ITC510 Assignment Essay 1

Major published works or conference activity over the last ten years and evolution of ideas over the course of that time

Ward Cunningham

Howard G. "Ward" Cunningham (born May 26, 1949) is the American computer programmer who developed the first wiki and HyperCard. A pioneer in both design patterns and Extreme Programming, he started programming the software WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on the website of his software consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham (commonly known by its domain name, c2.com), on March 25, 1995, as an add-on to the Portland Pattern Repository. (Wikipedia, 2009)

Adam Curry

Adam Clark Curry (born September 3, 1964 in Washington, D.C.) is a broadcasting and Internet personality well known for his stint from 1987 to 1994 as a video jockey on the music video channel MTV. In the mid-1990s, Curry was a World Wide Web entrepreneur and one of the first celebrities to personally create and administer a Web site. In the 2000s, he helped pioneer podcasting, and is often called the 'Podfather' because of his efforts. (Wikipedia, 2009)

'Light bulb' moments or ideas that they have proposed or pushed?

Ward Cunningham – Wikis, Object Oriented Programming, Extreme Programming

Adam Curry - Podcasting

Are they good change managers for other work groups?

I would say they both would be good change managers for other work groups because each one of them has contributed toward making work groups function more efficiently. The areas that they have contributed to include the consolidation of discrete pools of knowledge (Wikis, blogs and XML), the distribution of knowledge (podcasting and RSS).

Give examples of any shared experiences, synergy or context that you share with any of these people.

Ward Cunningham and Adam Curry are the two people on the list whose activities and achievements are closest to my experience.

The Wiki is a ‘killer app’ for the pooling of knowledge into discrete areas that are accessible to anyone on the Internet. The concept of inviting people to contribute their own knowledge and to declare their sources means that while the knowledge is always changing, it’s nearly always improving because of its planet wide scrutiny.

Having worked in a software engineering environment that embraced ‘Extreme Programming’, I believe this system has been a very important development in allowing ‘clients’ into design process. I now also use this cyclic process in my music and computer art teaching. Recording and requesting changes from my students prior to assessment submission is an important tool in ensuring they will get the best result possible for the assessment.

Adam Curry’s development of podcasting has enormous applications for radio and for the distribution of knowledge. I too, have experience in ‘self-publishing’ and I can remember when people could only distribute their ideas through the very totalitarian media machine of the large publishing and recording studios, the newspapers and through other print and electronic media. The only way that you could get your product out there was if the media Mongols/gatekeepers said you could. Now anyone can and mostly that is a good thing.

Bibliography

Wikipedia. (2009). Ward Cunningham [Electronic Version], from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham. Retrieved 05/09/2009.

Wikipedia. (2009). Adam Curry [Electronic Version], from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Curry. Retrieved 05/09/2009.