Allan, thanks for synthesizing a future form from all our various rambles over the past two weeks! There remains a lot to do. We can divide the tasks, self-sorting by interest and ability, or draw straws, or take assignments. So far, things seem to have sorted out rather well, except Allan gets the toughest job of putting feet on our ideas. Hopefully, the coming couple of weeks will see folks able to participate in the process.
Re participation: Do we want to keep the wiki access as it is at present or open it up somewhat to a few more thinking heads? Traveler Trish has a lot of experience in online community and organization, and I wondered about adding her to the list of 'helpers'. I'm sure others of you have folks waiting eagerly on the sideline. Is NOW a time to bring in others for ideas and implementation? It might be hard for a new person to come up to speed with where the process is, and how it got there. Whaddaya think? -- Fred
I think at this point it's fine to invite anyone along we think would be good to contribute to the discussion, or even just to see what we're doing. --Alison
Likewise I don't see a problem with inviting people into the wiki, though it's not time for the 'grand opening'.
Okay, does anyone want to take a stab at the graphic design for the home page? The wiki should keep a similar style CSS-wise -- same color scheme and typography -- but otherwise I think it should be as unadorned as the present wiki is.
I agree with Beth it would be nice if the 'front page' has some striking yet soothing graphic qualities. I envision a header image (perhaps across the width of the banner area) that illustrates the idea of 'ecotone', with a mosaic of 3 or 4 images of mountain forest, seashore dunes, prairie horizon and urban park, for instance... the meeting/blending of communities. I literally dreamed the other night of a page in earthtones, muted but pleasing, drawing the eye and mind in. And re the actual page design, overall, again I agree with Beth that this should be your call in the end, and if there is a hue and cry ag'in it, you'll hear from us nice opinionated folks sooner or later, eh? --Fred
Right now I'm leaning towards keeping the directory of place blogs inside the wiki. More thoughts on this at PortalIdeas.
-- Allan
Hey guys...I just wanted to alert you to yet another way of linking stories to the land. Here on Bowen Island, we are lucky to have an online digital library of stuff. As a part of that digital library, we are using what is called "GreenMapping?" software to place stories on a map of the island. If you visit http://georgiabasin.info/localstories/main_localstories.html and click on the Bowen Island magnifying glass, and then peek at the "Bowen bloggers" community group, and then fiddle with the icons a little, you should see a number of my blog entries appear on the map. It's easier than it sounds!
Cool, eh?
-- Chris
Fred here... Let's see if I'm up to speed on goings-on of the past week. We are ready to post our 'assigned' topic for June 15. Others have been notified (including all on our database of emails, by moi last week, you should have rec'd a copy also) and welcomed to participate. We will post these here on the wiki. Beth asked about a length, and I suggest as short as it takes to get the topic covered for you; 1000 words is probably my top end, esp if we're hoping a typical reader will explore several at one sitting.
Will we do anything to bring in 'external' readers at that point (after June 15 when the posts are up) and if so what, and what should we be doing this week in preparation? Any ideas? Has anyone heard from Lisa lately? Anyhow, seems this should be an 'interactive' week if we are on sched for the June 15 posting. If I fail to be involved in the chatter, somebody come fetch me out of my fog of preoccupation with other things this week. BTW, maybe we can mark May 10 (Sunset and Clouds) as a kind of beginning of this Ecotone project, and that being so, we are still not even a month old! Appreciate all the exchange and work and creativity that has happened among us, and look forward to the summer ahead! -- Fred
It's Beth...happy Monday everybody. My only comment on the above note from Fred is that from past experience I'd suggest sending a reminder e-mail sometime this week, 4 or 5 days before the deadline. Is anybody working on a banner for the Ecotone home page? (Alison??) If not I'll try to do it but I can't guarantee anything quickly, I'm swamped with regular work. Let me know and maybe we can work together - email me off-line if you want.
