eekim.com: EEK Speaks

Mon, Nov 28, 2005

A Series of Open Conversations #

What the heck is BlueOxenAssociates supposed to be about. Why the heck am I in this business? Forget about my ElevatorPitch? for a moment. Forget about collaboration and collaboratories, PatternLanguages and PurpleNumbers. What do I want, and why do I care? (K1V)

I haven't been able to answer these questions to everybody's satisfaction, but I've found folks of all types who get either it or me pretty quickly and who share many of my hopes, dreams, and values. Being around these people has kept me going both personally and professionally, and further catalyzing this community is a big part of what BlueOxenAssociates is about. I often think about the negativity that one of my mentors, DougEngelbart, faced for so long early in his career, and I'm grateful at how different my world has been. (K1W)

KatrinVerclas and SebPaquet are two of my favorite conversational partners. I've had the pleasure of working with Katrin (and AllenGunn, another favorite) on the FLOSS Usability Sprints. I haven't had the opportunity to work with Seb yet, but I'm quite certain it will happen eventually. (K1X)

Katrin is in Massachusetts, and Seb is in Montreal. My conversations with both are always incredibly rich, and I'm constantly wishing that we could talk more often and that we could capture some of those conversations. Of course, thanks to technology (and a bit of process), we can. (K1Y)

In the spirit of old school letter writing, I've proposed to both of them a series of conversations with a twist. Instead of emailing back and forth, we'll post our letters on our blogs so that others can participate and hopefully join in. (K1Z)

I think the open conversations will be revealing and hopefully entertaining. Katrin has already kicked things off with a nice list of things she wants out of her career and life. I'll respond in my next blog post. And when Seb decides to return to the blogosphere (*nudge, nudge*), we'll have an open conversation as well. (K20)

I'd love to have conversations with many others, beyond what already occurs on our respective blogs. If you'd like to join in on this little experiment, write me a letter and post it on your blog. Don't forget to link back here so I can find it. (K21)

Looking forward to the conversations! (K22)

/blueoxen | Posted at 11:10am

Sun, Nov 27, 2005

Compendium Tutorial on Monday, November 28 #

MaartenSierhuis is offering a free Compendium tutorial tomorrow, November 28, 11am-1pm PT, via telephone and WebEx. If you're interested in participating, drop him an email at msierhuis-at-mail-dot-arc-dot-nasa-gov, and he'll forward you the call-in information. This is a great way to get some real exposure to Compendium quickly. See Maarten's original announcement for more information. (K1R)

Also, proceedings from the Compendium Institute Workshop earlier this month are now available. You can download the PDF of the papers or view the maps of the presentations. (K1S)

/events | Posted at 10:02am

Wed, Nov 16, 2005

Coworking Open House, November 21 #

Lots of folks have envisioned a world where the future of work is like the movie industry today. People form teams to tackle a task, then break up when the task is over, only to reform in new teams later. We're very close to this vision becoming a reality in a geographically dispersed way. In my three years at BlueOxenAssociates, I've worked with different folks all over the world, and I have yet to meet all of my clients face-to-face. (K1I)

That to said, there's something lost when you're always working in a distributed fashion. Tools and online community prevent you from being totally isolated, but there's a beautiful energy that usually only manifests itself in a face-to-face setting. (K1J)

Folks generally compensate for this deficiency by creating their own local communities. Most of my work is remote, but I still manage to see lots of folks face-to-face, and the benefits are immeasurable. I'm lucky enough to be in the BayArea where we have a disproportionate number of brilliant, passionate people doing amazing things. That said, building this local network took a lot of work and time and a bit of serendipity. I have to be proactive about maintaining face time with good folks. (K1K)

Rather than be individually proactive about working with folks, many people have created communal spaces for the like-minded and like-spirited. This is a long-standing practice among many communities. BradNeuberg recently started such a space in SanFrancisco, which he calls coworking. He's holding a free open house next Monday, November 21, 2005. I met Brad at one of ChrisMessina and AndySmith's barbecues this past summer. He's doing interesting work, and he seems to be in the center of an interesting community. If you're a free-lancer or remote worker looking to spend some quality time with other good people, I encourage you to check it out. (K1L)

/events | Posted at 3:35pm

Jeff Conklin's Dialog Mapping Workshop, November 29-30 #

I mentioned JeffConklin's DialogMapping workshop later this month, but it was at the end of a long blog post, and folks may have missed it. In short: (K1F)

Finally, if you're in the BayArea, you should register for JeffConklin's upcoming workshop in RedwoodCity, November 29-30. If you're a project manager, facilitator, or consultant, or if you deal with groups regularly (who doesn't?), don't wait. Sign up and go. T (K1G)

I highly recommend it. (K1H)

/events | Posted at 2:51pm

Bay Area XDI Workshop, December 5 #

AndyDale and the good folks at ooTao will be hosting a workshop on XDI on Monday, December 5, 2005, from 1-4pm at ooTao's offices in [Alameda]?, CA. This will be an excellent opportunity to learn the technical ins-and-outs of XDI and how it enables permission-based data sharing. Register now; spots are limited. (K1A)

/events | Posted at 2:46pm

Podcast of SDForum Collaboration SIG Meeting #

Thanks to all who showed for the first ever SDForum Collaboration SIG Panel. It was an excellent panel discussion. For those who couldn't make it, a podcast is now available, thanks to CharlesWelsh. (K19)

/events | Posted at 2:42pm

Sun, Nov 13, 2005

SDForum Collaboration SIG #

I'm now the co-chair of the new SDForum Collaboration SIG. Looking forward to working with the other co-chairs: ScottMcMullan, PattiWilson, and CharlesWelsh. If you're interested in participating, check out the shiny new Wiki, courtesy of Scott and JotSpot. (K0M)

The first meeting is Monday night, November 14, 6:30pm at SiliconValleyBank in SantaClara. The panel is entitled, "Show Me The Money!" Panelists are JoeKraus (JotSpot), DavidHornik (AugustCapital), WilliamGlazier (RedwoodVentures), DavidColeman (CollaborativeStrategies), and SamPullara (GauntletSystems). Charles will moderate. It's free for SDForum members, $15 for everyone else. (K0N)

Should be a great event. Hope to see you there. (K0O)

/events | Posted at 10:47pm

Why I Love Compendium And You Should Too #

I just spent two outstanding days at the CompendiumInstitute workshop in Washington, D.C. Folks, if you are interested in collaboration, you must learn about Compendium. (JZU)

Compendium is a conversation mapping (or DialogMapping) tool that, simply put, makes meetings better. When paired with a relatively straightforward methodology, Compendium can make a huge difference on the quality of your meetings. (JZV)

But Compendium is about much, much more than meeting facilitation. If you scratch below the surface, you'll discover deep thinking about collaboration, hypertext modeling, visual languages, CollectiveMemory, SharedUnderstanding, and the art of listening. (JZW)

SimonBuckinghamShum had a great line at the workshop: "Compendium is like Excel for knowledge." He's absolutely right. Just as mortals can build sohisticated number crunching applications with spreadsheets, mortals can easily build useful knowledge applications with Compendium. (JZX)

But Compendium is about even more than that! Compendium, to me, represents an incredibly rich community of practitioners, deep thinkers, and overall good people. I talk a lot about the importance of bridges -- folks who speak the languages of multiple cultures or disciplines. Almost everyone in the Compendium community is a bridge of some sort. To be a Compendium guru, you need to have a knack for facilitation, a brain for visual modeling, and comfort with computers. Everyone in the community has at least two of these traits, and some folks even have all three. (JZY)

Of course, the best measure of the quality of this community is that several members of the extended BlueOxen family -- Simon, JeffConklin, AlSelvin, MarkAakhus, and KarlHebenstreit -- were at the workshop, and I fully expect others who attended to become part of the family. (JZZ)

I first learned about all this at a two-day workshop on DialogMapping in 2001 from the supreme guru himself, JeffConklin. Since then, I've blogged a bit and written a few papers about DialogMapping and Compendium. The workshop this past week has motivated me to dump even more thoughts into the blogosphere. But my writing hasn't and won't do proper justice to the topic. (K00)

