Had a blast this weekend at GitHub's inaugural conference, CodeConf, where I got to give a new talk on building community around open source software based on my experience at Expert Labs running ThinkUp. CodeConf didn't record audio or video of any of the talks, so I'm posting a transcript of mine here. Enjoy. Photo by faunzy.
I used to think that the process of making open source software went like this: you write software, you apply your open source license of choice to it, and you publish the source. Ta-da. Open source. But if you're building something you want people to use and developers to enhance, that’s only the beginning. At the heart of open source is one thing: public collaboration. Collaboration between humans who care about your software—your community. Your open source community will build, improve, tear down, rewrite, document, criticize, test, stretch, redefine, and give your software legs and a life that exists way beyond the original authors or any one person. Because of that, your community is your software’s best feature. Your community is your software’s best feature. That’s what I’m here to talk about today.
Even though the conference is literally falling apart under its own weight, I enjoyed the best SXSW Interactive last weekend of all six years I've been attending. Two keys to that: reducing FOMO (fear of missing out) and being the party with people I care about versus trying to make it to every party. Sure I missed a lot of fun stuff—like crowdsurfing at Diggnation, that looked crazy—but I decided to pass on things like standing in line for an iPad and spend as much quality time with my people as possible instead. For posterity and for my own reference next year, here's a recap.
I am getting old; this weekend will be the sixth year I head down to South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, TX for a weekend of events I'm really looking forward to—beyond buying an iPad 2, that is! If you'll be around, come find me. On Saturday at 5pm I'll be at Ginger Man drinking beer and hosting a ThinkUp community meetup. On Sunday I'll join Leo Laporte and Jeff Jarvis on stage at Momo's for a very special live TWiT episode, with several fabulous guests. On Monday morning at 11am, I'll be pitching my worst idea to a VC for funding at my co-worker Andy Baio's Worst Website Ever panel alongside frighteningly hilarious folks like Ze Frank, Jonah Peretti, and Jeffery Bennet. Hope to see you in Texas.
I didn't know Bill Zeller personally, but Lifehacker covered at least two of his projects—Graph Your Inbox and myTunes. This week he hung himself and published his suicide letter on his web site to explain why. The letter is an intensely personal missive that gives a brutal look into what it's really like to live with a history of child abuse. Pre-web, that letter would've been written on paper and read only by Bill's closest friends and family. But this week, to make sure his death and experience was not in vain, I found myself calling and writing friends and family who have suffered that kind of abuse to tell them how much I care about them, and how grateful I am that they survived. (Here is the suicide letter, but before you click, be warned that it's heavy reading which could turn a workday on its head.) Thank you, Bill. Rest in peace.
I'm in Washington, DC this week for work so I got to attend the first ever Open Developer day at FCC headquarters yesterday. While it was pretty different from Hack Days I've attended at Yahoo! and Twitter (think: classical music versus Beck), it was a fantastic opportunity to meet a lot of people deeply interested in civic hacking, public collaboration, and open government. My full report is over at FastCompany.com: Field Notes From the FCC's First-Ever Hack Day. Update: I also got to do a video interview with Alex Howard on Open Developer Day. Thanks, Alex!
Update, September 30: Five episodes have already aired on topics like securely saving passwords, avoiding the pitfalls of productivity porn, and taking great meeting notes. Now I'm looking for more questions from readers like you. The more specific and answerable-in-2-minutes your question is, the more likely it is to get chosen. Email your question to worksmart@fastcompany.com. Thanks in advance!
Thrilled to announce I'm prepping to shoot a new Q&A video series for Fast Company. Work Smart 2 will be a question and answer consultation with viewers and readers like you. If you've got a burning question to ask me about tech and productivity, this is your chance.
Here's how it works:
1. Email me at worksmart@fastcompany.com or leave a comment here on this post with your question. Topics might include things like email overload, mobile apps, cloud computing, productivity, or anything related to working and living saner, smarter and more efficiently with tech tools.
2. If we choose your submission, you and I will schedule a video Skype consultation where we record your question and my advice. I'll even call in some of my best tech-savvy expert friends for help.
3. We'll edit together the clip and run it on FastCompany.com and right here on Smarterware.
Interested in getting a little video Skype Q&A going? Here are the details. Can't wait to talk to you.
In the past three months Anil and I have been to events in six different cities talking about Expert Labs and how the White House used ThinkTank to compile feedback on the Grand Challenges initiative. At Fast Company's Innovation Uncensored event in New York City last month, Anil absolutely killed it in a 12 minute presentation that hits the nail right on the head. Press play to check it out.
