From larry.sanger at dufoundation.org Fri Aug 4 13:21:06 2006 From: larry.sanger at dufoundation.org (Larry Sanger) Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2006 13:21:06 -0700 Subject: [Textop-avs-ann] New proposal for an executive committee (please read) Message-ID: <005501c6b803$843b4f90$a0f5fea9@D7WRQ591> Dear members of the Textop Advisory Committee, and the Textop community at large, I would like a large amount of feedback on the following *important*, *project-changing* proposal. Please read, with these questions in mind: do you think this is a good idea generally? Is it something we should do soon, or defer until, say, the pilot project is further along? Can you think of a useful "twist" on the approach I've suggested? Do you have any comments on the details of the proposal? I will not act on this, e.g., make any calls for applications, for *at least* one week. Please give me your feedback by next Wednesday, August 9, anyway. ========= RATIONALE It seems to me that we could be doing so much more. I am a firm believer in motivating by conferring responsibility. That is why collaborative and self-publishing projects online are thriving: the individual is empowered through responsibility. Well, it occurred to me that we just need to define the right framework for empowering individuals, one in which responsibility is shared among like-minded peers. ======================= THE PROPOSAL IN SUMMARY So here is what I propose: I will appoint, with feedback/approval by the Textop Advisory Committee, a number of people who are given *very broad* authority to work on different aspects of Textop. They become full stakeholders in and essentially co-founders of the project, and become a new Executive Committee. Work then proceeds in parallel on a number of fronts. =================================== GENERAL FEATURES OF EXECUTIVE ROLES The general requirements and features of these roles would be as follows: * This is a nonprofit, knowledge-oriented project. Our brief is to enlighten the world. This should not be expected to be a lucrative hobby. So, while we will attempt to do some innovative kinds of fundraising, these will probably be volunteer positions for the foreseeable future. We ought to consider our involvement as an important hobby, much as the volunteers at work on the Gutenberg Project or Wikipedia do. I assure you that (unlike Wikipedia!) I would still be working on Textop in my spare time even if I didn't get the plum support deal with my employer (thanks Joe). * You agree to commit some significant amount of time to the project, on the order of at least five hours per week. You also agree to let me (or whatever person or body is so designated) replace you if you drop the ball. * In the not-distant future, the governance of Textop will be settled and defined by a Charter, that provides that *all* positions of responsibility, yours and my own included, become electable and governable "by law" so to speak. You will be bound by the requirements of that Charter when it is adopted. * The Charter will include items to the following effect: - The main products of Textop are and will always be *open content*, and the project will always remain under the control of a noncommercial and nonprofit entity. (Just forget about Textop being your personal vehicle to wealth. We are creating something for the world to share.) - Decisionmaking about significant matters of content will be left to subject matter experts. They will not *drive* and *assign* work, but we all agree to respect their authority to *oversee* it. - Nonetheless, the project will adhere to a broad principle of collaboration, i.e., distributed, asynchronous effort, in which all people *who can make a positive contribution* (given the different requirements of different tasks) are enabled to do so. This is a "big tent"; it is "open"; it is generally "flat." Textop is and always will be aggressively opposed to unnecessary, irrational, and/or closed bureaucracy, and strongly in favor of supporting individual initiative. * These positions are "executive" positions in the sense that you will be expected to make plans proactively, get approval for them, and put them into effect. You will also be leaders of workgroups that will have more or less open membership. As with subject matter editors, you will be expected to let work in your area be as "bottom-up" as possible. Your job is *not* to give orders, but to herd cats! Leadership and bold proposing is essential to our success, but tendency to become dictatorial and peremptory will be grounds for dismissal. * These positions will also serve on an Executive Committee that will probably have a fairly regular conference call and/or its own (open archive, exclusive subscription) mailing list, in which *only* the most important decisions affecting the entire project will be vetted. The Executive Committee Will Not Be A Bottleneck! Initially, I will serve as the chair of the Executive Committee, but this will be a temporary, not permanent arrangement, subject to the decision of the committee itself. * Henceforth I will always refer to myself as a "co-founder" of Textop and you will share the billing with me. The project in a very real sense becomes *our* project, and no longer in any meaningful sense *my* project. I'm inclined to call these people "Directors," but tell me if you would prefer another moniker. ======================= SOME POSSIBLE POSITIONS I propose next to recruit for the following positions, to begin with. * Director of Website and Wiki Design. This person is given broad authority to organize the writing, design, and other features of textop.org and the textop wiki. Main brief is to solicit, upload, update, and otherwise manage the documents and other media of Textop. I'll give you a login to the web space and permit you to give logins to others, as necessary. * Director of the Collation Project. This is what I've been doing. I will continue to do this. * Director of the Analytical Dictionary Project. Plans, prototypes, recruits for, and otherwise manages the nascent Analytical Dictionary Project. * Director of the Debate Guide Project. Plans, prototypes, recruits for, and otherwise manages the nascent Debate Guide Project. * Director of the Event Summary Project. Plans, prototypes, recruits