tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188717602024-03-23T11:34:33.560-07:00Open CultureMusings on open cultures with a focus on web 2.0, open source, social media, online communities, and innovation. Site is best viewed using Firefox.Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.comBlogger295125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-25882339830940373162007-04-25T16:33:00.000-07:002007-04-25T16:42:06.129-07:00Final Post on Open Culture<p style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">This is my final post on the Open Culture blog.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">Don't panic. I am simply moving to a <a href="http://fastwonderblog.com/">new location</a>. Please update your <a href="http://fastwonderblog.com/">links</a> and <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/OpenSourceCulture">RSS feeds</a>. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">I finally made the leap off of Blogger and onto WordPress with the launch of my new <a href="http://fastwonderblog.com/">Fast Wonder blog</a>. Fast Wonder is an evolution of this blog originally started in November 2005, so this is more of a re-branding than a change in direction. Like the Open Culture blog, Fast Wonder is focused on open technologies, open source, web 2.0, social media, online communities, and innovation. I was even able to import all of the original Open Culture posts (with comments)!</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">A number of other “Open Culture” blogs gradually appeared over the years, and the time came to come up with a more original name and a real logo for this blog. A big thank you to <a href="http://hyb.rido.us/index.html">Stephen Way</a> for designing the Fast Wonder logo. </p><br /><img src="http://fastwonder.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/fastwonder_small.jpg" align="middle" />Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-66588496097202145152007-04-23T09:54:00.000-07:002007-04-23T10:02:31.469-07:00Remember to sign up for BarCamp, a free tech event in Portland!Don't forget to <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland">sign up</a> for BarCamp, a free tech event right here in Portland on May 11-12! We will also be kicking off the regular DemoCamp event series during BarCamp to highlight tech startup activity in the Portland area. Sign up now, and tell all of your friends!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How can you help promote BarCamp Portland?</span><br /><ul><li>email your friends (you may find the text below helpful)</li><li>add a <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://barcamp.org/BarcampPortlandChiclet" target="_blank">button to your blog</a></li><li>hand out some <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortlandFlyers">flyers</a> at local events<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortlandFlyers" target="_blank"></a></li></ul><br /><img src="http://barcamp.org/f/barcamp-long.png" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">More information about the event:</span><br /><br />Tech + Geek + Culture. The event for the Portland tech community, produced BY the Portland tech community.<br /><br />What is BarCamp? It is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants.<br /><br />BarCamp is a FREE event and the content is determined by the attendees. The event will be hosted at CubeSpace, which has a number of conference rooms for breakout sessions, a large main meeting area, wireless access, easy access to public transportation, bike storage, and ample parking.<br /><br />We need your help to make BarCamp Portland a fantastic event for the tech community in Portland. Here's what you can do...<br /><br />1) Forward this email on to people in the Portland area that may have an interest in attending. As we have done little marketing of the event (so far), assume that your local tech social network doesn't know about it yet.<br /><br />2) If you have not already added yourself to the BarCamp Portland wiki page as an attendee, please do so. This will help us get a more accurate attendance count and plan accordingly (you want food, right?):<br /><br /><a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortl<wbr>and</a><br /><br />3) Add a session idea for the event. This could be a talk, a demo, a roundtable discussion - whatever! Please add it to the Proposed Sessions section on the wiki page:<br /><br /><a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortl<wbr>and</a><br /><br />4) Attend the BarCamp Portland Meetup this Thursday (04/26/07) evening 5:30-8pm at Jive Software downtown and have the opportunity to network with the tech community in Portland, and help plan for BarCamp Portland. More details:<br /><br /><a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortlandMeetups" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortl<wbr>andMeetups</a><br /><br />I hope to see you at BarCamp Portland on May 11 & 12 at CubeSpace for a fun tech event!<br /><br />Thanks to our sponsors (below) for making this event possible!<br />Monthly <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> BarCampPortland</a> Meetup Location and Beer: <a href="http://www.jivesoftware.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Jive Software</a><br />Facilities: <a href="http://www.cubespacepdx.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">CubeSpace</a><br />Facilities (Added Costs): <a href="http://www.aboutus.org/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">AboutUs</a>, <a href="http://virtuous.com/info/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Virtuous</a><br />Materials: <a href="http://lumeno.us/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Lumeno.us</a><br />Badges: <a href="http://www.janrain.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">JanRain</a><br />T-Shirts: <a href="http://www.pdc.us/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Portland Development Commission</a><br />Logo Design: <a href="http://www.lov.li/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Lov.li</a><br />Podcasting coverage of the event: <a href="http://www.splashcastmedia.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">SplashCast</a><br />Friday Dinner: SPONSOR NEEDED<br />Friday Night Reception: SPONSOR NEEDED<br />Saturday Breakfast: <a href="http://www.iovation.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Iovation</a><br />Saturday Lunch: <a href="http://www.isitedesign.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">ISITE Design</a><br />Saturday Dinner: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Microsoft</a><br />Saturday Night Reception: SPONSOR NEEDED<br />Saturday Afternoon Tea (Bubble Tea): <a href="http://pdx.pm.org/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Portland Perl Mongers</a>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-82379271689115844712007-04-19T10:56:00.000-07:002007-04-19T10:58:19.435-07:00Job Change: Joining Jive Software<p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I am excited to announce that I will be joining <a href="http://www.jivesoftware.com/">Jive Software</a> as their Director of Developer Relations as of May 3. I have really enjoyed my time at <a href="http://www.compiere.com/">Compiere</a>. I still believe that they have a great product and that they will do some really cool things in the ERP/CRM space. My reasons for leaving were purely cultural / logistical. While working remotely from my office in Portland worked really well when when the company was smaller and more distributed, as Compiere grew in size it became more and more difficult to do my job from Portland. The rest of the management team is now consolidated in Santa Clara, and I am the only member of the management team working remotely.