so everybody can win
I’ve been talking to a lot of people about the weird spot I’m in, career wise. For the last couple of years, I’ve been giving the larger percentage of my work away. Karmically, it’s done some pretty amazing things. Whuffie points are wayyyy up. But if 80% of your work is done for karma points, no matter how good the other 20% is, it’s still only 20%.
Many of the people I speak to are surprised that I’m not making money from IndyHall. IndyHall was never designed to pay me, it was designed to sustain itself and the community it helps provide a home to. It’s doing a great job of that, in my opinion, and not many people would argue that point.
I’m actually kinda glad that IndyHall, as it exists today, doesn’t pay me. My interests would be conflicted. The fact that, like everyone else that works here, I’m responsible for finding my own work. Everyone here looks out for one another, that’s just part of the dynamic.
Why. The answer to the question of “why?” isn’t as complicated as it might seem. If my interests in creating IndyHall weren’t purely fiscal, what were they?
Because as Tara points out, my long tail self interest is key to this operation. By the entire community succeeding, together or individually, we’re each able to succeed. IndyHall breathes due to organic collaboration.
In each project we that collaboration takes place around, everybody needs to be able to win. One of my core goals for IndyHall Labs is trying to make that process even clearer.
Find out details or sign up below. Save $75 by using the code DANGER.
Q & A with Mashable
I’m still really impressed by the positive response still coming in from my first post on Mashable, now a few weeks old. The team over at Mashable has also been super supportive…and excited for more.
Sharon Feder, Adam Ostrow, and myself have been corresponding about ongoing posts for Mashable, and they’ve extended an opportunity my way that I’m pretty excited about.
When Sharon came to me after my presentation at BlogWorldExpo in Vegas (co-led by my buddy Jake “CommunityGuy” McKee), her initial concept for me writing at Mashable was something that had me hooked pretty quickly. She liked how I had answered questions during our Q&A/discussion portion of the session, and wanted to harness that.
I’m stoked to announce that Mashable is giving me the opportunity to do a weekly Q&A column on their site, related specifically to social technology and community development (relevant topics for their audience, and my interests).
I’m even MORE excited that the structure of this model gives me an opportunity to mix my own answers/thoughts/opinions with interviews with other industry thought leaders. I’m personally looking forward to regularly connecting with the people who are really making great things happen, online and off, related to the topics we’re interested in.
So why am I announcing this here…not on Mashable. And why am I announcing it before I’ve got my first piece written?
Well it’s tough to do the “A” portion of the “Q&A” spot when I don’t have a backlog of “Q’s”. So we’re going to be taking submitted questions from each week’s comments section, via twitter (just @alexknowshtml in the message, I’ll get it), as well as things coming in through my comment form. Each week or so, we’ll pick one question to focus on.
I truely believe this is a great opportunity for sustainable contributions rather than me running my mouth about what I think is important. Even I get bored of that stuff. So send in your questions and let’s get this party started!
Find out details or sign up below. Save $75 by using the code DANGER.
November 1st is a big day on the East Coast
Back in the spring, I wrote about Dave Troy organizing Social Dev Camp East, and an address of a 37 signals blog post about building web companies outside of San Francisco.
Social Dev Camp East II
I unfortunately missed the first Social Dev Camp East, though I DID finally get to meet Dave when I was in Vienna for Amy and Thomas Fuchs’ wedding back in September. Dave’s a great east coast entrepreneur and social technology developer, and I’m excited that he’s got Social Dev Camp East II coming up in just a couple of weeks.
On November 1st, a few hundred of the east coast’s finest social technologists will gather at the University of Baltimore to for a day of exchange and creation, relationship and application building alike.
There’s WAY more info on the Facebook event, and even more on the wiki. The event is fast approaching capacity, so sign up soon. If you’re in Philly and planning on going, reach out and we’ll try to carpool.
