All, Here's an update.
=========================================== December Write-a-Thon on Wednesday, Dec. 5! Please show up to our regularly scheduled get-together! I think we should add a chatroom this time, just to try that out. Come to think of it, if anyone could arrange it, I'd be happy to give a little Skype-type speech...but it would have to be later. On Wednesday I'll be travelling much of the day, but I'll try to check in and join the party, if I can. I hope someone (like Aleta :-) ) will get things started (again), as I am likely to be unable... ========================= License--excuses, excuses In view of the arrangement that Creative Commons has made with the Free Software Foundation and Wikipedia, it is now certain that we will *not* be using the GFDL. It will be either CC-by-sa or CC-by-nc-sa. I am leaning a certain direction but I don't want to tell you what the direction is until I can completely defend it; and besides, I could still change my mind. I apologize for having taken so long to make up my mind. I owe you an explanation. (If you want to avoid a list of excuses, just skip to the next section. :-) ) It's because I wanted to finish writing this enormous defense of the decision, which has taken up a lot more time than I thought it would, at a particularly busy time in my life. The aftermath of the mass mailing a month ago turned out to be unexpectedly huge. I had to make a trip to UVA (http://www.cvillepodcast.com/2007/12/01/wikipedia-co-founder-talks-about-hi s-new-project/). In addition, I've tried to contribute to discussions about the license, in several venues. Also, my car--the same one that drove me to the job in California working on Nupedia and then Wikipedia, then back to Ohio, then back to California to work on the Digital Universe and Textop, then back to Ohio to ramp up Citizendium...well, it died. Lot of history in that car. :-) (It's a 1990 Toyota Corolla. Still runs, but needs $1500 repairs or it will quit soon--blown head gasket and other stuff.) Therefore, I've had to spend time looking for a new car. In addition, I have for many months been committed to a meeting down in Memphis, Tennessee, so I'll be gone from later today until Wednesday evening. And then of course there are always the ongoing responsibilities of managing the project, which are not at all trivial, even if I try to minimize them, as I have. All that, together with ongoing writing and family commitments, unfortunately leaves me with little time to finish this license essay. I'm trying, though, and I will be working on it as much as I can. ========================= Thanks for your hard work I wish I had time to thank everyone individually, but at least I can thank you collectively! First there was the press release at the end of October, then the November Write-a-Thon, which was our most successful yet, then Stub Week, and then I did a the big mass mailing, and finally I asked people to work hard especially over the next several weeks. Well, the results were plain to see. We grew from 3,300 to 4,100 within just a few weeks. Despite encouraging stubs (something we still haven't formalized, but there are few who oppose it), we still have a lot of really excellent, meaty new articles coming in all the time. It's an honor to work with you all. ============ Holiday lull As you might have noticed, we've been a bit of a lull since Thanksgiving, and if experience is any indication, we'll continue in this lull for a while. This is partly because people are busy with holiday stuff like shopping for gifts, but especially with CZ it's because a lot of us work at universities and basically academe claims all of our time from the end of November through mid-December. Then family claims the next few weeks. So, don't be surprised if activity on the wiki drops during the next six weeks or so. That said, I hope you will take some time out even during the holidays to "support the cause." I know you're busy (I sure am), but every bit helps. ===== Next? After the license business is over, my top priority will be finally to mature our governance system at virtually every level. I'll be posting a large number of "job descriptions" and I'll be asking for volunteers for them (including new Editorial Council positions and perhaps Constabulary positions). You'll be able to sign up for as many or as few of these positions, and then either I or others (e.g., for Editorial Council positions) will "assign" you as appropriate. I sure hope you'll be willing to step up to the plate. I'll also be building a Board of Advisors and then a Board of Directors. My goal in all this is to create a system that can operate independently of me. Once such a system is in place, I can turn to fundraising and we will raise money for a new Editor-in-Chief and other positions (I hope). I've been saying I would be stepping down as Editor-in-Chief in 2-3 years. It's going to take work before the project will survive my departure. Of course, I'll still be on board in some sort of executive position, at least on the Board of Directors, and I might start a new project for the Citizendium Foundation. --Larry _______________________________________________ Citizendium-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.purdue.edu/mailman/listinfo/citizendium-l
