All, This is just an announcement which I hope to follow up on in the next few months.
I feel confident that, if I focus on fundraising for the project, I can get enough to make the project independent. Especially with a baby, I think my little family would be happier with something steadier; but please don't worry about us, we've got enough from various sources to live on for a half year or more, and more funds appear as if magically from various sources. So, as much as I would like to remain wholly independent, I actually think that it might be a good idea if I try to affiliate myself personally in some way with a university. I mention this to you in part because I want to forestall a certain worry or criticism. You might think my affiliating myself and my work with a university might be seen as affiliating the Citizendium with that institution. That is not the case. Even if I am affiliated with a university, that wouldn't mean that CZ will be as well. As one Executive Committee member said, editors of most academic journals are affiliated at universities, but the journals themselves are independent of the university. In addition to active interest from one Big Ten university, I have another faculty friend at major west coast university who wants me to apply for an open faculty position there. This interest from friends is what gave me the idea. The field of online knowledge communities (or allied topics) is an enormous "growth" field, poised to *really* take off (as I thought it would--if you examine the original announcement of CZ), and I suspect I would have no trouble getting some nice research position at a good university. Basically, I doubt I would have to do much more than I'm already doing--I'd just be doing it under the aegis of a university, perhaps at a research center. I think that if I simply send out notes to various departments and university centers, I might be able to generate some interest. But I suspect some interested parties might already be on the CZ lists. For the sake of persons who might wish to forward this to decisionmakers, I should say what I think I could offer a university: * I've been called a "thought leader" in my field--online knowledge communities, the philosophy of the Internet, collaboration. I was "chief architect" of both Wikipedia and the Citizendium, having been involved in a wide variety of other Internet projects since the mid-90s, and as an active speaker and writer. I also fully intend to start at least one more major project after Citizendium (see http://www.textop.org/). A case can be made that such organizational and editorial naturally work belongs at universities. * I would be willing to teach one course per term (I'd prefer one per year, though--teaching always gobbles up all available time). While I have taught a wide variety of philosophy courses since 1992 (intro, ethics, logic, law, epistemology, others), probably the courses an employer would be interested in would have something to do with the philosophy, politics, or ethics of the Internet or about online knowledge communities. (In grad school my specializations were epistemology and early modern.) * I would of course be willing to do most of my work on campus and to hold office hours, and in other respects be an active part of the university community. * I can help direct very innovative software projects that support the project(s) I am involved in. It would be a feather in the cap of a university to be the home of open source software projects for next-generation knowledge communities. * I would be willing to supervise a few student projects. * I would be willing to participate in fund-raising for any research center with which I might be affiliated. --Larry P.S. Still hard at work on the license essay ("dissertation"), 22 detailed pages and counting. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel...dimly. The decision isn't getting any easier as I proceed, either. :-) ----- Lawrence M. Sanger, Ph.D. | http://www.larrysanger.org/ Editor-in-Chief, Citizendium | http://www.citizendium.org/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Citizendium-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.purdue.edu/mailman/listinfo/citizendium-l
