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Jesse Stay
obfuscated, Uncle_Jesse
Stay N' Alive » OSS

» Facebook Announces F8 In the Middle of OSCON, Coincidence?

Just yesterday, Facebook announced their second F8 conference, to occur July 23, 2008. This Developer-targeted event is said to possibly include some major announcements, including the new Profile redesign, more information about the fbOpen platform, and most significantly, possibly the launch of their E-Commerce platform. What hasn’t been announced or shared however is the odd timing of the event.

The event occurs right smack dab in the middle of O’Reilly’s Open Source Convention, scheduled to occur for about the past year now from July 21 through July 25. This conference is known as an essential “Mecca” for Open Source developers around the globe, and has presentations from such players as Google, MySQL, Sun, Meebo, and even SixApart. Everyone who is a developer (unless you solely develop for Microsoft) or Sysadmin will be at this conference.

As a developer, this is tough news to hear that Facebook will make me choose between OSCON and them. Frankly, I would by default choose OSCON if I were any smart developer, as I would get more. So why isn’t Facebook just joining OSCON and doing an “F8″ track there? Do they really want to tick off Open Source developers? You better bet that OpenSocial will have a presence there. If Facebook really wanted to target the Open Source crowd, as they have “claimed” to do with their fbOpen Platform and a few other contributions back to the community, they would try to have a presence at this conference and not interrupt it as they are currently doing. I was actually going to go to OSCON to promote my FBML Essentials book to potential Facebook developers for O’Reilly. Now I’m forced with a decision. I’ve contacted Facebook with no response, and I’m getting a little frustrated as a Social Media developer. Which conference will you choose?

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by Jesse Stay at 10:20 PM under f8 , facebook , facebook open source , facebook platform , fbml essentials , google , opensocial , oreilly , oscon , oss , perl , social media (Comments)

Jesse Stay
obfuscated, Uncle_Jesse
Stay N' Alive » OSS

» The Book is Off to the Press, but Wait — There’s More!

I’m extremely happy and relieved to say that “I’m on Facebook — Now What???” is off to the press, and the eBook is now available for purchase on the HappyAbout.info site. It has been a long time coming, but we’re finished! “I’m on Facebook — Now What???” is now officially one of the first books of its type available for sale, anywhere. Jason and I are pretty proud of that, and hope you enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed writing it. If you’ve pre-ordered an eCopy, you have probably already received it, or will receive it in the next day. Purchase your copy here!

We love reviews! If you have a short review, we’ll post a link to Amazon.com for the book as soon as it is up, and you can post your reviews there. The more reviews we have there I am told increases our visibility on Amazon, so feel free to write one up, but save it for when I post it here. Also, you may start blogging about the book now! Our publisher has a terrific affiliate program, so if you’d like to make a little money off of your review in your blog, you can do so here. Also, don’t forget to add yourself as a fan to the Facebook Page, and subscribe to our blog at FacebookAdvice.com! Thanks again to Jason for his hard work and example in writing the book - he has been an excellent co-author to work with. Also, thanks to Lorenzen and Scoble for their great contributions to the Foreward and Afterward!

Wait, there’s more…

I’ve had so much fun writing this book, that I’ve decided to write another one. Today, I just signed a contract with O’Reilly to write what will be probably the first published manual on Facebook FBML. It will be a “small animals” book, which means it won’t quite be a full sized book, but it’s not quite a Pocket Reference either. It will most likely be called, “FBML Essentials”. So, if you’re a developer, anxious to develop Facebook applications, stay tuned! I will probably be putting together a separate site for that book too, similar to what we have done for facebookadvice.com. Please, feel free to share below your frustrations with Facebook development - I’d love to hear the most common complaints and perhaps resolve those in the book!

O’Reilly is also helping me get to Graphing Social Patterns West (no one has invited me to speak though, sorry - I am open for speaking engagements while I’m out there though!) March 3-4. If I get any other appointments I might leave earlier in the week, so feel free to book me for your user group meetings, radio, TV, podcasts, or whatever while I’m out in the L.A./San Diego area (that is my home away from home, as my grandparents live there)!

