Tuesday June 29, 2004

This is something I almost blogged on when Bryan Cantrill blogged on how he felt his message wasn't heard during a Press Roundtable. What put the nail in the coffin for me on getting my opinion out was when Jonathan Schwartz briefly mentioned that his blog would provide "unfiltered feedback" to the community. That leads me to believe he feels some of his thoughts are being filtered.

These are two examples but when I read press articles and later hear the "inside story" about the "real truth" directly from those quoted in the press, it gets me a bit miffed that the "other" side isn't heard. Another example, albeit in politics, is when California Governer Arnold Schwarzenegger feels he has to bypass the state assembly and go "straight to the people" to get some measures passed. This is not intended to be a political statement on my part but yet another example of the desire of individuals to get their word out without being filtered through a 3rd party medium. Our industry isn't the only one affected in this regard.

The press is no longer a funnel of information where what "they" think is important gets put into print. I like ragging on the press to some degree, but they also have a pretty tough job. They apply their filter to get a message across (or the message of those interviewed) into a fixed amount of space. Nonetheless, it is a filter. Three different reporters can report on the same event and give three different "views", sometimes focusing on only one aspect of that event. There is nothing wrong with that in one sense as those views can all have merit. On the other hand, it is unfair to the person interviewed as their intended message can be completely lost.

In Bryan's case, he blogged on his interpretation of affairs and it paid off. A huge hats off to the interviewer for listening. And a huge hats off to blogging as a medium to effect change. I have learned a long time ago to never believe what I read. There are two or more sides to every story. And blogging is a medium that enables them all to get out. Wow, what a brave new world.

(2004-06-29 21:36:43.0) Permalink

Free Speech and Free Beer

The bloggers gathering last night at the Thirsty Bear was well worth my time. First, there was plenty of free speech and free beer to go around. Thanks to Simon Phipps and Tim Bray for the free beer.

It sure is nice to put a face to a blog. It turns out that I have quite a bit in common with Gonzo as we both like focusing on distributed computing. I also hooked up with Cameron Purdy long enough to learn that we shared common customers. Could be a closer partnership in the future. Russ Beattie and I chatted for a few minutes. Long enough to find out that he is active in the mobile community and that I will probably create a permanent link to his blog. Mike Cannon simply likes to provide javablogs.com as a service to the community. Thanks mike.

Sun is such a big company that I met some of my peers for the first time. Mary should really see a therapist as I think she is a blogaholic :) Thanks for being the bloggers meeting "documentarian". I learned that Gerald works in Sun Labs doing some analysis work. I think he'll be hearing from me later in support of customers. I see Glenn Martin's email address on internal mailing lists all the time, and now I can place a face to an email address. I know I have left some people out and I apologize, but its time to go support the hands-on labs. Can't leave developers waiting!