OPEN CULTURE NETWORK
A Proposal And Brain-storming Outline
v. 0.02
Monday, August 2, 2010 -- Arizona, USA

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GOALS 

*** To create an outlet for a melding of the various aspects of 
Free/Libre Open Culture and Expression.  These aspects include (but are 
certainly not limited to) software development, hardware hacking, fine 
art, music, writing, performing, political discussion (with a Free 
Thought/Open Culture spin -- no partisan crap), philosophy, religion (as 
it focuses -- or not -- on the concepts of Open Culture and Free 
Thinking), and more.  In the immediate future, this outlet might take 
the form of a multi-cultured audiocast, distributed planet feed, or 
something else entirely.  A little further off, perhaps a permanent 
online presence with sites/forums/wikis/IRC and microblogging 
groups/audio chatrooms (via things like Mumble, Asterisk, etc.), or 
anything else that might come to mind.

*** To create a community wherein anyone with anything positive to add 
to the Open Culture Movement, however big or small, is welcome.  
Curiousity is a treasure, and, as such, those coming to this community 
solely from that particular motivation are as valued as any others.  It 
is the blending of what, right now, may seem to be disparate cultures 
and sub-cultures online that will prove to be the most valuable asset 
this community can possess or even hope for.  Synergy has become a trite 
word, and I will not use it here.  But the power of collaboration and 
communication are undeniable, and this power can be turned to all the 
various elements of the Open Culture Movement, fostering new and 
unexpected methods of expression and creation.

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PLAN

*** Lay out a relatively comprehensive but flexible approach to the 
goals stated above.  This would require input, review, and revision from 
and by multiple people with similar Open Cultural goals, and, ideally, a 
wide range of specific areas of interest...that is, various and sundry 
expressive and creative categories about which they are passionate.

*** Create a new aggrigated RSS feed (or "planet") in which a wide range 
of Open Culture enthusiests can participate in and contribute to.  The 
definition of Open Culture is deliberately loose, allowing for such 
things as audiocasts, art, blogs, articles, stories, serialized books, 
computer code, short videos, screencasts, and likely much more.  These 
things can be contributed directly by the persons involved, or the 
planet can simply aggrogate their RSS/Atom feeds from their own sites.  
Obviously, the wider the range of material here, the better; though, if 
the feed grew to be too busy, some sort of filtering system which the 
feed recipiant could take advantage of could be instituted.  Splintering 
a busy feed into smaller, more specialized feeds, however, could reduce 
the advantage of having an Open Cultural feed, and probably should be 
avoided.

*** Create a new podcast that showcases these values and advantages, 
displaying a wide range of material, from a wide range of people, with a 
wide range of interests.  This show would be syndicated through the 
planet.  There could also be a companion videocast, to illustrate 
visual-based creative submissions.

*** An active IRC/microblogging presence should be established, allowing 
for community members to socialize, and to collaborate on various issues 
and projects.

*** A forum should be estrablished to help do the same.

*** An official stnce on the lisencing of all submitted works should be 
taken from the onset, and regularly re-evaluated.  Obviously, the accent 
here would be on Free/Open Source/Creative Commons/Public Domain 
licenses, but the specifics ought to be established asnd published.

*** At least one online site ought to be created, acting more-or-less as 
a gateway to all the other aspects of the Network.  From here, one may 
subscribe to and filter a specific planet feed; join the forum; add to 
or consult the wiki; look up the details about the various 
microblogging/chat channels in use; read profiles of the contributors; 
etc.

*** A community manager ought to be appointed early on -- though not 
necessarily immediately.  The community is, in fact, the sole purpose of 
the Network, and, as such, should be treated as fundimental to it.

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MISC. THOUGHTS

As for promotion, building the OCN community, spreading the faith and
all that...well, that's the herculian labor of any endeavor.
Getting people interested in this would require a dedicated and
evolving methodology.  It would be a major project, all on its own.
But it could be something done out in the open, with all the
collaborative work -- the planning, the brainstorming, anything
involved in the process -- going out over the RSS feeds, allowing the
community at large to contribute ideas and resources.

For the RSS feed, I'm thinking that at the main site, there'd be a
master list of some kind of all the content available (updated
regularly) -- everything from creative and recorded works, to the
minutes of the latest OCN admin meeting -- with check boxes next to
each feed.  You then check off anything that seems interesting, press
a button, and it creates a personalized OCN feed for you right there
that you can import into any reader.  If you don't like something, you
just zee it out of the feed on your end.  Want something new?  You can
create a new personalized feed, or just cherry pick the feeds
individually.  Combine this with the filtering technique, and you can
get some very individualized content.  There might be some tendency
for people to just read what they always read, and not "blend" with
the community at large, but since everyone has indivualized approaches
here, some people will inevitably interact with outher types of
groups, and, in turn, influence other groups they hang with.

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