[wsfii-coord] WSFII Calendar

[Jo Walsh]

dear gregers, all, the mailout and the effort look good.

On Wed, Dec 21, 2005 at 10:15:58AM +0100, Gregers Petersen wrote:
> Are there any comment to the following information in regard to; how 
> you get something onto the WSFII Calendar - it is my intention to 
> release "it" on the 'wsfii-discuss' list if this is acceptable?

i wanted to comment on this. 

okfn hosts lists for a number of single issue and/or project
discussion groups. after being involved in running a few of these,
Rufus created a policy suggesting that discussion should be held on
the discuss list by default, unless there was a strong reason not to.
It helps to give more people a sense of stake, to get offers of help
and sharpening up of ideas.

i found the shift hard to make in the context of the open geodata
awareness campaign lists, had to nudge discussions off the coord list
a few times. this list was hardly used in the runup to Wsfii.London
except for incredibly dull administrivia about money and visa
documentation. organising in public caused us to look a little slapdash,  
http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/wsfii-discuss/2005-September/000189.html
but no harm was done, and this could have been avoided. 

there are a lot of interesting people on the discuss list, i don't 
see a reason not to start a draft there. 

i prefer the idea that no-one is really in charge, that the organisers
are self-appointed and that anyone can appoint themselves; as long as
their actions remain in public view. the idea of an unspecified,
not immediately visible "we" ("the wsfii coord group"); it is easy to
get sucked into the appeal of "we", it makes the formulation of
statements, the transmission of worldviews, simpler. but i would like
to know who "we" are for any set of statements, whether that's noted
down somewhere else, or just available through observing conversation.


-jo