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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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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

February 2011
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Jan   Mar

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.

Random Tuesday observations Permalink.

A picture named bass.jpgI've been working hard on software, which makes it harder to write long blog posts.

So here are a few thoughts.

When I watch people on TV in Egypt and Libya I think I'm finally seeing people as dedicated to freedom as the founders of the United States were 235 years ago. There's a lot of people who pay lip service to being patriots for their countries, but until you're willing to lay down your life for freedom, you can't know. I've never done that so I'm not saying I'm anyone to look up to. But the people in Egypt -- that's another story altogether.

Inside Job is coming out on DVD in early March. Get it and watch it and learn from it.

Almost nine years ago I quit smoking. If I can do that I can get myself off Twitter. I plan to do it.

Despite what some people say -- I did in fact develop the first blogging software. Wasn't copying anyone else. Original stuff.

Twitter and now Amazon are moving to protect their brands. I understand this, and I've been in their shoes, and have done the same. You put a lot into establishing a brand, a lot of time, money and persistence. When it comes to mean something is when other people try to take it. However it's always better to lay down the law earlier than later. It's much more fair.

I keep reading that this or that is dead. Like the web, blogging and RSS. They are all facets of the same thing, the open web. If it's dead then we're dead. Work hard to make it not so. And to people who push the idea, your deflection is showing.

And to people who say creativity is the province of youth, I'm fed up with that too. I'm now going through one of my most creative periods at age 55. I did all my work on blogging, podcasting and RSS in my 40s and 50s. All the Supreme Court justices are my age or older. Frank Gehry who is building the most astonishing apartment building in NY, a skyscraper, is 82. Great directors and film editors work as long as they want and keep doing better work and winning awards as they get older.

I do creative work. I did some things I'm very proud of in my 20s and 30s. That work laid a foundation for the work I'm doing today. But please, don't forget -- there's a big picture. And that's what young people don't really have understanding of. Bottom-line as with everything is respect. Listen to everybody, whether you want to hear from them or not. And maybe listen to the people you don't want to a little more. There's some fear there, and if you go through it you'll be richer, happier and more accomplished -- in the ways that really matter.



© Copyright 1997-2011 Dave Winer. Last build: 12/12/2011; 1:34:06 PM. "It's even worse than it appears."

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