Topic: The Internet and the World Wide Web
Joel and Jeff discuss the Mythical Man Month problem, keeping communication in check, Windows 7, and web scaling.
"Code against the eBay and PayPal APIs; make money," is Mark Carges' message to developers. About eight years ago eBay realized that there was a huge business potential in providing an economic opportunity for developers to leverage their API. Today, there are 85,000 developers that code against the eBay developer API and make money; some of them make lots of it. Last year alone, the sellers on eBay sold $60 billion worth of goods worldwide, and developers who provided real value to these sellers made a cut.
User research analyzes human behavior to expose the goals and motivations of people. But is the purpose of these insights really just a report to hand off to a design or engineering team? Kate Rutter says, "No!" She uses the analog favorites, pen and paper, as hands-on, visual tools to bring other stakeholders into the analysis process.
User research often catalogs findings and implications, but stops short of generating specific design improvements. Designers increasingly involved with contextual research may find themselves holding onto a trove of raw data but with little awareness of how to turn it into design. Steve Portigal introduces a framework for synthesizing raw data into a fresh, contextual understanding of a customer's unmet needs.
Technologies such as mobile phones and computers are increasingly becoming tools for philanthropic giving. In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation audio lecture, former Community Foundation of Silicon Valley president Peter Hero discusses how global changes in philanthropy are providing opportunities in the online giving space. He considers how online giving can be made more robust, and how trends in this arena may allow for the strengthening of civic engagement around the world.
In this talk from the O'Reilly Velocity Conference, Harald Prokop of Akamai describes the design principles and architecture of the Akamai network and how it enables the Internet to deliver large libraries of HD content and accelerates dynamic transactions.
Moira speaks with Stanford Law professor Larry Lessig about trying to make our old laws work with the new technology of the Internet.
Moira speaks with Phil Zimmermann, the creator of PGP, Pretty Good Privacy, the most-widely used email encryption software in the world. In his latest effort, the Zfone Project, Phil enables any two individuals to carry our a secure telephone call over the Internet.
Joel and Jeff discuss software updates, the power of APIs and plugins, and leading by example.
A pluralistic society boasts many independent centers of power and foundations have an instrumental role in supporting such diversity. Online giving marketplaces are further democratizing philanthropy by empowering donors to support the causes they care about. In this panel discussion, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, experts in the field consider whether such online spaces are simply useful adjuncts to the work of philanthropy--or whether they promise to revolutionize the sector altogether.