Re: [unrev-II] Bootstrap's e-journal: Can we?

From: Eric Armstrong (eric.armstrong@sun.com)
Date: Tue Oct 23 2001 - 12:56:27 PDT

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    Eric Armstrong wrote:

    > The thought of mining the archive to produce publications strikes me
    > as plausible and useful. The process, as I see it, would be:
    > a) One more editors start "carving out" articles.

    One *or* more editors...

    >
    > b) Said editors start setting down requirements for what they need
    > to do the job effectively.
    > c) Developers start providing tools the editors can do to

    editors can *use* to...

    > construct
    > readable documents from the archives.
    >
    > There is a lot of learning involved in this process, and it fits
    > Doug's
    > idea of human-systems co-evolving with technology-systems.
    >
    > It's not clear to me how much can be done on a volunteer basis, but
    > it is interesting to speculate on what kind of "benefit proposition"
    > might
    > induce subscribers and advertisers to participate in what becomes, in
    > effect, a traditional publishing vehicle that uses non-traditional
    > tools
    >
    > to create its work product.
    >
    > Henry K van Eyken wrote:
    >
    > > Last July, the Bootstrap Institute began publishing the e-journal
    > > "Engelbart in Context," but a lack of active support within the
    > > Institute made it difficult for me, the Institute's volunteer
    > > webmaster,
    > > to sustain it. This is nobody's fault. Beyond Doug Engelbart there
    > is
    > > only one other staff member, Doug's administrative assistant Mary
    > > Coppernoll. They are assisted by a number of volunteers who take
    > care
    > > of
    > > the Institute's server and do other chores toward furthering Doug's
    > > aim
    > > of seeing his Open Hyperdocument System becoming a reality. This OHS
    >
    > > is
    > > seen as a tool for more efficiently solving urgent, complex problems
    >
    > > in
    > > the private and public sectors of world society.
    > >
    > > The Institute has some material support, but is very much in need of
    >
    > > additional funding. An important source of funding used to be the
    > > Bootstrap Alliance, a small, international group of stakeholders.
    > With
    > >
    > > the enthusiastic help of a prominent volunteer, Jeff Rulifson, a
    > > vice-president of Sun Microsystems, and Karen Robbins, president of
    > > Amtech, an attempt is made to reinvigorate the Alliance. Amtech's
    > > reason
    > > for being is to create partnerships among private and public
    > > institutions. Details about the state of the Alliance's affairs may
    > be
    > >
    > > found at http://www.amtech-use.org/bootstrap/
    > >
    > > On its part, the Bootstrap Institute formally created a Central
    > > Planning
    > > Committee on October 10. Committee members are Doug Engelbart, Mei
    > Lin
    > >
    > > Fung, Eugene Kim, and Jack Park. The Committee, which reports to the
    >
    > > Alliance's Board of Directors, chaired by Jeff Rulifson, addresses
    > > three
    > > areas:
    > >
    > > 1. OHS development framework
    > > 2. Obtaining grant funding for Bootstrap Alliance for some specific
    > > programs
    > > 3. Bootstrap communication
    > >
    > > As a consequence, the publishing of the e-journal, although
    > perceived
    > > as
    > > valuable, will not be receiving the hoped for minimal wherewithal to
    >
    > > sustain it. This goes for funding as well as for participation. A
    > few
    > > days ago, Doug proposed that I proceed with the journal within the
    > > Bootstrap framework, but editorially independent from it. In
    > practical
    > >
    > > terms, there will be no funding for it in the foreseeable future -
    > not
    > >
    > > until sufficient grants are, if ever, obtained for the Institute's
    > > operations.
    > >
    > > The editorial independence, which relieves Doug from overseeing the
    > > e-journal's editorial conduct, comes with a name change from
    > > "Engelbart
    > > in Context" to "Fleabyte." The editorial stance remains pretty well
    > > the
    > > same, however. It may be summarized as augmenting human intellect or
    >
    > > thinking with computers. A more detailed statement is found at
    > > http://www.bootstrap.org/context/archive/eic-3.html#3F
    > >
    > > I should emphasize that Fleabyte is intended to address people in
    > > various walks of life. The study of augmenting human intellect
    > > embraces
    > > computer science, psychology (or neuroscience as it is now more
    > > properly
    > > named), education, publishing, the worlds of work and of civics.
    > >
    > > Question at this point is, can we sustain the publication?
    > Equipment,
    > > maintenance, essential subscriptions, other literature, telephone
    > > costs,
    > > automobile use - all remain personal expenses. More significantly,
    > > there
    > > is no funds for attracting editorial material. Can one who does not
    > > pay
    > > the piper call the tune? Additional handicaps are my age and limited
    >
    > > personal skills as well as uncertainty about the Bootstrap
    > Institute's
    > >
    > > future. That's the downside. Off hand, we might as well throw in the
    >
    > > towel right now. But why not first try to fathom what the upside
    > look
    > > like?
    > >
    > > Our Urev-II discussion forum has more than 200 registered members. A
    >
    > > fair number of members are highly active and have produced a body of
    >
    > > about 4000 posts, many rich in content and reference material. This
    > > content bespeaks of an interest fully in accord with the envisaged
    > > editorial breadth. It also is a motherlode of facts and notions
    > > waiting
    > > to be mined and refined for public presentation, i.e. to take
    > another
    > > step toward becoming useful. Moreover, many references exist that
    > may
    > > lead to morphing the very nature of publishing the e-journal toward
    > > becoming a true, Engelbartian DKR (Dynamic Knowledge Repository),
    > > which
    > > Doug often refers to as a "handbook.". One aspect of this is
    > > interactivity among authors and readers - in fact, becoming a
    > > discussion
    > > forum raised to a higher degree of lasting utility.
    > >
    > > We already have some volunteers as well. Peter Jones, a member of
    > this
    > >
    > > forum and formerly a editor and co-author with a big publishing
    > house,
    > >
    > > has done a fine job of copy-editing for our journal. Gwen Pariset, a
    >
    > > lady experienced in project work, has volunteered to become a
    > > webmaster.
    > > Lambert Gardiner, formerly professor of psychology and now of media,
    >
    > > has
    > > contributed an article and is ready take on an editorial role. We
    > > still
    > > have to learn how to more efficiently co-operate in turning out a
    > > product, but that is part of the birthing pangs of an e-journal.
    > >
    > > The editorial approach would be to attract material with an eye on
    > > forming a handbook. This material would be partly unsollicited,
    > partly
    > >
    > > sollicited. Together they make the editorial process one of directed
    >
    > > opportunism. Which brings us to the next question: Can I count on
    > > people
    > > - members of the Unrev-II forum to begin with, but also others as
    > time
    > >
    > > goes by - to provide quality, purposefull content? To take the
    > > contributing seriously?
    > >
    > > I'll pause at this point and wait for reactions from this forum to
    > see
    > >
    > > whether or not we may have a fighting chance to create a journal,
    > > experimental and evolutionary in itself, that will further the
    > > augmentation of human intellect.
    > >
    > > Any thoughts? Any specific contributions (academic advisors, subject
    >
    > > editors, successors to myself, authors, Unrev-II miners, production
    > > people, etc.)?
    > >
    > > Henry
    > >
    > >
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