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<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial>Dear friends and colleagues
on the list,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial>I have done considerable
thinking and meditating about the existence of the archives of this list
and about the fact that the list is now open to being searchable through the
world wide web. It appears that I cannot do anything about the decisions made. I
am sad that we do not have a democratic process in this community for decision
making and I am sad that decisions are made on behalf of a community by a few.
Those decisions are then recorded in the FAQ's and captured as what appear to be
the 'givens' for this community. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial>I have read a number of
items regarding building community for list serves, the importance of
protection and safety for its members so that the community is a real community.
I am deeply saddened that through the opening of our list to world wide web in
the way that it has been opened now by a decision made by someone who has the
power to do this on our behalf without a decision making process within the
community, that in my opinion we no longer have a community. People can access
our conversations without ever taking the responsibility of identifying
themselves to us. There is no equal energy exchange between these people and
those who contribute to the list by participating in community either as
speakers or listening learners. Also, when our list archives are accessible
through the search engines on the www, our e-mail addresses are now available to
the public whether we want them to be or not. And as you all know, this means
that these addresses are now likely to be 'harvested' by the spiders who
'harvest' e-mail addresses to send out spam mail to them. We have been opened to
this and without the community permission. From my perspective, any belief that
there is now a community is an illusion. I have invested a lot of my time,
energy, heart in contributions to the list for many years in my passion about
what I believed was an important community. I am so so sad at this
violation.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial>Some years ago, on the
list, I was made aware that the list had archives and it was happily announced
at the time that the archives could be accessed by anyone on the list. I was
fairly unfamiliar at the time with how all of this worked and I was deeply
disturbed that there were archives and I spoke against them at the time, only to
be told by Harrison and others that I was naive if I had assumed there were no
archives captured for the list. I noted for myself that everyone who
accessed the archives had to sign in to the list, and so I fell silent on the
subject thinking that in a very arms length way, these people, by signing in to
the list to get to the archives were also part of the list. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial>Over time, most people on
the list who used my materials from the list also used great professional
courtesy and sent me a note about the intended use to get my permission, knowing
that once words are written, it is like a copyright on those words. I was
grateful to these people. I always gave permission to use my words but sometimes
I asked for a change to include more context so that my words kept the same
meaning that I intended them to have by being kept in the context in which they
were written. When my words have been used out of context by people who did not
have the professional courtesy of letting me know they were using them and
indeed publishing them, that was another situation and one that I haven't known
how to deal with.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial>For me, the recent
announcement by Michael Herman that the archives are now open to be searchable
on the world wide web was one to which I immediately expressed my dismay. I
realize that I cannot change what is being done by people who have power on our
behalf. I don't even know who they are because they have never identified
themselves as our executive or some such. But, they appear to be the
decison makers. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial>I cannot do anything to
change this situation that has troubled me so much. I can however express my own
needs very very clearly so that they are not misunderstood. I have been a
significant contributor to this community through this list almost since it
began. I did this to support this community to the best of my ability and to do
my part in assisting with the building of this community to the best of my
ability. I didn't do this to assist in the creation of a data base that would be
used by researchers and others. My vested interest was in community support and
community strengthening. Archives of this list have been kept and it has
been without my permission to keep archives of my writing and they have been
kept without letting us know from the beginning that a 'given' of this list was
to have archives. Archives of this which includes my contributions have now been
opened to the worldwide web and its search engines without my permission to use
my contributions in this way. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial>I am hereby giving notice
to those who have made this decision that my contributions are copyrighted and
that anyone using my contributions to the world wide web in any paper, article,
thesis, or book that they are writing must request my permission to do so. I am
holding those who made my contributions available to the search engines of the
worldwide web accountable for my copyrighted material which I made available for
one purpose and is now being used for another purpose to which I did not agree.
I am deeply concerned that my materials be quoted by noting the context in which
they are written and not pulled apart piecemeal creating the illusion that I
have said or implied something that I did not say or imply. I request that those
on this list who have made the decision to put make our archives available to
the world wide web search engines identify themselves to the list so that I know
who the decision makers on this list are and so that I know who to hold
accountable.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial>I am also deeply concerned
that my sharing from the heart including sharing about my personal life which I
did a lot in the early days of this community has become available to others for
whom it was not written, to now read. In my research, I have discovered
that most designs for lists intended for community never violate that community.
I am not naive to have made assumptions that we were a community and that our
sharing was for our community. This is a clear situation of 'givens' being made
along the way,on behalf of a community, by a few in power. Again, this
information is copyrighted and permission must be asked of me to publish this
information in any way. Again, I am holding the decision makers on this list who
have made my contributions to this list community available to search engines on
the world wide web accountable for the protection of my
copyrighted material.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial>I have loved this list
community as an important part of my life for a long time. It is my hope that
there will be some understanding of what I am prepared to engage in and what I
am not prepared to engage in with my energy and that my decision about the
materials that I have submitted to the list over the years falls within my
definition for myself of what I am available for and what I am not. I am
available to contribute to this community.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=500110902-29032004><FONT face=Arial>Birgitt
Williams</FONT></SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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