Blog Posts About: travel

I survived Vegas with about even money in my pocket and quite a few hours of lost sleep -- sleep I’m still trying to get back. It seems like it’s taking me longer and longer to recover from such weekends as I get older. I had to take a power nap a little while ago to get through the day.

I’ve been thinking about the whole gambling thing and what a heathen I am. OK, not really. I’ve really been thinking about two types of gambling: with machines and with people. I don’t like gambling with a machine- it is such a mechanical way to spend time- put the money in, pull the handle, repeat. You may win or lose, but the experience is always the same- the machine never consoles you when you lose or roots for a good hand.

On the other hand, gambling with people rocks. In blackjack there is the whole dynamic of you being an individual player and looking out for your own interests while having to consider how your decisions impact other players at the table. There is a constant undercurrent of teamwork that often goes unsaid. Everyone at the table depends on one another to push the game along to get the desired outcome (usually making the dealer bust). The whole experience is human.

There is something about playing with people that is an irreplaceable element and I think the same is true with the web. You can play with web sites that stare back at you with a mechanical glaze and marketing copy, but they aren’t as fun – they get old fast and offer few reasons to come back.

On the other hand, you can play with sites that are human and dynamic, sites that speak to you like a person and enable you to work along side other people. These sites are compelling because they are a connection to real people. In the end, I would rather spend my time with people than with a machine (unless that machine has better odds I guess).

Of course, as I write this, I’m at home alone typing into a machine – but I’m really just talking to you, right?

There’s a lot going on out there and I wish I had more time to take it all in. I’m about to leave town tomorrow morning for a bachelor party so I’m posting the bare minimum here. A couple of things that caught my eye recently:

Amy Gahran has been posting a series called Handling Porcupines, Trolls, and Other Online Vermin that is about understanding and working with people who have poor online communication skills.

Someone who has a lot of experience in the area above is Tom Coates. Though his latest post is not related to vermin, but: On hybridised RSS feeds as evidence of a need for weblog refactoring... ...which turned into a history of weblogs and social tools.

Tom is asking if it’s time to step back from our blogs ask if it’s time to figure out what’s next. Don't be scared by the awful title- it is food for thought indeed.

Wish me luck for the coming days, Vegas in the crosshairs.

I just arrived in the Silicon Valley for the Technology Muck-About. I imagine you might say to yourself- what in the *&$^ is that? Well, here's a little background...

Last fall I had the pleasure of attending the first ever Muck-About, which was a chance for a small group of folks to get together (on and off-line) and talk about communities of practice. It occurred on the Washington State coast over 3 days in October 2003.

At the end of the first event, a group of us realized that we really wanted to talk about technology- actually the intersection of people and online community- related technology.

Luckily the original organizers (John and Nancy) and two original attendees (Estee and Teddy) took the lead in creating a new Muck-About that will focus on technology.

They have been working hard to get about 30 of us here to spend some quality time together. I'm really excited about the next few days- I'll get to meet some folks I've known about for a while but never met.

Like the first one, this event is not entirely location-based. We have been using an online community space for introductions, discussions and logistics for the last couple of weeks. Once it's over, we'll convene online once more. I think this is a great model for these events- I feel like I know some people that will be here, which greases the social wheels.

It has started well- we're staying at the "W" Silicon Valley and the suites are pretty awesome for the $. More soon...