[9:20] Jon Seattle: My thought for this first meeting was to start with question gathering. I pass around a few of my own thoughts.
[9:20] Sudane Erato: yes... they are great questions
[9:20] Moon Adamant: indeed
[9:20] Jon Seattle: Then hold some discussion via Google Docs, and develop some concrete plans in the second meeting
[9:21] Jon Seattle: in a way, we can get some more people involved between now and then
[9:21] Moon Adamant: hopefully so
[9:21] Jon Seattle: so the low attendance is not too bad 
[9:21] Sudane Erato: yes
[9:21] Delia Lake is Offline
[9:21] Sudane Erato: well... i'm a "reluctant" faculty member
[9:21] Sudane Erato: but i want to help make this happen
[9:22] Moon Adamant:
[9:22] Jon Seattle: I wanted to ask others to think of important questions. 1. about our educational role, 2. about our role in the CDS, and 3. about the faculty organization in general
[9:22] Jon Seattle: Great!
[9:22] Moon Adamant: well
[9:23] Jon Seattle: sorry.. I seem to be typing as I am not typing 
silly SL
[9:23] Moon Adamant: ah ok lol
[9:23] Sudane Erato: ahhh... ok
[9:23] Moon Adamant: i was waiting for you
[9:23] Moon Adamant: can i then?
[9:23] Sudane Erato: hehe... yes
[9:23] Jon Seattle: yes, please
[9:23] Moon Adamant: ok
[9:24] Moon Adamant: in these kind of restructurations, which is our aim
[9:24] Moon Adamant: it often pays to analyze functionally what is happening
[9:24] Moon Adamant: in my POV
[9:24] Moon Adamant: the Faculty has two major roles
[9:24] Moon Adamant: 1. Education
[9:25] Moon Adamant: 2. Assurance of quality (through BAC and later on through some QualityDep as previewed)
[9:25] Moon Adamant: these two roles haven't been functioning
[9:25] Jon Seattle: yes
[9:25] Moon Adamant: it is often that citizens come to the board with education questions
[9:26] Jon Seattle: not surprising .. the faculty has not been very active of late
[9:26] Moon Adamant: and the issue is that the board doesn't even know whom to point at in Faculty to answer those questions
[9:27] Moon Adamant: so, from my POV; the restart of Faculty activity should be done through education
[9:27] Jon Seattle: Indeed. I am jumping from questions to possible answers here, but I think that faculty should need to provide active service to stay in that role.
[9:27] Jon Seattle: its become a bit too honorary
[9:27] Moon Adamant: i think your Gymnasium solution may be a possible way
[9:27] Moon Adamant: that way, people can save doubts for the Gymnasium
[9:28] Jon Seattle: Yes, very true. Also I like the idea of screencast production and a resource center.
[9:28] Moon Adamant: and if people tend to gather, then there's also horizontal transmission of knowledge, which is a good thing
[9:28] Sudane Erato: describe the Gymnasium solution?
[9:28] Jon Seattle: I think Moon means having some regular "office hours" with a builder in residence
[9:29] Jon Seattle: people can drop in with their own projects
[9:29] Sudane Erato: i see
[9:29] Sudane Erato: like the events you hold in CN?
[9:29] Jon Seattle: I did get a few people, though not as many as I would have liked.
[9:29] Jon Seattle: yes
[9:29] Moon Adamant: exactly that
[9:29] Sudane Erato: thats a big time commitment
[9:30] Sudane Erato: week in and week out
[9:30] Jon Seattle: well, in general I was able to work on other building projects there when no one showed up.. but it can be
[9:30] Moon Adamant: perhaps we could build a rota (speaking against myself here...
[9:31] Jon Seattle: I think a resource / screencast / mentoring program may be more effective for more serious builders.
[9:31] Sudane Erato: sorry, and what is screencast?
[9:31] Jon Seattle: Yes, I like the rota idea
[9:31] Moon Adamant: then a list of active mentors must be published
[9:31] Sudane Erato: .
[9:31] Sudane Erato: .
[9:31] Jon Seattle: ?
[9:31] Sudane Erato: lag 
((
[9:32] Jon Seattle: ah, nods
[9:32] Moon Adamant: yup, lag spike, also felt it
[9:32] Jon Seattle: I have a program that captures audio and whatever is on my screen and packages it up as a video file.