Update: The signing offer's over and done with--thanks for buying the book!
What, you haven't bought your copy of The Complete Guide to Google Wave yet? And you've been meaning to? My friend, today is your lucky day.
Because I like you, and because I'd like to sell more books, I'm signing every single copy of The Complete Guide to Google Wave that gets ordered today, March 31st, between now and midnight Pacific time.
Just head on over to the book's web site, order up a copy of the paperback book, and before we pack and ship it your way I'll sign it with my favorite pen. I won't sign a sticker that someone else will slap into your book, I will sign YOUR ACTUAL BOOK. With care. First thing tomorrow morning, before the dude in the uniform comes to pick it up and happily delivers it to your doorstep. The paperback book is full-color, fits great in your hand and in your laptop bag, and costs $25. Half of that purchase price helps employ a developmentally disabled adult in my community.
Wave is made of the best futuristic stuff on the web, and it's worth sinking your teeth into. Grab a copy of the book, learn how to get your wave on, help out a great charity, and get a firsthand look at my chicken scratch handwriting. It's a win-win-win.
Did I mention that this virtual signing is for books purchased today only? The clock's a'ticking. Buy one now. (And thanks.)
Google says it's taking "a new approach to China" and will stop censoring search results there, even if it means they have to shut down Google.cn and their China offices. The announcement is a huge deal, and it set off some fantastic insta-commentary from tech writers on Twitter. My favorite, shown above, is courtesy of Joel Johnson. More inside.
Apparently the U.S. Navy is on the social media bandwagon, because this Friday they're taking a gaggle of San Diego tech bloggers--myself included--out for a day trip on a Los Angeles class nuclear submarine. This thing is the length of a frakkin' football field, descends between 650-950 feet under the sea, and comes equipped with a few Tomahawk cruise missiles. The nerd in me is very excited about seeing a sub in action, the claustrophobe in me is terrified, the peace-loving hippie in me is conflicted, and the skeptic in me wonders why the U.S. Navy's taking bloggers out on a junket. Guess I'll find out! My co-submariner Mitch has all the details of the upcoming trip; photos (of the unclassified stuff) to come this weekend. Update: Here's the local news segment on the trip.
I'm in wonderful New York City this week, getting ready to do a 15-minute keynote talk on Making Sense of Google Wave tomorrow, November 17th. It'll be at 2:05pm Eastern time, and if you're not at the conference, you can watch it live on the web, here. I've also started the first public Web 2.0 Expo wave; search for with:public tag:w2e to chime in or make your own. I'll also have something good to announce about The Complete Guide to Google Wave. (It won't be a surprise to anyone following @gwaveguide on Twitter.) More tomorrow!
Had a blast yakking with Leo Laporte, Don Tapscott, Jeff Jarvis and his son Jake Jarvis on today's episode of This Week in Tech. We covered much ground, from gushing over/being cautious about Google Wave (first take the time to watch this, then read this), to the flailings of the newspaper industry (read this), to redesigning the goals and methods of the modern university (listen to what 17-year-old Jake has to say about that). This was my third TWiT, but it was the first one nerves didn't get the best of me--felt comfortable, chilled out, and quite chatty . Thanks to Leo and the rest of the fabulous panel for putting up with me. Here's the episode page; MP3 available for download.
Attended my very first BarCamp here in San Diego this weekend, and came away from it super-impressed. BarCamp is a free, self-organizing unconference where the attendees are also the speakers. The schedule isn't set till the conference starts. At that point, everyone slaps a big Post-It note describing their session on a board in the time slot and room they want to talk in and away it all goes. I've been to several FOO Camps, the invite-only O'Reilly event that inspired the BarCamp movement, and I'll be honest: given FOO, I had low expectations for BarCamp. O'Reilly's in the business of holding tech conferences, and their events are always top drawer. I didn't think a DIY get-together whose funding was scraped together by local sponsors in the midst of a recession could even come close. Boy was I wrong.
Had a blast this weekend at GitHub's inaugural conference, CodeConf, where I got to give a new talk on building community around open source software based on my experience at Expert Labs running ThinkUp. CodeConf didn't record audio or video of any of the talks, so I'm posting a transcript of mine here. Enjoy. Photo by faunzy. 
Update: The signing offer's over and done with--thanks for buying the book!
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