7/16/06: Podcast Update

• Oded Shenkar, Author of "The Chinese Century", talked about East Meets West. He did a fairly thorough analysis of the history of the U.S. as an economic power that emerged from underneath British lead. Then, he shifted attention to what is happening in China and how the U.S. needs to pay attention and start doing its homework. This was a very interesting presentation. He made it clear that the scenarios don't completely align, but there is some similarity. The main point I took from his presentation was that the world is flattening, things are changing, and we should embrace. The impact will not be simple and the outcomes will not be easy to predict.
• Rebecca MacKinnon, Co-founder of Global Voices Online, picked up the the second part of East meets West. She included tons of real world examples of how the Chinese are embracing the Internet and innovation. Including things as simple as attracting tourists to rural villages and growing a tourist industry. She described in detail how firewalls are keeping Chinese citizens from viewing and publishing objectionable content. Interestingly enough, she observed that for a lot of Chinese the end result is seen as freeing, not the converse as we might expect. Again, a very interesting presentation.
• Bjorn Melin, BioSidus, talked with Dr. Moira Gunn about Genetically Modified Crops. This was an interesting presentation about the positive impact of genetically modified corn and soybeans in Argentina. Given the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) spread by some, I found this quite interesting.
• Ron Jacobs, ARCast, talked with Denny Boynton about Patterns and Anti-Patterns for SOA Applied. This was a great podcast for technologists interested in SOA. I loved the labels "Cruddy" and "Loosey Goosey" used to describe several patterns used by those designing SOA based systems. If want to know what these are, I recommend going and give this podcast a listen. But, here's 2 hints: don't do crud via WSDL and on have 1 method "DoIT" within your WSDL.
• Ron Jacobs, ARCast, talked with Robert Daigneau, Director of Platform Architecture for Monster.com, about Becoming an Architect. They did an excellent job describing the real world around software architects. If you are an architect or aspiring to become one, I recommend giving this podcast a listen. I can certainly verify that what they say is true! Main points I took away include, if you are an architect you have to lead by influence and you grow into the position after years of experience.