User:Larry Sanger

Hi there! Larry Sanger here. I'm the Editor-in-Chief of the Citizendium. I am also currently, and temporarily, serving as Chair of the Editorial Council. If you have a question, I'll try to answer, but you might want to try the Forums first if I don't answer instantly. I'm happy to report that I'm extremely busy! You can join my shameful backlog of e-mail at sanger <at> citizendium <dot> org.

You can read more about me at my personal home page. I have a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Ohio State and a passion for Irish traditional music. I was born in the Seattle area and grew up in Anchorage, Alaska.

I do not claim any sort of editorship other than being Editor-in-Chief, I'm afraid, not even in philosophy or the Internet. I am too long out of doing any serious research. (Although this is changing!)

I've worked on many articles, but I wrote significant parts (or all) of: John Doherty (fiddler), philosophy, Ship of Theseus problem, and epistemology. None are done yet!

There's a CZ article about me which I have not edited.  ;-)

<-- you can use this if you want

Status Tues., Dec. 21: well, the license decision is made (CC-by-sa) and the paper and press release are done, finally! It took me much longer than I thought it would. Outside of that...my priorities haven't changed much, see below. My priorities are still: get the Exec. Comm. "focus group" working; catch up with e-mail; quickly finish usable if not perfect versions of the various instructions home pages, and quickly if not perfectly update our introductory material, it's getting rather outdated; then continuing work on "the changing of the guard," meaning we are going to reshuffle our personnel, add new positions of responsibility as people are willing to take them on, and so forth (I might get started on this immediately next, too); continue recruiting for CZ Honorary Board. I'll probably launch SharedKnowing very soon, too.

Suggestion Box Got a suggestion for me personally? I mean, you can use the Forums to make any suggestion, but if there is some big sweeping change or project or idea that probably ain't gonna happen if I don't get behind it, please let me know at Suggestion Box.

Sanger's Dashboard

New project planning Done Finish grant proposal Compromise proposal Finish work on various policy and instructions pages: Change links to "external" citizendium.org pages (which have been imported to the wiki). Redirect links past CZ:Policy Outline and past CZ:Project Home. Gut CZ:Editor Policy. Write various community home pages. Particularly important are CZ:Getting Started (most of all), CZ:Technical Help, and CZ:Content Policy. Write (or make sure is written CZ:The Constable Role. Attempt to wrangle a "Citizendium for Dummies"-type technical introduction--incl. subpages for dummies. Redesign sidebar...again. Rewrite Template:Awelcome and Template:Ewelcome. Revisit CZ:Home and community pages templates Overhaul of subpages narrative Write up some guidelines for editing policy documents: which details go in the document and which go on more specialized policy pages, who needs to be informed of changes, and that we should be linking to all (yes, all) policy pages from the Policy Outline Citizendium advocates' guidelines Encourage authors and editors to become advocates and spread the word; feel proud Part of the recruitment ramp-up effort Button to put on blog: "I power the Citizendium" Other stuff: Use wiki pages for public patron program Write policy Write mock-up pages Planning for the Big Invite See User talk:Larry Sanger/Approved in pagehist; discuss here. Expand the Article Checklist (incl. AmE & BrE, and various other suggestions, including perhaps degree of importance) Ensure that "the recent unpleasantness" results in effective policy solutions "Ramp up editor participation" Add editor policy and relevant workgroup templates to all editor pages. Core Articles + What's Your Article? and What's Your Message? Think about how to make self-registration (again) work Public comments feature - MW plugin? Add an important distinction: pulling rank in order to resolve a dispute vs. pulling rank in order to win an argument. The former, only, is permitted. -- Add this to CZ:The Editor Role and CZ:Dispute Resolution. De-link inactive accounts Follow-up e-mail system... Governance policymaking Follow up on talk page conflict problem proposals Mediation Judicial Board Editorial oversight of authors Write policy affecting the Personnel Manager Write policy regarding "job listings" Craft Judicial Board policy Get feedback & confirmation of this policy from Editorial Council & Constabulary Finish drafting policy regarding entrance and exit from Constabulary (an element of sortition here?) Hammer out policy about how new Constabulary policy is created Discuss with the Council: open up Chair actions to all Council members? Start a general debate about sortition Pass a resolution about how to get new people on (and off) the Council; also, address the issue of term limits and total number of members; and about how to get authors on the Council Write Executive Committee rules into Policy Outline Write various Editor-in-Chief powers and constraints into rules Veto power Minor policymaking power (must be exercised before Council & Const.) Ask Editorial Council and Constabulary to vet the rules about Editor-in-Chief powers and constraints Start a central "proposals" page? Hammer out author demotions policy--long anticipated, never acted on Technical Committee Procedure for adding workgroups, including breaking "Hobbies Workgroup" into a zillion subgroups One possible condition: three editors request it, all of them having created at least three articles and having edited five articles. Recruitment Step 1 Create "one-off" job board Request resignations from inactive members of Executive Committee, Constabulary, and Editorial Council Follow up to nonreplies after a week (set reminder) Actually remove people from various wiki lists and mailing lists Accomplish separation of powers Compile list of people who serve on more than one group Send mail to all of them asking them to choose which group they want to remain on Follow up to nonreplies after a week (set reminder) Make decisions for any laggards (set reminder) Actually remove people from various wiki lists and mailing lists Do big management recruitment push Create "job listings" page E-mail lists when ready "Jobs" to list include (be sure to specify which positions are pending approval): Chair of the Editorial Council Constables (6-10 new recruits) Executive Committee (6-10 new recruits) Executive Committee Secretary Editorial Personnel Administrators (8-12 new recruits) Chair of the Editorial Personnel Committee Judicial Board members (3) Personnel Manager Project Coordinators: annotated Web links; annotated (non-Web) bibliography; categories (subtopics, supertopics, related topics); catalogs (almanac-type information in tabular form; see e.g. catalog of religions); gallery/multimedia; expert (curated) articles with bylines; debate guide; news summary; tutorials Update CZ:Personnel with data about beginning and end of terms Follow up on old volunteer offers

