Jenn Greenaway has the unique distinciton of being present for 10 SCALEs -- probably a record for those who are speaking at SCALE 13x. Jenn is speaking on "Building a Better Brain" on Saturday SCALE 13x at 11:30 a.m. The SCALE Team caught up with Jenn and asked her a few questions about her talk.
Q: Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background?
A: In addition to being an open source advocate, I'm a brain development geek and work as an infant and toddler caregiver for the Conejo Valley Unified School District here in southern California. The topics that interest me most are where development, education, and open source ideology intersect. When you make your living conducting observations of children, it's natural to start to extend your observations to the adults around you as well. At least, I hope that's natural... Because I am enmeshed in the open source community by marriage (my husband is a co-founder of SCALE), I spend a lot of time ruminating on the fascinating brain development of geeks!
Q: You're giving a talk on Building a Better Brain. Without tipping your hand on the actual talk, can you give us an idea of what we might expect?
A: I'm going to be speaking about Mindset and how it applies to open source projects, companies, and culture. Mindset is a topic that is pretty widely understood and talked about in my natural habitat -- among teachers and caregivers -- but it's a bit less known in the wider world. Mindset contributes heavily to the success or failure of an open source project, but it's also something that applies to every person on the planet, no matter their occupation. People attending my talk can expect more stories than statistics, but I've also got the hard numbers for the sticklers in the crowd.
Q: Is this your first visit to SCALE? If so, what are your expectations? If not, can you give us your impressions of the event?
A: This will actually be my 10th SCALE! I hope I'll receive some kind of merit badge. My impressions of SCALE come from the inside, as I'm always volunteering in one capacity or another. I love it. It's a completely exhausting and crazy weekend and as soon as it's over, I'll miss it. SCALE is a really friendly event and I meet the most wonderfully diverse group of people there each year. I'm really looking forward to it!
Q: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
A: I would like to take a moment to plug the SCALE Tours! They are fun, fast-paced guided tours of the exhibit hall conducted by SCALE's own Phillip Banks. Every year I help him with the Kids Tour, so if you're bringing your kids to SCALE you should definitely check that out on Saturday afternoon. After you've attended my talk.
[SCALE Team interview by Larry Cafiero]