For the past few years, Dave Sifry's talks at ETech have been very popular with the attendees, many of whom compliment his graphs of data from Technorati, which he uses to illuminate larger themes about blogging and the Internet. We agree; so at this year's ETech, we're devoting a whole session, "The Data Dump," to seeing what data we can get people to share from their projects, and what we can learn from their experiences and analyses.

The Data Dump has two strict rules: (1) the data MUST make a larger point about the Internet and its users, not just about the source company; and (2) since data visualization is as or more important than data collection, it's GOTTA LOOK GOOD.

We've solicited five minute "lightning dumps" from companies making the future of the Internet, asking them to tell us what they've learned from running their services and what it says about the users, applications, and networks to come. At the end of the session, we'll ask the audience to cheer for their favorite speaker, and award that person a "Golden Dumper" prize for their success; a special bonus prize will be awarded to the speaker with the best visualization. Come see what the Internet is learning about itself!