the315

Last night, I attended the 2008 IP3 awards put on by Public Knowledge, a Washington DC based public interest group working to defend our rights in the emerging digital culture. I had a chance to meet two of the award recipients, Fred von Lohmann and Ben Scott.

Recently, I had let myself lose track of the movement for copyright balance and digital world legal movements in general. But it was great to find myself in a room full of the people that are acting on our behalf to protect our digital freedoms. I’d do a bad job at summing up the state of the digital rights movements - so, go check out Public Knowledge, Free Press and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. If you are at all a techie or supporter of technology, knowing what is happening on the legal front should be relatively important to you.

October 17th, 2008 | Category: copyright, DC local | Leave a comment

Yes, I am leaving my current job for a new one.

This Friday will be my last day at the US Government Printing Office as a Program Planner in the PMO and on Monday I start at Phase2 Technology as a Project Manager. As with any job move, I am appreciative of the valuable experience I gained at GPO while I am excited about my future endeavors with Phase2. Very excited.

A little bit about Phase2:

Phase2 Technology is a leading provider of open source web software solutions, application development and consulting services. The company specializes in content management systems, content exchange, fundraising and CRM, online community development and custom web application development.

October 1st, 2008 | Category: about me, project management | Comments (6)

Warsaw, Poland

Originally uploaded by liz315

Chopin monument in Warsaw, Poland.

September 24th, 2008 | Category: travel | Leave a comment

Wroclaw, Poland (and a Travel Summary)

Originally uploaded by liz315

Photo of town hall in Wroclaw, Poland.

Things are going well on my Europe trip. We first arrived in London and had a long day of sightseeing. See the earlier post with a great shot of Trafalgar Square and the London Peace Festival that we stumbled upon. We went to a town near Leicester for an afternoon - it was nice to get out to the English countryside.

Next was Vienna and it was very cold there! We toured old Vienna, which is as beautiful as they say it is. See the previous post with a photo of the Hofburg Haus. Then we are took a boat down the Danube River to Bratislava, Slovakia, for a day.

After all that we then went to Poland, first stop was Wroclaw. From Wroclaw we went to a few nearby smaller cities and Jesenik, in the Czech Republic.

Tomorrow we leave for Warsaw. And our last stop in Poland is Gdansk (from which we’ll go to two smaller cities). Then home.

More photos to come.

So, that makes five countries, and many cities, in two weeks. Vacations like this mean a lot of walking, packing and traveling - but more so, they result in my increased appreciation for some more areas of the world and styles of living. And of course, I am lucky to have such a wonderful travel partner, Piotr.

September 22nd, 2008 | Category: travel | Leave a comment

Hofburg Haus, Vienna

Originally uploaded by liz315

Today in Vienna.

September 16th, 2008 | Category: travel | Comments (1)

IMG00038.jpg

Originally uploaded by liz315
Now @ Trafalgar Square.

September 13th, 2008 | Category: travel | Leave a comment

This evening I was at the DC Concierge (www.dcconcierge.com) relaunch party and said that to Nicholas Tolson (@jtnt) - only after I looked at his business card and recognized that his domain was similar to his Twitter name.

And this had us wondering about how Twitter translates into real world networking effects. I am a fan of connecting to people in general. However, it is interesting that us geeks find more connections through Twitter than networks like LinkedIn or Facebook.

Perhaps there is something more acceptable about following a stranger than friending a stranger?!

My theory is communication vs. profile. There is less of a barrier in inviting someone to communicate with you. Whereas, inviting someone to view profiles with you seems more mutually voyeuristic.

Does anyone else have a similar feeling about these experiences?

September 11th, 2008 | Category: Twitter, DC tech scene | Leave a comment

So, today I started a Google Doc and shared it with some people. This may seem like a normal thing these days - but I realized that this is pretty significant. This particular document was about my family history and I shared it with some family members. I am trying to get as much of my family history as possible captured before it is lost. Conversations aren’t enough. I need to have my relatives review my notes and add their parts. This is an effort that I hope will result in a more complete story of my family. And it will be available to all of us.

I know storytelling is the old-fashioned way - but what do people do now? Are we still mainly relying on storytelling? If so, that seems a bit out-dated. Sure, telephones, email - they help facilitate communication. But shouldn’t we have a better technique by now?

I think social networking sites geared towards families are a great idea and I do hope that they catch on. However, my experience is that the family members that have the expiring information are probably the last ones who will use these sites. It seems to me that we still have at least one generation before those tools are usefully popular.

September 10th, 2008 | Category: about me, web | Comments (2)

With a great trip to Asia (the Philippines and Japan) completed, I am pretty excited about heading to Europe (UK, Austria and Poland). So, before I have more pictures, I thought I would post about a few of my Asia favorites. Who doesn’t love pictures and stories?

Tam-awan Village near Baguio, Philippines: Rainforest in the mountains. Amazing recreations of housing, as seen in the picture. Very informative guides and beautiful artwork. And you can stay there.

Pagsanjan Falls, Philippines: Think Apocalypse Now. The side cliffs on the way to the falls were stunning. This is a picture of some huts on the way and one of many waterfalls on the way to the big & famous one.

Gion Matsuri Festival, July in Kyoto, Japan: Coincidence that I was in Kyoto and happened to be on the street for this parade.

Sumida River Fireworks Festival, Tokyo, Japan: This is one of my best travel experiences ever. Fireworks in two places over the river, crowds (1 million people), kimonos, and good food. I stumbled away from the crowds and found a temple/shrine and the fireworks are in the background.

You can find more of my Asia’08 trip photos on Flickr (see the link on the right). I can’t wait to post about my Europe’08 trip!

September 4th, 2008 | Category: photos, about me, travel | Comments (2)