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">When working at Intel, location was largely irrelevant. At one point, I managed a team with members distributed across Oregon, Washington, and California. I also worked on a 3 person open source strategy team for a while with two of us in Oregon, one in Washington, and our manager located in Arizona. Working from home was also a weekly activity for me during much of my Intel career. I found that my productivity increased dramatically if I saved those tasks that required more concentration (strategy development, writing, presentation development) for my working at home day. Working remotely can be challenging, but it seems to work best in a corporate culture where remote workers are a common occurrence and not an exception.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I knew that I would eventually need to move on to a new gig based on the increasing number of issues related to working remotely within the Compiere culture, but I had not yet started looking for a new job. I regularly get email from people, either a result of this blog or from acquaintances in the industry, asking me if I am available or asking if I know of someone for a particular position. It was only because I got an email from Sam Lawrence at Jive software about looking for someone to manage Jive's developer relations that I considered leaving Compiere. Jive has been a great sponsor of our monthly <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortlandMeetups">Portland BarCamp Meetups</a>, and I have met quite a few of the people working there through various local technology-related activities. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I think that Jive will be a great fit for me, and I am really excited about working at Jive Software. Jive's product line fits with my personal interests in online collaboration technology. They have managed to seamlessly integrate file collaboration, blogs, wikis, IM, and more into a recently launched enterprise 2.0 product called <a href="http://www.jivesoftware.com/products/clearspace/">Clearspace</a>. As Director of Developer Relations, I will be responsible for building a developer community program for developers with an initial focus on the new Clearspace product. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">Jive is a cool company with great products. I am honored to be joining such a fantastic company!</p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-89346889484022761702007-04-16T18:49:00.000-07:002007-04-16T18:50:40.298-07:00Zillow Faces Potential Legal Issues in Arizona<p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">Zillow, a great web 2.0 tool for real estate, has been sent a <a href="http://startupmeme.com/2007/04/16/zillow-becomes-illegal-in-arizona/">cease and desist in Arizona</a>. I used Zillow as a way to get a feel for what my existing home was worth during the sales process and to understand the potential value of the home that I was purchasing. Zillow pulls its data from public records and aggregates them together into a really nice interface based on Google Maps. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">A few more details:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"></p><blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The Arizona Board of Appraisal issued two cease-and-desist letters to the company that operates the popular real estate Web site Zillow, saying it needs an appraiser license to offer its "zestimates" in Arizona.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"It is the board's feeling that (Zillow) is providing an appraisal," Deborah Pearson, the board's executive director, said Friday.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Zillow warns users the estimates it provides are not a definitive value but a starting point for consumers. Launched in February, 2006, the company claims it has 4 million users a month, including people wanting to how much their homes - or their neighbors' homes - are worth. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">...</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Zillow issued a statement Saturday saying it disagreed with the board's view, and pointed to an opinion issued by a national appraisers standards group that said online estimates aren't formal appraisals.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"We strongly believe that providing Zestimates in Arizona is completely legal and in fact an important public service, given that Zestimates are the result of our 'automated valuation model' and are not a formal appraisal," co-founder and company President Lloyd Frink said in the statement. (Quotes from <a href="http://www.columbian.com/news/state/APStories/AP04152007news126881.cfm">The Columbian</a>)</span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I seriously doubt that this would hold up in court; however, a small web 2.0 start up might not be able to weather the cost and resource drain of a court battle. I hope that they are able to come to some resolution. It would be a shame to lose such a helpful tool.</p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-17732157619803508322007-04-16T18:25:00.000-07:002007-04-16T18:28:26.586-07:00Stuart Cohen Announces New Collaborative Software Initiative<p>Stuart Cohen, formally CEO of OSDL who left during the merger with FSG, has started his own for-profit company focused on applications built on an open stack using open source methodologies. Cohen wanted OSDL to focus on more than just Linux, including open source applications, but the OSDL and FSG were really focused on Linux. Forming the <a href="http://www.csinitiative.com/news_4-16-07.php">Collaborative Software Initiative</a> was a way for Cohen to lead a company focused on open source applications. This initiative is funded by OVP Venture Partners and has a strong advisory council including industry luminaries like Brian Behlendorf, Dan Frye, and Eben Moglen. They are also partnered with IBM, HP, and Novell. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">According to eWeek, the company will </p> <p><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">“focus on building non-competitive, essential software for vertical industries in a collaborative environment that helps companies solve shared IT problems. The business model for Collaborative Software Initiative is simple: Develop and support essential code that does not exist today and that meets the needs of competitors in vertical industries, such as financial services, at a significantly lower cost than if the companies were to develop such code internally or outsource it—and then support it.”