There is a lot happening for Maemo during the next six months. If you’d like to participate, please join the conversation on the maemo-community mailing list!

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There is a lot happening for Maemo during the next six months. If you’d like to participate, please join the conversation on the maemo-community mailing list!

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As an long-time open source advocate, I am very passionate about the state of open and free software (er…culture?) development and being a part of making open source more of a reality in mainstream computing…and life. This being said, I tend to obsess over the few communities that I’m still a part of (admittedly, this list is much shorter than it has been in years past). So, while being a member of the Council has been an amazing experience, it has also eaten up a lot of time and energy.

But, wouldn’t you know it? In the midst of my pondering and soul searching over the possibilities of the next Council election, one of the maemo.org staff and friend, Dave Neary, asked me if I’d allow him to nominate me… I was more than flattered; needless to say, I felt honored.

Likewise, while I began to see others’ nominations roll in on the maemo-community mailing list, I felt myself getting very excited — not excited over the aspect of actually being a Council member, but excited about just being a community member. It is amazing that so many people will offer their time and energy (the same time and energy that I give) free of charge, just from a sense of improving something that we believe in.

So, because of my love for the Maemo community — a little about what it is for, but mostly for those who fill its ranks — I accepted Dave’s nomination and here I am… Back in the mix.

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As an long-time open source advocate, I am very passionate about the state of open and free software (er…culture?) development and being a part of making open source more of a reality in mainstream computing…and life. This being said, I tend to obsess over the few communities that I’m still a part of (admittedly, this list is much shorter than it has been in years past). So, while being a member of the Council has been an amazing experience, it has also eaten up a lot of time and energy.

But, wouldn’t you know it? In the midst of my pondering and soul searching over the possibilities of the next Council election, one of the maemo.org staff and friend, Dave Neary, asked me if I’d allow him to nominate me… I was more than flattered; needless to say, I felt honored.

Likewise, while I began to see others’ nominations roll in on the maemo-community mailing list, I felt myself getting very excited — not excited over the aspect of actually being a Council member, but excited about just being a community member. It is amazing that so many people will offer their time and energy (the same time and energy that I give) free of charge, just from a sense of improving something that we believe in.

So, because of my love for the Maemo community — a little about what it is for, but mostly for those who fill its ranks — I accepted Dave’s nomination and here I am… Back in the mix.

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As an long-time open source advocate, I am very passionate about the state of open and free software (er…culture?) development and being a part of making open source more of a reality in mainstream computing…and life. This being said, I tend to obsess over the few communities that I’m still a part of (admittedly, this list is much shorter than it has been in years past). So, while being a member of the Council has been an amazing experience, it has also eaten up a lot of time and energy.

But, wouldn’t you know it? In the midst of my pondering and soul searching over the possibilities of the next Council election, one of the maemo.org staff and friend, Dave Neary, asked me if I’d allow him to nominate me… I was more than flattered; needless to say, I felt honored.

Likewise, while I began to see others’ nominations roll in on the maemo-community mailing list, I felt myself getting very excited — not excited over the aspect of actually being a Council member, but excited about just being a community member. It is amazing that so many people will offer their time and energy (the same time and energy that I give) free of charge, just from a sense of improving something that we believe in.

So, because of my love for the Maemo community — a little about what it is for, but mostly for those who fill its ranks — I accepted Dave’s nomination and here I am… Back in the mix.

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Check it out:

Tim Samoff – Portfolio Reel from Tim Samoff on Vimeo.

And, again for the Maemo peeps, thank you for entertaining my slithy cross-marketing spam. Bury me or not. I will still love you.

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Check it out:

Tim Samoff – Portfolio Reel from Tim Samoff on Vimeo.

And, again for the Maemo peeps, thank you for entertaining my slithy cross-marketing spam. Bury me or not. I will still love you.

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(Also, I understand that this is not Maemo-specific, but I wanted to inform the community that I’m available — thanks for understanding.)

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(Also, I understand that this is not Maemo-specific, but I wanted to inform the community that I’m available — thanks for understanding.)

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While at c-base, in Berlin, a few video testimonials were shot of some fellow Maemo community members and I. The idea was that the community may be able to share a perspective on what Maemo is that would be useful to Nokia corporate.

