MashupCamp--a new kind of get-together

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Another thing that felt very different was some of the MashupCamp watchwords.

For example, one laid out the modus operandi of the sessions: "Whoever comes are the right people. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. Whenever it starts is the right time. When it's over, it's over."

Another was "the law of two feet," which stated: "If during the course of the gathering, any person finds themselves in a situation where they are neither learning nor contributing, they must use their two feet and go to some more productive place."

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For many, that more productive place was the "Monetization and business models" of mashups session. At least 65 swarmed into the room for approximately 90 minutes of talk about how to make money with the custom applications.

There ended up being no consensus, other than on how to define the various categories of mashup creators and identify which ones were likely to generate income in one way or another.

Among those deemed likely to be profitable were those creating APIs (application programming interfaces) that other mashup producers would want to buy; those giving their APIs away for free, but charging for premium services; those creating mashups that attract sponsors; and those mashups, like Rademacher's HousingMaps, that get their creators jobs at companies like Google.

Following that session, many of the participants moved onto another one, about venture capitalists.

Oddly, that session didn't revolve around what kinds of mashups were likely to get funding. In the end, it seemed that the purpose of the panel, led by three actual VCs, was to educate mashup creators about how the VC industry works and what they should expect if they ever tried to get funding for their projects.

Similarly, another session, led by Stanford Law School professor Larry Lessig, focused on the nonprofit public-license organization Creative Commons. Many expected the session would address the specifics of how mashup creators could go about using APIs from commercial companies like Yahoo or Microsoft. Instead, the discussion was an interesting, though much more general, seminar on the peculiarities of American copyright law.

Yet throughout the computer museum, happy techies abounded. The real point of the event, it turned out, was networking. Indeed, in every corner, two or three people were huddled over laptops, showing off or viewing new mashups, talking about projects and geneerally geeking out.

This whole event was organized in two months, and it came off Monday--with another day of sessions, demonstrations and networking to go Tuesday--with no visible hitches. Even the Wi-Fi worked.

Perhaps the reason behind MashupCamp's success lies in the exasperation most attendees feel these days with traditional conferences.

"The amazing thing about these camps, using open space methodology, is they shouldn't work," said Ross Mayfield, CEO of Socialtext, which makes social software for collaboration. "Like a wiki, it turns out that some very simple and open rules have shockingly positive results--because people, on the whole, are good. Open events like these have become almost commonplace in the Valley. In fact, I'd say they are a key driver for the current wave of innovation. One part wiki, one part space and two parts people, add water, and voila!"

[Len Bullard]

Until Money Happens

People in general are good. Until money happens. Again, the software industry is mimicing the music industry. Once there are real offers in terms of large dollars, baser instincts override the forebrain and seize the speech centers.

Don't believe it? While there are numerous examples, the most current is the RSS shootouts over who controls the evolution of the specification.

Helping others is a healthy activity, but until you know yourself well enough to know what you really want, knowing what you want for others is hard to do. We are far too gifed at hiding from ourselves what is so transparent to others. So one has to be determined and steely about this: be sure what you want for yourself because
unless you are, you will never be sure what you want for others.

In a technical list extolling the virtues of technologists or technologies, most will consider this philosophy, but it is the best business advice I can give.

[ChrisHeuer]

Until egos happen...

The real problem, as we were discussing at the SuperNova Pre Pre Party last week, is the ability of people to get along with one another and collaborate effectively. This is the ultimate aspect of creating value in the knowledge economy. It is why startup teams are usually a bunch of engineers who used to work together, and why they seldom bring in the other team members who understand real people and the needs of real people. Or, as Robert Scoble calls them, the 'contextualizers'.

Even within the engineering tribe, and particularly among the standards groups, I see a wave of egomania preventing us from achieveing true progress. It has to be this way or that, with most people never bothering to resolve their different perspecctives to get at what works best. Don't get me wrong here, the competition of ideas is still good, but how many brands do we need touing slight variants on the same functionality, with few brave enough to tackle the real solutions that are needed?

So yes, when money gets involved, things start to change - but ego is already involved and that has changed things quite a bit already.

[Len Bullard]

True Statement

True statement, Chris, and the same for bands. Put enough talent in a band and you get the same ego issues. Put well-recognized talent in the band and it happens faster. Money is a little different. It isn't just an accelerant; it acts like LSD in the punch. The behaviors become bizarre fast because with the talent and the recognition come the insecurities, a squirmy form of fear, and as Herbert wrote, "Fear is the mindkiller."

The web generation also suffers the backwash of being Reagan's Kids: greed is good; we are the chosen ones, and the whole rotting mess of self-absorbtion.

Did ya really think Mosaic was a 'good' browser or just a 'free browser'? Did ya really think that any of its predecessors were just 'experiments leading to the main event'? That is the next problem: no true history, just myths and self-promoted legends, therefore, no learning curve and experience to discipline the members.

What you will see is that as more of these folks experience the dry mouth of failure, some will begin to examine their own motives for actions and learn how to handle success and failure. These people will go on to found great companies and do good things for others with technology. So an old lesson from Hindu philosophy: know your reason for giving a gift because if you don't, it fast becomes rotten as dead flesh.

It isn't news; it is good advice.

[itispals]

Informal yet useful

It is definitely a good move. The results would probably start showing once some of the Mashed up Products evolve and take the market by storm.
In the article i read that there was an idea to mash up dating site with astrology site information, but already in India i feel some of the matrimonial sites offer this kind of service. I would be glad if these kind of Camps are held in different parts of the globe. I would also be glad to organize it in India.
Mashup Camp - Where Master Minds Meet....