(Quote from <a href="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2114433,00.asp">eWeek</a>)</span></blockquote></p> <p>This is an interesting model, but the details are still unclear:</p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><blockquote>“CSI is taking a cue from open source methodology, but it's not a "pure open source play," says Cohen. Right now, CSI doesn't have any specific licenses in mind to offer software under, though Cohen does say that they plan to open source the projects when they are mature, and indicated that they would prefer Open Source Initiative-approved licenses.” (Quote from <a href="http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/04/16/1334219">Linux.com</a>)</blockquote></span></p> <p>It will be interesting to see how well this works. Companies may not need a company like the Collaborative Software Initiative to help facilitate collaboration across industries. I also think that it will be difficult to provide support for a diverse range of vertical industry solutions, so I am skeptical about how well this will scale. I will also be curious to see whether communities will form around these efforts that are similar to the communities for other open source applications. </p> <p>Despite my skepticism about the details and implementation, I really like the focus on open source applications. I do think that over time more applications will be built using open source methodologies building on the years of success that open source operating systems, infrastructure and tools have garnered. I hope that this initiative will lead to more successful open source applications.</p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-27161299328674655302007-04-14T17:55:00.000-07:002007-04-14T18:00:30.095-07:00Camps and Conferences – Synergy or Animosity?<p>I was talking to Scott Kirsner yesterday about <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland">BarCamp Portland</a> and other unconferences. He is writing an article for BusinessWeek on unconferences, and some of his questions got me thinking about the similarities and differences between camps/unconferences and traditional conferences. Are these two ideas synergistic or is there animosity between traditional conferences and unconferences? I think that answer is both.</p> <p>Are traditional conferences worried about unconferences taking business away from traditional conferences? Maybe. Unconferences are usually free and are often local. The unconference is an adhoc gathering shaped by those who attend with the sessions and agenda being driven by the participants. The framework is defined in advance, but the sessions are organized and produced by the attendees. In other words, instead of a full agenda with sessions and speakers clearly determined in advance, you start with a blank grid containing times on one axis and rooms / locations on the other axis; lunches and any other common activities are often added to the grid in advance to provide some basic infrastructure for the event. You never what discussions, demos, and other interactions to expect before the event, but you can count on it being an interesting time!</p> <p>Unconferences and traditional conferences may even attract slightly different types of people. Some people really like the traditional conference structure. They can plan out exactly which sessions to attend way in advance, and easily justify the cost of attending by making a business case to the boss for what will be learned from the conferences which appeals to many traditional companies. I know this because I used to be one of these people. I viewed conferences as a time to passively soak up knowledge from the “experts” while completely missing the value associated with networking and learning from the other participants. Traditional conferences also have the appeal of drawing in speakers who may not attend your unconference. For example, it is unlikely that Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt will show up at the <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland">Portland BarCamp</a>; however, I could see both of them speak at the <a href="http://www.web2expo.com/">Web 2.0 Expo</a> in San Francisco next week.</p> <p>Unconferences on the other hand may tend to attract people who enjoy shaping their environment and who may value networking and conversation more than presentation. You become a participant, instead of just an attendee. Sessions are proposed, refined, and often combined as the event progresses and conversations evolve. I also find more networking opportunities at unconferences, since many sessions are discussion based rather than a single person giving a presentation.</p> <p>It seems like fewer people are attending traditional conferences and some of the large technology conferences have been canceled over the past few years (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMDEX">COMDEX</a>). It used to be that we went to conferences to learn about upcoming technologies in an age before every company had a website and before we had thousands of blogs and podcasts providing information on any topic possible. Now, with more information available online, conferences have to provide compelling reasons to attend – amazing content, networking opportunities, and more. </p> <p>Will traditional conferences suffer in this new environment? Some will, but it depends on how they react to it. Conferences that embrace the unconference format in some way are probably more likely to succeed.</p> <p> </p><p>O'Reilly, as usual, is handling the situation with style by being generous with their conference space and encouraging people to hold unconferences along side their traditional conference program. The most recent example is the <a href="http://www.socialtext.net/web2open/index.cgi?community_roundtable">Community Roundtable</a> happening alongside the <a href="http://www.web2expo.com/">Web 2.0 Expo</a>. O'Reilly also holds their own unconference, <a href="http://wiki.oreillynet.com/foocamp06/index.cgi">FooCamp</a>, every summer. Companies like O'Reilly “get it”. O'Reilly knows that synergy and cooperation will be more beneficial than animosity. More conference organizers could learn from this example.</p> <p></p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-78466701709815183812007-04-11T19:13:00.000-07:002007-04-11T19:18:14.655-07:00BarCamp Portland May 11-12<a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland"><img src="http://barcamp.org/f/barcamp-long.png" /><br /><br /></a><a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland">BarCamp Portland</a>, May 11-12, 2007<br /><br />Tech + Geek + Culture. The event for the Portland tech community, produced BY the Portland tech community.<br /><br />What is BarCamp? It is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment, with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants.<br /><br />BarCamp is a FREE event and the content is determined by the attendees. The event will be hosted at CubeSpace, which has a number of conference rooms for breakout sessions, a large main meeting area, wireless access, easy access to public transportation, bike storage, and ample parking.<br /><br />If you are interested in learning more about the event, please visit the <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland">BarCamp Portland</a> web site. Please add your name to the wiki if you are interested in attending, and tell your techie friends!Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-22437735916445353002007-04-10T20:13:00.000-07:002007-04-10T20:14:39.732-07:00Operating System Convergence and the Palm Linux Announcement<p>Details are still a bit light, but Palm announced that they would be building a mobile computing platform based on Linux and open source. