Assignment 1

Assignment 1

The first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, to become a justice of the Supreme Court in the USA said 1. “We don't accomplish anything in this world alone ... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.” This is certainly true in the case of Ward Cunningham, Adam Curry, Jenny Preece and Dave Winer in the development of Wikis, podcasts, online communities and RSS.I t is my aim in this essay to describe then compare and contrast the works of two of these significant people, Ward Cunningham and Adam Curry.

Ward, a visionary and leading edge computer programmer created an apple product called a HyperCard which had the ability to link to something that wasn’t there yet. He thought of the idea of a wiki while on holiday in Hawaii, the term wiki meaning ‘Quick”. He described a wiki as a big blob of clay going somewhere built by a community. He made it possible for users to collaboratively create online something as simple as a camping list or as big as an encyclopaedia.

Adam Curry born in 1964 is often referred to as the father of podcasting. Dave Winer a software developer got Curry, a past video jockey, on board and by 2004 the term podcasting was first mentioned in a London newspaper and on Wikipedia. It showed up in 100,000 pages on Google. A podcast allowed for media to be available on demand opposed to broadcasting [traditional media] Podcasting significantly changed the music industry.

Ward and Curry have both played a leading role in what they were involved in creating. They are both the fathers of significant Web 2.0 technologies. Ward started developing the “Wiki Wiki” web in 1994 and went on to further develop the wiki to what it is today. Wikipedia is used by millions of people worldwide. In the same way Curry was one of the first celebrities to create and run a website. He first called podcasting audio blogging. Podcasts are now available to anyone on both computers and mobile devices. Ward and Curry are similar in that they are known and recognised as the founder of their respective technology.

How are Ward and Curry different? Ward Cunningham is an inventor and visionary. He thought of the idea of the wiki and developed it. He created the hypercard for something he wished existed. He is a truly remarkable and gifted man. However the brains behind Curry was a programmer, Dave Winer. Curry was basically a disc jockey. Would he have developed podcasting to what it is today without Winer? That is an interesting question.

Ward Cunningham and Adam Curry are both recognized as leaders in their field. They both worked collaboratively with others to create two technologies that have changed our world. As is the nature of working collaboratively both of these men worked with others1. “...individual threads from one to another” to achieve what they did. This trend we will see again as significant people in IT work together towards a common goal, for example, to create and promote “Google Wave” coming out in late 2009. The future is created by great minds working together today.

Bibliography

1.Teamwork quotes
Accessed 3/9/09
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_teamwork.html


Wiki inventor Ward Cunningham with John Cage U tube
Accessed 2/9/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx6nNqSASGo

Ward Cunningham on Connectipedia U tube
Accessed 2/9/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io-86pFPCsg

Wikis in plain English U tube
Accessed 2/9/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY&feature=fvst

What is a Wiki? U tube
Accessed 2/9/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SPpEINestc&feature=PlayList&p=353BB596BBA7885E&index=1


Adam Curry Wikipedia
Accessed 2/9/09
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Curry

Podcasting in Plain English U tube
Accessed 2/9/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MSL42NV3c

Secrets of Podcasting History Parts 1,2 and 3 U tube
Accessed 2/9/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipKQv7ClWxA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiqmi_nMlFs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNwRYR0nrMs