This Saturday at 10:30 I’ll be talking about what motivated Nina Paley to release her first feature film under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license, what the audience reaction has been, how this economic model works, and what she’s up to now as Artist-in-Residence at the non-profit organization QuestionCopyright.org. (Sadly this talk conflicts with Scott Rosenberg’s talk, which I wanted to see. Ah well.)

I can’t resist a blatant plug for Nina’s film: Sita Sings the Blues was recently (and may currently still be) the highest rated film on Rotten Tomatos. You can find out why for yourself, as I’ll be bringing some DVDs with me.

Scott Rosenberg

I’m the other Scott on this schedule, Scott Rosenberg, and though I have written a couple of books, neither of them is about public speaking.

After you hear Scott #1 talk as well as I know he can about the future of WordPress, listening to me talk about the past of WordPress and blogging may seem a little backwards.

Then again, the reverse chronology does seem somehow fitting.

Blogging really does have a long history now. Too many people think, understandably but regrettably, that blogging began roughly a year before whenever they started their own blogs.

My half-hour talk will be a little bit of a walk down memory lane for those of you who have been around all these years, and, I hope, an informative whirlwind tour for those of you who have not.

Someone once said: “The only thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history.” (It was either Hegel or Winston Churchill, according to various Web pages, which means, probably, that neither of them really said it.)

Together, we can refute this paradoxical bon mot! After all, blog software saves and organizes our own past, individually and collectively. Its own story deserves to be told and retold, and even, if we’re that lucky, passed down to future generations.

It’s honestly a privilege to speak at WordCamp SF. I’ve been a WordPress user since 2003, I recently hit my 1000th post, and it’s one of my favorite pieces of software of all time. I’ve told all the Automattic folks I’ve met given how much history of software I know, they’ve got something great and should be proud for many reasons.

I’ll be talking about The Future of WordPress, a subject Matt himself suggested.  Given how much more he, and everyone at Automattic, has to do with the future of WordPress than I do, I find this endlessly entertaining. It’s sort of like U2 asking a random fan what their next album should be about.

As insurance against shooting myself in the foot with the tactical nuclear missile that is this topic , I’ve been asking everyone I know who uses WP for their thoughts and they’ve chimed in. And although it’s only a few days away, you’re welcome to add your thoughts, and help influence what I say.

Definitely say hi if you see me around on Saturday. I’m looking forward to meeting cool folks, sharing mind-blowing ideas, and of course, imbibing my beer bounty at the afterparty Sat night.  See you soon.

Seriously, though, the lineup is going to be stellar, so keep an eye on the Speakers page. You can also sign up for email updates to get the latest WordCamp SF news delivered straight to your inbox. And if you haven’t registered yet, get your ticket now!