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">The platform is described as a "new foundation for Palm." ... The Analyst presentation concluded without any technical or developer details revealed about the new Linux based platform. Many questions remain to be answered as to what the official name will be, what Linux technologies are included, how Palm OS Garnet compatibility will be handled and what the development environment will be composed of. Colligan ended the Q&A session stating that the Linux based platform will be a integral "core technology" for Palm for the foreseeable future. (Quote from <a href="http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9351/palm-announces-new-linux-based-mobile-platform/">Ryan Kairer on Palm Infocenter</a>)</span></blockquote></p> <p>I suspect that this is actually part of a larger trend toward operating system convergence with Linux at the center of this trend as the primary open source operating system. Companies building set top boxes, mobile products, and other devices realize that there is not much value in maintaining an entire operating system when the value is higher up the stack. By using the Linux kernel and other Linux operating system components, companies like Palm can focus on the software above the kernel that adds real value to the product. We'll know more when they release the details, but my guess is that they will eventually replace low level PalmOS components with the Linux kernel and other parts of the operating system while focusing more on developing the user facing software.</p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-31189956118985025762007-04-10T19:56:00.000-07:002007-04-10T19:59:03.382-07:00Is DRM Uncivilized?<a href="http://blaugh.com/2007/04/09/the-real-reason-aliens-wont-contact-us" rel="bookmark"><img class="comic" title="The Real Reason Aliens Won't Contact Us" alt="The Real Reason Aliens Won't Contact Us" src="http://blaugh.com/cartoons/070409_uncivilized_drm_ufo.gif" height="250" width="447" /></a>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-43668577372806103972007-03-31T07:25:00.000-07:002007-03-31T07:27:43.451-07:00Wireless Power Moves from Science Fiction to Reality<p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">It sounds like something out of Star Trek. Power broadcast through thin air to charge electronic devices like computer peripherals, MP3 players, cell phones, medical devices, and more. <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/30/powercast-looking-to-bring-wireless-power-to-reality/">Darren Murph at Engadget</a> sums up the idea pretty well, “<a href="http://www.engadget.com/search/?q=wireless+energy">energy without wires</a> has always seemed like one of those novel concepts that sounds terrific in theory, but remains a tad difficult to imagine hitting the commercial scene for some time to come. Apparently, all that is about to become nonsense, as a Pennsylvania-based startup is set to capture the wireless-loving hearts of, um, everyone when it tackles <a href="http://www.engadget.com/search/?q=contactless">contactless</a> power products.”</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">An <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/04/01/8403349/">article in Business 2.0 Magazine</a> has a few more details about the company and their upcoming products:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"></p><blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">A startup called Powercast, along with the more than 100 companies that have inked agreements with it, is about to start finding out. Powercast and its first major partner, electronics giant Philips, are set to launch their first device powered by electricity broadcast through the air.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">It may sound futuristic, but Powercast's platform uses nothing more complex than a radio--and is cheap enough for just about any company to incorporate into a product. A transmitter plugs into the wall, and a dime-size receiver (the real innovation, costing about $5 to make) can be embedded into any low-voltage device. The receiver turns radio waves into DC electricity, recharging the device's battery at a distance of up to 3 feet. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Picture your cell phone charging up the second you sit down at your desk, and you start to get a sense of the opportunity. How big can it get? "The sky's the limit," says John Shearer, Powercast's founder and CEO. He estimates shipping "many millions of units" by the end of 2008. (Quote from <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/04/01/8403349/">Business 2.0</a>)</span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">The technology is not quite ready to charge large consumer devices like laptops, which currently require more power than what can be effectively generated by this technology; however, as manufactures continue to develop laptops with increasingly lower power consumption, this might become feasible in a few years.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">Personally, I am pretty excited about this. I tend to charge my electronic devices in the living room, and I am constantly tripping over cell phone chargers, laptop cords, iPod connectors, etc. Being able to plug a charger into an out of the way location to charge a cell phone sitting on a table without any wires is really cool!</p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-10423447652939749272007-03-28T18:18:00.000-07:002007-03-28T18:19:10.973-07:00GPL v3: Yet Another Draft<p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">The <a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/gplv3dd3-released">FSF has released</a> yet another draft of the GPL v3 today. Needless to say, people are getting pretty frustrated by the lack of progress and difficulty in completing this update to the GPL. <a href="http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS4128574310.html">Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols</a> on Linux-Watch considers how much longer it could possibly take: “Mid-2007? At least. Late 2007? Quite likely. 2008? Could be. 2010!? I wouldn't be surprised. I've got a bad feeling about this.”</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/03/gplv3_third_dra_1.html">Allison Randal</a> at O'Reilly is pretty skeptical, and I have to admit that I have heard similar skepticism from others, including many who have been strong supporters of the FSF for years:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">“I will say this much: I'm a believer in free software, and in the importance of free software in advancing the freedoms of individuals. But I'm beginning to lose confidence in the FSF as the primary defender of free software principles. The image they're projecting right now is more of an ineffectual nanny slapping the wrists of naughty children than it is of the bold community leader confidently striding on to the visionary future of the free software movement. It's unfortunate. Maybe we'll see change in this draft and the next. Maybe. (Quote from <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/03/gplv3_third_dra_1.html">Allison Randal</a> on the O'Reilly Radar)</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">At one point, I was following the changes and keeping up with the progress toward GPL v3, but I have to admit that toward the end of last year I gave up. I'll read the final version if they ever manage to complete it.</p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-21617628209853934292007-03-26T13:00:00.000-07:002007-03-26T13:01:17.029-07:00Are You a Twitter Ninja?<a href="http://blaugh.com/2007/03/22/are-you-a-twitter-ninja" rel="bookmark"><img class="comic" title="Are You a Twitter Ninja?" alt="Are You a Twitter Ninja?" src="http://blaugh.com/cartoons/070322_twittering_ninja.gif" height="250" width="447" /></a>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-66076309574985894372007-03-26T12:07:00.000-07:002007-03-26T12:09:24.442-07:00News: Online or Print Format?