Con Zymaris (Cybersource & OSV)

Con Zymaris is from Cybersource, in Melbourne (cybersource.com.au). Con is a skilled communicator with an intesting take on the role of audio for busy people who use the Internet and regularly enjoy listining to audio:

I’ve found audio to be a very rich medium for idea expression and dissemination, moreso than video and more accessible than text, particularly for busy people.

In his interview, Con talks about ‘benign dictators’ and their role in the community process of leading volunteers who develop open source software. The interview is 16 minutes long (13 MB): http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/~crosbie/Con_Zymaris.mp3

He also speaks of ‘interleaved discussions’ and the inportant role played by Donna Benjamin in helping to facilitate breakfast meetings, co-located via the Internet.
To see a picture of Con Zymaris, in downtown Melbourne, go to http://www.cybersource.com.au/users/conz/photos/p1010018.jpg [900 KB]

Zing from AnyZing in Sydney

Zing from AnyZing in Sydney, is a software application to help with electronic-meetings. Con Zymaris mentions Zing in his interview. Con explains how they use Zing as a communication tool for meetings of open source Victoria (OSV). According to Con, Donna Benjamin, who has both theatre and technical backgrounds, plays a vital role in facilitating breakfast meetings, for both on-campus and off-campus participants. Zing is one of Donna's tools of choice.

I will put together a list of links on Zing at del.icio.us/wcrosbie/Zing and at del.icio.us/wcrosbie/Donna_Benjamin
Interestingly, many communities of technical professionals do NOT use technologies to support the idea of dual face to face (f2f)/electronic meetings (I tried chat + face to face once or twice; it's fun but rather chaotic). Is it better to be swamped with emails, and end up too busy to meet people face to face? David Warwick says Zing looks interesting, but there are no plans for the moment to introduce it, or anything similar at CM Pros meetings in Melbourne.