[CivicAccess-discuss] Invite + launch + unwants

Tue Dec 6 03:33:50 AEDT 2005

The invite looks good to me. I only have one or two people for the
initial invite list, so timing and method isn't something I have
strong feelings on. Sending out sooner rather than later seems to make
sense if that works in getting Tracey's invites in while the idea is
fresh in people's mind.

Patrick

On 12/5/05, Michael Lenczner <mlenczner at gmail.com> wrote:
> that looks awesome.  really nice job.
>
> my stuff shouldn't be in there.  not as an introduction.  i can bring
> it up with people during the discussion before we open to the public.
>
> i'll suggest a few minor edits - but i think that it's basically perfect.
>
> and yeah - i was thinking that now is a bad time to send out invites
> because it's going to be so busy until x-mas - but maybe not.  Maybe
> we could invite people to be on the mailing list together and then
> just open to the public after x-mas (like jan 4-5).
>
> But i don't think we should invite people piecemeal  (one here, a few
> there).  I think if we want them to take it seriously as co-founders,
> then we should invite them all at once - and maybe we should send them
> a standard letter.  It seems more credible imho then to send out more
> personalized.  If context is required for a specific person we could
> contextualize above / below that standard text.
>
> but that's just a thought.  i'm okay with us doing it differently if
> it's important to any of you.
>
> mike
>
>
> On 12/5/05, Tracey P. Lauriault <tlauriau at magma.ca> wrote:
> > Hi gang;
> >
> > I had a go at the invite a bit-
> > http://civicaccess.ca/wiki/Launch/Invitation? I'll frenchisize after
> > your comments.
> >
> > When should we send this out?  Should we send to a few people we each
> > have close relationships with really soon and get started? I would love
> > to get my few DataInfo friends engaged while i have them hot - like the
> > next week or so.  what so you think?
> >
> > also, michael started an interesting stream on what we do not want the
> > group to be.  Did we want to explore how we want to address those issues
> > a bit?  I left them at the bottom of the letter.
> >
> > I paste the let & michael's bit below.
> >
> > Cheers
> > tracey
> > **************
> >
> > I think this invitation should be tweakable and targeted as oppposed to
> > general and impersonal. Perhaps for the public launch we can do
> > something a little more general. my guess is each of us has a variety of
> > relationships with the people want to invite so i am approaching this as
> > a template with some cut and paste content. We may wanna get this out
> > soon though!
> >
> > *DRAFT INVITE LETTER:*
> >
> > Hi There;
> >
> > Stephane, Patrick, Michael and Tracey (change order as required!) here
> > and we would like to invite you to co-found a new canadian civic
> > engagement space - Citizens for Open Access to Civic Information and
> > Data (COACID). We are contacting you since we know that you have been
> > thinking and talking about these issues, have been actively engaged in
> > related activities, and also because each or you has unique expertise,
> > knowledge and experience to contribute to this type of activity (i.e.
> > social planning, data access, open source, mapping, technology creation,
> > etc.).
> >
> > We are a group of diverse citizens, who also happen to be technologists,
> > academics, and activists, who share a common belief that civic
> > information and data should be made easily accessible at no cost for
> > non-commercial purposes to citizens and civil society organizations. We
> > are doing this because, we understand that participatory democratic
> > processes require that citizens have access to information and data to
> > inform their engagement and to improve the quality of the decisions they
> > make during that process. But also because, information and data are the
> > essential bits and bytes required to re-imagine, re-envision, visualize
> > and critically anaylze the communities we live in.
> >
> > So far a COACID discussion lists has been created ([WWW]
> > http://civicaccess.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss_civicaccess.ca),
> > and a wiki ([WWW] http://civicaccess.ca/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/) has been set
> > up with some draft content. The wiki is an open source collaborative
> > tool that will host content discussed on the list. In short this is an
> > emerging community of citizens across Canada like you who want to share
> > what they know, do, their skills, information and data and these tools
> > are there to facilitate that.
> >
> > Please join the list and introduce yourselves, navigate the wiki, share
> > your ideas, interests, and add some content and discuss issues you think
> > are important from your unique and diverse perspectives. There is no
> > pre-determined way to do or say things, so feel free to say, modify, and
> > do as you like in this environment. The group remains small and closed
> > at the moment with the hope that once we have been working together a
> > little, and have a better handle on what we are doing, the list and wiki
> > can go public to some targeted some related communities of practice in
> > January or February of 2006!
> >
> > We are looking forward to being engaged in this information and data
> > community building activity with you!
> >
> > Cheers Stephane, Patrick, Michael and Tracey
> >
> > NOTE: so and so can help you with the wiki so and so can help you with
> > the listserve this is what you need to do to get on the Discussion list
> > this is what you need to do to use the wiki
> >
> > **************************** Michael, do we want to discuss this further
> > on the list? I am thinking that having this in the invite would be
> > intimidating, but think there is merit in agreeing to what we do not
> > want along with what we do.
> >
> > A key thing to tell you as possible co-founders of COACID is what we
> > don't want COACID to be. We don't want it to become it's own project. We
> > don't want it to become an ego vehicle for a small group of people. And
> > we don't want it to become something that's chasing after funding. We
> > want it to be a [WWW] third place <http://user.gru.net/domz/third.htm>
> > for people already motivated in this cause and a place for people who
> > are curious to find out more.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > CivicAccess-discuss at civicaccess.ca
> > http://civicaccess.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss_civicaccess.ca
> >
>
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