<p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/techwatch/archives/010942.html">InfoWorld announced today</a> that it is folding the print magazine to focus on events and online content. I think this is a good move for InfoWorld, and it made me think about how I personally use online and print content.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I still subscribe to several magazines, and it is a great format for anything that is not time sensitive – cooking, business analysis, etc.; however, I gave up my print copies of technology trade magazines and other news sources long ago in favor of online access facilitated by RSS feeds (official news sources, blogs, and podcasts). Technology moves way too quickly to be suited to longer lead time print format publications. Even articles in daily newspapers are usually out of date by the time the print version arrives on your doorstep. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">Most of my daily news comes from podcasts, which I listen to during any downtime activities (getting ready for work in the morning, doing dishes / laundry, grocery shopping, driving, and much more). Podcasts are an ideal news format for me, since I can get quick snippets of news from NPR, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNET, InfoWorld, ... If I need more details on any story, I can always check my RSS feeds or Google News to find a few in depth articles with more information.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">Over time, I think that we will start to see news moving away from print sources in the direction of online content. Like with the InfoWorld example, this will happen first for technology publications. Although most newspapers have embraced online content, Newspapers will be one of the last to move their news to an online-only format. They are still the best source of news in rural areas and other places where access to the Internet is more difficult and for older readers who may never be comfortable using the Internet as a primary source of news. I could even see newspapers gradually shifting more of the news content onto the Internet while focusing the print version on news analysis, lifestyle (fashion, cooking, travel, etc.) and other features (comics, crossword puzzles, etc.) I still think that magazines have their place, but not as a primary source of news.</p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-33061306263852765092007-03-23T12:53:00.000-07:002007-03-23T12:58:31.520-07:00OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) at the BarCamp Portland Meetup<p>I was lucky enough to get to play with a real OLPC last night at the <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortlandMeetups">BarCamp Portland Meetup</a>. I was surprised by how durable it looked. The keyboard looked like you could dump an entire drink on it without any adverse consequences; however, we refrained from testing it!</p> <p>A few people commented that these would be great for kids ... regardless of whether they are located in an emerging economy. In places like the US, Europe and other areas, we might be willing to pay a little more to have a durable laptop for the under 8 years old crowd. This might help subsidize the costs and make it easier to provide an OLPC to more children around the world. In addition to providing a stable revenue stream among customers willing to pay a little more knowing that profits were going to a good cause, opening these up for sale to others would increase the volume enough to help reduce the production costs. I've heard that they are having a hard time making these for less than $100, and additional volume might help.</p> <p>Thanks again to <a href="http://alex.polvi.net/">Alex</a> for bringing it and generously letting us play with his toys!</p> <br /><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/431464470_4a5376faee.jpg?v=0"> <img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/150/431464468_6f35f5fafa.jpg?v=0"> <img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/173/431464462_a69bf2a9eb.jpg?v=0">Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-76296316034856253672007-03-21T20:23:00.000-07:002007-03-21T20:27:50.908-07:00Web 2.0: What CIOs Want vs. What CIOs Have<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">I was just reading <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/cios_spurn_web2_startups.php">Richard MacManus’ coverage</a> of Forrester’s recent reports about web 2.0 in the enterprise:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:85%;">“Forrester Research has just released two reports concerning 'web 2.0' in the enterprise. Forrester recently surveyed 119 CIOs on the topic and their answers illustrate what IT honchos want – and don't want – from social software technologies such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS, social networking, and content tagging.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:85%;">According to the report entitled 'CIOs Want Suites For Web 2.0', the enterprise Web 2.0 market "is beginning to consolidate". Apparently CIOs have a strong desire to purchase web 2.0 products "as a suite, as well as an equally strong desire to purchase these technologies from large, incumbent software vendors." 61% of respondents indicated that they would prefer both a suite solution and a large, incumbent vendor. According to the report, "integration issues, longevity concerns, and the occasional lack of polish" are counting against small vendors.” (Quote from <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/cios_spurn_web2_startups.php">Richard MacManus on Read/WriteWeb</a>)</span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">The data is interesting, but I am not sure that Forrester was asking the right questions or the right people.<span style=""> </span>My experience with web 2.0, and other innovative technologies (open source, etc.) is that there is a big gap between what many CIOs want / think they have and what is really happening within their organization.<span style=""> </span>Those of us who are passionate about web 2.0 technologies just tend to use them.<span style=""> </span>This often means that we bring things like IM, wikis, and more into our corporate life as productivity tools regardless of whether or not the technology is officially sanctioned.<span style=""> </span>For example, <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2007/tc20070312_740461.htm">Intelpedia</a>, an internal Intel wiki, was started as a grass roots effort on a test server without “official” buy in because <a href="http://www.tinyscreenfuls.com/">Josh Bancroft</a> and other Intel employees thought that Intel needed an internal wiki to help manage information. <span style=""> </span>A better study might have been to ask people a few levels below the CIO about the web 2.0 technologies currently being used in their organization.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">CIOs may want web 2.0 suites from larger, incumbent software providers, but I suspect that the reality of what is actually used within enterprises over the next few years will differ significantly from this CIO vision.</p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-8863454775749581782007-03-19T19:24:00.000-07:002007-03-19T19:27:54.858-07:00Web2.Open<p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">A few people are organizing a BarCamp style event dubbed <a href="http://www.socialtext.net/web2open/index.cgi">Web2.Open</a> to coincide with the <a href="http://www.web2expo.com/">Web 2.0 Expo</a> in San Francisco on April 17<sup>th</sup> and 18<sup>th</sup>. