Open Source Blogging

Since reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (and reviewing it), the concept of what makes an individual exceptionally successful in a particular area has been heavy on my mind.

In the book, Gladwell mostly argues that exceptional success is the result mostly of factors outside of our control: demographics, genetics, and so on. However, he does point to a few tantalizing clues of things we can control for increasing our own chances at personal success.

Practicing constantly Gladwell estimates that, in order to become world class at something, … Continue Reading

About two years ago, I wrote a very popular piece for The Simple Dollar called 30 useful Pieces Of Free (and Open) Software for Windows. In it, I talked about how I had a new Dell laptop and that I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on additional software for it, so I went hunting. I sought out open source software so that I knew it would be not only free, but the code would be peer-reviewed and it wouldn’t have any bugs or malicious elements in it. And, eventually, I found thirty … Continue Reading

One of the open big name open source tech bloggers whose content appeared on this site contacted me recently. He was a bit ‘concerned’ that his content was appearing on another site. But then again, that’s the byproduct of his ‘Please Steal My Content’ invitation isn’t it.

It is interesting to see the difference being being an open source blogger and letting people steal or use your content and actually putting that into practice. I don’t blame him for getting attentive that his content was being used as he offered because reality is different that rhetoric.

In the end, this site … Continue Reading

I had the pleasure of interviewing David from the David in Japan blog about his recent uncopyright move to make his an open source blog.

Q1: David, some would call you foolish while others view your recent move to give away your blog content for others to use and bravery. Before deciding to offer an uncopyright on your work, what went through your head?

It wasn’t quite as difficult of a decision for me as you might think. I’ve never really been a fan of copyright, at least not the current model of it. When this country (USA) started copyright was … Continue Reading

Recently I wrote a post and mentioned fear and blogging in the same sentence. See Open Source Blogging - One Point of View.

That really made me think about how beneficial the concept of open source blogging really is. If you let go of the fear that someone may “borrow” your work and instead just concentrate on producing content, imagine the relief that you will feel.

It’s a bit like that old expression, “You don’t own your stuff, your stuff owns you.” A couple of years ago we moved from the United States to the UK and I think we got … Continue Reading

In my last post “Please Steal My Content” I talked about how I found myself on this journey of open source blogging, letting my creative writing and web content go.

I promised that in my next post, this one, I was going to talk about what I learned about being vigilant about trying to protect my online content and why I’m less fussed about it today.

Let’s talk about some experiences and realities for a moment:

The minute you publish your information and content on the web, it is fair game. Now maybe it shouldn’t be but that is just the … Continue Reading

“Please Steal My Content”

Not all that long ago several very well know bloggers, whose names I recognized, Joe Pulizzi, Trent Hamm, Leo Babauta, Robert Scoble, and Chris Pirillo, took a brave new step and publicly stated that people were welcome to steal and reuse their content with their blessing. Some call it crazy, but is it?

These guys aren’t newbies to the web and with hundreds of thousands of combined daily readers of their sites, these are not blogging novices.

My first introduction to the concept of open source blogging was the post on The … Continue Reading