The best way to learn about Compendium is to experience it for yourself, and then just do it. Fortunately, there are easy ways you can do this: (K01)

Buy Jeff's book, Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems, which comes out later this month. (K02)
Download Compendium and play. The latest version (1.4) is a huge improvement on previous versions. (K03)
Find folks to jam with. (K04)

AlSelvin, who along with MaartenSierhuis, is responsible for Compendium, likens the art of facilitating with Compendium to playing jazz. A great way to learn how to play is to jam with others. How do you find folks to jam with? There are practitioners all over the world. In the BayArea, there are lots of practitioners (of course) -- myself, Jeff, Maarten (who's doing crazy stuff with Compendium and the Mars project at NASA), NickPapadopoulos, and others. In D.C., the good folks at TouchstoneConsulting use Compendium every day with their clients, and they've built an active CommunityOfPractice there. (K05)

The best way to find folks is to join the mailing list and ask questions there. One outcome of the workshop is that we will probably convene an online jam session, so that folks anywhere can participate. I'm happy to jam with anyone who wants to learn -- either face-to-face in the BayArea or online. Contact me if interested. (K06)

/collaboration | Posted at 10:20pm

Fri, Nov 04, 2005

The Topology of Identity Standards #

PeterDavis has put together an excellent topology diagram of identity-related standards. (JZQ)

(JZR)

It needs annotation to be useful for the uninitiated, but if you don't cringe at acronyms like SAML, XRI, or YADIS, you'll find this diagram quite useful. (JZS)

/collaboration/idcommons | Posted at 8:57pm

Antoine de Saint-Exupery on Collaboration #

From DeboraHammond: (JZM)

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. --AntoineDeSaintExupery (JZN)

/collaboration | Posted at 1:57pm

Web Montag, November 7, Cologne, Germany #

I met TimBonneman at the Collaborative Technologies Conference in NewYork last June. He had just moved to the BayArea, and had experienced only a taste of the energy and passion of the area. Almost half a year later, that taste is now total immersion. (JZI)

In the spirit of WikiWednesday, BarCamp, and all the other impromptu gatherings that have been cropping up like fruit flies, TimBonneman has organized WebMontag in Cologne, Germany, next Monday, November 7. Already, over 50 people have signed up. Looks like it will be a great gathering. (JZJ)

/events | Posted at 1:53pm

Compendium Institute Workshop in D.C. #

I'll be in D.C. next week for the Compendium Institute Workshop. I also plan on dropping by the D.C. Planetwork Forum next Friday, November 11. If you're in the area and would like to get together, drop me a line. (JZH)

/events | Posted at 1:43pm

Wed, Nov 02, 2005

The Thrill of Pair Programming #

I have a lot of different passions, which is lucky in a lot of ways, and unlucky in others. It's lucky because it makes life incredibly fun. It's unlucky, because life is finite, and I don't have time to delve as deeply into things as I would like. It's why I knew I would never become a professional programmer. (JZB)

This past year, I spent most of my time doing field work and thinking about social processes. When I switched into technical mode, it was as an architect or a pundit, not as a programmer. And that's the way it should be. It's the right mode for me professionally and personally. Besides, the less time in front of a computer, the better. (JZC)

However, that's changed these past few months, as I've had to wear my coding hat for a variety of reasons. And I have to admit, it still gets me going. My skills have degraded a lot over the years, more from disuse than age, but I can still get it done. It makes me feel like one of those clean-cut, Midwestern types who comes home from his nine-to-five job, then plays poker all night at some seedy underground club. It's liberating. (JZD)

In particular, I had fun PairProgramming with PeterKaminski a few weeks ago and with BrianIngerson last night. Both of those efforts were toy one-offs, but they were great fun nevertheless, and it got me thinking. Coding with others, and pairing in particular, is one of the most intense, enjoyable collaborative experiences one can have. Read EvanHenshawPlath's account of his recent RubyOnRails sprint with BlaineCook and KellanElliottMcCrea, and you'll see what I mean. It's the sort of thing I never get to do anymore. (JZE)

