Compare and Contrast the works of Ward Cunningham and Adam Curry

Online communities which can be defined as (Online Communities) (n.d) as “a group of people that primarily interact via communication media such as the Internet, rather than face to face for social, professional, educational or other purposes.” This is fast becoming a way of life for many people. An online community can be in the form of a social networking site (such as Facebook) blogs or wikis. This paper will explore the works of Ward Cunningham who designed the first Wiki and Adam Curry who pioneered podcasting.

As previously mentioned Ward Cunningham was responsible for developing the first wiki and hypercard. Techterms (n.d) define a wiki as “a website that allows users to add and update content on the site using their own web browser. This is made possible by Wiki software that runs on the web server. Wikis end up being created mainly by a collaborative effort of the site visitors.” As pointed out by wikipedia (n.d.) Ward Cunningham is a ‘pioneer in both design patterns and extreme programming, he started programming the WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on the website of his software consultancy”.

Ward Cunningham is noted for other achievements than developing the wiki. According to Open Source Bridge, (n.d). Cunningham is also noted as the “Chief technology officer of aboutus.org Ward, a growth company hosting the communities formed by organizations and their constituents. Ward co-founded the consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham, Inc., has served as a Director of the Eclipse Foundation, an Architect in Microsoft’s Patterns & Practices Group, the Director of R&D at Wyatt Software and as Principle Engineer in the Tektronix Computer Research Laboratory. Ward is well known for his contributions to the developing practice of object-oriented programming, the variation called Extreme Programming, and the communities supported by his WikiWikiWeb. Ward hosts the AgileManifesto.org. He is a founder of the Hillside Group and there created the Pattern Languages of Programs conferences which continue to be held all over the word.”

Another great contributor to the world of technology is Adam Curry. Adam Curry who according to Wikipedia (n.d) is often referred to as “the Podfather” not because he invented podcasts but according to Wired Magazine (n.d) “but by driving the digital consumption model into the mainstream with his program Daily Source Code” Podcasting is defined by Entrepreneur as “a pre-recorded audio program that’s posted to a website and is made available for people to download so people can listen to them on personal computers or mobile devices”.

Unlike Ward Cunningham who was the driving force behind the development of Wiki, Adam Curry did not actually develop podcasts. According to Wired Magazine (n.d) credit for actually inventing podcasts goes to David Winer. As pointed out by Wired Magazine (n.d.) “Software developer Winer helped create Really Simple Syndication (RSS) – a basic web feed simplifying the process of subscribing to websites and other online media. He used RSS to deliver his audio program, Morning Coffee Notes, just a day before Curry’s program debuted.

Again, unlike Ward Cunningham , Adam Curry enjoyed celebrity status according to Wired Magazine(n.d) as a former MTV video jockey which put him ahead in terms of popularity and Curry’s podcast proved “far more influential. Thus, in the podcast revolution, Curry played the role of pioneer for Winer’s invention” ms. Mobiles magazine (n.d) further concludes that even though Curry did not actually develop the podcast he “…was the first that had written a program that used RSS enclosures format, and who later on was propagating Podcasting with his own podcasts, websites and other means”.

Similarly, to Ward Cunningham, Adam Curry has made other contributions to the world of technology other than podcasting. According to Adam Curry (n.d) “Since the early 1990’s Curry has been involved in web technology and media, first as a founder of a design and hosting company, then as an executive with a marketing and communication agency and now as a high profile personality in the development of podcasting. The contributions made by both these men have had a profound effect on technology as it has enabled people from all walks of life and areas of the globe to be connected by these revolving communications.

REFERENCES
Adam Curry (n.d.) Retreived 8 September, 2009 from http://www.answers.com/topic/adam-curry-tv-personality-internet-celebrity

Ms.Mobiles Magazine (n.d) Biography Adam Curry Retrieved 9 September, 2009 from http://msmobiles.com/catalog/i.php/558.html

Online and Virtual Communities (n.d.) Retrieved 7 September, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community

Open Source Bridge (n.d.) Ward Cunningham. Retrieved 7 September, 2009 from
http://opensourcebridge.org/users/336

Technical Terms (n.d.) Retrieved 7 September, 2009 from http://www.techterms.com/definition/wiki

Wired Magazine (n.d.) Podfather: Adam Curry Launches Daily Source Code, Retrieved 9 September, 2009 from
http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/tag/adam-curry/