wiki-l Mailing List: Re: cohousing documents / wiki

[Fred H Olson (fholson]

On Fri, 16 Feb 2007, John Parsons wrote:

> Hi, Fred.
>
> I have been travelling extensively for the past two weeks, so this is
> the first time I've been able to write you on the issue of a cohousing
> document repository.

You're not too late to the discussion, the wiki idea really only evolved
since Tuesday 2/13 starting with the message
http://lists.cohousing.org/pipermail/cohousing-l/msg25420.html
but has generated a surprizing amount of discussion.
On the other hand the document repository has been recogised since neary
the first cohousing-L messages in 1992. See
http://lists.cohousing.org/pipermail/cohousing-l/msg00008.html

There have been a number of attempts that have not gotten very far.  It's
a big task which is one reason to spread around the effort using a
collaborative approach of a wiki which seems to me ideally suited to the
cohousing community.  Of course the idea of wiki's has been gaining
prominence for some time.

> As you may remember from our last phone
> conversation, Coho/US is developing and refining this type of material,
> which we are planning to offer as "premium content" on the web site --
> at a fair price, but not for free.

No I dont remember that but I guess it depends on what "this type of
material" refers to.  What are your plans?

> While I am not opposed to the wiki
> approach, I believe it has very practical limitations.

What limitations do you refer to?  It depends on mustering enough
particpation from enough people with enough expertise and the only way to
see if we can do that is to try.  By now there is a vast amount of
experience in held by many people so I am hopeful.  Some individual
communities have found this approach useful.  Previous centralized
approaches have failed.

> The aim of the
> Coho/US project is not to stifle the exchange of ideas, but to "vet" and
> organize useful material for both forming groups and existing
> communities. This does not exclude wikis -- nor should it -- but I
> believe we need to be clear with our constituents on the pros and cons
> of each model.
>
> I would love to be able to discuss this with you. If you have the time
> to call, please do -- or let me know a good time I can call you.

Sure give me a call, this weekend is a bit busy tho I expect to be around
between times.  It's hard to say exact times tho.  You might catch me
between 11:00 and 11:30 am cst tomorrow - Sat 2/17.  Times after that are
harder to predict.

Maybe Monday morning would be easier. 11 am cst ?

>
> In community,
>
>  John
>
> John Parsons, Publisher
> Cohousing (www.cohousing.org)
> Email: john [at] bartcommunity.org
> Telephone: (206) 780 3840

Fred

-- 
Fred H. Olson  Minneapolis,MN 55411  USA        (near north Mpls)
Communications for Justice - My listserv org.           UU, Linux
My Link Page: http://fholson.cohousing.org       Ham radio:WB0YQM
fholson at cohousing.org   612-588-9532   (7am-10pm Central time)