~e; re: closing the ~e-list

[brian carroll <human@electronetwork.org>]

  hi everyone, thanks for chiming in. and thanks
  for your generosity and ideas on and off list.
  i think i have a sense of what will work now...

  1) the EM newsletter will be shut-down as was
  previously stated. as it is the main content
  for the list, it is unknown if other posts will
  sustain the list or if it will hibernate and in
  time may be shut-down for lack of activity.

  2) what i still enjoy about the EM newsletter is
  writing the commentaries, though it has been a
  poor vehicle for sharing ideas, i.e. cumbersome
  when adding a long scrolling list of links to it.
  thus i am contemplating some open-format that any
  could contribute ideas to the list with, such as
  'EM observations' with bullet points (*) on some
  variety of things. i could try to send one every
  so often, as ideas arise, and if others have any
  ideas to share, could use or create a new format.
  for instance, when Paul wrote (hi Paul) it quickly
  reminded me of things i want to write but cannot
  in the current format: for instance, .US VP Cheney
  was a dignitary at the recent holocaust ceremonies
  while a small story ran in the local newspaper on
  how it is now likely the meeting minutes of the
  .US Energy Task Force will likely never be revealed,
  says a .US court of appeals. it is a bullet-proof
  political moment and a shrewd bit of calculation.
  without an electromagnetic context, this would not
  be as easy to connect as an event - given widespread
  media coverage of the memorial services, the 'ghost
  train' which was incredibly moving in communicating
  the sense of events, and the world stage where the
  caldron that boils is largely tied to one person's
  political ideology and point of view by and large
  predicated on energy policy issues that preceded
  the 2000 elections, with aspects related to Enron
  and Halliburton still unresolved, after two wars.

  3) as always the hope for the electronetwork.org
  project is to open it up to wider contributions,
  and go beyond current limitations. the aspect of
  news and events would probably work well in blog
  format, though discussion on e-mail lists may be
  unique and necessary at times too. the reason it
  is thought to keep the list open even if it does
  not have much traffic is partly for security- in
  that if there are any emergencies of the nature
  talked about daily in the governments and press,
  such as a nuclear detonation, dirty bomb strike,
  space storms, whatever it may be-- it probably is
  a decent place to briefly centralize information.


  the other content flows could be events and links
  sent to share or announce ideas, and another is
  to post electronetwork.org content that is right
  now in the form of gray-matter and has yet to
  make its way onto the website. there are many
  ideas that can be developed for the site yet it
  is a questionable format to make everything into
  an essay prior to placing it online. for instance,
  for years i have found fascination with TV dials,
  radio tuner dials (with all the frequencies on it)
  as they are like 'maps' of cyberspace. so a page
  could be made for these types of maps or territory,
  though in the current framework this is outside of
  the current approach. the site is in need of new
  graphic design and information structure as it is
  like an online megamall of electromagnetic tidbits.

  too much structure can stop the development and so
  too, too little structure. i figure once the site
  becomes collaborative these can be redeveloped anew.
  so the structure is not a focus right now, though a
  blog would be good for some of it. on dial-up, the
  main reason much has not gone forward, technically,
  is because of archiving issues with PHP, etc. on a
  local computer (offline) and for storage. one has
  to be online to see things, there are always some
  variables on web-hosts that are different from the
  packaged code and also on the computer here, that
  somehow the standard instructions never seem to work.
  the site is in need of a redesign and restrategizing
  though in the mean-time it could be simplified and
  yet my skills are not versatile in graphics design,
  and page layout-type imaginations, though if i was
  going to put in a few days on it i would make the
  main page very simple with just major section links
  (network/assemblage/education/works/list) and prune
  the rest of the ongoing noise. my feeling is that
  the site will have to change and evolve if it is to
  become compelling and inclusive (technically, too).
  and so a new design will probably evolve with this.

  (the content i'd most like to get online is how to
  begin learning electronics, learned through trial
  and lots of error. i think there is a good way to
  explore electronics that is affordable, starting
  with a small kit called Mr. Circuit #1 and then to
  approach the components by reading the book How to
  Read Schematics, which is as clear as it gets for
  how these basic electronic things work, then to
  move into a microcontroller environment such as
  the Parallax HomeworkBoard (or others) instead of
  continuing down the solderless breadboard path.
  An immense amount of learning can be had for about
  25 dollars and a library book rental, then if it is
  of interest the Parallax BasicSTAMP is probably a
  very modest investment that would pay off in what
  is gained if the previous information was absorbed.)

  the archives for this list, too, are rather unwieldy
  and so the more posts added to it, the worse it gets.
  though i am grateful for this list that others have
  helped keep afloat and for having such great members.
  this is the potential for keeping the list open, so
  that everyone doing something can share it online.

  thanks again for the feedback. i did not do this in
  search of compliments though they are appreciated.
  what i care about is that everyone is getting some-
  thing from the list, that it is not an idle project
  and that the reason it is worth doing is because EM
  is a shared interest and this is a place for that.
  in any case, the EM newsletter R.I.P. and the list
  will remain online and see what content develops...
  brian- http://www.electronetwork.org/bc/

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