Re: OT: publication of iris-talk?

IRIS-TALK BOOK

At the risk of voicing an unpopular question, I have to ask if anyone
has considered the potential negative consequences of publishing
iris-talk in print? Is the print publication of iris-talk worth the
potential risks to the future of the forum?

First, can the print publication or even talk of a possible print
publication from this forum result in a chilling of future participation
in iris-talk? Will iris-talk subscribers feel comfortable posting casual
comments if they suspect their messages may be edited, printed for
permanance, and distributed in book form? What are the ethical
considerations when messages are converted to a different use 'after'
they have been contributed to iris-talk?

Second, is it realistic to secure permission for everyone's copyright in
their messages? Would the process of securing the copyright permissions
lead to dissension, controversy, and chill future participation in the
forum?

The maintenance of archives for maillist messages already discourages
some people from participation in various forums. A number of
subscribers would rather lurk than have their casual comments preserved
for posterity. That is one of the reasons chat rooms are popular with
some subscribers. They are more confident that an erroneous or ignorant
remark will not haunt them forever. Some professionals would rather not
risk having their casual comments and errors taken out of context or
misrepresented.  Printing those remarks in the permanance of a book
could be daunting for newbies and professionals alike.

I'm sorry to introduce a sour note after so many enthusiastic
endorsements. However, I can suggest a potential solution. This forum
already uses message tags in the subject headers. Individuals who wish
to post messages to this forum with the specific intent of granting
permission for future print publication could do so by adding a 'PUB',
'-P', or similar subject header. Subscribers who respond to such a
thread with the same subject heading automatically grant their own
permissions as well. Subscribers who don't wish to grant permissions can
still participate in the thread by not using the 'PUB' or '-P'
designation in the subject header. Such a procedure would at least
maintain a trust and confidence that the forum would not at some future
date appropriate messages for a use that was never intended by the
author of the message.

An advantage to using multiple subject tags is the opportunity for
deliberately organizing and promoting the submission of articles with
copyright permissions for the publication of a future Iris-Talk book.
Perhaps the subject tags could be organized and defined to classify the
messages for inclusion in certain subject oriented chapters?

Would such a scheme be satisfactory for the confidence and trust of
current lurkers and posters?

What subject categories would be in such an IRIS-TALK book?

What additional subject heading designators could be used to denote
permission for publication? Would you simply add a '-P' to the existing
subject headings?

[By the way, IMMORTALITY is reblooming. PALTEC is trying reaaal hard to
bust out a blossom. It started raining today, and showers are now
intermittant.]

Dallas Patterson
nye@fidalgo.net
USDA Zone 8
On Puget Sound in Washington


patriciabrooks@coupeville.net wrote:
> 
> Hey, iris-talkers,
> 
> Since this will be my first year hybridizing and I'm hungry for
> information, I have, since finding the iris-talk e-group, printed out
> everything relevant to my project, going all the way back to the
> group's inception in 1998.  I have compiled it all in a FAT notebook
> getting fatter, divided by subject, such as ON HYBRIDIZING, CULTURE,
> REBLOOMERS, PROVEN PARENTS, SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS, etc.  And it has
> occured to me that other iris fanatics might be as interested as I in
> this information -- which is virtually impossible to get in book form.
> 
> At first I thought to suggest half-humorously that we publish the
> collection as I book.  But since, I've thought that such a book,
> published by the AIS, might be valuable to all the novices in the
> field and profitable for the AIS to sell through their storefront.
> Everyone would have to okay the use of their contribution(s), of
> course; but being an editor as well as a writer, I'd be happy to do
> whatever editing and linking and organizing the contributions would
> need to be readable as a book.
> 
> What do others think?  Having looked everywhere for such information,
> and finding it only here, I think there might be real interest in it -
> -for hobby gardeners as well as those wanting to take it further.
> 
> Patricia Brooks
> patriciabrooks@coupeville.net
> 

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