World Wild Web
Brendan Murphy
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Prodromou: World traveller
photo: Marianne McEwen
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Wiki champion Evan Prodromou loves sharing the knowledge
Navigating the Internet's unlimited borders can feel like a trip into the unknown, uncharted world of the Wild West, which is why we here at Hour wanted to figure out how Montrealers are making their living online. In this second of three profiles, we interview Evan Prodromou, an advocate of open source websites and technologies. Last year Prodromou won a coveted Webby Award (for the uninitiated that's an Oscar for the web!) for founding Wikitravel, a free, reliable and up-to-date worldwide travel guide. Name Evan Prodromou
Occupation My main project is Wikitravel (wikitravel.org) and the corresponding print publication company, Wikitravel Press. I've also started an open source parenting manual called Keiki (http://kei.ki), and founded an open source wine guide called Vinismo (http://vinismo.com), to mention a few.
Training I did a bachelor's degree at the University of California Berkeley in physics with a minor in English, but in college I worked in various research labs and picked up computer programming and kept working as a programmer after university. In 2001, I decided to take my savings, move to a cheaper city, and start working on my own projects instead of someone else's.
Where do you work? I have an office set up at home and sometimes I go out to one of the local Île Sans Fil-enabled cafés. But since February,
I've been part of the Station C co-working space. I just got back from a six-week trip in Buenos Aires, where I rented an apartment and participated in their co-working project. Advantages The exciting advantage about wiki is working on projects that help increase the free knowledge available to everyone in the whole world. The wikis I've started now have tens of thousands of users, who are creating tens of thousands of times more information than I could possibly do on my own.
Disadvantages The main challenge [of wiki] is diplomacy. Everything you do has to help those thousands of people be more effective communicators and instructors. Another challenge is time: There's so much to do and not enough time to do it. Also: bad posture, and repetitive stress injuries.
How do you make money? A lot of the work I do doesn't make any money, so that's a wash. But other parts have been really lucrative. I'd like to say, 'Do what you love and the money will follow,' but that doesn't actually seem to be true in my experience. Maybe it'd be better to say, 'Do what you love, and make money however you can.'
Tips for success Get in touch - there are a lot of meet-ups, events and get-togethers in Montreal that have to do with the web. I think reading blogs, watching the announcements of new technology companies and keeping an eye on the work of standards committees and academic groups can give you a good feel for what's coming down the pike over the next couple of years.