New Work City Kickoff Party
One of these days, I’m going to figure out how to be in two places at once. In the mean time, I’m planning on driving really, really fast between Baltimore and Manhattan because later in the evening on November 1st, Tony Bacigalupo and the team behind New Work City will be having a launch party to celebrate their opening of their Manhattan community-powered coworking space. I’m so excited for this because it’s such a long time coming. Just a few weeks ago Tony remained uncertain as to whether or not it could happen. Now they’ve secured desks at an office at 200 Varick St, sharing space with consulting firm element^n.
The party goes down at 8pm until “2am”, but I know what it’s like to party with Tony and doubt we’ll call it at 2. The Facebook is the place to RSVP, and you can be certain that it’s not to be missed. If you heard about the insanity that went down at the IndyHall anniversary party, a good number of the same people will be making the trip from afar. I’m quite excited. You should be too.
Find out details or sign up below. Save $75 by using the code DANGER.
doing something better
In my last post (just a few hours ago, I know), I mentioned how I was most fulfilled when I was doing.
I wanted to further clarifiy that point, in that I was most fulfilled when I was doing something that makes life better. Makes the world better. Makes something better.
In the continuing effort to get off my soapbox, I wanted to highlight someone that I met recently that continues to impress the daylights out of me and inspires something unique, I would hope, in all of us.
I was walking back from the lunch break at BlogOrlando along side a guy named Erik. Erik and I were exchanging small talk, he asked me if I was from nearby, and when I said I’d come from Philadelphia, he first remarked how far I’d hiked…then asked, “oh…are you the guy from IndyHall”?
We chatted about coworking, why I was in Orlando (fact is, I really dig the scene there and am continually impressed by their potential). The walk back didn’t really afford much time beyond the ability for me to find out that Erik lived in the general area and was also involved in the local social tech community.
I was ashamed at the end of the day to find out that the closing speaker was the same Erik, Erik Hersman. Moments prior to him taking the stage, my buddy Alex started talking up this guy and how rad he was. He didn’t even get close.
Uploaded on September 30, 2008 by seanosh
As it turns out, Erik is a long time techie. Furthermore, while his family is in Orlando, he grew up in and continues to spend a great deal of time in Africa. He’s a notable technology leader in regions like Kenya and Sudan, where he grew up. I’ve since subscribed to his personal blog, WhiteAfrican, as it gives some insight into the very cool stuff Erik is up to: most recently, some great breakdowns from during and after BarcampJozi (that’s Johannasburg, as I learned). I also now check AfriGadget, which highlights gadgetry and handmade innovation in Africa. Read the first page of this blog. You will have a whole new outlook on technology.
On WhiteAfrican, Erik recently posted follow up from MobileActive08 (also in Johannasburg) which was attend by Blaine Cook, formerly of Twitter, and Rabble (who created Yahoo’s FireEagle platform). What do these three guys have in common, and what does that have to do with Africa?
Well, that’s where my admiration for Erik comes in. In the beginning of this year, he helped create a tool called “Uashahidi“. Erik’s knowledge of technology in a place where not many of us understand it’s importance (or availability) allowed him to leverage technology, specifically mobile technology, to make something better.
There was some serious political turmoil leading to violence in Kenya towards the beginning of 2008. Erik knew that mobile technology was reasonably ubiquitous, even if it only was the simplest forms available. He took that as a prompt to prototype a system that took citizen updates from mobile, email, and web, and map them: both for journalistic intentions, as well as for relief purposes. From the website:
The core [Ushahidi] engine is built on the premise that gathering crisis information from the general public provides new insights into events happening in near real-time.
Think about that for a second.
This was not building something to cut jobs, improve project turnaround, or increase profits.
This was not something built to chat, discuss, banter, whine, or kvetch.
This was not something built to gather friends.
This was not something built with a “market” in mind.
Ushahidi leveraged two of the most important technology concepts of our present: mobile and socially contributed content for the purpose of making something that really sucked – a violent nation – and gave it simple tools to make it better.
As you might imagine, this project caught the eye of the news and Erik and the team (all of whom I now desperately want to meet) and got some much deserved press. Since, they’ve secured funding and grown the team, and will be launching a new version of Ushahidi this fall. Open Source.