[9:32] Sudane Erato: oh!
[9:32] Sudane Erato: isn't it huge?
[9:32] Moon Adamant: mac users.... 
[9:33] Jon Seattle: The video? not very. And you can deliver it via YouTube.
[9:33] Moon Adamant: that could be very useful for teaching basic texture techniques
[9:33] Moon Adamant: THOUGH
[9:34] Jon Seattle: http://www.telestream.net/screen-flow/overview.htm
[9:34] Moon Adamant: mind you, there's tons of tutorials in the web... perhaps we could envisage a role inside the Faculty of 'researcher'
[9:34] Moon Adamant: this would be a researcher in didactics, ot tools how to teach other people
[9:35] Jon Seattle: yes, and lots of in-world tutorials as well.. it would be a good idea to find what exists and organize it into a suggested program of "trails"
[9:35] Moon Adamant: again, i'd like to remind that groups like New Citizens, Inc _do_give basic training
[9:36] Jon Seattle: My thought it because of the slow speed of communication in SL a combnation of existing resources, sceencasts, and mentoring may be better than classes.
[9:37] Jon Seattle: Yes, though mainly training in basic technique rather than design
[9:37] Moon Adamant: ok, we can certainly explore several routes there
[9:37] Moon Adamant: yes, but there is need also for basic skills
[9:37] Jon Seattle: indeed
[9:37] Moon Adamant: for instance, the Texture Face-Lift contest had few contestants
[9:38] Moon Adamant: this is more, i feel, due to inexpertise with texturizing tools than to properly lack of ideas for design
[9:39] Jon Seattle: part of that may be that CDS does tend to attract more people with non-design interests. They may discover some interest in design here of course..
[9:39] Jon Seattle: yes, its also the hardest part to master I think
[9:39] Jon Seattle: its easier to use SL's in-world tools than things like Photoshop etc.
[9:39] Moon Adamant: in the other hand, the Guild was always short in programmers
[9:40] Moon Adamant: this is historical
[9:40] Jon Seattle:
[9:40] Jon Seattle: I seem to not program as much in SL, perhaps because I do so much in RL
[9:40] Moon Adamant:
[9:40] Moon Adamant: can i summarize?
[9:40] Jon Seattle: yes, please
[9:41] Moon Adamant: ok, then we see that we have two levels of teaching needed that the Faculty must provide
[9:41] Moon Adamant: a basic skill set, which can be accomplished through a Gymnasium sort of program
[9:42] Moon Adamant: an advanced skill set, often on demand, which could be better dealt in a 1:1 mentorship relation
[9:42] Moon Adamant: correct so far?
[9:42] Sudane Erato: yes
[9:42] Jon Seattle: Yes nods
[9:42] Sudane Erato: i'm worried already how all this would be provided
[9:43] Moon Adamant: for the gymnasium program, a sort of rota could be developed or an external group could be contacted
[9:43] Jon Seattle: well, the Gymnasium, exactly
[9:43] Moon Adamant: for the advanced level, a monitor list must be provided
[9:43] Jon Seattle: And also an in-world resource center perhaps
[9:43] Jon Seattle: that would direct people to existing resources
[9:44] Moon Adamant: exactly, at the same time, a database of knowledge should be created
[9:44] Jon Seattle: if you wan to learn X then try Y and Z
[9:44] Moon Adamant: this hmmm
[9:44] Moon Adamant: reasoning
[9:44] Moon Adamant: leads us then to think what kind of people we need in teh Faculty
[9:44] Moon Adamant: for teh teaching bits
[9:44] Sudane Erato: yes
[9:45] Moon Adamant: we need people who can monitor a class of up to half a dozen newbies and teach them basic skills
[9:45] Sudane Erato: god
[9:45] Jon Seattle: But the hardest thing I found with new builders is getting them to develop photoshop skills.. in part because the software is expensive, also because its a steeper hill, but they never quite believe how important it is
[9:45] Moon Adamant: we need people who can teach in a 1:1 level
[9:45] Moon Adamant: and we need researchers to find resources for everyone
[9:45] Moon Adamant: correct?
[9:45] Jon Seattle: Yes
[9:46] Sudane Erato: yes
[9:46] Sudane Erato: Jpn... i use paintshop pro... no longer sold... but...