Hi Beth, everyone, Alison here. Actually, Allan's been doing quite a bit of work on the banner, but he still has more he wants to do before he lets everyone take a peek. (Me, I'd be getting running feedback all along.) I'm swamped with regular work too... A student followed me *into the bathroom* last week to ask me about the form she needed to get filled out and signed by her faculty advisor so she could participate in the graduation ceremony on Thursday. Is nothing sacred?
Allan showed me this great site yesterday by some bloggers of place in Vancouver -- [Spirit of Place]. I sent them a note to ask them to check in here. I did not mention the June 15 "assignment" and won't unless they seem interested in participating.
I'm very happy to be part of this discussion - it's helping me to clarify my own thinking, especially since I'm a very new blogger. But I did feel strongly from the beginning that I wanted to blog about place. I'm glad about the 'assignment' for June 15 - it should be very interesting.
Nancy, welcome, it's great to see you here! --Beth
Fred here. Hi Nancy, welcome aboard. Yes, Ecotone is a 'new term' to many and we would need to define it clearly, as over at PlaceBloggingDescription. Not all our contributors will be coming from a 'blog', as some keep other kinds of place-oriented journals or post occasionally about place but don't declare their weblogs to be 'about place'. The idea of the meeting and interaction of 'habitats' or communities is contained in the ECOTONE term from ecology, and it is distinctive enough to avoid confusion with other websites. I share the concern that the term may seem technical and overly biological at first, and so we will have to offer good pointers to what our purpose is, and who we are, and why we have undertaking writing about place, as I think we will be doing when all comes together after the June 15th 'essay'. I've offered the opportunity for other suggestions, and we certainly need to make a firm decision very soon.
On another subject... I notice the 'recent changes' is not working again, not showing this afternoon the changes that were made earlier in the day. Allan, any ideas? So, being in and out as I am and will be this week, I could easily miss something not having time to review each page for changes. Give me a holler if there is anything urgent or time-sensitive, y'all. -- Fred
Actually, the 'recent changes' page is working just the way it's supposed to -- it shows the most recent change to each page, and the date and time of that occurrence. What you want to do is click on "changes" where it reads something like the following: (diff) TheRunningDiscussion 2:56 pm (66 changes) ....Fred1st. That will give you the change history for an individual page. From there you can click on "diff" to see the changes highlighted. -- Allan
ah-HAAA! Thanks, Allan. --Beth
Hello to all from Japan on the other side of this big place we all share. Thank you Alison and Fred, for letting me know about this very interesting-- place. Not sure what I can do in here, so I think I'll just study what you all have to say for a while, and maybe something will come to me... RBrady
Hi everybody. As you can see, the wiki has had a bit of a face lift. Comments? Suggested improvements??
I'm continuing discussion of the name of the wiki at ChoosingASiteName. --Allan
I really like the banner. It's lovely and evocative. Makes a big difference to the site, to me at least. -- Nancy
Allan, where will the aggregated posts go when we do the collective blog topics, and how exactly will that work/look? Should we do a trial run before Sunday? My blog, for example, doesn't yet have permalinks. --Beth
Beth: We can post our stuff at the appropriate topic page on the BiWeeklyTopics page.
-- Chris
Hello gang. Back after wedding, illness and a funeral. Tomorrow's a graduation, but other than that, nothing major going on in my life lately. You've been doing lots of work here, and I'm trying to catch up, and will try to keep up. I'll try to patch something together for Sunday's post, but I just found out about it this morning. I notice that Beth suggested a reminder email go out about the June 15th "assignment" (can we refer to that another way that sounds like something we want to do? how about "community post" or "contribution"?). Did an email like that go out and I missed it? If not, I'd be happy to put one together and send it out to our accumulated wikians inviting all to join in. Glad to be back--Lisa
Allan, If somebody malicious were to get into our Wiki, is there a mechanism by which we can revert to a "clean" version? -- Lisa
This wiki software saves recent changes (currently 1 months' worth), so you can undo malicious tampering that way. There's also the daily backups stored at the ISP. For a sociological answer, see [WhyWikiWorks] at Meatball Wiki. -- Allan
Thanks, Allan, for getting out the reminder about the June 15 Biweekly topics post. Hope we'll have at least ten or so as a good first effort, and I'm really looking forward to knowing folks better by seeing the source of your interest in our topic.