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">“This open event blends some pre-scheduled content with an open grid where the attendees fill in the sessions they either want to discuss or present themselves. It is the perfect space to provide the community at large with a place to connect with other attendees, learn more about elements of Web 2.0, and share one’s knowledge and experiences.” (Quote <a href="http://www.socialtext.net/web2open/index.cgi">From the Web2.Open Site</a>).</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I found this thanks to Tara's Twitter feed.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I haven't decided if I'm going to attend or not. It's pretty hard for me to justify a purely web 2.0 conference with my open source job, unless I get invited to speak on an open source or community panel (hint, hint).</p><img src="http://www.socialtext.net/web2open/index.cgi/web2open.png?action=attachments_download;page_name=web2open;id=20070305015202-0-10639" />Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-30674163568865404462007-03-17T17:20:00.000-07:002007-03-17T17:25:49.434-07:00Save the date! BarCamp Portland Tech Unconference, May 11-12I am pleased to announce that BarCamp is coming to Portland on May 11-12! We will also be kicking off the regular DemoCamp event series during BarCamp to highlight tech startup activity in the Portland area.<br /><br />Tech + Geek + Culture. The event for the Portland tech community, produced BY the Portland tech community.<br /><br />What is BarCamp? It is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants.<br /><br />BarCamp is a FREE event and the content is determined by the attendees. The event will be hosted at CubeSpace, which has a number of conference rooms for breakout sessions, a large main meeting area, wireless access, easy access to public transportation, bike storage, and ample parking. Thanks to Eva and David at CubeSpace for signing up as space sponsors for the event (and to Ray at AboutUs for sponsoring the additional space costs).<br /><br />We need your help to make BarCamp Portland a fantastic event for the tech community in Portland. Here's what you can do...<br /><br />1) Forward this information on to people in the Portland area that may have an interest in attending. As we have done little marketing of the event (so far), assume that your local tech social network doesn't know about it yet.<br /><br />2) If you have not already added yourself to the BarCamp Portland wiki page as an attendee, please do so. This will help us get a more accurate attendance count and plan accordingly (you want food, right?):<br /><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland" target="_blank">http://barcamp.org/BarCampPort<wbr>land</a><br /><br />3) Add a session idea for the event. This could be a talk, a demo, a roundtable discussions - whatever! Please add it to the Proposed Sessions section on the wiki page:<br /><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland" target="_blank"><script><!-- D(["mb","http://barcamp.org/BarCampPort\u003cwbr /\>land\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>4) Attend the BarCamp Portland Meetup this Thursday (03/22) evening 5:30-8pm at Jive Software downtown. Free beer on tap (thanks, Jive!), the opportunity to network with the tech community in Portland, and help plan for BarCamp Portland. More details:\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortlandMeetups\" target\u003d_blank\>http://barcamp.org/BarCampPort\u003cwbr /\>landMeetups\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>5) Help identify sponsors. CubeSpace and AboutUs are already onboard as sponsors for the space and related costs (and Jive Software has been our ongoing meetup and planning sponsor). We are looking for sponsors to cover food, drinks, and t-shirts.\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>I hope to see you this Thursday evening at Jive Software for our monthly tech meetup and BarCamp Portland planning meeting!\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>PS: If this isn\'t your type of thing and you want off my BarCamp Portland mailing list, please reply to this email. I will only do a few mailings before the event in May (and this list will never be used for commercial purposes).\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Raven Zachary\u003cbr /\>Research Director, Open Source\u003cbr /\>The 451 Group\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>503.334.1810 (main) / 503.484.6963 (mobile) / 866.388.4422 (fax)\u003cbr /\>ravenzachary (AOL / Yahoo / MSN IM + Skype)\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"mailto:raven.zachary@the451group.com\"\>raven.zachary@the451group.com\u003c/a\> (email)\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/\" target\u003d_blank\>http://blogs.the451group.com\u003cwbr /\>/opensource/\u003c/a\> (blog)\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>** The 451 Group - Analyzing the business of enterprise IT innovation **\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003c/div\>",0] ); //--></script>http://barcamp.org/BarCampPort<wbr>land</a><br /><br />4) Attend the BarCamp Portland Meetup this Thursday (03/22) evening 5:30-8pm at Jive Software downtown. Free beer on tap (thanks, Jive!), the opportunity to network with the tech community in Portland, and help plan for BarCamp Portland. More details:<br /><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortlandMeetups" target="_blank">http://barcamp.org/BarCampPort<wbr>landMeetups</a><br /><br />5) Help identify sponsors. CubeSpace and AboutUs are already onboard as sponsors for the space and related costs (and Jive Software has been our ongoing meetup and planning sponsor). We are looking for sponsors to cover food, drinks, and t-shirts.<br /><br />I hope to see you this Thursday evening at Jive Software for our monthly tech meetup and BarCamp Portland planning meeting!Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-59070140125363869712007-03-16T16:56:00.000-07:002007-03-16T16:59:43.653-07:00Informal Portland BarCamp Meetup March 22<p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;">Our next informal Portland BarCamp Meetup has been scheduled! We have also settled on the fourth Thursday of every month as a regular date for the event. Any local techies are welcome to attend. </p> <p>When: Thursday, March 22nd<br />Time: 5:30pm - 8:00 pm<br />Where: <a href="http://jivesoftware.com/company/contact.jsp">Jive Software Office</a> (317 SW Alder St Ste 500)<br />Sponsored by: Jive Software</p><br /><a href="http://jivesoftware.com/" title="Jive Software"><img src="http://jivesoftware.com/images/logo.gif" alt="Jive Software" /></a><br /><p>Jive Software is located on Alder near 3rd. Parking is available in a nearby parking garage, and it is short walk from the Max / Bus (<a href="http://jivesoftware.com/company/contact.jsp">directions to Jive Software</a>).</p> <p>If you plan to attend, please RSVP on the <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortlandMeetups">Portland BarCamp Meetup wiki</a> (RSVP required): </p> <p>The meetup will be very informal and similar in format to previous meetings. We'll do a few introductions, talk for a few minutes about organizing the BarCamp, and then see where the discussion goes. </p> <p>If you would like to receive notifications about any last minute changes, future meetups, and other PortlandBarCamp communications, please join our <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/barcampportland">Google Group</a> to receive email announcements.