Ian Bicking: the old part of his blog

New Job, Open Plans

I'll soon be starting a new job with a non-profit organization, The Open Planning Project. I'm still trying to get a handle on the exact goals of the project, as the history of TOPP has involved several subprojects, and the project I'm working on is both complementary to the other projects (which are primarily about participatory urban planning) and also a new direction. The short form of the mission seems best described as creating a Sourceforge for community organizing, which covers a lot and seems to be pretty accurate. I haven't yet figured out how to concisely explain it to friends and family members who aren't programmers.

I'm pretty excited about it; all of the work will be open source, we'll be using Python a lot, and the ends themselves are something I really want to support.

Most of the team is in New York City, but I'll be working from home. So if you are in Chicago, look me up for lunch or something since I'll need more reasons to get out of the house.

(I'm on vacation for the next couple weeks, but I expect my open source participation will be reinvigorated shortly, so I'll see y'all around more soon)

Update: Chris Holmes tells me the new/best home page for TOPP is topp.openplans.org, which is a bit clearer about goals and mission. And look, more careers for more people!

Created 30 Jun '06
Modified 01 Jul '06

Comments:

Congratulations! Maybe after the holiday we can try to reschedule that beer.

# Luke Opperman

Congrats on the new position! Sounds really interesting.

We Chicago Python Web-developer telecommuters need to stick together -- let me know if you ever want to do lunch.

# Adrian Holovaty

Congrats!

I told our hiring dude to contact you; oh well.

Sounds like a very worthwhile project, and a great match for your interests.

P.S. I like the captcha; almost as fun as mine. :)

# Joe Grossberg

Congrats!

I have often said that "If I were a rich man" I would spend my time developing software and systems to help coordinate NFP and government resources to help the needy. I hope you enjoy the work!

# count0

Nice Ian--looks like a great fit--congrats.

# Ed Summers

Good Luck, Ian. I have no doubt you'll do well.

# Robert Ramsdell

Congrats on the new job!

# Greg Wilson

Congrats, looks very interesting.

Next time you're in NYC to visit HQ, stop and see us NYC Pythonistas!

# Bill Seitz

Congrats on the new job, Ian.

Instead of (or in addition to) lunch... how about coffee? --> http://techcoffee.infogami.com/

Cheers!

# Jason Huggins