Where do we go from here? How close are we to 'opening the doors', and how shall we do this task of making the wider public aware of the Ecotone? If we are going to post a link to the Biweekly Topics page, when and how should we do it? Of course, we can announce it to our individual weblog readers, and ask them in turn to let their readers know, and especially folks who might have an interest in reading or contributing. Beyond that, I would probably generate an email announcement I would send to sympathetic bloggers with wider audiences than mine (btw, Big-Wig... the COV originator, last week wrote ["A Little Place Blogging for Fred"], showing that even a systems administrator has some 'place' writing bottled up inside, if there is an awareness of it as a 'genre' in the blogosphere.) An announcement on Meta-Filter (if my membership is still valid) or other such places would also be in order. Haven't heard from Rebecca Blood in a while, but she was interested in the progress with the wiki. Has anyone communicated with her lately? If not, I'll let her know what's going on.
Should we submit the wiki to the search engines? Add it to lists of collaborative weblogs and wikis?
Or do we want instead to just let the creature grow by slow word of mouth propagation, assuming somehow word will leap the ecotone-edges of our community into the others 'out there'?
Shifting gears: What happens as we get more daily edits to the wiki and the load time and scroll-down gets slower and slower (for us dial-in types)? Will we put parts older than x weeks in an archive? -- Fred
I feel like we're very close to opening the doors. I'm going to do some work on the home page today and get some of our introductory material there, but I don't think much else is necessary. Do others agree?
I think any and all of the above items are good ways to promote the wiki. If we really get 10 or so posts out of the first effort, that's significant news in the general blogosphere, and a Metafilter announcement would be appropriate. I'm not too worried about submitting the site to search engines; judging by server logs and traffic, they're very good at finding things on their own.
I agree that we should start archiving older material from TheRunningDiscussion. Maybe do it by month? -- Allan
YeeeHaaa?! Looks like things are coming together, miraculous, really, considering the short span of time since this idea first emerged in Mid-May! And time to strike while the iron is hot... letting others know we have pitched camp and are ready for fellow-travelers to join us. I've mentioned some ideas for spreading the word (see a few posts back on this page). Also, a timely nudge: COV is hosted this week at Real Women Online, home of Shanti Braford, who has ownership in both Metapopdex and Popdex. If three or four of us could submit our 'responses about why place is important and why we write about it', I think that would generate interest in the topic and our front page. If we could decide to do it in time (today), we might ask Shanti to give us a header like Susanna Cornett did. I'll send mine. Others?
Talk it up, people. Maybe we just need to chill and see what happens on its own? If not, the next few days are important and I will have some time to help. Congratulations and thanks to all who have contributed along the way.
If you're new to the wiki, please let us know about you, give us links to your journal or weblog, and tell us about your place in the world. Allan, do we need a new page for remarks or questions or links from readers? A contributors page with excerpts to posts about place? Can others suggest additional pages we will need if readers and writers come and want to post? -- Fred
Fred: the Wiki thinks YeeeHaaa?! is a page. Maybe it's right. Maybe it should be. It's incredible to see what's happening over on OnComingToWriteAboutPlace ! -- Alison, in Maine today and still a bit out-of-place...
A GuestBook is a wiki tradition so I'm adding one. --Allan
Fred here... Yep. I edited Yeee and Haaa into two words after I first previewed it yesterday, but neglected to save the edits. Thanks Chris for honoring my silliness by making it a page, but in a more reserved moment this morning, I have created DiscussionJune15Topic for purposes of commenting on our recent group topic, which I am still pleasantly digesting and processing. Please do add your thoughts. It seems we have a healthy start and a good reference point and foundation on which to build. Speaking of which...
