On 12/3/12 2:14 PM, MJ Ray wrote:
> This listserv looks threaded to me.  Maybe you need to upgrade
> Thunderbird, although I could have sworn it's done threaded for
> a while now.
>

I was thinking of something that has a "Vote to Promote" feature. I feel 
that it's important to give folks a chance to support ideas even if they 
don't have a lot to add comment-wise.  It's a good way to gauge interest 
among folks who are not "top talkers".  The "Vote to Promote" pattern is 
designed as an unobtrusive, democratic way to show support for ideas and 
focus the discussion toward constructive commentary [1].

Interestingly enough, the RailsBridge curriculum project implements a 
simple version of this pattern as its core project[2].  I wonder if it 
would be a good starting point for a collaborative project?  Everyone 
who takes the workshop will know how this app works and should be able 
to add to it in the months that follow the conference.

One of the MIT Mentorship Program tips [3] recommends making sure 
mentors get something in return (that it's not all giving on the part of 
the mentor). Since, according to Jonathan, we have a paucity of 
volunteer coders, perhaps the RailsBridge app could be an ongoing github 
project and a way to enlist more volunteers to give back to Code4Lib. 
Mentees might be expected to contribute something after the workshop and 
get a feel for software collaboration on github with their mentors in a 
helpful environment?

Whether or not people would use such a tool in addition to the listserv, 
I don't know.  Vote to Promote requires a critical mass to make it 
worthwhile, but it's hard to gauge actual support without testing it.

[1] http://ui-patterns.com/patterns/VoteToPromote
[2] http://docs.railsbridge.org/curriculum/
[3] http://mit.edu/uaap/prog_tips.html

>
> Unless you do something pretty silly - like insisting everyone
> register with github

Unfortunately, in order to collaborate on the anti-harrassment policy, 
you do need to have a github account, or lobby someone who does to make 
a change for you.  But I think most would agree that's better than 
hashing out such details on this list.

-- 
Shaun D. Ellis
Digital Library Interface Developer
Firestone Library, Princeton University
voice: 609.258.1698 | [log in to unmask]