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I have no idea what I’m doing. I might be a software engineer, and I might have studied file systems and the ARPAnet and composition over inheritance, but I have no idea how to run a server or build a web application. I wrote a RSS feed reader for the class I am now TA-ing, but I have never subscribed to a news feed or been part of a social network site or owned a digital camera. I do not use flikr, bit torrent or itunes. I took apart my first and last portable music player in grade school because I thought the moving parts inside were cool. I use a non-graphical email client and text editor. Nonetheless, if I am behind in mastering the web’s social, pop cultural and technical underpinnings it will not be for long. I started reading /. to get into the right mindset (ps - I love their commenting system).

I know Marcos from an undergrad living community and neighboring research group at MIT’s CSAIL. I have seen his cool web projects. What is more, he is knowledgeable, chill and generous. We met today and he drew a diagram of how the server will work. He had told me to get a virtual server, and so armed we walked through adduser, sudo and apt-get. I used MIT Script’s one-click wiki setup to start a dev team mediawiki.

Clay talks about this project to everyone he meets, and now I am, too. Luke suggested we use cell phones instead of building our own hardware. Considering cuecats and Japanese burger wrappers that seems reasonable. Clay is persuading his tech-minded friends to help out. As I am soon to enter this programmer-for-a-living crowd I have to wonder:

• How many professionals have side-projects?
• How often are these side-projects open source, public good, or non-profit?
• How often are these projects not on the side but full- or part-time?
• What do programmers strive for?
• Why have I not been confronted with these ideas while in college?

Lots of people are willing to give feedback. After much brainstorming and feedbacking Clay settled on a name: HuginMunin at ThoughtAndMemory.org. The inspiration is Norse mythology.

This project seems so obvious, really. People either think it’s a good idea or think it’s so good that it will be exploited by a corrupt and entrenched economic system. Sometimes their eyes light up. I’ve never had this kind of reaction to a project of any kind before. To insure that trust and openness are at the core of our process we need to be very careful and inclusive. The technology seems to be there. It looks like we can access a database using only textmessages!

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