Question #4

Who is Jamie Zawinski? How is the role he played & are design principals he helped spread important to you?

Answer:

Jamie Zawinski is a former professional American computer programmer. He is responsible for significant contributions to the free software projects Mozilla and XEmacs, and early versions of the Netscape Navigator web browser.

Essentially his design principle is about open source sharing. This open and collaborative ideology is key to successful social media applications.

We are able to become increasingly connected through social media; sharing information, conversation, ideas, opinions, opportunities, etc. I know I personally benefit from these design principles each time I log on to my Twitter account, Google Reader, and Ning. As individuals we all have different roles and belong to various communities (Ex: Humber PR student). These applications allow me to truly stay connected to several communities all at once.

For example: On Ning I am able to stay connected with the Humber PR community. I can post information, interact with classmates, students and mentors, retrieve information and share ideas all in one location. The same can be said for business professionals using networks that follow these principles such as LinkedIn. In addition, the collaborative, two-way nature of this design is extremely important for PR professionals and organizations to be able to stay connected with their audience and their brand.