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About the author

A picture named daveTiny.jpgDave Winer, 56, is a visiting scholar at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and editor of the Scripting News weblog. He pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in New York City.

"The protoblogger." - NY Times.

"The father of modern-day content distribution." - PC World.

"Dave was in a hurry. He had big ideas." -- Harvard.

"Dave Winer is one of the most important figures in the evolution of online media." -- Nieman Journalism Lab.

10 inventors of Internet technologies you may not have heard of. -- Royal Pingdom.

One of BusinessWeek's 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

"Helped popularize blogging, podcasting and RSS." - Time.

"The father of blogging and RSS." - BBC.

"RSS was born in 1997 out of the confluence of Dave Winer's 'Really Simple Syndication' technology, used to push out blog updates, and Netscape's 'Rich Site Summary', which allowed users to create custom Netscape home pages with regularly updated data flows." - Tim O'Reilly.

8/2/11: Who I Am.

Contact me

scriptingnews1mail at gmail dot com.

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Recent links

My 40 most-recent links, ranked by number of clicks.

My bike

People are always asking about my bike.

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Here's a picture.

Calendar

June 2010
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May   Jul

Warning!

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FYI: You're soaking in it. :-)


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Dave Winer's weblog, started in April 1997, bootstrapped the blogging revolution.

When you think you know it all Permalink.

A picture named sneakers.jpgWhen I said I'm "nearing the end of a top-to-bottom rewrite of the software behind Scripting News," what I really meant is that I'm "just beginning a top-to-bottom rewrite..."

I've been doing this a long time, but software projects still kick my ass, even when I'm doing it for the umpteenth time, there's a point where it feels like you're "almost done" when you're still just beginning. Everyone gets bit by it. The secret is to not make any great pronouncements until the system is in use by people who are the intended users. The first results achieved by the developer are always a mirage.

And even when actual users use it, it still sucks. I learned that again today as I tried to teach my Mom how to use her new iPhone. I was trying to show her how to turn a number in her Recent Calls list into a Contact. There was no button for that! Oy. I futzed around a bit, got there another way and there's the button. Yup even the best, most user-tested software, hailed as so easy your Mom could use it, is impossibly difficult even for an Old Hand like Yours Truly. <img src=">

Con Edison used to have these great signs they'd put all around construction sites. They said "Dig We Must!" From that I came up with a programming slogan -- Still diggin. The way you'll know I've passed on to my final reward is that I'm no longer diggin. <img src=">



© Copyright 1997-2011 Dave Winer. Last build: 12/12/2011; 1:43:27 PM. "It's even worse than it appears."

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