We are very proud that Chris Messina (aka @factoryjoe), a recent addition to the Vidoop team, has recently received the award for ‘best community amplifier’. You can read about the history and see past winners at the Google-O’Reilly Open Source Awards - Hall of Fame but the general idea is…

The Google-O’Reilly Open Source Awards have been presented to individuals for dedication, innovation, leadership and outstanding contribution to open source.

Winners are selected by a committe, made up of the following: Allison Randal, (The Perl Foundation & O’Reilly - OSCON Co-Chair), Brady Forest (O’Reilly - Technology Evangelist and Conference Chair), Brian Behlendorf (CollabNet CTO and Founder), Chris DiBona (Google, Open Source Programs Manager), Danese Cooper (Open Source Diva, Intel), David Ascher (CTO, ActiveState, and director, Python Software Foundation), Tim O’Reilly (Founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media), Nat Torkington (O’Reilly - OSCON Co-chair), Zaheda Bhorat (Google, Open Source Programs Manager).

Chris has consistently been at the forefront of the Open Web movement and an outspoken advocate of open source technologies. Since being introduced to him and the open web/identity community a little over a year ago, he has personally been very helpful in navigating the landscape, making introductions and genuinely a fun guy to hang out with. I am sure I join the rest of the Vidoop team and web community at large in congratulating Chris on a job well done and wishing him continued success in whatever ventures he pursues. Whatever it is, the web will be better off because of it