To me, a committee of volunteers that anyone interested can be on _is_ a 
community decision.

This is sort of a philosophical discussion/debate we've had before.  
Some people think "community democracy" contradicts having a certain 
specific committee, community democracy requires that everyone involved 
in the community can step in and step out at any time, can participate 
in every decision even if they hadn't participated in previous 
decisions, etc.  Me, I don't think that's a requirement, and I think 
there are often problems with that approach. To me, establishing a 
committee which is open to any volunteers---but which carries with it 
the expectation that serving on the committee is accepting 
responsibility for getting stuff done---is community democracy too, and 
often preferable.

In this case, I think either could work, whatever people who want to 
spend time organizing it want to organize. (Ah, but again, the 
recognition that there will be some certain people who spend time 
organizing it.  If it's going to happen, that's just a fact, some people 
will really take on and do the work, that's how it works. That's why I'd 
say, okay, call them a committee. Certainly, the opinions of anyone in 
the committee should be taken into account by those doing the work, but 
I don't have a lot of patience for people who demand unlimited decision 
making power without accepting responsibility for work.).

Jonathan

Edward M. Corrado wrote:
> I am all for a logo, but I also agree with Kevin it needs to be a community
> based decision. I'm also not sold that we need a professional designed logo,
> but I'm not against it either. I can understand why a business would not
> want to leave it to amateurs (although I have seen some great logos created
> by design school students) but I'm not sure what a professional logo would
> give us that a community derived one wouldn't. Roy, what do you think that
> would be that would gain by using a professional logo company?
>
> Edward - actually wearing a code4lib conference t-shirt right now
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 11:48 PM, Carol Bean <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>   
>> Well, looking at Software Freedom Day, which has somehow managed to get
>> itself a logo with virtually no organizational infrastructure, I don't see
>> why Code4Lib shouldn't.  I suspect their logo design wasn't done by
>> amateurs, however, even if they were volunteers.  Of course they have a much
>> larger, global base of  volunteers...
>>
>> I think it's a cool idea.
>>
>> Carol
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sep 19, 2008, at 11:39 PM, Kevin S. Clarke wrote:
>>
>>  I like the idea.  A real logo would be nice.  My one caveat is I'd
>>     
>>> still like everyone who'd like to have a voice to have one (I like
>>> voting).  I'd be less in favor of a committee of volunteers to make
>>> the decision.  I don't know how that would work with a professional
>>> graphic designer though.  Could they give us several options and open
>>> it up to a vote?
>>>
>>> Kevin
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 11:29 PM, Roy Tennant <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>>       
>>>> I was in the middle of writing a blog post about Code4Lib going regional
>>>> when it hit me -- here we have this incredibly successful brand and yet
>>>> we
>>>> lack a t-shirt. But I guess we lack a t-shirt because we lack a logo to
>>>> put
>>>> on it. The closest we get are the items that decorate our web site. Are
>>>> we
>>>> at the point where we're ready to establish an official graphic identity,
>>>> that can grace our web site, journal, conference, etc.? I think so.
>>>>
>>>> So here's my proposal: we take some of the money that has been passed
>>>> down
>>>> from conference to conference and we hire a graphic designer to do a
>>>> professional job of it. Branding is best not left to amateurs. We put
>>>> together a committee of volunteers to handle it.
>>>>
>>>> I know of at least one design firm that I think would do a good job,
>>>> since
>>>> they just designed a t-shirt for OCLC that we really liked, and they were
>>>> delighted to work with library coders. See
>>>> <http://www.sanchezcircuit.com/catalog/>. There are no doubt others as
>>>> well.
>>>>
>>>> One of the nice things about a logo is that although it establishes a
>>>> solid
>>>> graphic identity, it doesn't really take any organizational
>>>> infrastructure
>>>> to do it, which seems to fit right in with the c4l vibe. So am I crazy?
>>>> Stupid? Or right? You decide.
>>>> Roy
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> --
>>> There are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe there
>>> are two kinds of people and those who know better.
>>>
>>>       
>> Carol Bean
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>>     
>
>   

-- 
Jonathan Rochkind
Digital Services Software Engineer
The Sheridan Libraries
Johns Hopkins University
410.516.8886 
rochkind (at) jhu.edu