Recruitment Step 2 If possible, find a Personnel Manager first; work with this person to complete Step 2 Begin matching jobs to persons when applications begin dropping off Work with current constables and Chief Constable to get new constables on board Do the sortition to get new editors and authors on board Select new Executive Committee members (from within set of general volunteers, and possibly others) If necessary, use Craigslist and/or other sites for recruitment Find new E.C. Chair Solicit from within Council If there are no replies (set reminder), solicit from outside Council Create coder wiki page, to include: desired projects; "bounties" (solicit donations for particular software projects--domystuff.com?) Assign authority to edit certain pages to certain specific individuals; track these assignments on CZ:Policy Outline Implementation The Big Subpage Move Son of the Big Delete (eeee!) Start the Big Invite Nominate new Editorial Council members Create new workgroups, finally Add rules about the Editorial Personnel Committee and its Chair Do "training" of new positions When finished, make self rank-and-file member of Council & remove self from Constabulary Establish Execute Committee meetings (conference call) Settle upon technology Settle upon time Ask whether anyone will serve as Secretary Set up new Executive Committee wiki page, containing reports/minutes Decide whether to post these meeting reports to Citizendium-L Other Tasks Create Board of Advisors Ask for nominations from Citizendium-L, Citizendium-Editors, Executive Committee, as well as the blog Create criteria Do further research into possible invitees Make a master list of possible invitees Approach each personally Follow up on eBay thing "Submit articles" button/address & process? Move discussion from workgroup forum boards to workgroup mailing lists? Follow up (write policy on and develop) "Cold Storage" Establish a method to raise neutrality issues (and other issues of failure on the part of the editor to follow CZ policy) Create a uniform dispute resolution mechanism, in the form of a vote on proposed issue. Other quality checklists? Open up stubs? Start up weekly focus days? -- New article day, edit someone else's article day... Put editor names on talk (or info) pages? Popovers A page for giving credit to "First Collaborators" Move discipline-oriented discussion to mailing lists, shut down workgroup forums?? Ensure the Constabulary gets a policy about exiting members going "Pop culture" subpages Proof subpages A better way to get programming support Decide whether to use Flagged Revisions Review system (see exec mail of Oct. 10)

Principles for our organizers' group

I've convened a small (six person) group of people have committed to helping to organize various initiatives and generally "get stuff done." Call them organizers. We're going to talk on a regular basis and together drive a lot of new stuff forward in 2008. For my future reference (and theirs), here are some principles I have proposed for this group.

