the future of the oslist -- news and a proposal

Thu Aug 19 14:43:37 PDT 2010

Thanks for all your work on this Michael,

This is not my area of expertise but I do really love the OSLIST and
grateful for those that understand and support the tec stuff.  Chris and I
are game to offer some money into the pot to help it happen.  Let us know
where that will be collected and we'll send some along.

Cheers,

Caitlin.

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 1:38 PM, Michael Herman
<michael at michaelherman.com>wrote:

> hello all, a bit of very important news and a proposal for the future of
> the oslist.
>
> the oslist -- in it's current form -- will cease to exist within the next
> year.  i have been in contact with our boise state hosts and with the makers
> of the software that drives our list and archives.  i've developed a bit of
> a work-around plan (working around paying the software company or anyone
> else large sums of money annually to run the future of the list).  the
> softward company has confirmed for me that this (rather non-standard use of
> their software) is indeed technically feasible.  another nice thing about it
> is that it makes the oslist structure look even more like what we do in open
> space meetings.
>
> the oslist at boise state is done as of june 30th 2011, they are cancelling
> their license and migrating all university groups to googlegroups.  on that
> date, oslist will disappear, unless we do something to move it.
>
> IF we can find another organization to host us as bsu has, then we can (pay
> someone to) migrate our archive and user list and go on our merry way,
> subject again to the whims of their IT department.
>
> IF, instead, we choose to fund our own implementation of the listserv
> (brand name) software, we can migrate our archives and continue our
> conversation.
>
> ALTERNATIVELY, or more creatively... we can contract with l-soft directly
> to set-up and maintain our archive, control that for ourselves going
> forward, AND set it up in a way that would add to the archive going forward
> any postings from any other email list, like germany, europe, australia, uk,
> etc.  what's more, this turns out to be the cheapest option, because we only
> need to pay for listserv software for the archiving function, rather than
> for a full-blown list that will deliver to 700 people at a cost of almost $2
> for EVERY message sent to the list (this assumes we would pay for the
> service rather than license and run this for ourselves.  harrison is fond of
> saying that we have done all this without a marketing department.  why add
> an IT department now?)  this is my suggestion.
>
> and this is what i'm proposing (offering) to do now:
>
> 1. migrate all of our members to a new oslist at googlegroups (yes,
> googlegroups.  people who pay attention to such things seem to prefer the
> functionality there and since our list is public anyway, there are no issues
> with privacy and control of content.  but we will also archive in two other
> places, a gmail account AND a listserv system that will keep adding all new
> posts to the old listserv archive.)
>
> 2. migrate the archive (12 years, i think, and on our way to 29,000
> messages) to a new list that will have only one member account.
>
> 3. make that one member account (oslist at gmail.com, for instance) a member
> of the new oslist at googlegroups.com AND any other lists around the world.
> THEN set that member account to forward everything it receives to the
> migrated archive.  so other lists become like breakouts and the oslist
> archive a global community record wall of what's happening.
>
> it this way, we achieve:
>
> 1. a new, free, and durable oslist at googlegroups, with all the bells and
> whistles there
> 2. the survival of the 29,000-message archive in publicly-searchable
> perpetuity, hosted by l-soft (makers of listserv software)
> 3. the addition of all new oslist and other list postings to the central
> archive
>
> what does it cost?
>
> 1. continuing the oslist conversation in a new googlegroups oslist account
> costs nothing.
> 2. forwarding to the archive of all os community list mail from any list,
> costs nothing
> 3. migration of the oslist archive and setup of new archive list function
> costs $500
> 4. the cost of maintaining the archive would be $500 per year
>
> i'd expect that $500 is fundable through donations and could easily be
> handled in the normal course of business and budgeting of the osi-usa.  i
> assume it's better to have a legal entity with a standing bank account take
> responsibility for it, rather than an individual or loose group of
> colleagues.  but i'll leave it to osi-usa or another group to say they'll
> take this on.
>
> i *think* that any other solution to this results in one or more of the
> following... loss of the archives, costs that run to $3000 or $4000 annually
> (and are totally variable based on list size), reliance on volunteer
> community members to be our global IT department, additional cost of paying
> community members to admin the system, reliance on the goodwill of some
> other organization (which might be generous initially but could pull the
> plug with less warning than we've been given now), no ability to archive
> many lists in our one online record.
>
> i will check with boise state to confirm their support for our migration.
> i'm told by l-soft that migrating the archive to a new location/list is
> pretty simple stuff.
>
> i'm willing to implement this, but not fund it.  i'd like at least four
> others to sign on as stewards of the shift.  more would be fine.  and i hope
> osi-usa will be the official steward for donations/funding matters.
>
> i don't have time right now to discuss this with 700 subscribers.  i'm just
> one guy, one list member.  this is just my personal recommendation and
> proposal.  BUT... if there are concerns about any of this, i'm glad to try
> to keep up with clarifying questions.
>
> if you think this is a good way to proceed, please say so.  if you have
> something to contribute to the process (time, attention, money, etc) please
> say so.  if you have concerns, let's hear them, too -- BUT if you think we
> shouldn't do something in this proposal, then bring your own suggestions and
> proposals for what we should do instead, making sure that the solution as
> modified (or replaced) is still complete (technically, financially, etc.).
>
> since we don't have anything to discuss about IF we should move or really
> even WHEN we should move, the only question is HOW to preserve the archive
> and WHERE to continue the main conversation.
>
> ideally, this would all happen when things quiet down a bit at the end of
> the year, mid- to late-december.  that's when i would be most able to
> support these things.  anyone else could do it sooner or later, but i do
> think that distinguishing our two tasks, maintaining the archive AND
> continuing the conversation, is a valuable way to think about this now.
>
> what can you contribute to this (new) beginning?
>
> m
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
>
> http://MichaelHerman.com
> http://RonanParkTrail.com
> http://ManorNeighbors.com
> http://ChicagoConservationCorps.org
> http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
>
> 312-280-7838 (mobile)
>
>
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-- 
If you really knew how beautiful you are,
you would fall at your own feet.
*Byron Katie.*

CAITLIN M FROST
Coaching, Facilitation, Project Management,
Certified Facilitator - The Work of Byron Katie
Principal - Harvest Moon Consultants Ltd.

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