Then, there is the issue about information and comment flow adn itnerrelations... maybe I am naive but I think we are doing pretty well compared with other sites. I hope we stay that way if we push forward with more members.
And finally regardign the wishes for the site. I feel the only thing that the masters can do is put tools at our disposal, nothing more.. the rest frankly depends on us and our available time. The problem is, it could hurt the FP and people in charge if they do changes and then we do not use them or disregard them. So, my hope is that what I would like to have new here (not really different,but new) is similar to what the owner and technics want... but if not I am jsut as happy as ever.
Now I will try to make a sumamry about wat I have been readign regarding the future of ET as nicely as I can (I am trying to speak for other peopl here, so I could be phrasing the things in an incorrect way).
Some people wishes cahnges in the front-page.. just for the sake of change in the looks or with soem specific goal in mind regarding new people.. I only hope that some of the proposals people made here are considered and maybe taken into account or not with th bests possible judgement.
And regardng the tools, I recall the two ideas popping out more in many diaries :
First idea is to make a brother site where we can have soemthing simialr to position papers where our discussions are summarized (and in some cases some agreement regardign the aswer to certain european/world problems is reached and a formal "solution paper" is posted). the same site could be the repostory of economic adn energy naratives we are willing to push.
The second idea going around quite often is to make a repositroy of media contacts,and media outreach where we could fill the e-maials, adrresses adn phones of european media so that we can reach them for letters to the editors, full opinion articles, press releases at short notice.
I hope I have summed up nicely what I have been people saying here: My opinion about them is really not important now. Nevertheless althoug everybody knows I heart mroe the second one, I think it al depends on members time.. so everything is fine with me...)
But I repeat.. FP and Co. would have to do it just because they fell like doing it.. and this is a lot to ask from themn. So my absolute support to anything you decide...
A pleasure I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude
We cannot expect people (because it's not fair and because it's not practically feasible if people need to earn a living) to do this on a volunteer basis.
Thus we need to raise money, and have enough to have, at least, the equivalent of 2 people employed fulltime to do this. (I see a part time IT job, a bigger part time media job, and lots of smaller contracts for individual papers or data collection on any chosen topic).
I'd be willing to provide seed money to get this started, but cannot afford to do this over the long term on my own. Thus we need people familiar with fund raising (and with ET) to come in the picture. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Shouldn't be too difficult... You can't be me, I'm taken
jerome.. you first.. :)
Completely OT, but follows from your earlier video.
Stephen Fry's words on what it means to be human..
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If the above html doesn't work, try this -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q715ty5hLt4&eurl=http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2008/5/7/105424/64 20
Would you mind reposting that comment following the video-embedding instructions in the new user guide?
Please post it as a reply to the comment you were originally replying to so this one can be hidden or deleted. When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
On fundraising issues: If you really start to think seriuosly on fundraising ET should become an non/profit organization of some kind, based on some EU member country. That would be the only way of taking real advantage of local, national and European opportunities. Creating that organization is a prerequisite to any strategy.
In any case, don't forget that the whole project is in any case based on voluntary work, as the idea is to give notoriety to the people who is contributing ET. Those two people would be a supporting structure, but the core would be voluntary any how... That may be the streghnth of the project, if you think on the ideals behind it, but also a potential organizational weakness that have to be dealt with. You talk about finished articles, but a continiuous creatiomn of articles must be assured in some way. The question is: would ET atract so much voluntary involvement in long-term basis as human rights organizations, environmental organizations or other king of NGOs based on voluntary work? A think tank, in its traditional definition, wouldn't. Of course, we could call some NGOs (Amnesty, Green Peace, Save the Children) think tanks too, in some way.
That leads me on the "mission" and "vision" of ET. From the little I know on ET, perhaps what makes a difference from ET to other think tanks would be the "citizenship" approach: being a tool to express for the people who is not usually IN the European debate, or at least not in a conscious way, deciding somewhat freely themes, interests... It's in some way the beauty of chaos what gives ET its swing. In order to be visible, it's true, organization is needed... But don't be deluded: organizing texts, selecting, correcting... That puts an imprint on the original source. It's the same as History, that doesn't exist: how the facts are told to future generations, that makes textbook History. So ET Think Tank will change ET, and I doubt that this would please all its members... be careful when organizing it, because if it becomes the projects of a few ET-persons, it looses the chaos richness.
Is there a common vision to all ET members? I don't know really, but maybe the common vision is not related to the content of what it is said, but on the way it works: as a tool to express own views, but also as a collaborative tool to build common views... So it's very good to try to give visibility of what has already been drafted, writen... But I think it could be even more important to give visibility to the site itself, enhance it, do it more accessible (I get lost everytime)... There's a lot of social networks (Facebook, etc.), Photo-sharing ones (Flickrt, Picasa), business networks (linkedin), e-learning ones... Is there any "thinking network" on the web? ET could be one... So I would suggest an organized ET to focus not only in the content, but on the creation process of the content, because that's what, I think, could give you all a window of opportunity, as it's the special feature of ET. "If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none." (Fahrenheit 451)
the best sentence i've read here, period.
its wing too.
very nice, lurk no more! ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Is there any "thinking network" on the web? ET could be one... So I would suggest an organized ET to focus not only in the content, but on the creation process of the content, because that's what, I think, could give you all a window of opportunity, as it's the special feature of ET.
I think this is a very important point - we're not simply trying to influence old media, or become a pressure group, or traditional think tank. We are trying to do a new thing in a new way - part of building a new civil society, part of building a new communications medium, a new learning environment, and a new process for documenting outcomes. Hold that thought... "It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
we are a small community and we have left so much convetional wisdom that it could be weird and intimidating for the newcomer. I only hope that we would ahve a "bob" around here being the official welcoming party.
When I first came here the discussion did appear a bit more intense than on a lot of other political sites I'd visited. A couple of users who seemed to pop up and give my comments 4's did a lot to convince me that it was worth staying long enough to read enough to think I could contribute. Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
I will do it
