I agree except that I think the cities here are the subprojects, like Velocity and Struts, and the projects, like Jakarta and XML, are just arbitrary containers (lines on a map). Subprojects are like cities, Projects are like states (or provinces), and ASF is the nation.
I don't think an individual's loyalty, or sense of identity, depends on the Project, but to the subproject and the ASF. -Ted. "Geir Magnusson Jr." wrote: > > I was leafing through my copy of "A Pattern Language" by Alexander, Ishikawa > and Silverstein, which is really about architecture of human habitat > (buildings and environs), and ran across some interesting assertions about > society and groups. > > I haven't read the book end to end, as I just pick it up and read bits and > pieces, but I am generally struck by the validity of the basic insights > expressed. > > I thought I would share, as my thinking about removing community containers > here in Jakarta, XML et al resonates well this. There is nothing which says > the following is any more valid than any other point of view expressed here, > so this shouldn't be read as an appeal to some kind of 'authority' (like we > *never* do that here...) - just interesting as it comes from another > intellectual discipline studying the exact problems we are trying to grapple > with. > > The summary for me is that I think that the Apache sub communities are > valuable, and should be kept. > > ==== > > "The homogeneous and undifferentiated character of modern cities kills all > varieties of life styles and arrests the growth of individual character." > (p43) > > Kind of general as the assertion, the text then talks about three kinds of > structure, heterogeneous (bland and conformist), ghetto (organized by > economic or physical characteristics, traps and isolates groups), and mosaic > of subcultures, the latter being the preference, with the conclusion : > > "Do everything possible to enrich the cultures and subcultures of the city, > by breaking the city, as far as possible, into a vast mosaic of small and > different subcultures, each with it's own spatial territory, and each with > the power to create it's own distinct life style. Make sure that the > subcultures are small enough so that each person has access to the full > variety of life styles in the subcultures near his own." > > I think the notion of "power to create it's own distinct lifestyle" is the > important aspect that applies to the issue of disbanding the community > boundaries distinguishing XML and Jakarta. > > ==== > > "Individuals have no effective voice in any community of more than 5,000 - > 10,000 persons" (p 71) > > While I don't think that the quantitative values are important, I think the > fundamental idea is sound - in order for individual voices to be heard, the > group has to be small enough. The conclusion : > > "Decentralize city governments in a way that gives local control to > communities [...]. As nearly as possible, use natural geographic and > historical boundaries to mark those communities. Give each community the > power to initiate, decide and execute the affairs that concern it closely." > > I think I don't need to explain how this applies to us :) > > ==== > > There's more, but I'm beat. Happy weekend. :) > > -- > Geir Magnusson Jr. [EMAIL PROTECTED] > System and Software Consulting > Be a giant. Take giant steps. Do giant things... > > -- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
