Working It at the PCF
So as I mentioned briefly in my last post, I started work at the Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF) this month, mostly to work on Miro. Anyone who knows me probably can guess that a job working on free and open source software, especially related to media, and in Python, is a huge dream come true.
I had mentioned that I was to give a talk at ChiPy about Miro. And talk I did... there's even a recording of my talk available to watch. (The angle's a bit weird to look at, and you're mostly looking at my emacs buffer, but the talk itself is interesting, I think.)
However, that talk is mostly directed at a programming audience, and since this blog is read by some non-programming friends and family, I figured I should write up some explanation of why I'm so hyped about working here.
So first of all, Miro itself is awesome. It's a free and open source internet television player. There's tons of content for it... tons of content... all available on the Miro Guide. (The Miro Guide is itself a really cool project. And yes, it's programmed in Django.)
Part of why Miro matters so much is that it's built on open standards. There are some other internet video players out there, but they often rely on proprietary schemas. I like to think that Miro is kind of like the Firefox of internet TV.
It's also really enjoyable to use. You know, there's that thing.
So for about three months primary to joining the PCF fulltime, I was a volunteer to Miro's codebase. It's been great, partly because I've been able to hit the ground running, but also because during that time I came to really enjoy working on Miro's codebase. Which is part of what makes being hired on to work at the Participatory Culture Foundation so cool... I already knew I enjoyed working on Miro. And now I get to work on it fulltime. Not to mention that all of the people at the PCF are super nice, super fun to work with, super smart, and super productive (giving me a good challenge to try and keep up...).
There's also the fact that the Participatory Culture Foundation has a very clear and noble mission. Aside from just working on technology to consume media, the PCF is interested in helping to inform people on how to make internet television, as well as educating people about issues related to Open Video (something the PCF takes seriously). So overall, this is a very morally fulfilling organization to work for, and they've got other cool things in the works. So, what can I say? I'm super happy to be where I am now.
By the way, I'm now syndicated on Planet Miro. Hello, Planet Miro! I guess Will already beat me to introducing me to the Planet Miro scene, or whatever :).
