A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of seeing both Todd Park and Frank Warmerdam talk about their work. The contexts couldn't have been more different (Commonwealth Club for Mr. Park, GeoMeetup for Mr. Warmerdam), the crowds didn't have any crossover, and the topics were completely different, but I was struck by how both of them clearly love what they do and are willing to share their knowledge and interest broadly.
Todd Park talked about health data and a bunch of other stuff I wasn't familiar enough with to report here. What was clear was that he is very excited about working in technology in the federal government and is committed to making technology work for the US. He gave generously of his time, engaging with everyone who wanted to speak to him afterward, including myself. He told each person to email him and that he read his own email and would respond within 72 hours. I've encountered less important people for whom that is a challenge.
Frank Warmerdam talked at Geomeetup at Code for America in San Francisco. I arrived just a bit late due to sampling beer at City Beer Store, but in time to get a great seat to hear Frank talk about GDAL/OGR. I just started using GDAL to transform rasters for GeoData@UC Berkeley and became quickly enamored (enamoured?) of GDAL's straightforwardness and powerful capabilities. Coming from a desktop GUI environment, GDAL is awesome.
Mr. Warmerdam talked at length about GDAL/OGR, its history, capabilities, and future development. I was impressed, again, with his willingness to spend his time talking with what amounted to some clearly knowledgeable GDAL/OGR users and a number of fanboys, of which I had just become one. At one point, he wasn't able to open a web browser in OS X and waved his hands and claimed, "I don't know how to use this, I'm not technical!" Beyond not using non-Linux operating systems, Mr. Warmerdam was also extremely giving with regard to his time and answered every question the audience asked.
I'm thankful that I live in a place where people like this, who love what they do and want to share it, are interested in coming to talk. I hope I can put my fanboydom to good use in the near future and pay forward the same infectious enthusiasm and deep knowledge someday soon.
