[CAUT] Pianopedia -was: wrong direction, now - seeking archived discussions

[Fred Sturm]

On Jul 20, 2008, at 9:50 AM, David Skolnik wrote:

> Thanks for postponing the postmortem, though the discussion may have  
> to segue into the ethics of life support for the creature.

	Let me clarify just exactly what it is that I declare has a pulse  
(and that I am volunteering to facilitate/work on). It is the idea of  
creating an organized on line place for resources concerning "things  
piano" (ie the piano as a physical musical instrument, with focus on  
the technical aspects), probably using a wiki style software in a wiki  
like format, modified to suit our needs and predilections (possibly  
with some editorial control retained at least in some sections,  
probably not entirely open for editing and posting - I have expressed  
some opinions along those lines, eg suggesting that at least some  
articles/items might have an identified author, unlike wikipedia, and  
that diversity of opinion rather than "honing to a final norm" should  
be the goal in many instances). Content could include materials  
gleaned and organized from the archives of caut and pianotech. Or not.  
Mining, organizing, editing the archives is a separate matter, a  
separate project.
	The important step to begin with is to create a place, with an  
interface that is reasonably user friendly, both for those viewing and  
those posting material; to establish an initial hierarchy of  
categories and topics; and to seed it with enough useful material to  
make it worth going to and to provide examples of what is possible.
	In conjunction with this, various "areas" could be set up for more  
specialized purposes, as for instance an organized forum for the  
development of a knowledge base from which to develop a curriculum (a  
la the project Ed has proposed). And a place for organizing material  
from archives of lists. Lots of possibilities, but the first step is  
to create the underlying space. The possibilities remain idle dreams  
until the foundation is laid. I believe that once a foundation is  
laid, there will be a lot of interest in contributing content and  
working on various projects.
	I think that for now I will take this matter - that of creating such  
a space - off the caut list. Those who have a serious interest in  
helping with such a project should contact me off list, and we will  
set up a separate list for discussion of details, and implementation.  
I already have a small base of volunteers, but would welcome a few  
more if any should care to step forward.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu