Misc (was: [uf-discuss] Disambiguation Conventions? (was CommentsfromIBM/Lotus rep about Microformats))

[Joe Andrieu]

Andy Mabbett wrote:
> In message <005701c71e23$b9ae6050$0201a8c0 at andrieuhome>, Joe 
> Andrieu <joe at andrieu.net> writes
> 
> >  The only real authority is the autocratic role played by Ryan and 
> >Tantek.
> 
> (!) Which seems to contradict your previous comments, above 
> (and to support mine).

It only contradicts to the point that Ryan and Tantek prevent the wiki
and email from operating in a fluid manner.  For the most part, our
dictators have been pretty reasonable at trying to keep things
functional and on topic.

Sincerely, I thank all the founding peerage who brought this effort into
being. It's amazing what has become of the effort and how useful the
output has been.

I've mentioned before that as we grow, we will find more and more
challenges are best addressed by how we enculturate newcomers. (I don't
know if enculturate is a real word, but it fits.)

In fact, there is a significant gap in the organizational development
behind microformats and the needs of a community of this size.  For
small groups, social norms and the moral authority of the founders can
be an incredibly successful cohesive force.  As those groups grow, they
inevitably face problems of social scale.

Clay Shirky talked about this very eloquently in "A Group Is Its Own
Worst Enemy", a speech at ETech, April, 2003.[1]

I highly encourage people who care about the growth of microformats to
read it.
[1] http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html

This group has done a lot of amazing stuff.  But for at least the last
six months its been seeing more and more signs of social frustration.

Read the article. 

-j


--
Joe Andrieu
joe at andrieu.net
+1 (805) 705-8651