable contribution to the nation's export earnings -- if only we help them get online, where such a move makes sense.

Are we going to see some other initiative from government to help these tiny traders -- or should I perhaps publish a series of articles on the subject and hope it reaches those who need it?

How many Aardvark readers are attending the seminar? If you are, then please let me know and perhaps share your impressions of the event and the value it's offering you.

How many Aardvark readers would like me to create and publish a series of articles on e-commerce? Somewhat like the ones I did on promoting your website a couple of months back. Let me know if you'd like to see such a series.

By the way, because I'm too busy to attend the seminars, I suggest you visit the IDG website (let's see if they're kind enough to give me such a blatant plug sometime :-) for news on this topic -- although I'll link to relevant stories in local publications each day in the news-headlines section.

The Weekly
Yes, I know the first edition of the weekly has yet to appear -- but I'm still working on it.

Hopefully (if current leads pan out) it will include a very interesting expose' into the astoundingly bad behaviour of a group of local "new economy" company directors (some of who are also on the board of a public company). Just how competent and ethical are the managers of some of our hi-tech public companies?

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