From: Bdale Garbee Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 07:02:00 +0000 (-0700) Subject: post X-Git-Url: https://git.gag.com/?p=web%2Fgag.com;a=commitdiff_plain;h=82c2fc77923deb47b8fb8486c1ef4b9d7955098b post --- diff --git a/bdale/blog/posts/Grand_Works.mdwn b/bdale/blog/posts/Grand_Works.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b478af --- /dev/null +++ b/bdale/blog/posts/Grand_Works.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +In June of 2005, I finished reading +"The Professor and the Madman" +by Simon Winchester, +which is an intriguing story of two significant contributors to the +Oxford English Dictionary, or OED. I +first heard this book mentioned in an interview on the +Charlie Rose show, and it +sounded interesting, so I bought a paperback copy, +and it was indeed an interesting read. + +I wrote these thoughts down then, but neglected to post them until now. That +was likely in part because others beat me to the punch. In particular, I +think I remember listening to a presentation by +[Nat Friedman](http://nat.org) on the topic at around that time. In any +case, I stumbled today over the text I wrote back then, and thought the words +were still worth sharing. + +The most interesting thing I learned in reading this book wasn't +actually about the principal characters, but instead involves a speech given +by + + Richard Chenevix Trench +to the Philological Society, +entitled "On Some Deficiencies in Our English Dictionaries." This +is the talk that eventually led to the creation of the OED, and the intriguing +bit to me is an idea Trench proposed that was new at the time, but absolutely +fundamental to the Open Source & Linux world today. Trench well understood +that an undertaking of such magnitude as compilation +of an exhaustive dictionary of the English language, detailing the history +and lifetime of each word illustrated with many example of usage from existing +literature, could never be accomplished by one individual. Instead, he +proposed explicitly involving a large group of unpaid volunteer +contributors. Winchester claims that while this may sound obvious today, +that this idea had never been put forward before for such an undertaking. + +Absolutely brilliant. + +As an up-close observer of the evolution of the community approach to software +development and maintenance, I couldn't help but draw connections. We are +today engaged in an equally grand effort that may well have an +enduring impact, that fundamentally would not be possible to +accomplish without the contributions of an astoundingly diverse array of +unpaid volunteer contributors... + +[[!tag tags/books]]