Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 21:40:21 +0100 (BST)
From: kate rich <kate@bureauit.org>
To: switch2@blueyonder.co.uk
Cc: heath@irational.org
Subject: Re: sparror: a little bird comments/from mac (fwd)

hey mac

good to see you last weekend.
thanks for the policy repsonse
& sorry to be slowthinking back on this

> Before being issued a sparror mail account, volunteers will 
> normally have worked at The CUBE for several months [1 or 

> though this refers to e mail accounts, it may be inferred taht it also
> relates to server access/hosting etc.

ok, i can make this more explicit, that webspace extends 
expansively to nonvols
 
> in going through the links from the front end, to see what is on,
> several of the links go to "non-sites" where there appears to be little
> activity. perhaps these could be highlighted as closed or working
> spaces.

i quite like that the sleeper sites have the same frontpage
weight as the active ones. but more important - to me - is
this thing of trying to not involve too much central
monitoring in sysadmin job [ie. we would have to constantly
check/decide & update who is/not active] - currently the
frontpage is very simple but kind of automated
 
> I spoke with annie when I got back, and realised that while some people
> want the space, they feel they are not "ready" to go public, with what
> they are working on. Perhaps some of the "work in progress" sites could
> be described as that, so that space is offered, but public access to
> sites "under construction" could be limited. 

hidden experimentation is an important sparror role i agree.
might need to be more overtly encouraged - but again i htink
users can take this on, by puting a go away page at the top
of their site & not linking any further in. which 
conceivably they covertly are already..

> I like the variety of subjects and so on, personally I also like it
> being named as a "art Server" however I think Dan made a fair point
> that he feels what he is doing there is not "art".

one aspect of the naming is that it's historical [ie. that 
hogge named it & did a picture 4[?] years ago] and there is 
some consistency. i personally don't mind either way -
BUT one of the many things we didnt resolve in the meeting 
was how to make decisions such as these. 

call another meeting?

> If you think it useful, I will try to make up a short "site
> description" of each site, and post it to you for distribution and
> consideration by the site makers.

i thought it could be better to do it as a macdunlop 
tour/review/aboutpage of sparror - otherwise we can run into 
the central administration problem yet again [circulating this 
round 40 users / trying to be definitive]
does this sound approachable?

> Also just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the meeting,I enjoyed it
> and got a lot out of the day. I know that we may not have covered all
> the ground which you wished to go over, but I came away feeling much
> more enthusastic about sparror and its ambition to offer without being
> prescriptive or thematic.  And to have had the opportunity to thank you
> and Kayle and everyone involved with keeping the projecton its feet, I
> personally have got as great deal out of being 0offered the space, and
> being left to use it. Apart from my own work having a home on the net,
> its also meant that I can contribute to what others are doing, and
> advise/teach comment more knowledgably on internet practice and
> issues.

thanks, i'll fwd it to key personnel at the arts council. & 
heath who does most of the heavy sparror labour. 

till soon then
kate