Re: [ba-unrev-talk] Continuation of Doug's Colloquium
Henry K van Eyken wrote: (01)
> The thread seems to have wandered off a little from the objective for
> which it was started.
>
> I hoped to see a discussion that would develop in a sound approach for
> continuing Doug's Colloquium in a sustainable, effective manner. (02)
The most sensible thing I read in the original message was the concept
of turning the colloquium into a book. (03)
I would suggest focusing efforts on that, and see if the results produce
any traction at all. Finding a publisher is probably the hardest part of
the process. (04)
As for the web site, I rarely visit it. I think Stephen's post summarized
the situation with acute accuracy: (05)
stephen white wrote: (06)
> As a developer, Bootstrap doesn't provide any real toehold on what
> needs to be done. When I read through the available documentation, I
> see lots of talk about purple numbers, but I don't see any design
> documents, any project planning, any specifications for first cut
> programs or anything that a programmer could use to get started. In
> other words, it's a typical academic project which has wishlists and
> theory but is short on the practicalities.
>
> Unfortunately, I have my own opinions and ideas therefore I don't
> really see where I can work with Bootstrap. I understand that Doug has
> spent years thinking about his ideas and just wants to see them
> implemented without debating points this way or that way. This is
> understandable, but it's not my kind of environment. (07)
I spent about a year trying to drive the group towards sufficient
consensus to generate a plan. But what appeared to me to be a
logical meeting ground for the diverse minds that were participating
in the activity didn't meet with Doug's approval, so the effort was
disbanded. (08)
I continue to support the goals, but continue to this day to be mystified
as to what, if anything, they translate to in practice. (09)
This, in microcosm, appears to be the history of the effort, repeated
N times, for some N greater than 5, or maybe 10. I'm not sure. (010)
But experience suggests that a "collaboration site" can meet with
only limited success, because we need collaboration tools to make
decisions and cooperate on the site -- but even more than that, we
need common goals. (011)
So, to me, the thought of putting the colloquium in book form is
very appealing, both to capture and to promote the extradordinary
wealth of ideas it contained and inspired. (I, for one, found myself
enthralled throughout the colloquium, with ideas, questions, and
potential theories spinning off at a dizzying rate. It is an experience
I would dearly love to recapture, were the opportunity to arrive.) (012)