[9:46] Moon Adamant: no longer sold?
[9:46] Sudane Erato: a much cheaper substitute
[9:46] Jon Seattle: really!?
[9:46] Sudane Erato: no
[9:46] Sudane Erato: bought by Corel... and then dropped
[9:47] Jon Seattle: Ah, I am using 'photoshop' as a placeholder I tend to use fireworks a lot
[9:47] Moon Adamant: there's something by the same price called Impressions or something like that
[9:47] Sudane Erato: ahh
[9:47] Moon Adamant: that's what Rose uses
[9:47] Sudane Erato: well... in any case... all much cheaper than PS
[9:47] Moon Adamant: yes, ideally
[9:47] Moon Adamant: we would need a good texturizer teacher in GIMP
[9:47] Moon Adamant: because it is free
[9:48] Jon Seattle: yes. And there is always GIMP, but its a bit hard to master. In any case, I find it difficult to get students to focus on 2D graphics
[9:48] Moon Adamant: well, but the art needs both the prims and the textures
[9:48] Sudane Erato: yes... the basic idea of mapping texs to 3D models
[9:48] Jon Seattle: Indeed.
[9:49] Sudane Erato: takes some understanding
[9:49] Moon Adamant: Sudane, i would say more hmmm
[9:49] Moon Adamant: a workload than properly hard
[9:49] Sudane Erato: perhaps
[9:49] Sudane Erato: depends on yopur head
[9:50] Sudane Erato: brb
[9:50] Moon Adamant: if you have a UV map, it becomes easy
[9:50] Moon Adamant: anyway
[9:50] Jon Seattle: I would like to mention the larger canvas design skills.. community planning and sim design and even continent design though those are less often used.
[9:50] Moon Adamant: that will come in time, i think Jon
[9:51] Sudane Erato: back
[9:51] Moon Adamant: because if you can't even sketch in pshop... or assemble a prim model....
[9:51] Moon Adamant: thus my insistence in the basic skills
[9:51] Jon Seattle: yes, I see that.
[9:52] Moon Adamant: one thing i would like to discuss
[9:52] Moon Adamant: since we have pinpointed the education problems
[9:52] Moon Adamant: is the meritocrat problem and the
[9:52] Moon Adamant: hmmm
[9:52] Moon Adamant: enforcement of Faculty duties
[9:52] Moon Adamant: this
[9:52] Jon Seattle: yes
[9:52] Moon Adamant: btw
[9:52] Moon Adamant: is a point that has been raised in Board meetings
[9:53] Moon Adamant: where it has been poited out that there are Faculty members who don't do a thing while citizens who often volunteer for work aren't in the Faculty
[9:53] Moon Adamant: which is... unfair
[9:53] Sudane Erato: yes
[9:54] Sudane Erato: yes... merit systems are always a problem
[9:54] Sudane Erato: They are why i wanted to get rid of the "old" Guild
[9:55] Jon Seattle: well, I suspect that we need to make sure that faculty do service each quarter in order to keep their membership. 1. this will make faculty's work more visible, and 2. provide more openings for those who don't have time.
[9:55] Jon Seattle: *for those who do
[9:55] Moon Adamant: but then Faculty does need a clean up
[9:55] Jon Seattle: It does. Perhaps a restart?
[9:55] Moon Adamant: and i suggest that this quarter be the last chance bar
[9:55] Sudane Erato: yes, at least
[9:56] Sudane Erato: just create a fresh new list
[9:56] Jon Seattle: So, the suggestion is that all members must do service on a project, and show up for meetings, in order to keep their faculty membership.
[9:56] Moon Adamant: indeed
[9:57] Jon Seattle: That makes sense.. and will give the current list a chance to stay on if they are willing to work.
[9:57] Moon Adamant: there has been a lot of problems with Faculty quorums
[9:57] Moon Adamant: exactly
[9:57] Sudane Erato: well... it's,,,... another meeting
[9:57] Moon Adamant: oh, you always show up lol!