for, and otherwise manages the nascent the Event Summary Project. * Director of Software Development. Plans and directs the OSS needed to support the various Textop subprojects. * Director of Oversight. Has two complementary roles: (1) keeps track of a project log, reporting on the latest developments on behalf of everyone; and (2) ensures that work is proceeding apace and according to the plans developed by the other directors on all fronts. Eliminates unnecessary bureaucracy and other such silliness. In other words, a low-key COO. * Director of Innovation. The local solver of deep problems. Drives and moderates a mailing list on which new Textop projects, or radical innovations to existing projects, are discussed. Represents the community that participates in the discussion to the Executive Committee, which vets proposals. * Director of Recruitment. Works with other Directors to determine the most pressing needs for volunteers, and crafts and implements a creative plan to get volunteers on board. Posts on mailing lists, does research into possible volunteers, drafts press releases, does networking, etc. Eventually might help organize a conference. * Director of Finance. Crafts and implements innovative fundraising plans; directs grantwriting as and when appropriate; receives and prioritizes reimbursement and grant requests from project staff. * Architect of the Text Outline Project Charter. A temporary position, devoted solely to crafting Textop's Charter, leading a broadbased discussion of the Charter, and articulating the result to the Executive Committee. This person should be a mature and respected philosopher, political scientist, policy analyst, legal scholar, historian, or other intellectual who can think very deeply about a huge range of issues. (My current thinking is that the Charter is officially adopted after *both* the Advisory Committee *and* the Executive Committee adopt it.) Any other positions you can think of? To be embarrassingly honest, I'm amazed that I was actually considering trying to do all this myself for any length of time at all. Obviously, I should have delegated this sort of managerial authority from the very start. I don't even *want* to do some of this stuff; mainly, I want to work on the Collation Project. And, clearly, there are people out there who would love to step into positions like this. Live and learn. Clearly, if Textop is to get anywhere, we have to view this project not as Larry's project but as **our** project. ===================================== HOW TO LAUNCH THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE While there are strong candidates for many of these positions already with us, I doubt that we will be able to get a full complement of suitable directors. So I want to cast our net widely. I propose to do a press release announcing that we are building an Executive Committee for the Text Outline Project, and that we hope to interest some people who want to lead the construction of some radically innovative new reference works. I would distribute this press release very widely, and encourage you to do the same. (Other ideas about how to get the word out?) ========= FEEDBACK? Well, what do you think? If you want to discuss it with others, do so on the [Textop] list. Otherwise, just e-mail me, and I will summarize the results sometime after next Friday. If anyone wants to upload this proposal to the wiki, feel free to do so. --Larry From larry.sanger at dufoundation.org Sat Aug 5 14:40:35 2006 From: larry.sanger at dufoundation.org (Larry Sanger) Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2006 14:40:35 -0700 Subject: [Textop-avs-ann] Variant proposal: working groups (please read) Message-ID: <001b01c6b8d7$c930b610$a0f5fea9@D7WRQ591> All, I have heard back from some people about my proposal for an executive committee. One of them expressed gentle skepticism that I would be able to find suitable directors, and another made the very useful point that the people who might be interested in becoming directors need to know that they're not the only ones at work in their area. By contrast, if we can guarantee directors that a quorum of people are interested in participating, that will be much more attractive to them. This means (I think) that before recruiting any directors, we ought to form some workgroups that they can direct. I would like to present prospective directors a list of names and bios of people who are interested in working on some part of the project. So I have two proposals: (1) Please e-mail me your name, e-mail address, short one-paragraph bio, and the name of at least one workgroup you're interested in participating in. (List below.) I will **not** post this information publicly. (2) For Textop's first press release/general announcement, we will call for general participation, mentioning the search for directors as part of a more general recruitment drive. Now what do you think of *that*? Please do (1) in any case! --Larry Workgroups you could join (feel free to suggest others): Collation Project http://www.textop.org/collation_summary.html planning, prototyping, recruiting Analytical Dictionary Project http://www.textop.org/TextAndCollaboration.html#dictionary planning, prototyping, recruiting Debate Guide Project http://www.textop.org/TextAndCollaboration.html#debate planning, prototyping, recruiting Event Summary Project http://www.textop.org/TextAndCollaboration.html#eventsum planning, prototyping, recruiting Software Development Workgroup collecting and articulating technical requirements, writing code, testing Website and Design Workgroup keeping the website up-to-date, graphic design, logo, configuring wiki, etc. Innovation Workgroup discusses new Textop projects, or radical innovations to existing projects, proposes innovative solutions to standing problems Recruitment Workgroup crafts and implements a creative plan to get volunteers on board; osts on mailing lists, does research into possible volunteers, drafts press releases, does networking, etc.; eventually might help organize a conference Finance Workgroup crafts and implements innovative fundraising plans; grantwriting as and when appropriate; when money arrives, prioritize reimbursement and grant requests from project staff Charter Workgroup discuss and draft the project Charter