Here’s one of the videos (of me):

Special thanks to Jim Cognito for shooting and assembling the videos!

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While at c-base, in Berlin, a few video testimonials were shot of some fellow Maemo community members and I. The idea was that the community may be able to share a perspective on what Maemo is that would be useful to Nokia corporate.

Here’s one of the videos (of me):

Special thanks to Jim Cognito for shooting and assembling the videos!

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That’s what last week felt like. Maemo Summit 2008 (the first ever Maemo-oriented conference; sponsored by Nokia), hosted at c-base for two full days of lecture, dialog, catching up, and partying, converged on East Berlin, September 19 – 20. Along with official Nokia product and feature announcements, the mostly community-driven colloquium was more of a homecoming than a typical seminar or learning experience. While the information exchanged was exciting, inspiring, and vast — even to the amazement of some Nokia employees — the general sense of community far outweighed any other aspect of the conference.

But what is it that makes such a ragtag group of gadget enthusiasts strive so hard to develop and support community? Is it because everyone is so much alike? Possibly. Is it because each of us has similar interests? Maybe. Has technology finally come to a place in our culture where it can create and sustain community on its own? Hardly.

Interestingly, the question of how the Maemo community exists and thrives was probably one of the most often asked questions of the week (not only at the Maemo Summit, but at the preceding conference, OSiM World). Although, the question is not a new one. While few of the Maemo community may know it, I am part of another open source, but completely un-software-related community called Emergent Village. Honestly, this question has been asked by us and about us for more than a decade.

While there are many different layers to the success of the Maemo community (a little more about this later), a single word can define why a community such as this works: generative. The Oxford dictionary simply defines generative as, “relating to or capable of production or reproduction.” More specifically, according to Edmund Husserl, a renowned 19^th & 20^th century German phenomenologist, a generative community can frequently be seen in a people who generate diachronic communication based on commonality and temporal exclusively, regardless of an individual’s present locale. Moreover, generative community begins (and is sustained) when a people can objectively ascertain and develop a way of life in which each individual agrees to adhere — in most cases, manifested in a linguistic unification between each person within the community¹.

Of course, that’s just a complex way to say that the Maemo community was formed by a common language (the open source Maemo software platform) common interests (using, improving, and developing applications within the platform), and (kudos to Nokia) good timing. Unhindered by age, ethnicity, gender, or location, the contemporary condition of the World Wide Web, open source software, and mobile computing fostered a catalyst for a brewing economy that was just waiting to be born. Prompted by the corporate sponsorship of nothing less than a social experiment, a people burgeoned from a few die-hard gadget hobbyists into a cabal of more than 12,000² passionate zealots, all willing to defend the Nokia Internet Tablet against any competing threat, but more importantly, willing to spend their hard-earned cash on the latest additions to the tablet répertoire.

When left alone, most formulas — even if potent — don’t do much unless they are combined to make a solution. In the case of the Maemo community, the role of meddling alchemist can easy be attributed to the employees of the Maemo team at Nokia. You see, this experiment was never meant to be hands-off, and those who were committed did everything that they could to stay in the mix. From actively moderating the various bug reporting processes to adding lively and intelligent dialog to the discussion forums and mailing lists, the Maemo team proactively became a part of the community themselves. While it could be argued as to what might become of the Maemo community apart from the Nokia Maemo team, the fact remains that a symbiosis has been created between unofficial community participation and official corporate sponsorship³. The Nokia Maemo team has become so interwoven into the overarching personality of the community that the impact of their absence would most likely be felt much more deeply than could be predicted.

Nothing other than the recent Maemo Summit could exemplify just how much of an impact Nokia still has on the Maemo community. Not only were they able to bring almost three hundred people together from every part of the world, but they created an environment where friendships were made, projects were inspired, and enthusiasm for their product was inspired. It is impossible to know for sure just how much tablet-oriented evangelism was generated during the two-days of the summit, but it was live-blogged (both in the micro sense and in long-form) by several people from morning to evening on both days. Likewise, just days after the conference there have already been over four hundred photographs published to the “Maemo Summit 2008“ group on Flickr.com. Regardless, it seems that Nokia corporate may be catching on to the importance of the community and realizing how a community like this might benefit their bottom line⁴.

