therozblog.com - Roz Allen’s own tidy little space on the interweb.

Hey gang!

So I’m very excited that one of my first interviews in my role as “Online Content Producer” at MaRS is with Wordpress founding developer Matt Mullenweg. He’s appearing at WordCamp 2008 in Toronto, and I’ll be showing up, Sony Z7U and microphone in hand.

But I’m a bit nervous about the line of questioning, seeings as I’m not an open source software developer.

I’m lucky that through my position I’m able to liase with brilliant minds like Paul Jara from 43n79w.com .. and he’s given me this preliminary list of questions to ask Matt. But thought I’d ask you - the WordPress community as well.

Any questions you’d like me to ask Mr. Mullenweg?? Let’s crowdsource.

Here’s the line of questioning so far:

1. The project was criticized by a number of security experts and even a member of PHP’s core team. They argued that the code was difficult to maintain and extend without introducing new security bugs. Do you think that was a fair assessment and if so, what measures have been taken to address these concerns?

2.  Every successful open source project tends to have a figurehead, a face that is synonymous with the project. Speaking as a developer, what is it like being that figurehead? Do you sometimes wish you did not have to attend all of the PR events and could just code more on the project?

3. The ability to blog on-the-go is now within the reach of anyone with a smart phone. How do you see increasingly cheaper and more powerful smart phones changing the way people use WordPress and what they demand of it?

4. More people are beginning to use WordPress as a content management system instead of simply as a blogging tool. How do you introduce more features into WordPress, so that it becomes more of a CMS, without losing focus on its core strengths?

5. It is one thing to lead an open source project and collaborate with people from all over the world. But what is it like to lead Automattic, the company you started, where your workers are located all around the world? There would appear to be all sorts of legal, collaborative, and logistical difficulties in operating a company this way.

Pretty comprehensive, I know. And my time will be short, to be sure. But just thought I’d put it out there. Any fun, little known tidbits you’d like to me to pose? Love to hear your feedback!

Cheers,

Roz

Hey everybody it’s Lori the Intern here and I’m super excited to post my first story on therozblog.

I asked Roz if I could intern with her this year because I have always had a passion for online writing. Since I was a kid I’ve always kept a diary, then the internet came about and I brought my love for writing into that. Advanced Social Journalism was also my favorite class and one of the only we had this year where I felt I could really be creative - interning with Roz just felt like a good fit!

My first task was to cover the panel that was arranged for our last class. Leave it up to Roz to set up a panel of guest speakers who are as forthcoming regarding the changing world of media as she is! And what a great opportunity it was, being introduced to some big names in the online world. Dale Mugford of matthewgood.org, Billy Reid of Very Tasteful and Tessa Sproule of the CBC. Each of our guests certainly brought a different aspect to the table regarding blogging and the future of online journalism. It was refreshing to see just how passionate each of them were for their work.

Dale Mugford- off the top, is an interesting character due to his connection to Canadian icon Matthew Good. His focus was around blogging and his involvement in the web design of Matthew Good’s own political website. His thoughts and feelings towards the past, present and future of online journalism were exciting to listen to. It is evident that writing online is a trend that is continually picking up - this is our future.

On to the man who “likes songs about things, drawings about things, and videos that usually combine both of those things”. Billy Reid’s comedic laid back personality beamed throughout his presentation. What a down to earth guy - and what a great opportunity it was to listen to him speak. Hearing about his very tasteful website was great because we have watched a few of his videos in our classes. It was uplifting to hear how he got started, how self-taught he is, and how successful he is now.

Last but not least was a woman by the name of Tessa Sproule. This completed our class with a more professional look at the online world. Tessa expanded on how she got to where she is today as the executive in charge of digital programming for entertainment at the CBC - perfect to hear, especially at this time of the year when we are all thinking about graduating and what we’re going to do with our lives.

Its obvious where our news consumption methods are heading and this is where it is at. For three people who are on very different paths in life - their views are very much the same in this area. Which was great to hear because I had a terrifying suspicion that this whole online, blogging thing was just for nerds - phew what a relief!