Allan, I'm interested in your thoughts. If we are on the verge of making ourselves known in a wider sense, I'm wondering if our primary entry point should be a page where new contributors can easily come in, leave a link/excerpt to their posts about place or other items of interest. Such a page could contain specific instructions on how to format a link in the wiki language, since, other than entering simple text, this might be the one most important piece of info. That user page could contain links back to the home page and all of its diversity of choices if visitors are interested in delving deeper, rather than funneling a novice from the top down. Also while I'm wondering aloud, is there a place (knowing nothing of the technical complications) for having columns and drop down boxes on a front page to consolidate it, sort of like [the Wikipedia]?
And finally, is it possible and would it be of any interest (to anyone besides me) to have a visit counter (Site Meter etc) on the wiki page(s) somewhere? Allan, I guess you may get some of that info via your server?
Allan, I just want to say thanks for all the hard work you've put in to get this Wiki up and running and looking so good. --Beth
I'll send my post to COV if it's not too late. It would be nice to know which days these entries are made, maybe we can use days or dates when we refer to events so it's easier to follow along. That said, today is Monday--not sure if COV deadline is Monday or Tuesday this week.
Like Fred, I'm also interested in knowing if we can tweak the wiki template. I think the home page could use a column where we could place prominent links. I'd like to see a home page that is more portal-like. It would be great if people arriving at the page had some quick links to choose from without having to read a linear text block to find out what they're looking for, or to learn what we're doing. I think we may have lots of visitors who won't be interested in adding to the discussion, learning about wikis, or lurking about the many pages here, but who will be looking for our collective topics and links to place blogs that they can read. And as Fred said, some will be interested only in adding a link back to their own work.
If I can be of assistance in getting this done, I'm volunteering myself for that. What do y'all think?
I can't get into my access logs tonight, curses, but wondering if others have had any visitors from Ecotone yet. --Lisa
I've had ten visitors from Ecotone - one on the 16th, the rest on Sunday. I assume they were mostly other members of the wiki. I agree with you about the front-page! --Nancy
About altering the layout of the home page -- it gets tricky. There isn't a template per se; rather, changing things around becomes a matter of hacking Perl. There's a [whole set] of patches available to apply to the code, some of which may be useful. I would be inclined towards trying adding in several <div class>elements into the wiki markup (following [this patch]), and then build our columns and so on for the home page using CSS. Lisa, are you interested in coming up with a CSS-based design for the home page? --Allan
Yup, I'll work on it. Can you direct me to some general documentation sources so I can study up on wikidom before I get in there and hack around? Are we using a particular type of wiki? Is it standard or modified in any way? All that kind of info would be great.
I'd also like to hear from more of us about our ideas for a home page and what we'd like to see there, what areas we want to draw attention to, etc. --Lisa
We're using [Usemodwiki v0.92] for our software, you can see the documentation at the site. The only tweak to the code I've done is to add the title below the banner. For general reading up on wikidom, I suggest exploring [Meatball Wiki], which is very much my reference wiki at this point. It also uses usemodwiki as its software --Allan
Thanks for the references. I'll begin reading. -- Lisa
Lisa and Fred have planted flags again in this week's [Carnival of the Vanities] where writing about place is called a 'cool new trend'. Nice putlicity, even if it mistakenly gives Fred credit for 'running the site' which we all do under the most capable technoskills of our own Numenius! More lasting than trendy, hopefully. FYI and looking ahead to more good things, y'all. -- Fred
Hi. Coup de Vent here. It's been great dropping into people's blogs this way. I like having the time frame for the bi-weekly posts. It's interesting that I hadn't considered my blog as a Place Thing until Pica asked me if I'd be interested in joining in the wiki. I'm still thinking about what it means to be known that way. In itself, it also creates another place to belong.
