Assessment item 1 Building an online community

Building an online community
I have chosen Adam Curry and Ward Cunningham to compare and contrast. These two leaders in the development of online communities have provided the basis of now commonly used wiki sites and podcasts.
Adam ‘Podcast” Curry- was born in1964 and is known for his time as a presenter on MTV (music video channel). During 1987-1994 he was also known for his promotion and development of Podcasting. A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically. They are then identified by a podcatcher that downloads the files when released and stores them on the users computer ready as required.
Ward ‘wiki’ Cunningham- was born in 1949 and is the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, a very simple active online database. A wiki allows for the creation and editing of content determined by the user community, allowing for continual creation and collaboration that constantly changes the site.
Curry’s activities over the last ten years are:
 2004 first to create a successful podcast show- Daily Source Code,
 2005 founded the video sharing site called Mevio, (formerly PodShow), a podcast promotions and advertising company that offers advertisers “brand safe” content on a large scale,
 2005-2007 Adam Curry’s PodShow, featuring his interpretation of “The Best of Podcasting”
 2006 in Second Life, Daily Source Code was promoted and ‘PodShow Island’ was introduced however it was shut down in 2008
 2008 Mevio claiming to have reached 9 million visitors
 Light bulb moments:-
 Curry was one of the first celebrities to create and administer a Web site.
 In 1993 he was experimenting with the Net and registered the domain name MTV.com.
 First to create a successful podcast show- Daily Source Code.

Cunningham’s activities over last ten years are:
 2003 -2005, worked for Microsoft Corporation in the "patterns & practices" group.
 2005 - 2007, the Director of Committer Community Development at the Eclipse Foundation.
 2007 joined AboutUs as its chief technology officer.
 Light bulb moments, a pioneer in both:-
 a design pattern is a general reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem in software design
 Extreme Programming is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements, it advocates frequent "releases" in short development cycles
Both Curry and Cunningham are good change managers as the developments that they have made have helped many people. Some schools and universities use wikis to enhance group learning and podcasts are being utilized in education as well.
Notable differences between Curry and Cunningham include their background, age and development. Curry was a presenter on a major music program who developed an interest in developing ‘podcasts’. This is a tool for which he could use as an alternative media form to television, thus continuing his career. Cunningham has come from an educated background with a Bachelor degree in interdisciplinary engineering (electrical engineering and computer science) and a master's degree in computer science, contrasting significantly to Curry. There is fifteen years age difference between the two and wiki’s are a different tool for online communities to podcasts.


Wikepedia, (n.d), Ward Cunningham, retrieved 4th September, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham

Wikepedia, (n.d), Wiki, retrieved 4th September, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

Wikepedia, (n.d), Adam Curry, retrieved 4th September, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Curry

Wikepedia, (n.d), Podcast, retrieved 4th September, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast