Security and comfort are prerequisites to sharing.

Brent Ashley (via Phil) nails it.

I've noticed with myself though, that my sharing-ness tends to rise and fall with my sense of security. When I've got lots of business and no worries, I'm a veritable sharing phenom, but my willingness to participate and to share has dropped considerably this year since I've been more interested in finding enough paying business to get by. [...]

I love Open Source. I use it all the time. I believe in its future. But it can't work unless it's being practised and subsidised by people who are in a position of security and comfort.

Free knowledge sharing is among the most valuable activities from a global standpoint. How paradoxical it is that it can hardly directly provide a revenue stream and the associated security and comfort to even some of the people who are best at it.

[Seb's Open Research]
1:42:34 PM  #  comment []

Documenting unfolding research processes.

Sébastien Paquet summarises his thinking about blogs in research in story on Personal knowledge publishing and its uses in research.

Uses of personal knowledge publishing for research:

• Helping in selecting material
• Visible web of interpersonal trust
• Managing personal knowledge
• Obtaining speedy feedback on ideas
• Facilitating connections between researchers
• Clustering content relating to emerging fields
• Fostering diversity
• Opening up windows in the Ivory Tower(s)

I like this story not only for the good quality content that provokes thinking and saves time of trying to explain "blogs" to my colleagues, but also for one more thing. For me, as a regular reader of Seb's Open Research it illustrates the evolution of thinking: I recognise "bits of ideas" that I've seen before, and I'm fascinated to see how they emerge into a whole. What could be better for the "researcher-to-be" than observing how someone's thought grows?

From a personal standpoint, writing a blog gives me a way of seeing this evolution unfold in a more conscious manner. But I find it rewarding to see that other people can benefit from the effort as well. As I wrote in Online Communities and the Future of Culture,

More and more of these people realize that good personal contacts will come more easily if they narrate their own work, spread the word about what they're trying to find or achieve, and overtly link their own thoughts with others' thoughts.

This means that, increasingly, new culture -- as a process, not as a product -- is being documented in real-time online by the people who make it. This is a significant departure from the way things have traditionally been working.

The gradual erosion of the "product" mindset is a direct offshoot of the availability of practically unlimited many-to-many communication. A product is a nice package that you can "get" and "consume", and it definitely has its usefulness. But in many ways, processes, as things you can "live" and "take part" in, mean more to most humans.

It's the difference between going at a live music show and listening to a recording of that show. It's the difference engaging a conversation with an author and reading his book. You often get more out of living a process than consuming a product.

Now, we can see and feel human processes, even from a great distance in time or space. And to me it means that there is a potential to be closer together, as people.

The way I categorize people in my link list (on the left) gives Tanya Rabourn the giggles. That's okay. I like to make people laugh. But the serious aspect of this categorization is that it roughly defines how I interface with these people. The question you can read between the lines is: "Are you more process or product?". My preference for one over the other is obvious.

[Seb's Open Research]
12:52:27 PM  #  comment []

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of UserLand's wonderful customers.  The team at UserLand appreciates your business and wants to continue to delight you with some of the most wonderful affordable software ever made.

To recap.  We have made lots of new improvements to Radio over the past year.  The ability of individuals to do things that used to cost tens of thousands of dollars to do (just a couple of years ago) is now possible with software that costs under $40.  Also, the new improvements in Frontier 9 administration have proven to be a hit.  Organizations that run Frontier/Manila are saving a significant sum of dollars everyday, which allows them to preserve head count and do the things they need to do without new funds.  As proof of this, we had our best sales month in September since I have been at the company.  Thanks again.  

Over the next couple of months we plan to focus on making sure Radio and Frontier are rock solid.  In most cases it is, but in a minority of situations we need to make improvements.  We have also added a ton of new functionality over the past year, our objective now is to make sure the software works as expected.

You should anticipate some great things out of UserLand in the near future (there are quite a few amazing things in the works!).  We are going to remake the world of online publishing.

[John Robb's Radio Weblog]
12:36:29 PM  #  comment []