The following is perhaps rather more information than most, other than those who are truly curious about plans and progress under this cooperative international venture, may wish to have. It lists the main tasks that are to be performed in the coming months to round out the various sites and bring them into full operational shape. Although listed here by main task area, in point of fact it can be anticipated that work will advance under the various headings more or less at the same time (within the limit of available resources at EcoPlan). The reader will note that there will be times in which some are the main focus of our current work here and therefore kept fully up to date, while others may for a time languish on the back burner. This should not be taken as signaling a lack of interest on our part in continuing and deepening them, but simply a hopefully transitory lack of time and resources. Additional detail on these tasks will be found below - click the indicated item for direct access.
Overall organizational/housekeeping tasks
I. Overall organizational/housekeeping tasks at hand
- Ensure that all portions of the Web site are easy to find and navigate
- Adopt parallel layouts for each working site (roughly following the Rethinking Work tempplate)
- Develop extensive but careful linking strategy (avoiding unnecessary information overload)
- Create frameworks that will both stimulate and facilitate inputs by users and colleagues
- Develop lively, easy to access 'discussion forums' for each major topic area
- Identify Moderators and Editors for various sections
- Improve and extend navigational aids and build up tool kits through ftp Tools site
- Develop new partnerships and alliances in support of related, high quality activities, projects and programs
- Find sponsors, funding sources, and contributors for overall program and specific topics and work sites
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II. The Commons -- Tasks at Hand
- Attend to feedback generally and continue site development
- Discuss and refine Statement of Purpose and Themes of The Commons
- Develop additional background on work and life of Kenneth Boulding
- Discuss choice of The Children's Program, Homeless, and Prison as focus issues for the coming year
- Prepare key sections on (a) intellectual capital, (b) "brain focusing", (c) new technology and new democracy, etc.
- Develop and sharpen links with key sites, groups and programs elsewhere
- Begin to encourage first subscriptions by Friends of the Commons (gradually and with two way communication and discussion to take advantage of their questions and guiding remarks)
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III. The electronic environment
- Focus this section on technical and communications issues and means (shifting over to Information Society and elsewhere as appropriate all issues of content)
- Complete work on missing and incomplete sections
- Attend to feedback generally and continue site development
- Clarify and make further information available on those aspects of e/e other than Web site (videoconferencing, distance group work tools and techniques, better use of email links, etc.)
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The ambitious overall objective is to develop this site into a premiere showcase and forum for the international exchange of ideas and information on the search for alternative forms of work organization, including expanding the role for regional, local and personal initiatives. IV. New Ways to Work
- Develop the site into a functional "International War Room" to support thinking and initiatives in these areas
- Creative linking of this site will be one of the keys to its success
- Do not relent on basic commitment to (a) 100% full employment and (b) the outstandingly aggressive development of the work/education linkage as the essential policy keys
- Use the site and its energies to stimulate various parts of European Commission and the OECD to allocate more resources to the sort of more critical and radical work approaches as are being advanced under this program
- Likewise for national, regional and local government across OECD region
- To be used as a means for encouraging demonstration projects and other means which will lead to a broader array of work arrangements
- Encourage active use of forum by private sector firms and other employers both for information and pilot and demonstration project development and review
- Use forum as a means to provide "peer support" for those trying to advance thinking and initiatives in these important areas
- Bring along and integrate Operation Bootstrap program and projects
- Tighten links to Eric Britton's cycle of Rethinking Workreports, presentations, public debates, and forthcoming book (Autumn 1996/Spring 1997)
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V. The Information Society
- This site is to be developed into the central turntable for all content on this topic
- Several sections currently lodged under the electronic environment will be transferred here and then improved, expanded, etc.
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We have been asked to work in support of this conference. The Vancouver meeting is to be not only an important event in itself but also, if we get it right, provide a first "proof of process" of the electronic environment and its potentials -- including for "movement minimization" in a world of efficient operation. VI. OECD Vancouver Conference Follow-up
- Post conference maintenance of site (funding sought)
- Ensure that the site provides a complete and accurate view of the conference and its contents
- Upload French language materials for all sections (as they become available)
- Develop direct links to downloadable versions of all key documents and routines for convenient (and fast) access.
- Ensure substantive follow-up of key meeting findings and conclusions through STEP site
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The main task at hand is to complete these two sites so that they can serve as a single integrated unit which will provide an appropriate forum to gather thoughts and encourage initiatives in this area. (The Access site is being developed in sketch form prior to the OECD Conference in Vancouver and takes a rather more measured approach to the issues. STEP, by contrast, is much more aggressive and action oriented. VIII. STEP and the Access/Sustainable Transport Forum
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All work under this program has up until now been entirely financed internally (see Private Sector Program) , with small contributions to date from the OECD and the Canadian Government which will cover a portion of the cost involved in setting up the Vancouver conference site. While it is the firm commitment of the founders to maintain The Commons out through the year 2000, at the very least, this is going to be do-able at a reasonable scale only if additional support becomes available. There are four or five types of support that we can put before you at this point for your consideration, with the thought that eventually some of you may find this effort to be useful enough to respond with suggestions or actual support. Briefly, this list includes: VIII. Sponsorship and Support
- Direct support of The Commons: The only available formula here is through the Friends of the Commons. Individual subscriptions only, with fifty year commitment (see above for details)
- Support of the electronic environment: Funding is going to be needed to reimburse the development costs incurred thus far, and for future development and maintenance of the basic e/e infrastructure. This support can be either financial or in terms of in-kind donations and cooperation.
- Site and Project Partnerships: These will require active funding and cost-sharing by the partners in each case
- Sponsorships and Donations: The Commons is firmly committed to the idea of new kinds of creative partnerships between different kinds of people and organizations (you can think of this as new public/private partnerships, as a short-hand). Many possible variants exist here. There is, for example, the possibility of donating or lending equipment and other support gear for specific events, or in-kind support. Already, for example, we are receiving gifts for the several on-going "prize competitions": these include books, software, hardware and offers of services. Other possibilities include donations of time to help out in specific ways, telecommunications support, offers to provide FTP sites, etc.
But it is not our purpose here to come to you or anyone else hat in hand. This is, we are convinced, going to be a valuable and timely contribution to the challenge that it is trying to address. It is a barn-raising -- and our neighbors will know who they are and how they can pitch in! We have full confidence that this cooperative formula is going to succeed. So you are all cordially invited to watch this space.
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Page last updated on 3 January 1996.
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