Hi folks... been trying to follow this thread... I've been quite busy
this week:

I think that for libraries to keep pace with our private sector
competitors, there needs to be strong alliances made on the technology
side.  In my opinion, the journal being proposed should focus on
encouraging collaboration and sharing of resources amongst libraries.
This list is already a place where folks collaborate and present their
solutions and questions, so it's a great place to harvest and nominate
authors and topics.

Ross Singer asks:
/One question is certainly, "Who will this journal serve?" (which has
already been asked, but I don't know if we've gotten consensus on it). /

When I think of a journal, I think of scholarly articles/theory which
address the big picture when it comes to the technological direction of
libraries.  If this is the case, the audience would not only be members
of this list but possibly those who make big administrative and budget
decisions in the area of technology as well.  Furthermore, librarians
with non-technical backgrounds could be inspired by how technology is
being (or might be) applied to their areas of study.  Basically, what
I'm saying is that I think it depends on how specialized and "geeky"
people want to make this, but I would argue that it would best serve as
a bridge to take our ideas out of geekdom and into an more scholarly
analysis of applied solutions (or failures).  By focusing on the big
picture, the journal would also garner a larger audience and hold
greater authority as a scholarly publication.

Ross Singer asks:
/I think a more important question, however, is "What is it about
Code4Lib that attracts you/makes you desire a published output of it?" /

If we're just talking about a codebank, discussion forum, and
non-scholarly article reference, then I see that as more of an active
online community, not a journal.  I think a lot of the code hacks have a
perfect audience right here on this list and see no reason to change the
format, which would inevitably make it more formal.  But those hacks are
often created to put out fires and solve an isolated problem for one
library, not necessarily deal with the "elephants in the room" that we
all face.

By the way, I think Ross has an interesting article topic right there in
his email.  What elements of an IRC channel creates more of a sense of
community than a listserv?  How could we use IRC to solve
library-specific problems?

-Shaun