Fred here. Wondering what folks have in mind for the coming weeks, and what is happening with each of you behind the scenes, as regards to place-related conversations with others who haven't yet participated at the Ecotone site. Any ideas coming in, Lisa, re the page design? Should we send a reminder email again this time for the July 1 biweekly topic, or is that being overly responsible? Joel has honored Ecotone by picking up the biweekly blog topic as part of his Writing in Orange site, and this should be interesting to watch. I've had communication with quite a few Fragments readers who seem interested in posting 'about place' when we have a page for that purpose. Okay, enough from me. I'm just curious about where everybody is, metaphorically speaking and thot I'd put out some words so there will be something new under 'recent changes' this weekend. -- Fred
I think for right now, it's good if we send out a reminder each time. Is there a quick and easy way to do this - who is keeping the e-mail list? I was planning to say something on my blog in the next day or two about the upcoming topic, and invite people to post on it. I have at least one friend, a Scandinavian, who says he plans to write something this time. I also wondered if it would be good to put a link or a boldface mention of the Biweekly Topic page (the one with the excerpts and links to the posts)at the beginning of our "home page", since this is really the core of what Ecotone is about. BTW, did everybody see Kurt's piece http://sainteros.com/weblog/ at The Coffee Sutras yesterday? It was basically about landscape and memory. --Beth
Lisa here. I'm emerging from the waters of extreme distraction (you aked for a metaphor!). I think a reminder for the bi-weekly post would be nice. I sure appreciate it when I receive the COV reminder on occasion. Fred, I haven't had a chance yet to work on the home page design or to "wiki up" but plan to try really hard to work on those things this week. Thanks for the pointer (to Sainteros) Beth. --Lisa
Moments later: I think I've got it figured out -- at least the css two-column part. I'm going to download my own copy of usemod and play with it so I don't muss the Ecotone. Once I get it going I'll post the link here and create a new page for discussing and collectively designing the look. After we get it whipped into shape, we can apply the stylesheet to our own home away from home! sound good? -- Lisa
Yep, I'll see if I can get my brain focused on getting a 'last minute' email out to the list as it existed two weeks ago, and hopefully can update it by the couple of folks that have come along since then. And thanks, Lisa, for sticking with the design issues, and look forward to a new look or new pages or however we remodel. -- Fred
Allan, I've got a little [wiki] up for my own testing and I've been nosing around for appropriate patches. I've located a patch that wraps existing content in divs, but haven't found one that allows us to add a new type of content -- a navbar. Do you Perl? Or is that too big a task? Is Wikipedia using a different wiki software? --Lisa
Can I request that we sort of formalize how we welcome newcomers to the wiki, whether they just leave a note in the guest book or put a tentative note on the BloggersOfPlace page (but are unsure as to whether to add their blog to our list)? I'd be happy to volunteer, if nobody else wants to, but I think we might not want to leave people dangling very long... -- Alison
The Wikipedia navbar would be great. [Beyond Unreal] uses the same code, I believe. I just think it would be nice to have a series of important links running along the left-side top of each page, however we can achieve that. If that's not going to be possible with this wiki software, or, while we figure out how to do that...maybe we can add a couple of links to the three links we have gracing the top and bottom of each page. Next to HomePage, RecentChanges, and Preferences, we could add a couple that we agree would be helpful for newcomers and first-timers to the site. Maybe GuestBook, BiWeeklyTopics, BloggersOfPlace and New_To_Wikis ? What do y'all think? --Lisa
GuestBook should definitely be up there. So should New_To_Wikis.
Hey, I just noticed that when you click on our name in the RecentChanges screen, it takes you to an about page. I filled mine out. -- Joel Sax
When you have no life like I do, you have lots of time to do things. Here's some buttons I made up that you can use to link Ecotone to your site. Please download and use from your site. -- Joel
Hey folks... this looks like an appropriate [Ecotone News Flash]...
