SEUL: Re: Making contact and interested in helping

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

Sorry for the delay in response; I've been rather busy dealing with
other things lately. :(

In message <365E22B9.341359C2@warehouse.net>, beckster@warehouse.net writes:
>Hi,
>
>I have just been referred to you by one of your members..and i only wish
>that this could have happened sooner. I have just had a quick trip
>around your web site and would love to help out somehow. I also am
>involved in the Australian computerbank project...which i note that you
>have had trouble getting hold of...

Thanks for contacting us. I've forwarded this to Bob, who was the one
trying to track down a contact for the computerbank project.

>I have only just put up a web site - and it is going to need some major
>renovations pretty soon...as it is awkward and probably not too
>friendly. Alas it was all i could do in such a quick time :(
>
>I am a third year social work student (actually i am being credited with
>the work i do for computerbank by my uni - so this is an added bonus)
>and i also have a Bachelor of Science (major Psych and sub
>geography/climatology). I would be happy to help out with any "social" /
>user type research and development issues. You are probably well into
>doing many things by now...so i may have missed the boat for your survey
>design (I just completed a placement at the Aids council here in
>Victoria and i was doing an evaluation of service users, we had to

Actually, the survey is on hold currently while we work on publicity
and education issues for a while. There are a limited number of people
working with seul currently, and we keep shuffling between activities
depending on the interest of the people involved.
Eventually one of them will get finished, and people will notice that
seul actually does stuff, and they'll join and it will all take off. That's
the thought, at least. :)

>design a survey.) I would like to join your mailing list (s) but am
>unsure which one would be most suitable for me...could you please help
>int this department...also are these low volume mailing lists or ?

check out http://www.seul.org/archives/ for a list of currently active
seul lists. Most of them are relatively low traffic; most of the traffic
is in seul-pub and seul-edu these days (perhaps a few messages a day,
normally). I would recommend subbing to seul-pub, seul-edu, seul-research,
and seul-announce and then unsubscribing if you find the traffic on a 
list to be too much. (seul-announce and seul-research are zero-traffic
these days, but it might be handy to be on them anyway.)

>I am attaching an informative type proposal that i had penned - this
>will explain some of the reasoning behind computerbank...other states
>are now doing similar and we have a mailing list just recently started.
>I soon hope to archive it so others can read it.
>
>The web site addy is http://www.melbourne.org/kylie/

I've tried this address for several days, and I consistently get a 404 on
this url. Bob also pointed me at www.melbourne.net/kyle/vision.html, but
that's refusing connections currently. If you want to put your paper on
the seul website, it might be more stable..?

>I look forward to your reply
>
>Cheers,
>
>Kylie Davies

>The 'Computer Bank' could not operate well without government funding and 
>support, at least in the initial stages of its operation. It may be eventually
>possible that the 'Computer Bank' fund itself. It is also envisaged that people 
>with 'Computer Bank' computers may become more resourceful or learn new 
>skills that may be of monetary benefit (securing a job), which would see them 
>eventually wanting to purchase a computer with greater capacities. 'Computer 
>Bank' would be in the best position to facilitate this - both in knowing the 
>requirements of the users and in being able to offer discounted packages. All 
>profits from 'Computer Bank' would be redirected back into projects that 
>emphasise community development, support, and communication. The 
>'Computer Bank' could eventually offer Internet web services to paying clients. 
>The 'Computer Bank' could raise revenue by means of offering web-advertising 
>space to paying clients. The 'Computer Bank' would also like to be able to 
>support Internet Development under GNU/Linux. 'Computer Bank' users would 
>be encouraged to participate and contribute to the development of the 
>'Computer Bank' and it's services. (This may include establishing support 
>networks on Chat Servers and Email List servers.)

Looks like a good project. I wish more people would start working on this
sort of project, because then people would have more experience with actually
figuring out what works and what doesn't work, and how to start a project that
will succeed. (Well, ok, there's also the aspect of actually helping people ;)
I'm particularly drawn to the above paragraph -- my instinct says that if you
branch out into trying all the time to collect money, it will become a much
more corporate, profit-oriented venture than you had originally intended.
But I guess time will tell. :)

Btw, hopefully you'll hear from some more of the seul-edu people regarding
your project. We'd be happy to have you onboard seul-edu to help out with
steering or brainstorming.

Thanks,
--Roger