Questions

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Nick Galvin, a Features Writer with the Sydney Morning Herald, asking if I’d be interested in answering some quick questions about what’s hot on the web for a feature in their weekly technology supplement for the “interested home user”, Icon. I jumped at the chance and thanks must go to John Allsopp recommending me.

The piece was published today and I finally got see who the other people were. I put a scan on my Flickrstream so you can read the full text at either Large or Original (bloody large). Huge thanks must go to the legendary Seng Mah for yet again allowing me to use his photo of me from last August as my publicly respectable face.

Update: Turns out the article did get published online, so it’s much easier to read there.

Answers

What I found most interesting is comparing my answers with those of Cheryl, Virginia, Tim and John. The differences are more telling than the similarities, I think. Cheryl’s answers are consumer-focused, John talks about the big picture and Tim can’t help but dish on what’s important to developers. Of the four, Virginia’s are probably closest to mine in ideas, although hers are expressed far more beautifully. (And she led me to a gorgeous new theme for my tumblelog!)

I copped a bit of a ribbing at work about the reference in the standfirst to ‘internet gurus’. Fair enough. I find it amusing too. Thing is, though, that I know some other internet gurus.

Anybody willing to spend any time at all reading my infrequent posts is automatically qualified as pretty damn interested in the internet (or related to me. Hi, Mum!). So I want to know what you would have answered. What are your responses to the three questions? You don’t have to stick to 180 words like we did!

1. What are the three things online that are exciting you most?
2. What gadget do you never leave home without? And given most everybody will say their phone or their laptop, why?
3. What will be the Next Big Thing?

Add answers or links to answers below.

I hear lots of paranoid mutterings about OpenID from geeky folks. I get that. They’re still hurting from the fiasco formerly known as Passport. It’s understandble, but it’s time to let it go.

People have valid concerns about any scheme purporting to represent their identity (or identities, given we’re talking about the web). It’s hard to get to the bottom of those with OpenID, because, as has been raised on the mailing lists, it’s very obscure niche topic with bugger all in the way of plain language explanations. It takes too long to get into it and understand it, and not everybody has that time. This is for those who are willing to trust that I took the time.

The next five points are for all my geeky friends who can’t be stuffed delving into esoterica:

OpenID is good for you.

You can stop using usernames and passwords for every site that supports it.

OpenID saves you stress

You don’t have remember which of the 3 different passwords you’ve used since high school is the right one for this site. You don’t have remember which of your 47 different usernames you gave it.

OpenID saves you time

You don’t have to trawl your browser password storage to find the right one when you haven’t visited the site since you last cleared your cookies.

OpenID is safe

Hardcore security freaks can go read the specs, get involved in the community and determine this for themselves, but for the rest of us, it’s enough to know that a bunch of very smart hardcore security freaks have already done this.

The defence rests

There you have it, folks, the completely non-scientific (and non-scary) explanation of OpenID. No grand justifications. No confusing diagrams.

What now?

Just 3 simple things to do:

1. Go get one today;

   I recommend ClaimID because those guys are fucking smart, but lots of people like myOpenId too;

2. Make sure you delegate your OpenID to your own site using Tim Lucas’s handy instructions so you have control of your identity; and

3. Tell your all friends - if you want the revolution, you’d better start lighting fires.

Party on, people. The fight isn’t over yet.

I often read about people risking all to achieve something monumental. People who gambled every speck of life, self and reputation on one last crack at some goal everybody else thought was impossible. Naturally, in such stories, the gamble pays off.

It has to. Otherwise, the protagonist is hardly likely to be as famous, are they?

I wonder about these people

I wonder what they are/were like. I wonder what they think, now that they’ve achieved the impossible. I wonder if they still strive. I think about what’s left for them. Most of all, I wonder what made them think they could do it.

I have a theory that they probably didn’t really think about it like that. Only in movies does the hero say: “everybody else thinks it’s impossible, but I know I can do it.” In real life, people just chip away at things and, sometimes, take a running leap and risk it. I wonder if those people just keep taking those leaps.

Taking a leap

13 months ago, I quit my job. I emailed everybody I knew in Sydney and said, “Help! Find me a job, please”, and I quit. I had a mortgage, a sizeable car loan and a crazy passion for my girlfriend who lived too far away.

My boss tried to offer me work in the Sydney office, but we both knew that didn’t fit their plans for the business. So I was jumping without a net.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to suggest I’ve done anything monumental (on anything but a personal scale), but yesterday was the anniversary of my move to Sydney. One year and one day ago, we were heading north from Melbourne in a car crammed with everything that I hadn’t packed before the removalists got there.

That move was the best thing I have ever done for myself.

12 months of growth

Since that time, I’ve made so many great new friends in Sydney. I’ve met so many brilliant and talented people in our industry. With one of them, the outrageously multi-skilled Anson Parker, I started Webjam.

Then there’s the friendly supportive and amazing community that finally settled on the name of Rails Oceania. These guys and gals (yes, there are female Rails hackers in Sydney) have been an inspiration. Some I already knew, like Tim Lucas and Lindsay Evans. Others, like Jason Crane, Lachie Cox, Max Muermann and Ben Askins have been an absolute revelation to meet. All have taught me so much.

I’m lucky enough to work in the best creative team in Australian media at News Digital Media. If you doubt me, just watch what we pull out in the next few months.

Let’s not forget Web Standards Group, who’ve been a staple of my professional life since my first meeting in June 2004. Wow, that feels like a long time ago! Or the local startup scene, as ably led by the Tangler crew. Or all the incredible peeps I met at SXSW this year, or Web Directions last year.

Through it all, I’ve been surrounded by a crazy cool group of friends, every one whom is an inspiration almost daily. I can’t go through them all. I’m already starting to feel this post is dropping into self-indulgent waffle, so I’ll name only two more peeople. The first is Andrew Krespanis who gave me this website and the appropriate (and necessary) kick-in-the-arse to start writing. The second is Lisa Herrod.

She’s been an inspiration from day one. She’s the reason I came to Sydney and she’s the one who gave me the courage to take the plunge. She’s always supported me and encouraged me. She drives me to achieve. To push myself and those around me. If I’ve done anything worth doing in the last 12 months, it is because of her.

Jump!

What I haven’t listed here are the bad times. No mention of the failures or the moments of crushing despair. None of the negative people I met who brought me down. Those are all irrelevant to the point. We all have those, no matter what we do.

No matter where you do or what you do, you’re going to have bad times. You’re going to face pain and heartbreak. So don’t worry about it. No point stressing over things you can’t change

Surround yourself with love and support, then risk all. Push yourself. Stare into that abyss in front of you, then look past it and take that leap. Again and again.