Wanted to let you know that Joel Spolky’s Talk at Business of Software 2012 will discuss:
The Cultural Anthropology of Stack Exchange.
Like all communities, Stack Overflow has a unique culture to it. But what isn’t as well known is how the structure of the software and technology behind Stack Overflow is designed to help shape that community. Joel will discuss some of the unique aspects of the Stack Overflow community, the basics of cultural anthropology, and how we’ve designed the sites to facilitate the community that our users ask for.
Neil and I saw a very early version of this talk when Joel visited us in the UK earlier this year and it is an extraordinary insight into the technology, psychology and philosophy behind the growth of the world’s most popular technology Q&A site.
A whole heap of actionable insights for anyone that wants to understand how to deliver what people want and build a business around that – pretty much exactly what Business of Software is all about.
About Joel (As if you didn’t already know!)
His website Joel on Software is popular with software developers around the world and has been translated into over thirty languages. With over 400,000 unique visitors a month, Joel on Software is one of the most popular resources for software developers on the web. He has written four books: User Interface Design for Programmers (Apress, 2001), Joel on Software (Apress, 2004), More Joel on Software (Apress, 2008), and Smart and Gets Things Done: Joel Spolsky’s Concise Guide to Finding the Best Technical Talent (Apress, 2007). He also edited The Best Software Writing I (Apress, 2005). He also writes a monthly column on entrepreneurship for Inc Magazine.
In September 2000, together with co-founder Michael Pryor, Joel started Fog Creek Software in New York City. At Fog Creek Software he created FogBugz, a popular project management system for software teams, Fog Creek Copilot, for providing remote tech support over the Internet, and Trello, a popular project management application. In 2008, with co-creator Jeff Atwood, Joel launched Stack Overflow, which raised over $18 million in venture capital from Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures, Spark Capital, and others.
Joel graduated from Yale University (Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude) in 1991 with a B.S. and honors in Computer Science. Before college he served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a paratrooper, and he was one of the founders of Kibbutz Hanaton.
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