[Reader-list] a letter to Sarai admin

Tue Aug 18 11:29:10 IST 2009

Dear Monica & Others,

I don't think the number of postings should be limited at all! I think its
bad for a community to limit postings. The more ideas flow & get generated,
the better it is... The original ideas get solidified when countered with
non sustainable ideas. So, we should never limit anything, especially the
flow of ideas & intellectual exchange.

My articulation of the problem: (similar to yours but from a solution
perspective)
1. The range of topics is so vast that people with niche interests are not
able to find quality content related to their interests.
2. The real solution should be to divide the topics in such logical ways
that each person has the flexibility to follow and respond to things that
interests him/her the most.

Need of the hour: Better management of Information flow on this community.

For example, in another community that I am active on, a number of sub
topics were created and only people who were interested in that topic got
regular updates. It's kind of like orkut communities or facebook groups or
google groups but a much more mature platform where discussion is visible
for everyone but emails are only for people who like to be up to date in
particular topics/sections of topics.

The best part is that the whole group is community driven on free
applications found online. (ning) It will also take off some of the
headaches of administration of the backend of the mailing list/website.

Regarding difficulty,
I don't think it is very very difficult to move it. I wish I was in Delhi to
be able to help. Do find out if anyone has any experience on setting up ning
networks in your technology circle. I saw 2 groups on ning from delhi: arch
for humanity(http://afhnewdelhi.ning.com/) and occ delhi(
http://occdelhi.ning.com/) You can probably write to admin of those groups
to find out the difficulty level etc... Believe me, it is much much simple
:)

Regards,
-Srikanth

On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 10:49 AM, Monica Narula <monica at sarai.net> wrote:

> dear Yousuf, Srikanth, Rakesh, Geeta, all
>
> I agree that we need to find a technological solution to limit the
> number of posting of a person to 3 or 4 in a day. That will ease the
> traffic. (although shifting a list/server to a new situation is not
> something that can be done easily - we are looking into it)
>
> But the larger question that begs some discussion is that commitment
> to one's ideas, opinions and thoughts is not being matched by people
> with a similar commitment to the idea of common grounds, or respect
> for the platform in which people are participating. This lack of
> thought about "common ground" is what makes the problem very difficult
> to solve merely by technological means.
>
> The question is posed mostly as one of "freedom of speech". Its an
> easy stance as it speaks in simple binary.
> I would say that it can be reformulated - and reflecting much more of
> the complexity of the kind of writing on the list - as one of "making
> common ground". It is the shape, texture and density of this common
> ground that needs some thought and investigation. It is an open
> subscriber list. Anybody can join and post. Its only a question of
> having a valid email address...
> There are many on the reader-list who would have found it difficult to
> make a space on their own and invite others. A lack of reflection on
> what would they do if they had to build themselves and then invite
> others creates a problem of how they participate and intervene.
>
> We in the middle class are known in society as people who will throw
> garbage on the street if it keeps the house clean. This percolates
> deep in our overall way of doing things. In my work I visit many
> workshops and production sites. What amazes me is how recklessly these
> places keep materials and instruments. The people who own it are there
> for 18 hours a day. They beautify their houses with great care yet
> keep the place where they spend majority of their time with utter
> callousness.
>
> This needs to be thought through and engaged with. Reprimands, code of
> conduct, protocols and technological fixes are mere aides. (and except
> for the technical fix, everything else has been tried already) They
> can't solve the problem.
>
> List Admin
>
> Monica Narula
> Raqs Media Collective
> Sarai-CSDS
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
> www.sarai.net
>
>
>
> On 17-Aug-09, at 11:08 AM, Srikanth Thunga wrote:
>
> > I completely agree with Yousuf.
> >
> > I have a suggestion. Move sarai to ning network or something
> > similar. I am a
> > member of open anthropology group on ning and I have found it to be
> > very
> > versatile which makes a lot more sense. Please check
> > http://openanthcoop.ning.com/
> >
> > I have a little bit of experience on ning & I can help the owner to
> > pilot
> > it/test it etc...
> >
> > Keith Hart, who was the creator of OAC on ning is aware of this
> > group I got
> > enticed to join this only on suggestion of Arvind and Keith Hart on
> > OAC.
> >
> > In my opinion, sarai still seems to be on decade old technologies of
> > mailing
> > lists when internet has improved to a much mature platform.
> >
> > I had mailed the owner once a while ago, but never got a response. I
> > wanted
> > to suggest a more mature platform to the owner as I was overwhelmed
> > by the
> > number of emails I get everyday on this mailing list. I am still not
> > used to
> > reading all emails on sarai and there are no alternate ways of
> > looking at
> > the information. I happened to read this email also by chance only.
> >
> > Regards,
> > -Srikanth
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 10:43 AM, Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Dear Sarai readers, especially the admin
> >> We have discussed this a million times, but the habit of a few
> >> people to
> >> put the entire list (of 2000+ subscribers) on ransom by only
> >> discussing
> >> their favourite topics day-in and day-out doesn't seem to stop. I
> >> am not in
> >> favour of moderating or censorship (and I love freedom of speech),
> >> but those
> >> of us who post 40 emails a day should at least think about the
> >> excesses they
> >> are creating in the world.
> >>
> >> Sometime ago someone had suggested that each subscriber should be
> >> restricted to post a certain number of mails a day (maybe 2 or 4).
> >> Why can't
> >> we follow something like that. I wonder if the Sarai list has the
> >> technical
> >> options to automatically restrict people from posting in excess, but
> >> something needs to be done desperately. These days, whenever I have
> >> any
> >> conversations about Sarai among friends, everyone seems to have
> >> grown fed up
> >> with it - many are thinking of unsubscribing or already have. Simply
> >> deleting or ignoring the mails or applying filters is not enough.
> >> Because
> >> one usually is tempted to subject headers, and one opens the Sarai
> >> mails
> >> with a lot of expectation. But many a times, one gets disappointed
> >> to see a
> >> sort of personal chatting going on.
> >>
> >> Why are we doing this hara-kiri in the name of freedom of expression.
> >>
> >> Yousuf
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _________________________________________
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> > _________________________________________
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> > Critiques & Collaborations
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>
> _________________________________________
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> Critiques & Collaborations
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