You can put this interesting development in context by listening to a [7/24/03 "Connections" broadcast] via Real Media in which host Michael Goldfarb interviews two writers... Michael Holroyd and Sven Birkerts... for whom place in central to their writing. I thought this was interesting in light of this group's focus, and makes me feel a bit more certain of the importance of our discussion.
Your thoughts? -- Fred
Dear everyone, If you haven't checked [Feathers of Hope] recently you will probably not know that a) Numenius and Pica got married yesterday (August 10, 2003) and b) that Pica, in a fit of overexuberance, snapped her Achilles tendon in a subsequent jig, which means she'll have PLENTY of time to devote to the wiki, which is sadly overdue. I'd like your thoughts, please, on
Many thanks,
Alison the Pegleg
I agree with Nancy that maybe the topmost screen of the front page needs clear links to the most active pages, with less crucial 'how to' links at the bottom. What is the status of adding columns, etc, that seemed possible but needing more info a few weeks back when last discussed? The format available will determine exactly what goes where, of course. Columns would make the front page more 'blog like' and familiar and welcoming plus letting us separate general resources re place, news-type items and must-see comments (like dates for upcoming discussion topics), and regular features like biweekly discussion archives, photopages, etc.) Thanks for future thots and work on this, Alison (and Lisa, too, I think?) and looking forward to future changes and improvements! -- Fred
Seems to have happened, Fred. Looks good. - Joel
I think the column idea proved to be something in need of more programming than anyone has time for (and I'm certainly not equipped). What I propose to do is a horizontal list at the top of the page for important links at least to start with. Please give me your feedback on the order, etc. -- Alison
Not sure if this is the right place to post this but I discovered a series of programmes called a [Sense of Place] on KCRW (radio station in Los Angeles) which can be listened to on line - looks interesting. - Ian
Randolph: depends what your idea's about, but here's not a bad place to start... thanks for stopping by!-- Alison
Geoff and Jenny here. We're having a discussion on "Places of the spirit" down our way - [Mulubinba Moments] - anyone care to join in ?
A discussion of place in NYC, with special emphasis on subways, can be seen in [Teresa Nielsen Hayden's blog]. (No, that's not the thing I was going to write about. But it's very cool.)--Randolph
The [Photographing Place] thing is not happening hugely. There is space now in the new year for people to add a topic or two which might be of interest to them. Please add.... Coup de Vent
-- Fred here. I'm uncertain that this page gets many visits, but perhaps someone will wander here by random chance. I had an interesting link from a reader and sometimes-Ecotoner, Chris O., this morning, linking to an article called "Disconnected Urbanism: The cell phone has changed our sense of place more than faxes, computers, and e-mail." [Read it here.] Seems a good topic for future discussion, or barring discussion, of biweekly posts, should they continue past the first of the coming year (when suggested topics trail off). I'd suggest, too that we might shift from the terse X and Place format to another approach, which I've mentioned briefly to a few of you.
Can we consider this as a format: Biweekly topics come from excerpts from readings related in some way to place... from Lopez, Berry, others... as chosen by the 'host', an assignment that could rotate between any of the thirty or so past contributors that wanted to serve in this role. What favorite pithy statement could you offer for the rest of the group to support, refute, question, substantiate or puzzle over? Surely we each have such a nugget, or could find such in our reading.
Rebecca Blood has asked in a recent e-mail that I let her know of our next biweekly topic and date, and she will post a link to it on her widely read website, Rebecca's Pocket. "Protecting Place" that is coming up for December 01 should be a great subject with wide interest. Perhaps we could anticipate that post and the billing by Rebecca and talk it up with those who have posted in the past but might have wandered away in recent months. Maybe this will be the beginning of a new enthusiasm and slight change of direction for the group of writers involved with Ecotone. We've gotten jaded, perhaps, to the uniqueness of the site, its participants and purpose. What are our hopes or plans for it in 2004? Should we continue unchanged? What works, what doesn't work, how can we extend our reach, should we decide to? Full of questions. Hope we will discuss this in the coming week before the holidays come in and submerge us in busy-ness. ~ FF
Some of us are have kicked around the idea of trying to publish an anthology of "The Best from the Ecotone" after a year's worth of posts. I am willing to try to spearhead that project. Maybe this would be incentive enough for some greater participation - but I am not discouraged as it is, I just think some of the recent topics have been a little narrow, and that we also need to send out some emails and reminders to drum up enthusiasm. Rebecca's offer is very welcome and timely, and I'm grateful for it and for your request for discussion. --Beth
Hello all--it's Lisa. My time has been focused in other areas, and I've been extremely busy at work, but I'm still very keen on what we're doing here. Sorry for being away for so long. Thank you, Fred, for prodding me to come on by to see your comment.