<applause></applause>
We’re talking about an application that can be applied to real life problems domestically and abroad because it uses a least common denominator and takes into account some basic human interaction.
How is Ushahidi different from most other (not all, just most) “social software”?
I’d venture to say the same way “coworking” stands out from “desk sharing”.
Ushahidi was created because someone cared.
This is the kind of doing that I like to see. This is the kind of doing that I hope to accomplish.
Find out details or sign up below. Save $75 by using the code DANGER.
I'm not a marketer
I’m a developer.
I’ve spent some time catching up on videos from FOWA London 08, including highlights of some of my good friends giving really great presentations about things that they believe in and think are important.
It’s got me thinking about the audience of FOWA, and how developer-centric the audience is. I think that’s one of it’s greatest strength, really, and a large contributor to it’s ability to focus. FOWA Miami 08 was one of the best conference’s I’ve been to, hands down.
So looking over the roster of presenters, and thinking about their roles…and then comparing them to my own interests to the tune of, “if Ryan Carson asked me to present at FOWA, what would I say”, I came to some important conclusions.
If you’ve had the pleasure of talking to me sometime in the last couple of weeks, there’s a good chance that you’ve been met with a wicked tongue spitting some admittedly harsh words in the direction of social media, social marketing, and PR “two point oh”. There’s an important distinction that I’ve pointed out repeatedly, and it’s that I came from a different background. Having been a developer prior to…whatever I am now…I spent the time building, or building with, the tools that social media marketing is infatuated with. It’s a lot harder for me to be distracted by shiny objects because, to me, those shiny objects are just tools. As I always did, I’m looking for ways to use those tools, assemble the most powerful toolkits, and doing things with them.
I’m most fulfilled when I’m doing.
I’m not a hater, really. I DO hate playing bad cop, and consciously aware that being a cop at all doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. No matter how strong your police force, people will keep committing crimes.
So while I’ve made a decision a few months back to step away from software development on the code side and put my focus on consulting the in the industry of social technology, I’ve inadvertently slipped into the “social marketer” role for a number of the projects I’ve gotten involved in. Whether or not this a strength of mine is not something I even wish to see through, as I think more about the skills that I’ve had historically.
I’ve been a developer in one way or another for the majority of my life. A problem solver. An analyst. I’ve had a knack for marketing myself and the projects I’m involved in. But when that’s the only role I have – being a megaphone – I’m unfulfilled.
Honestly, I don’t think I could ever be an independent marketer long term. I don’t hate on it, I just don’t get off on it either.
So do I need to be a “coder” in order to be a developer? I don’t think so. I never want to step away from code 100% because I truly love writing code, but there are others who are even more whiz-bang than me. If I have something else to offer, I want to give it a go.
I’m still pretty open about the fact that I’m transitioning, and I’m not 100% sure into what. I’ve been admittedly following demand, for the sake of my bank account not bottoming out. But I’m also admittedly desiring fulfillment. I’ve got an undeniable knack for examining a specific market problem, and acting or advising based on the values of openness, authenticity, permissions, community, and social interactions. You can ask some of the people I’ve shared ideas with, formally and otherwise. I enjoy that work, but the closer it is to being a “marketer”, the further distanced from the project I feel.
If I think about my career path in terms of “What would I present at FOWA”, I realize that I should put focus back on development. Not necessarily on code, but on developing concepts, solving problems, developing relationships and opportunities for collaboration. Focusing on the values of coworking as applied to business. Focusing on the values of collaboration as applied to business. The lessons that Geoff has taught me, and the lessons we’ve learned together.
That’s what IndyHall has been all about for the last 2 years, finding better ways to collaborate. We’ve discovered many, we’ve blindly stumbled upon many, many more. How do I share what we’ve learned, share what I believe in, with others and make that my livelihood? I believe that the discussins surrounding IndyHall Labs is an important step in that direction. I think that it’s based on an a blend of business plus organic creation, software or otherwise. My hope is that it’s a solution worth sharing at FOWA.
Find out details or sign up below. Save $75 by using the code DANGER.