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by Jesse Stay at 8:12 AM under book , current projects , facebook , facebook advice , facebook book , facebook development , fbml book , fbml books , fbml essentials , gspw , i'm on facebook -- now what??? , oreilly , oss , social media , social network optimization (sno) (Comments)

Richard K. Miller
no nic
Richard K Miller

» How to motivate workers

Not everyone agrees on how to motivate workers. I’m still trying to decide which of these ideas sounds most correct:

Charles Coonradt, author of The Game of Work, gives five reasons why games are better than jobs:

1. Feedback is much more frequent in games, 2. there’s always a score to “reinforce the behavior you want repeated,” 3. consistent coaching, 4. goals are more clearly defined, and 5. more personal choice. (source)

For example, in a game of soccer, imagine how easy it is to know which goal is yours, who your teammates are, who your competitors are, how to get feedback from your coach, and how much time you have left to score.

See also “Make Life More Like Games” by Sarah Milstein.
In Managing the Nonprofit Organization, Peter Drucker says:

People need to know how they do–and volunteers more than anyone else. For if there is no paycheck, achievement is the sole reward. Once goals and standards are clearly established, appraisal becomes possible. …with clear goals and standards, the people who do the work appraise themselves.

In all human affairs there is a constant relationship between the performance and achievement of the leaders, the record setters, and the rest….If one member of an organization does a markedly better job, others challenge themselves.
However, Joel Spolsky, quoting a Harvard Business Review article, says Incentive Pay [Is] Considered Harmful:

… at least two dozen studies over the last three decades have conclusively shown that people who expect to receive a reward for completing a task or for doing that task successfully simply do not perform as well as those who expect no reward at all. [HBR Sept/Oct 93]

…any kind of workplace competition, any scheme of rewards and punishments, and even the old fashion trick of “catching people doing something right and rewarding them,” all do more harm than good. Giving somebody positive reinforcement (such as stupid company ceremonies where people get plaques) implies that they only did it for the lucite plaque; it implies that they are not independent enough to work unless they are going to get a cookie; and it’s insulting and demeaning.
A colleague of mine received the MVP Award from Microsoft. He said it’s peer selected, hard to get, and hard to keep. (You have to maintain annual certifications.) The award is given for past accomplishments, but he thinks it has the effect of motivating many people to do more.

Which one is it?

Do the same rules apply to volunteers at a nonprofit as employees at a company?

Thinking…

by Richard K Miller at 3:12 PM under business , charlescoonradt , gameofwork , joelspolsky , main , management , motivation , oreilly (Comments)

Phil Windley
pjw
Phil Windley's Technometria

» O'Reilly Calls for Participation

O'Reilly Media has several calls for participation that are due soon.

Now in its seventh year, the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference hones in on the ideas, projects, and technologies that the alpha geeks are thinking about, hacking on, and inventing right now. Do you have something that points the way to the future? O'Reilly Media invites technologists and strategists, CTOs and CIOs, technology evangelists and scouts, programmers and hackers, researchers and academics, artists and activists, business developers, and entrepreneurs to lead conference sessions and tutorials at ETech. The call for participation ends September 17, 2007.

The O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference celebrates what's different across the entire telecommunication industry, examining the edges of innovation to find the freshest ingredients for the telecom cooking pot. ETel welcomes plenary submissions for our audience of people who, like you, are pushing through the boundaries of communications into new ways of thinking and doing. Topics will be centered around the innovations and projects occurring at the intersection of voice, instant messaging, the mobile ecosystem, and the Web. The call for participation ends September 17, 2007.

The O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing (TOC) Conference explores how technology is influencing the future of publishing, sparking creativity and inspiring conversation for leading change in the industry. TOC considers what's at stake for the future of publishing for people who are passionate about books and book publishing -- if you are passionate about books and publishing, submit a proposal to speak at TOC 2008, the call for participation is open until October 1, 2007.

ETel and ETech will both happen in San Diego the week of March 3, 2008. TOC is in New York Feb 11-13, 2008. All three of these will be appearing on IT Conversations.

Tags: oreilly itconversations

8:03 PM under itconversations , oreilly

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