I haven't been able to quite put my finger on why I'm not inspired when I ponder the post topics. They're great at eliciting a variety of responses because they're so broadly stated, such as, 'Trees and Place.' But that very broadness doesn't necessarily inspire group discussion, because each participant has moved off into their own singular reverie, memory or idea about trees or about a particular tree. As I said, that's not bad, but simply disparate. After such scattershot posts appear, comments can go off after one person's ideas, but we haven't all moved in one direction which we then follow up with heated commentary and passionate discussion.
What seems to be missing, except in the very broadest sense, is a thread which holds these posts, and the discussion afterwards, together. Obviously, "place" is that thread.
It seems that the time has come to deepen this process, the posts, and the discussion, by drilling down deeper into the idea of place. Perhaps we can look back at the pieces posted thus far and look for the deeper ideas that have been generated, to see where our group consciousness is "wanting" to go.
The idea of rotating hosts is a good one, Fred. The topic could come from another writer, or from elsewhere. Having our topics arise from the body of work that we, and other writers about place, have generated, seems more engaged and continuous, than pre-determined topics. One idea building on another in a dialogue that deepens over time. We're capable of going somewhere with this, somewhere powerful. --LT
It may be that the topics we've had are not inspiring us, or it may be that our responses are not inspiring us -- most likely not everyone is up for deep thought every time, and the sort of reflective, well-observed writing I think Fred is talking about does take some advance thought.
We had a common theme in the coffeeshops topic, but it might not have been a profound one -- that in such places, people can enjoy their shared humanity and join the community -- or not. I actually meant to have something thoughtful to say about visitors and the way their weight warps the fabric of my universe, but it came out, well, funny. Hey, if life hands you a chuckle, go with it, eh?
Here's my suggestion: From time to time, perhaps we might consider suggesting a theme rather than a place to make a point about. It could be a quotation or link as easily as a phrase -- Or maybe the germ of our fortnightly offering should be a dual one, so that a blogger who is pursuing an idea in installments on his or her own pages could choose to explore it in the context of a common place, while someone else might choose to set the common theme in a unique place.
Actually, the next few topics already lend themselves to thoughtful exploration without rude elaboration such as mine, but they might be examples for which y'all have better ideas. I bet we'd all go in the same general direction with "mythic place" and "cemeteries" without pointing. So for my part I'll resolve to write more thoughtfully and descriptively, and see where that takes me.
Thanks, everyone, for the efforts so far. I have learned some things and enjoyed the experience.
P.
This is good...thanks everybody, and I hope we'll hear from more people. Fred, I wonder if you could post an example of the sort of short quotation you're thinking about. Also, how do people feel about the "rotating host" idea? --Beth
Beth and all . . . {from Fred ~ Th Nov 20}
Here is a quick [source] readily at hand from which I've extracted an example of a topic accessible to all and broad enough to allow plenty of writerly wiggle room. The poster could write their biweekly post based on the paragraph alone, or read the entire context of the quote, or even more from the author if interested (in the long run, not before writing the biweekly).
This biweekly topic is a response to this 1958 statement by Sigurd Olsen on why wilderness is important. Is wilderness important for what it does to you and me? What are the deeper needs and values in preserving wild places? Can these same 'goods' come from preserving smaller places, like the family farm or neighborhood woods?