I know a lot of great coders, and I love talking shop. And, I still want to spend as little time as possible in front of a computer. But, I'm going to make a concerted effort to pair with folks at least once every few months. If you're in the BayArea and are in the mood to code up something that is small, cool, and will improve collaboration some way, somehow, let me know. (JZF)

/tech/programming | Posted at 5:21pm

Purple Numbers and WIKIWYG #

For a while, it was looking like I was going to break another personal blogging record last month, then things got so busy I had zero time to blog whatsoever. That means I'm in catch up mode again, so as usual, I'll post in reverse chronological order (which in the blogosphere is really reverse reverse chronological order). (JYN)

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon at SocialText, where they were having an all-hands meeting. They graciously invited me to participate in the OpenSpace segment of their gathering, which meant quality time with ChrisDent and a rare opportunity to evangelize the ChurchOfPurple together. Of course, Chris has been spreading the Purple religion at SocialText for a while now, so it wasn't as much about evangelism as it was about next steps. (JYO)

As I've mentioned many times before, browser-based WYSIWYG editors are an exciting development because they allow us to make PurpleNumbers transparent in the authoring process. Right now, when you edit a PurpleWiki page, you see the node ID tags (e.g. {nid 123}). This is impossible to get around with the default browser text-editing widget. However, with a WYSIWYG editor, you can hide the PurpleNumbers while still maintaining their associations with a node behind the scenes. (JYP)

That's the theory, anyway. In particular, I've been excited about WIKIWYG ever since RossMayfield showed me an early prototype last August. I had a personal bias, since ChrisDent and MattLiggett helped write it, as did CaseyWest and the inimitable BrianIngerson, whom I finally met last weekend at TagCamp. (JYQ)

Yesterday afternoon, we discussed PurpleNumbers and WIKIWYG, and it was good. Then in the evening, Ingy and I spent a few hours trying to get WIKIWYG integrated into PurpleWiki. (JYR)

We didn't quite make it. Our biggest roadblock was a bug we discovered in Mozilla's design mode that we can't do much about. (My days of statically typed languages are well behind me.) But, we got something somewhat working, and I learned a heckuvalot. You can play with our semi-working demo. (JYS)

WIKIWYG seems well-architected and is easy to customize. For folks with relatively standard Wiki editing requirements, I highly encourage you to play with it. PurpleWiki has some special formatting funkiness (mainly due to the PurpleNumbers), but we were able to get around this fairly easily. (This was also true thanks to PurpleWiki's model of parsing to an intermediate data structure, then using view drivers to serialize. I wish more Wiki engines did this. I know MagnusManske is thinking about doing this for MediaWiki, and I think JanneJalkanen is already doing it with JSPWiki.) (JYT)

The Mozilla bug annoyed me, because it's a show-stopper in some ways, and there's not much I can do about it. I didn't realize it, but all of the JavaScript WYSIWYG widgets actually switch to the browser's "design mode" in order to handle WYSIWYG editing. As with many HTML editors, design mode does not handle structure cleanly, and you end up getting weird artifacts such as spurious break tags. Our problem was that we serialize node ID information as id attributes in the HTML tags. However, FireFox does not maintain those attributes correctly when you move content around. (JYU)

I'll report the bug (if folks have suggestions as to the best way to bring this to the right people's attention, let me know), but it also puts the kibosh on my hopes for WIKIWYG and PurpleNumbers. Even if the bug is fixed in the next version of FireFox, we're still prey to all the folks using older versions as well as InternetExplorer or Safari, which have their own problems with design mode. (JYV)

Chris and I discussed one workaround that I'm still pondering: render the PurpleNumber and have users be responsible for maintaining the association with the nodes. That's the status quo, except users are doing it in WikiText rather than in WYSIWYG. Doing it in WYSIWYG certainly lowers the bar, and it's probably the next best thing for us to do. (JYW)

/tech/purple | Posted at 4:23pm