Tim Chambers has raised some key points so I'm going to drop everything and give you a brief insight into the way I'm thinking (reminding you that although what I may say and do could have long term implications for the community, I am only "Acting" at present so I have to move a little cautiously).
In order to be able to keep everyone informed and up-to-date once the project wiki goes through alpha phase and then live, we will be starting up a blog. I am one of a number of people who will be doing the old stream-of-consciousness thing (with the odd nugget of information buried inside so you won't notice them). We are considering two further options: (a) That we will continue a forum rather than designate an area of the wiki as a discussion area. The Talk page system is inherently limited- its utility is tied to the associated article page. But everyone acknowledges that there is a need for discussion and debate on broader issues and policies. We could designate a section of the Wiki to this purpose. For what it's worth, my present opinion is that it is better to take people out of the wiki for this more general purpose. I like forums. They are much more friendly places where moderators, imbued with wisdom and good sense (nodding in Phil's direction here) manage discourse unobtrusively for most of the time. If two or more people are building up a head of steam in discussions on a Talk page, I think it is better that they take it out of the wiki altogether and go somewhere quieter for a chat (shame we can't have a pub next door, isn't it?!?). It is too easy to move from one section of the wiki to another and retain the same head of steam. If the system forces potential disputants to go somewhere else where there is a different culture, this may help to defuse tensions (well, anything's possible). (b) Larry and I are talking about setting up a wiki newspaper to bring a wiki approach to journalistic content and provide collaboratively written summaries of current events. In the main CZ will be a more measured site where we take the opportunity to achieve 20-20 hindsight vision seriously. Whether we find the time and resource to make the newspaper a reality is uncertain, but I am extremely open to the idea of "capturing highlights from the list and the forum, citing original postings as sources, the burden for writing articles can be distributed much as it is in a wiki." We have informally asked someone to be the project's archivist. Anyone who would be interested in acting on Tim's proposal should let us know. I frankly admit that I am just too busy to do this summarising and consolidation at present and so much that is good from so many of you might sit in our archive and fail to make the impact on CZ's development that it should. So, once again but without any promises made in advance, would anyone interested in this project, please let us know. David Marshall >It just so happens that my job in RL includes thinking about how >communities use things such as mailing lists (MLs), forums, and >newsletters/journals. I have always preferred MLs to forums. Until now. >I really like the CZ forum system. And I also like the flexibility of >using both systems. > >And now with Anthony's summary [1] I got an idea of how those systems >play with the concept of a newsletter/journal. If someone were to play >"journalist" by capturing highlights from the list and the forum, citing >original postings as sources, the burden for writing articles can be >distributed much as it is in a wiki. That would be the more >old-fashioned approach, though. Another way (not the only way , but an >option some may choose to use sometimes) to generate content for a >journal would be to compose articles in a wiki. Authors would decide >among themselves how to give credit, e.g. list people as playing one of >two main roles for any given article: author or editor. Then the end >product (an individual article) is something they all put their names on. > >Just food for thought. > ><>< Tim > >[1] >https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/citizendium-l/2006-October/000617.html >_______________________________________________ >Citizendium-l mailing list >[email protected] >https://lists.purdue.edu/mailman/listinfo/citizendium-l _______________________________________________ Citizendium-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.purdue.edu/mailman/listinfo/citizendium-l