Therefore, it seems, that the Maemo community is generative on many different levels: in and among the community itself (whether it be via application development or innumerable friendships); for the Nokia Maemo team (as an important resource for user experience testing as well as core application development); and for Nokia Corporation itself (referring to over 12,000 happy — and passionate — customers). It is because of this generative existence that the community thrives (and survives). It is this sense of a greater purpose that I was drawn to take part in the community — not just remain a bystander. It is because of the overwhelming support that the Nokia Maemo team offers to the community as a whole that such a variety of potentially volatile interaction succeeds. Further, as those of you who are a part of the Maemo community may know, it is why I am so proud to have been recently elected to the inaugural Maemo Community Council.

However, can community like this be duplicated? In today’s age of technology-aided communication, the answer to this question may be, “yes.” Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who try and fail at creating a vibrant, sustainable community. While this might be due to something that was failed from the start (e.g., the product, the idea, the timing, etc.), it is most likely due to the fact that the impetus behind the community was to build-and-run and to not engage with that which was begun (i.e., with an exceedingly deist approach to creation). Even if the linguistic and temporal tides are right, it is the extremely consequential factor of ongoing involvement that must exist for a community to endure and remain generative for all of the parties involved.

—

¹ John Barnett Brough and L. Embree (2000). The Many Faces of Time (Contributions to Phenomenology Volume 41). Springer.

² Maemo. Intro. The Home of the Maemo Community. Maemo.org < http://maemo.org/intro/ >.

³ Chris Ziegler. Mass exodus from Nokia’s Maemo group — what does it mean? 25 March 2008. EngagetMobile < http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/25/mass-exodus-from-nokias-maemo-group-what-does-it-mean/ >.

⁴ Roger Sperberg. About Nokia. Takeaway from the Maemo Summit. 22 September 2008. InternetTabletTalk < http://www.internettablettalk.com/2008/09/22/takeaway-from-the-maemo-summit/ >.

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From Kansas City to Berlin, music (Canola and MediaBox), movies (Canola and MPlayer), games (too many to list) — and a lot more — even kept up with the slightly oldeg than middle-aged German woman sitting across the aisle from me, never seeming to tire of listening to music piped through the airline-supplied headphones, clapping and undulating her way across the Atlantic. (I can only imagine what she would do with an Internet Tablet in her hand.)

Even after being a tablet owner for a couple of years now, it still amazes me how fun, usable, and powerful these little gadgets are. As I looked around at my fellow travelers, I spotted several iPods, one or two qiPhones, and countless other cell- and smartphones (e.g., a plethora of PDAs). Of course, other than the iPods, most of the devices were shut off early into the trip. I’ll have to admit that quite a bit of pride comes with being a tablet user; not just because they’re still pretty unique.

Before my wonderful black 60GB iPod was stolen (with my car), I would have never thought of owning another kind of portable media device. To be honest, I use and love Macs — and even [tt:iTunes:apple.com/itunes] — and I’ll probably own an iPod again one day. My wife is a die-hard iPod user herself and only just recently found her trusty, pink, second-generation iPod broken and in need of replacement. (What can I say? They are slick little PMPs.)

But, when my stolen car was recovered, sans iPod, I was faced with a question: where was my money going to go? I thought about it and researched it for quite some time — close to the duration between the release of 770 and the N800. In fact, I was very close to buying another non-Apple PMP. Although, when I finally began to understand exactly what Nokia was trying to accomplish, as well as the N800’s feature-set, the choice was easy.

Now, a little under two years later, I’m in Germany of all places, currently attending OSiM World community. I’ll soon be presenting at the first Maemo Summit. I’m a newly elected member of the inaugural Maemo Community Council.

It really is an incredible story. Thanks to this little device in my hand (yes, I’ve written all of this on my handy tablet), I’ve made friends, I’ve gotten to participate in something that I dearly believe in, and now I’m in Berlin and I still have enough battery-power to talk about it.

The Maemo Summit is upon us!

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A few people have already begun their trips. I wish them all safe travels!

Just a few more preparations and then a horrendously long flight to Germany…

See you all there!

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Thanks to all of those who voted for me. I promise to always strive to communicate our community’s best interests to the Nokia Maemo team.

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