What are the sounds a Web Community makes?

tech communityfossilWashington DC2008
Written By Leslie Bradshaw

Jabber, Jabber… WSSST! PSSSHHT!

As I have shared in previous posts, I have been enjoying participating in, learning from, and collecting my thoughts on the part longstanding part burgeoning-emerging DC new media/tech community. As I have said before, there are undoubtedly many many groups that meet, organize, take action, support one another, etc. that I have yet to discover, but am excited to do so. One such group is OLPC-LC-DC, introduced to me by j3 and his ownership and philanthropy around the XO laptop (aka, One Laptop Per Child).

Going to events in DC and talking with the passionate users, developers, strategists and community organizers NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME. What wonderful people, aspirations and action.

FYI: I have written up my thoughts and findings in a longer article below, developed in part for Bisnow on Technology. I will be posting through them more often and would love to feature as many of these events and individuals that are truly shaping, changing, sharing and learning new media, technology and the community at large and at small in the DC area. Let me know if you have ideas or want to be featured!

And so, without further a-do… here are my thoughts + a quick plug: please check out these organizations and individuals… super amazing, wonderful, awesomeness.

WSSSSSSTTT! PSSSSSSSHHHHHT! No, my caps lock button did not sabotage the keyboard whilst randomly selecting keystrokes. That is literally the sound made when one XO laptop (a.k.a., the One Laptop Per Child [OLPC]) speaks to, well, another One. Warning: A lot of acronyms will be thrown around in this article. Wherever possible, I have hyperlinked them to a source that has infinitely more wisdom on the subject than I.

Back to it… WSSSSSSTTT! PSSSSSSSHHHHHT! On Thursday night last week, the OLPC Learning Club of DC (OLPC-LC-DC… I am not making this up) had dozens of these computers “talking” to WSSSSSSTTT! PSSSSSSSHHHHHT! one another. In a room filled with over 50 OLPC LC DC members, these sounds signaled an exciting moment: the laptops that hold the promise of community building, “off grid” journaling and educating in the first, second and third worlds were getting to know one another via their measure software for the first time in a group that large.

Of the group’s goal and purpose, group organizer and long-time “user grouper” Mike Lee said it best (paraphrasing from my handwritten, low-tech notes): “Some have bought the XO because it’s a cool new gadget, others are parents with children, or educators who have expert areas. This group is about bringing all of these folks together to understand the possibilities and limitations of the technology and to build useful and interesting things for the XO.”

Although they refrained from talking in WSSSSSSTTTs and PSSSSSSSHHHHHTs, they spoke a language almost as cryptic and intriguing to the outside ear. Mike fielded and facilitated questions about Sugar, Python, Pippy, Jabber and Pygame, and storage and charging devices. As insightful as they were articulate, Luke (who started with Linux in 2nd grade), Mackenzie (who blogs about Ubuntu Linux Tips & Tricks) and Herbert (interning at NASDAQ and experimenting with XO’s Pippy, TamTam and Turtle Art) assisted Mike and others in answering a lot of questions, as well as helping the crowd troubleshoot their machines. Here they are telling us all what is up!

In sum: It was nothing short of amazing.

And so, for a non-tech, but pro-community strategist/social scientist-type… for me to wrap up an extremely complicated topic that has most interesting cultural and social implications, I have put together a set of shout-outs and resources:

  • Organized by Mike Lee with direction from Wayan Vota and help of Andrew Halls. In the deliciously webby world of on and offline connecting, Andrew put Mike in touch with the eventual event host Curtis Cannon, Director of Client Services at DC Cares. DCC is a “non-monetary foundation that matches community assets such as volunteers, pro-bono consultants, non-profit board members, goods and services to help other non-profits build their capacity.” Do good, feel good. Unable to attend, but an integral OLPC/DCC contributor, Peter Corbett has helped raise over ten XO laptop donations. Mike doing his intro:

  • Richard Bullington-McGuire was there with his son Patrick and notes on his blog of his son’s usage: “Patrick really enjoys the calculator, the camera, the music applications, and Micropolis, a GPL port of the original SimCity code, the first program we added to the base set of activities.” Richard is also involved with The Obscure Organization, which is a non-profit organization that supports creativity and community through technology. Their newest program teaches elementary school students about teach kids about design, programming, animation, and math. I know he is looking for volunteers, so definitely shoot him a line. Richard and Patrick check out the “view finder” ad-on that is all the rage… Ergo-my-lego:

  • Also helping Mike for the evening was 3D graphics developer Jonathan Blocksom and CEO of Zoltan Technologies, Jonathan Hsu (who has created and also sells XO-compatible USB Ethernet adapters). Of his involvement, Jonathan noted: “As I believe in doing good is an integral part of doing well which is why OLPC G1G1 program resonates and creates so many responses in the US. I was thrilled with OLPC project and have been following its development since.” Jonathan holding his adapter here:

  • Deborah Rose, who has been using IBM MVS mainframe computers s in 1970’s for statistical analysis shared that: “[OLPC] is the only thing out there that captures that early excitement in computing. As with CP/M and DOS, I am counting on the user community to identify needs and fill in the gaps.”

Author’s notes:

Leslie Bradshaw
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