My interest in wilderness has stayed with me. Early in life I became impressed by what wilderness does to man. I was too young then to realize what was behind the deep feeling of people for natural areas and wilderness experience. But as the years passed, I began to probe my own mind and the minds of others. I began to try to crystallize early ideas and develop some sort of basic philosophy. I have decided finally that the preservation of natural areas is more than rocks and trees and lakes and wildlife. It has a far more fundamental significance than any physical attribute any area might have. It is concerned with broad social values that have to do with human happiness, deep human needs, nostalgias, values that may be a counter-action to the type of world in which we live. -- Sigurd Olsen
There are some, if not most, in the group who are more widely read than I am in this topic of place, and could draw from a wealth of well-targeted quotes that would enrich my appreciation of the subject, introduce me to new authors, and challenge me to struggle with hard issues and difficult writing.
This method of topic generation could be a quarterly affair... not the way we generate topics every two weeks, at least not at first until we see if it works as we hope.
My two cents. I'd best swing over to the weblog and see if I have anything to say there before the coffee wears off. Thanks to all for your ideas, and I am certainly not married to my own, so fire away! -- Fred
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I thought everybody should read Maria's comments that she origianlly posted over on the "Potential Topics" page so I'm copying them below. --Beth
A lot has been going on here since I last checked in ... and, after catching up with the suggestions, I would very much like to contribute to the debate. As a preliminary statement, let me just say that when I first saw the list of topics, I thought to myself that there was no way I could write on the majority of them. Then, as the days would dwindle, closer to the date for posting, I was challenged and found myself writing pieces I never thought I was able or capable of writing. For me, the topic with its appended “and place” helped me frame my piece ... but I can see how for others this might be a stumbling block. And I agree with whoever said that we shouldn’t feel pressed to write on every topic. Also, as someone else said ... there are many ways to post about a topic. A poem sometimes is more appropriate (as long as it’s written for this post, and not recycled form old work), or an account from a new perspective -- that of a child or an animal, for example -- are all ways to stretch not only our imaginations and writing techniques, but also our connections to place. --Maria
Maybe we are simply dealing here with writers who are motivated to write about "place" for different reasons. What is the challenge for each of us? What do we hope to get out of it? What do we hope to offer others? Someone who is here because they are primarily an ecologist and scientist may respond differently from someone who is a creative writer at heart, although I certainly don't mean to put people in pigeonholes, especially the multi-talented Ecotoners! Some people like a lot of direction, and others don't. One thing I've found when interviewing people is that framing the question is very important, depending on what sort of response you're after. I get the most interesting responses when I don't "lead" the person very much, and when I leave the question quite open and subject to their own interpretation. For me, the topic introduction and paragraph Fred quotes above feel too directive, while a topic listed simply as "Wilderness" would leave lots and lots of room for me. But that's just me; my primary interest here is encouraging a wide range of creative, personal responses. The discussions, which have sometimes been intense and exhilarating on my own blog after Ecotone topics, are also important, but that's not what motivates me to write in the first place. (Maybe there is a way to reference our comments or quote them here as part of the discussion, because it seems the discussions are mainly happening now on individual blogs.)
Mixing it up and trying a quotation out quarterly or even more often is a good idea. I'd like to add that, like Maria, I'm not bothered that some topics draw more responses than others. All have gotten a response, and all have generated thoughtful, often profound writing that didn't exist anywhere a few short months ago. --Beth
Thanks to [Rebecca Blood ]for her link to Ecotone on December 03. Hopefully, we'll see some new visitors and maybe a few who will participate in the biweekly topics and discussion. Welcome, first time visitors! -- FF
I do feel it would be a good idea to link written and photo topics - for example, one topic a month for written and photographic works would be a great community production. It would probably help the photos section take off too. I find four topics a month impossible so I am doing the written ones only. Coup de Vent 27/12/03
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