Virtual Pragmatics

Aula

I finally read 'Smart Mobs' by Howard Rheingold, over Thanskgiving weekend. It is a survey of mobile technology (cell phones, Wifi, and more) and the social changes that are happening and will happen as a function of our use of that technology. Great book, worth reading if you think about these things. One project mentioned, that I found fascinating, is that of Aula in Helsinki, Finland. A small cooperative group grew to 300 in pursuit of creating an urban space for gathering, working on projects, relaxing, connecting. This won't do it justice, but it's like a combination of clubhouse, Kinko's, and Starbucks. It was the subject of one of the collaborator's thesis, which makes for very interesting reading. I wrote down once, on a list of things I'd like to do in life, that I'd like to run a really smart coffeehouse, the kind of place where people would meet not only to chit-chat, but to learn, discuss and grow. I would definitely borrow from Aula.

Tigris.org

From tigris.org's home page:

Tigris.org provides information resources for software engineering professionals and students, and a home for open source software engineering tool projects. We also promote software engineering education and host some undergraduate senior projects.

There are all kinds of tools, and a ton of great information here for planning and executing development projects. Even if you develop on another platform, you can get good ideas here.

Hacker Emblem?

Meetup.com

Meetup.Com is one of the coolest ideas for using the web I've ever seen. The idea is that you can look for, or create, a topic of interest to a group (car brands, dog breeds, politicians, etc), and if enough people are interested in your area, you can meet together to discuss your topic of interest. I've listened to and read interviews with Scott Hieferman, and I'm very much impressed. Check out the interviews and the site, and I think you'll be impressed as well.

Social Networks - LinkedIn.com

I read an article today in Fortune magazine that discussed websites devoted to 'social networks'. The article gives a concrete example of how Joi Ito now uses LinkedIn.com to vett out people seeking him out for business networking purposes. He's signed on to the network, and so have friends of his. Someone new trying to reach Mr. Ito may do so through one of his friends on the network - but only with the approval of that friend.

In my time doing free-lance work, nearly all of my business, and certainly the best projects, has come through word-of-mouth. South Florida has a small enough technical community that reputation matters, and a good one is preferred! But it would be great to add some organization to this process, and this seems like an appropriate tool.

So networking technology has come full circle, and brought online the older use of the term 'networking'. I think this is a great idea, and plan to get myself and my friends involved.

Lists to be made...

Software Developers I respect...

Philip Greenspun - Web with wit from the People's Republic of Cambridge
Joel Spolsky - West Coast offense from the East Coast.
Dave Winer - Mr Blog goes to Harvard
Don Box - Mr. Com goes angle-brackets in 'the Big House'
Fredrick Brooks - Mr. Project Management. Brooks Law, 'The Mythical Man-Month'
Dave Thomas - Co-wrote 'The Pragmatic Programmer'
Andy Hunt - Co-wrote 'The Pragmatic Programmer'
Don Knuth - The 'Obi-Wan' of Computer Science. Or perhaps Yoda. gave up his email address because he's focused on 'the bottom of things', rather than trying to stay on top of things.
Bruce Schneier - applied mathematics goes political
Martin Fowler - Patterns for business
Kent Beck - Extreme Programming
Ward Cunningham - The Wiki
Bill Venners - Artima.com
Bruce Eckel - Thinking about everything.

Study group books:
Test-Driven Development
Design Patterns
How To Design Programs
Applying UML With Patterns

Books I mean to read:
Test-Driven Development
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

Books I mean to re-read:
The Mythical Man-Month
The Pragmatic Programmer
UML Distilled