Hi, Tony --You bring up some good points -- all valid issues in terms of retaining the democracy of the network, though I just want to point out that I'm fairly certain that Marlon didn't intend to make it 'his' network. The parameters of ning require that you retain that "Created by" box, and in order to remove it, you must purchase that service:
"Remove Ning Promotion LinksThis service will hide the 'Create Your Own Social Network' links on your network and will allow you to remove the 'Created By' module from your layout.
$7.95 per month"It looks like Marlon has already removed that module, which means that he's now shouldering the monthly fee. While I agree that the "branding" of someone's profile foto in the "Created By" area is not preferable, is it worth a monthly fee? An alternative could be to invite others to share the administration of the network - whomever is interested - and in that case, would it really matter who created it, as long as it's an effort that's being shared by mutual agreement?
While I agree with both you and Matt, in that Marlon could have opened up the discussion to the list and made it more participatory, especially after Kristin had expressed toward the same objective...but well, it's water under the bridge now because he took the initiative and did it. And I must say, I can respect that too. I've always been a fan of the "do it now, apologize later" club. I appreciate the effort. Certainly there could be aspects that are more open... as you mentioned, for example -- the del.icio.us links...but there is a simple solution to that. We could create a del.icio.us account for 'dancetech' and have everyone contribute to that and then plug that RSS feed into the network.
Having said all that, I think it's good we are talking about it, but let's not rest in the drama. We've got some good momentum, so let's move with it, shall we?
cheers, ~Josephine On Nov 15, 2007, at 11:10 AM, Tony Schultz wrote:
wow Marlon. you must be out of breath.this week i wrote a post asking the group to create a reading list for the ning network. http://dancetech.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1462368%3ABlogPost% 3A1002its great that you responded by putting up your reading list in the sidebar however it would be much cooler and more democratic if we can all contribute to the reading list. though i am sure you do not intend this your language here seems territorial. "I will be developing my list and you can also share it inside your pages." lets try making a list together that way you might come across something you may not have read before like Dick's Martian Time Slip for example. this way people can present books and use blog posts to elaborate some of the important details of the work. explain why it is an important part of the canon.for example you love haraway.take a couple of posts to present haraway. link to her lectures and her texts available online. explain her language and your the use of her ideas. address the text directly.does this sound reasonable to you? interesting? exciting? useful?Matt Gough has raised similar concerns that your administration approach can seem closed and territorial.http://quodlibet.tumblr.com/post/18704984again i love your handsome face but it might be nice if it wasnt on the top right of every single page of dancetech.net if we are going to encourage new conversation and generosity from contributions of the group it might make sense to remove this field. people want to communicate without feeling like they are simply building someone else's brand.kristin walks this line with an incredible degree of awareness. look at the winger for example. cycled images of all the contributors are shown on the top of the side bar. they are like little advertisements for each contributor. look at intermission. there is no field saying "so and so created this social network". participants feel the space is their own because it looks open.i imagine if you retool the representations of ownership people will be more generous in contributing, myself included.thanks for all your hard work. i really appreciate it. lets just try to work on a more democratic and strategic brandingtony schultz ΩA message to all members of dance-tech.net Hello all dance-tech members. This is Marlon. Welcome all again and I would like to communicate to you some news:-Our network has now its own domain name: dance-tech.net, that it is how will show in the browser now on.-We won have automatically generated adds.-I have placed a lot of relevant information on the left sidebar: thre relevant RSS feeds (please suggest more)-My delicious tag cloud so we can share bookmarks-A very cool new 2.0 services for sharing a book list: "librarything" I will be developing my list and you can also share it inside your pages.-Reminder: Complete your profiles Visit other profiles and leave comments.As you can see if you blog in your profile, your post is featured in the center of the page. -You can initiate a "group" based on spacial interests, geographic areas, etc. -Start a discussion or thread: use discussions for specific questions creating an exposed thread...and please spread the word... Ok, I think that is all for now! Marlon About dance-tech.netIt aggregates and facilitates the flow of information and the distributed intelligence among movement, new media artist and theorists working in the confluence of embodied performance practices and new media.Click here to visit dance-tech.net! http://dancetech.ning.com --You have received this email because you are a member of dance- tech.net. If you no longer wish to receive notification emails from dance- tech.net, please click here.http://dancetech.ning.com/profiles/profile/emailSettings