(1) Above all, what we need is maximum creativity, to achieve two goals: (a) precisely identify specific practical problems that need solving, and (b) propose specific practical solutions to those problems. No project I've ever been involved in has ever made headway without the principals constantly thinking up better practical solutions to practical problems.

(2) More specifically, our job is to organize activity. If we execute everything ourselves (individually or collectively), we are not doing our jobs. Our job is to organize and motivate others to do stuff. No doubt we will have to lead the way, and sometimes work hard in doing so. But we have to feel bold enough to call on others to help. This can be specific other known individuals, but more importantly is the power of "crowdsourcing" that is at the heart of wiki projects like CZ. We prioritize community initiatives and labor: what are the most important problems CZ faces, and needs to solve? I also welcome your help in prioritizing my own work.

(3) Our job is not to debate. Debate is great. Debate is necessary. But it is not our job. Our job is to do. Therefore, if we debate, we should debate only concerning what the best course of practical action should be. But even this debate should be kept to a minimum.

(4) Big important new initiatives do need discussion and approval. But once they're approved, go to town. Steve Ewen was given the green light to organize our image policies and resources, and he went to town--that is a perfect example of what I mean.

(5) We are not the Grand Overseers of the Citizendium. We are not The Cabal. So we do not make policy and we do not pass judgment on individuals. We are doers and organizers. If new policy is required for us to take some action, we consult the community and drive it through the proper bodies (if possible!).

(6) Our proceedings need not be particularly secret, except perhaps in very small cases...we could, if we wanted to, set up a mailing list for our group and make it open to read.

(7) We will report on our work to each other once or twice a week (we can decide later), and give each other advice and encouragement. If you stop acting for a time, you'll be dropped from the group. If some other person particularly distinguishes him or herself and would seem to fit in as a co-organizer, let's get that person into the group.

A plan for activity tracking

I have been bothered that there isn't a good way to make sure that our various proposals and plans don't fall through the cracks. This happens all too often: we make many good proposals and just don't follow through. This is as much my fault as anyone's, because as project leader, I should be keeping track of people's various proposals and encouraging them to follow through. Then, I need to improve my own follow-through as well.

Well, here is a plan to address that problem. I think we should create a template, similar to but more structured than my "status" box above. We each fill out the template, and the information is intelligently displayable in one spot, in a few tables. I'll explain further (and demonstrate) in a little bit.

In short, while I can't explain briefly, I think this is going to help us tremendously in getting organized. Possibly like nothing we've done before: we can include our activity boxes on workgroup pages, for example.

Main "requirements":

• The box will have several categories of information.
• The categories might include: top accomplishments (past week); top accomplishments (past month); plans for today; plans/to do list for this week; accomplishments and plans for workgroup1-3; main roles in the system; special ongoing commitments or projects; main articles I'm working on these days (general); main articles (workgroup1-3); motto; public notes; personal notes (to display only on user page).
• The same data can be used to create several different boxes, or even table rows. It can be displayed in workgroups (which I am very interested in), on project pages, etc. It can be very extensible.
• The "master display" (which lists everyone's infoboxes on a single set of pages) might be linked from CZ:Personnel.

To fulfill these requirements, we will have to do some template "magic." Let me give an example. Suppose my data is at {{Template:User/Larry Sanger}}. I use a different template on my personal home page, say, {{userplan-all}}, which basically feeds back all the data from {{Template:User/Larry Sanger}} in a pretty form. Once I've filled out {{Template:User/Larry Sanger}}, all I'll have to do is put {{userplan-all}} on my user page, and voila.

But when it comes to aggregating info, for example on a Philosophy Workgroup personnel page, or on a Recruitment initiative page, it would work differently. You can imagine a {{philosophy-users}} template; people can add their usernames to it, if they're active in the Philosophy Workgroup. Then we put a {{philosophy-users-activity}} template on CZ:Philosophy Workgroup (or a subpage thereof); what that does

I want this to be the method whereby we keep track of who is doing what where. It might be difficult to motivate people to get started, but it's the sort of thing where the info is useful even if it isn't complete, and the results will be so cool that everybody will eventually want to have their own userplan boxes.

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