</p><br /><center><br /><img alt="Google Groups" src="http://groups.google.com/groups/img/groups_medium.gif" height="58" width="150" /><br />Subscribe to BarCampPortland<br /><form action="http://groups.google.com/group/barcampportland/boxsubscribe"><br />Email: <input name="email" type="text"><br /><input value="Subscribe" name="sub" type="submit"><br /><br /><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/barcampportland">Browse Archives</a> at <a href="http://groups.google.com/">groups.google.com</a></form><br /></center><br /><p>We have also created a <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=2oanh6m4d75a3sbm07r12rmqqc@group.calendar.google.com">BarCamp Portland Google Calendar</a> for upcoming events and posted the event to <a href="http://upcoming.org/event/156584/">Upcoming.org</a>. </p> <p>We are also trying to gain support for a real BarCamp event in Portland. We will start the planning process when we get enough people signed up on the Wiki, so please <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland">add yourself to the wiki </a>if you want to attend a <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortland">Portland BarCamp event</a>!</p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-23248395807607984552007-03-14T21:38:00.000-07:002007-03-15T08:24:30.506-07:00She's Such a Geek<img src="http://www.shessuchageek.com/Geek_cover_small.jpg" align="right" /><br />I highly recommend reading “<a href="http://www.shessuchageek.com/">She's Such a Geek</a>” edited by <a href="http://www.techsploitation.com/">Annalee Newitz</a> and <a href="http://www.charlieanders.com/">Charlie Anders</a>. Annalee and I were on a panel at sxsw, and I picked up a copy of the book during her book signing at the event. The book contains a series of essays written by various woman geeks of all types (science geeks, computer geeks, gaming geeks, and more). Even though I was already reading another book, I decided to read one of the essays while I was waiting for my plane home from Austin. I kept reading until I finished the ENTIRE book (granted, I had several delays making the trip from Austin to Portland a little longer than normal, but I could not put the damn book down!)<p></p> <p>I do not typically read books “for women” or “about women”. Why? I am not entirely sure. Maybe it is my way of rebelling against stereotypical gender expectations. As a child, I was a tomboy more comfortable playing with snakes, salamanders, and frogs than with Barbie Dolls. Today I work in technology, blog for fun, and watch BSG religiously. Maybe I try so hard to resist gender stereotypes that I go too far in the other direction avoiding anything that looks feminine. This may just inspire me to write my own geeky girl essay.</p> <p>I agree with Katie Hafner, Technology Writer for The New York Times, quoted on the back of the book: “These personal essays are exhilirating, hilarious, inspiring, and infuriating. Anyone with a daughter should read this book. Then make sure she applies to M.I.T.”</p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-79006006959141422082007-03-13T09:00:00.000-07:002007-03-13T09:02:56.346-07:00Open vs. Controlled Knowledge at sxsw<p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I attended the <a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/interactive/programming/panels/?action=show&id=IAP060202">Open Knowledge vs. Controlled Knowledge</a> panel this morning, and Gil Penchina, CEO of Wikia, made a really good point. Robert Capps from Wired had just been talking about how vandalism has been a big issue for Wired whenever they open something up for community contribution. Gil's point is that if things have been tightly controlled and are suddenly opened up as a free-for-all, you can end up with what he called “principal for a day” mentality where the community wants to change everything and really mess with the people who have been in control for so long. At Wikia, since it has been completely open from the beginning, they have seen less vandalism. The Wikia community feels ownership for the content: they watch the content, monitor changes, and make immediate corrections when things go wrong because they have a vested interest and feel ownership for the content.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">Gil also pointed out that not everything should be transparent. At Wikia, the content is open, but the bathrooms still have doors and walls – there are some things that people want to see and other things they do not need or want to see.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">From my perspective, this balance is important. Too far in either direction (open or closed) can create problems within the community, and a drastic shift in the balance between open / closed can also result in issues. Achieving and maintaining this balance within a community can be a difficult and tricky process, but it seems to be better to err on the side of open rather than closed.<br /></p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-80561146680130549112007-03-11T13:01:00.000-07:002007-03-14T16:12:05.083-07:00About Our sxsx Panel, “Open Source: Tell me Why I Care”<p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">This morning, I was lucky enough to be on the <a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/interactive/programming/panels/?action=show&id=IAP060196">“Non-Developers to Open Source Acolytes: Tell Me Why I Care”</a> panel with <a href="http://www.techsploitation.com/">Annalee Newitz</a>, <a href="http://www.anitaborg.org/index.php">Erica Rios</a>, and <a href="http://blogher.org/member/elisa-camahort">Elisa Camahort</a> organized by <a href="http://blogher.org/">BlogHer</a>. We had quite a few people attending, and some great questions and lively participation from the audience; one comment from Erica even drove the audience into spontaneous applause!</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I love doing panel sessions, and this one was a lot of fun. <a href="http://liz-henry.blogspot.com/2007/03/sxswi-non-developers-to-open-source.html">Liz Henry</a> was even kind enough to post a great play by play, live-blogging style post for the session, so I will skip the detailed summary here and point you to <a href="http://liz-henry.blogspot.com/2007/03/sxswi-non-developers-to-open-source.html">Liz's detailed notes</a>.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">Kimberly Blessing even called this the “<a href="http://www.kimberlyblessing.com/archive/2007/03/11/best-sxsw-panel-ever/">Best SXSW Panel Ever</a>” ... cool!</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">Update 3/14: A few additional reviews of the panel at <a href="http://informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/03/open_source_tel.html">InformationWeek</a>, <a href="http://techory.com/sxsw/?p=25">Techory.com</a>, <a href="http://blogher.org/node/16693">BlogHer</a>, <a href="http://xfuerza.blogspot.com/2007/03/non-developers-to-open-source-acolytes.html">On Women and Technology</a>, and probably others I missed.<br /></p><br /><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/150/418586219_9bb2fcc83f.jpg?v=0" /><br /><br />Picture is also courtesy of Liz Henry - thanks, Liz!Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-64111983583798654582007-03-10T15:12:00.000-08:002007-03-10T15:15:24.809-08:00BarCamp Austin near sxsw<p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampAustin">BarCamp Austin</a> is running in parallel with sxsw today, so I have been spending the afternoon here at BarCamp. The side conversations with really cool people are one of the biggest benefits of a BarCamp. I found another person to help organize BarCamp Portland (Thanks <a href="http://alex.polvi.net/">Alex</a>!), talked to <a href="http://factoryjoe.com/blog">Chris Messina</a> and <a href="http://horsepigcow.com/">Tara Hunt</a> about coming to kick off BarCamp Portland, hung out with <a href="http://kveton.com/blog">Scott Kveton</a> (is it a bad thing that we both have to travel from PDX to some other city to chat?), and discussions with many other cool people.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">Chris and Tara also held a meetup to talk about <a href="http://blog.coworking.info/">co-working</a>. We hope to get something like this started in Portland, so it was really interesting to hear about what has / has not worked for them. A few dos / don'ts: don't hold it in a space where someone lives; do use word of mouth rather than marketing to attract interesting and like-minded people; do have good insurance. I should have taken better notes in this session, but it was just too interesting to open the computer.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">They are also doing print on demand T-Shirts, which we should think about for Portland. Pick a size, pick a color, pick a design, give them a little $$, and viola! you have a T-Shirt (they even had small T-shirts!) If you know anyone in Portland who can bring a mobile, on demand printing unit, please drop me an email (geekygirldawn at the gmail).</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;"><br /></p><br /><a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampAustin"><img src="http://whurley.com/media/images/dillo.png" /></a>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-59726579234899628932007-03-10T09:50:00.000-08:002007-03-10T09:55:42.466-08:00Thoughts on Anonymity and Identity in Communities from SXSW<p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I just listened to an interesting panel at sxsw on <a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/interactive/programming/panels/?action=show&id=IAP060274">World Domination via Collaboration</a>. One of the many great conversations during this discussion related to anonymity in communities. One panelist allows anonymous comments on her blog because she wants to know what people really think, even if she don't like it or agree with it. Another panelist mentioned Slashdot's use of anonymous coward, which highlights the fact that people value comments more from people who share a name and identity. I also allow anonymous comments on my blog (with captcha and other spam filters). Some trolls hide behind anonymity to say nasty things, but I have been lucky so far to only have a few of those comments. I find that the vast majority of people commenting will chose to share a name or other identity, but I am not comfortable forcing it on people. I prefer to have people share an identity because they want to, not because it is required in order to leave a comment. Like many people, I value the comments from people who associate their comments with an identity over those who choose to remain anonymous.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">The panel members talked about how people in a community can be anonymous from the standpoint of not sharing a real name / real identity, but having a log in and identity on the site. This is a better solution from a community perspective where people tend to interact together over a longer period of time. Community members get to know each other based on the site identity. I have noticed this recently with my interactions on <a href="http://jyte.com/">Jyte</a>. Some people share a real name, others share some other identity, but you get to know these people based on this identity whether it is an “anonymous” identity or a “real world” identity. Jyte uses <a href="http://openid.net/">OpenID</a>, which is a great way to facilitate identity management within a community, since it gives people control over their identities and allows them to use their identity (or multiple identities) across sites. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I am looking forward to more really great sessions at sxsw this weekend!</p><br /><a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/interactive/"> <img src="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/interactive.gif" /></a>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-88139970524589034632007-03-06T21:30:00.000-08:002007-03-06T21:35:52.385-08:00OpenID Gains Additional Traction with WordPress.com<img src="http://iwantmyopenid.org/files/marvin_logo.png" align="right" /><br /><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I have become a <a href="http://opensourceculture.blogspot.com/search/label/OpenID">big proponent of OpenID</a> lately. I think it is a great solution to the growing problem of managing your online identity and login across many sites.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">Today, <a href="http://wordpress.com/blog/2007/03/06/openid/">WordPress.com announced</a> that they would begin supporting OpenID:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">“<a href="http://openid.net/">OpenID</a> is a new standard that hopes to alleviate some of the pain, and we’ve just made it available to everyone who has a WordPress.com blog. This means you can sign in to a growing number of sites using your existing WordPress.com account.” (Quote from <a href="http://wordpress.com/blog/2007/03/06/openid/">WordPress.com</a>)</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">This is great news, but so far, it looks like a one way deal. You can use WordPress.com OpenID credentials to log into other sites, but you cannot use other OpenID providers to post to WordPress.com:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">“Unfortunately, you cannot login to WordPress (at least from what I can tell) with an external OpenID. This means that WordPress.com is just a provider of OpenID’s and not a consumer of OpenID’s. So I can’t use my <a href="http://www.myopenid.com/" onclick="javascript:urchinTracker('/outbound/www.myopenid.com');">MyOpenID</a> or my <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/" onclick="javascript:urchinTracker('/outbound/www.livejournal.com');">LiveJournal</a> OpenID post comments on WordPress.com blogs. Hopefully support for that will be coming soon.” (Quote from <a href="http://kveton.com/blog/2007/03/06/the-march-continues-wordpresscom/">Scott Kveton</a>, CEO of JanRain)</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">I suspect that WordPress.com is testing the waters by becoming an OpenID to provider as a first step. If it is successful, I would not be surprised if they decided to accept OpenID's to login and post to WordPress.com.</p>Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871760.post-23629634034441260202007-02-27T11:49:00.000-08:002007-02-27T11:55:13.587-08:00Come visit me at sxsw!I will be speaking on an <a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/interactive/programming/panels/?action=show&id=IAP060196">open source panel </a>at south by southwest (sxsw) on Sunday, March 11 at 11:30 am. It would be great to see some friendly faces in the audience, so please stop by!<br /><br />For any of my techie friends planning to attend sxsw, drop me an email. I'll be arriving on Friday evening and leaving mid-day on Tuesday.Dawn Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056689867580214775noreply@blogger.com0