[9:57] Sudane Erato: wheras Faculty have other responsibilities too
[9:58] Sudane Erato: i do... well... no, i don't
[9:58] Sudane Erato: but i'm thinking of others
[9:58] Jon Seattle: But we also should do the following I think. 1. Publish a process people can use to become part of the faculty, and 2. advertise
[9:58] Sudane Erato: we ask Faculty to do a lot
[9:58] Moon Adamant: you have met or passed a proxy for all last Faculty meetings, Sudane
[9:58] Sudane Erato: for really no gain
[9:58] Moon Adamant: don't forget that i am also there
[9:58] Sudane Erato: yes
[9:58] Moon Adamant: and often i have your proxy
[9:59] Sudane Erato: ahhh
[9:59] Sudane Erato: good
[9:59] Jon Seattle:
[9:59] Sudane Erato: you always have my proxy
[9:59] Moon Adamant: eheheh that shouldn't be a principle, but happy to be your proxy when you can't do it
[9:59] Moon Adamant: but the point is
[9:59] Jon Seattle has the image of proxys flying across the room.
[10:00] Sudane Erato: lol
[10:00] Moon Adamant: Sudane AT LEAST gives a proxy
[10:00] Antonius Camus is Offline
[10:00] Moon Adamant: some faculty members don't even do that
[10:00] Jon Seattle: yes, very true
[10:00] Sudane Erato: yes... they don't attend, and then dispute the actions taken
[10:01] Jon Seattle: well, we need to make it a real requirement if the NG Faculty is to be a living organization and not just a title
[10:01] Moon Adamant: indeed
[10:01] Sudane Erato: well... as currently conceived... i just don't see individuals willing to accept that much responsibility
[10:01] Jon Seattle: what would help?
[10:01] Sudane Erato: meetings, teaching labor
[10:02] Sudane Erato: *teaching, labor
[10:02] Sudane Erato: to no real gain for them
[10:02] Moon Adamant: should the NG offer a remuneration for the effort?
[10:02] Jon Seattle: I am not so sure.. my experience with Cedar / Spinoza is that we quickly formed a core group of builders and now I care barely stop them from doing projects
[10:02] Sudane Erato: *sigh*
[10:03] Sudane Erato: oh!
[10:03] Moon Adamant: want to lend us some?
[10:03] Sudane Erato: oh my!
[10:03] Sudane Erato: lol
[10:04] Jon Seattle: Well, what sort of payment do you have in mind? We really do not have substantial amounts of funds though perhaps we could offer the ability to teach some classes for payment. In general I would prefer the NG's services to be free though.
[10:04] Sudane Erato: i do too...
[10:05] Sudane Erato: I have no idea for payment
[10:05] Moon Adamant: i am saying this, but i don't even know if we have the funds for it in a sustainable manner
[10:05] Sudane Erato: I only pont out that there's not much in it for Faculty
[10:05] Sudane Erato: exactly
[10:06] Jon Seattle: Yes, except perhaps being called faculty I suppose. I do like the teach however.
[10:06] Sudane Erato: yes... everyone has one thing they like
[10:06] Sudane Erato: and
[10:06] Jon Seattle: I find teaching in SL a bit frustrating though -- and perhaps we could make it easier.
[10:06] Sudane Erato: the key ought to be to organize how they can do that one thing
[10:07] Sudane Erato: without the triple layers of responsibility
[10:07] Sudane Erato: I like to terraform and landscape
[10:07] Sudane Erato: I don't like to teach or go to meetings
[10:07] Moon Adamant: yess
[10:07] Sudane Erato: but I go to meetings out of responsibility
[10:07] Moon Adamant: that's a bit my problem too
[10:07] Moon Adamant: i like to plan, build and texturize
[10:07] Sudane Erato: as few as possible
[10:07] Sudane Erato: yes
[10:08] Moon Adamant: but am a lousy teacher and i go to meetings out of responsability too - but in a glad way
[10:08] Sudane Erato: :_)
[10:08] Jon Seattle: Sudane, how about a role where we can set up each student with some existing or pre-recorded material on how to teraform, then give each a patch of land and a goal, and perhaps then someone like you could drop in and give quick pointers
[10:08] Sudane Erato: yes... i can do that
[10:08] Sudane Erato: be happy to
[10:09] Sudane Erato: basically mentoring
[10:09] Jon Seattle: Its a lot less work for you, and they would have the benifit of your experience and skill without making it too much of a task.
[10:09] Sudane Erato: yes
[10:09] Moon Adamant: brb
[10:09] Jon Seattle: exactly.. but with a framework so that you also would not have a great deal of set-up work.
