I’m not a big believer in karma, but this week I experienced some karma-like effects. Two years ago for work, I developed code to protect wiki websites. Then I published it on my blog.
This weekend a software upgrade caused this protection code to stop working on our websites. I couldn’t find an answer. Then yesterday, some chap named Nathan left a comment describing the solution. I hadn’t asked for help. He was simply documenting his own experience. But it was just what I needed.
This is fundamental to open source software — the creation of a software commons. It’s also what happens on Wikipedia, the creation of a knowledge commons.
In Love Is the Killer App, Tim Sanders suggests freely sharing your knowledge and your network, not hoarding them.
Jon Udell talks of “narrating” one’s work from day to day. This allows everyone to share in your vast brain knowledge, and it becomes your living résumé. I’d like to do more of that.
