CDS History Project

[Brian Livingston]

Good Evening:

As we approach the 5th Anniversary of our community, perhaps we should take some time to reflect upon and document our accomplishments and stories from the past five years. We have discussed setting up a history project in the past, but there is no better time to do so than now as we head towards this significant milestone.

I am proposing the creation of the CDS History Project, a multi-faceted effort to document and present our history, both as a community and as individuals, to current and future visitors, citizens, and scholars.

The first step of this project is to organize a working committee. This group will be responsible for meeting periodically to gauge progress and set the goals for this project. The projected time commitment for the committee is from 2 - 4 hours a month with biweekly meetings, as well as forum and e-mail communications in the interim.

I also foresee a need for a team of historical researchers and editors to comb through the massive amount of historical data we have and organize it for general use, as well as assemble a comprehensive, viewpoint neutral historical time line, narrative, and exhibit. The time commitment for these assignments will vary.

I am looking to get our first organizational meeting underway within a week. If you are interested in joining this effort, please respond to this forum thread with your preferred area(s) of participation and the best time slots for a meeting.

Thanks!

Brian Livingston

[Sudane Erato]

I'll be more than happy to help. But having been a part of that history through a very controversial period, you may wish to designate me in an advisory role, rather than a decision-making role.

As far as meetings, practically speaking, I can make ones only on weekends, between 8 AM and 2 PM SLT on Saturdays and Sundays.

I think this is a great idea... one well worth doing. I continue to find myself in RL discussions with people who, while only vaguely aware of virtual worlds, are utterly intrigued by the notion of our experiment in democracy.

Sudane.............................................

[Arria Perreault]

I am interested to participate to this project. History is an important part of any community. I agree with Sudane on the difficulty to have a neutral point of view. I would suggest that we focuse on the documentation and the testimonies (with that material, it's always possible to make an exhibition in a place of CDS). The people who can write the history of CDS are probably out of our community. But if we have a good documentation, some researchers or students could be interested to study us ....

[Sonja Strom]

I am also interested in this project. All of us in the CDS have our own perspectives, but I feel I would have a relatively neutral view of the history of the CDS - especially its early history, which took place before I found out about it. Also, I am willing to consider the fact that I do have my own perspective, and that it inherently is limited.

There is also another similar thread to this one in the Planning section of the forum, here: http://forums.slcds.info/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2289

[Rose Springvale]

Yay Brian! thanks for taking this on.

i don't think you need me but i am willing to help in any way i can.

Rose, who enjoys rewriting history ... hehe.

[Timo Gufler]

Sounds like a great project, Brian! As far as I know, we have still some people among us who have seen the early days of CDS, that must be a great benefit, when trying to understand the circumstances. If I had more time (and more experience, of course) it would be nice to participate this project. Anyway I will follow it more or less as a spectator...

[Aliasi Stonebender]

I am looking to get our first organizational meeting underway within a week. If you are interested in joining this effort, please respond to this forum thread with your preferred area(s) of participation and the best time slots for a meeting.

While I don't think I'll have the time to directly organize, I'll gladly make myself available as a resource as needed.

[Claude Desmoulins]

I'd like to help with this in some way. Keep in mind that all history has biases and that including first person narratives, acknowledging that they aren't attempting to present a single authoritative narrative, has value.

[Brian Livingston]

I would like to see this project result in several products and compilations. All work will be peer-reviewed to help catch and correct any bias, but in the following sub-tasks, I think the risk is relatively minimal, provided proper effort is taken.

Time Line of Historical Events: This is an on-going time line of important political, social, and economic dates in the development of our community. Entries should be cross-referenced to forum posts, photos, legislation, and other source documentation. This will create a framework both for this project and for derivative works.

Photo Gallery: A collection of photos from throughout the development of the C.D.S. Many of these will be located and cross-referenced by the time line sub-task, but still others will be from those submitted by citizens and visitors.

First Person Interviews: A series of interviews with citizens, past and present, based off a questionnaire of open-ended questions. The goal of these interviews is to record the personal experiences and history of the people that have built (and continue to build) this community, each in their own way.

I would propose that these collections be made available through the C.D.S. web portal, and selected components developed into an in-world display or series of displays. In addition, I would propose that any materials that are donated to this project or created by this project be covered by a creative commons license, perhaps under the by-nc-sa license (Attribution-Non Commerical-Share Alike). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/.

On that note, I would like to propose that we hold our first meeting next Tuesday at 3 PM SLT. If that time works well for you, please respond here. If it doesn't, please propose a couple better times and we'll work something out.

We'll be discussing the above topics, setting some tentative deadlines and begin breaking up the work. If you are interested in helping out or have thoughts on the above points and cannot make the meeting, send me an e-mail at [email protected] and I'll get back to you soon.

Regards,

Brian Livingston

[Sudane Erato]

At the moment, that's a time I can actually make .

Brian, your goals sound very well thought out and seem a good basis to build on.

Sudane.............................

[Sonja Strom]

That time works for me.

I like these ideas too.

[Rose Springvale]

I"m not a fan of Creative Commons Licenses, personally, and think there is a lot of confusion about what it allows. I'd would suggest we stick with the license agreement we've developed with lots of professional review for all CDS material, if a license is needed at all. Copy here: http://forums.slcds.info/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=2183

[Brian Livingston]

Hi all:

Sorry for the late notice, but I just realized tonight that I have scheduled this meeting for the same day and time as another commitment. As such, I would like to suggest moving the meeting to Wednesday at 3 PM SLT.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Brian

[Sonja Strom]

I can be there at the new time.