[10:09] Sudane Erato: and hopefully we could get more people skilled at this... which would be a great booon
[10:09] Sudane Erato: yes
[10:10] Sudane Erato: but creating that framework... will take a lot of work
[10:10] Jon Seattle: It seems to me we could have two roles here -- researcher / corriculum designer who would not teach but would find resources and organize it, and then mentors who would drop in at the right moments to provide suggestions and critique
[10:11] Sudane Erato: and are there folks who would enjoy the first role?
[10:11] Moon Adamant: back
[10:11] Jon Seattle: Well, I actually think for people who love to research is not that bad.. and it need not be done more than once for years of workshops afterwords
[10:11] Jon Seattle: exactly
[10:11] Sudane Erato: ahh... i see
[10:11] Sudane Erato: .
[10:12] Jon Seattle: We could record that knowledge as a kind of recipe -- though some work would be required to keep them current, but not as much as the original effort
[10:12] Sudane Erato: yes, i understand that
[10:13] Jon Seattle: I like where this is going
[10:13] Sudane Erato:
[10:13] Jon Seattle: I tend to like to research actually .. I suspect there are others who do as well.
[10:13] Moon Adamant: eeek
[10:13] Moon Adamant:
[10:13] Sudane Erato: well... if we tie it to something that makes it fun for all the participants..
[10:13] Jon Seattle:
[10:13] Sudane Erato: and i think this is going in that direction
[10:14] Sudane Erato: suggestion
[10:14] Sudane Erato: that the Faculty "requirement" be not restricted to any one area... like labor, or teaching
[10:14] Aphilo Aarde is Offline
[10:14] Jon Seattle: Yes, I agree.
[10:14] Moon Adamant: i agree
[10:14] Sudane Erato: but that it be in whichever area you choose
[10:15] Benito Flores is Offline
[10:15] Jon Seattle: we had originally suggested that it be ten hours (very approx) per quarter.
[10:15] Jon Seattle: Is that too much?
[10:15] Sudane Erato: yes
[10:15] Moon Adamant: i agree, since we can envisage as we grow a need for people skilled in event and community management... that's a valuable skill
[10:15] Sudane Erato: well... 10 hours of what?
[10:15] Sudane Erato: "qualifying activity"?
[10:16] Jon Seattle: Work on NG projects and meetings total
[10:16] Moon Adamant: and teaching, mind
[10:16] Sudane Erato: ahh... to include meeting
[10:16] Sudane Erato: yes... definitely to include teaching
[10:16] Jon Seattle: It may be helpful to define it for a number of specific roles and projects.
[10:17] Moon Adamant: indeed
[10:17] Moon Adamant: we can meet some of our pressing needs there
[10:17] Moon Adamant: for instance, the need for more types of fachwerken
[10:17] Jon Seattle: Say create curriculum for one class per quarter - or - spend six hours in mentoring or critique
[10:17] Sudane Erato: yes
[10:18] Moon Adamant: then we could teach people to do a fachwreken, with all the skills implied... and maybe the Guild can provide a small prize for a'winner'
[10:18] Moon Adamant: or for 'completion'
[10:18] Jon Seattle: (six hours = two hours each month.)
[10:18] Jon Seattle: yes
[10:19] Moon Adamant: btw, can i suggest this conversation to be recorded and transcripted for development on it?
[10:19] Jon Seattle: yes, Should I post the transcript?
[10:19] Sudane Erato: sure!
[10:19] Jon Seattle: Good I will do that.
[10:19] Moon Adamant: indeed
[10:20] Jon Seattle: I think we have some great ideas. I will set up some Google docs in the next day or so and invite each of you.
[10:20] Sudane Erato: kk... great
[10:20] Jennette Forager is Offline
[10:20] Moon Adamant: thanks Jon
[10:21] Sudane Erato: yes... ty
[10:21] Jon Seattle: Anything else we should talk about before wrapping up?
[10:21] Sudane Erato: maybe at last we will get somewheres with this
[10:21] Jon Seattle: yay! I certainly hope so.
[10:21] Moon Adamant: i don't think so... i would leave the discussion of the questions for the GDocs
[10:21] Jon Seattle: Great. Thanks Sudane, Moon!
