From dporush@widomaker.com Mon Feb 24 09:44:07 1997
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Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 21:50:12 -0500
To: Selmer Bringsjord <brings@rpi.edu>
From: dporush@widomaker.com (David Porush)
Subject: Re: check charge
Cc: duchin@rpi.edu, johnsd@rpi.edu
X-UIDL: 6d45880700ec6593a5f8f52a842293bf
Status: R

Dear Sel,

I share your concern about playing 'second fiddle" ...
and insofar as we can make "things", create systems,
we should do so and invite collaborations from others.

So let me tote up our assets in this regard:

Certainly PP&CS and our projects in Autopoeisis have
the best track record of and chances of "making things" in the
future. Then there's the kind of artistic work
coming out of iEAR/EMAC, and Pat Serarch, the webwork coming from
grad students in LL&C, the internet switchboards and resources
administered by Tim Stephen and Teri Harrison (COMSERVE),
and some of the screen design
and testing work done by Bob Krull.  Teri has also shown me
her SI proposal for using the Web to create community-university
networks and resources, which is interesting and a good beginning,
although her proposal needs refinements.

The sort of collaboration we signed off on
with Don Millard (and I'm working on another for
using gaming techniques for computer-assisted learning that
we should get you on board with), although it has its inherent
dangers of relegating us to a secondary role, is also a potential
multiplier of our efforts. As Faye has said, we need to get better
at locating the pots of money, and collaborations with Eng and
Science is a good beginning. I can't help but note how it
got so many players from PP&CS, LL&C, and STS to sign onto the
same effort: unprecedented in H&SS since the early days of
First Year Studies.


So in brief: yes, let's pursue our own agendas and invite others
to come on board so that we can stay in the driver's seat,
but let's not pass up good opportunities simply from fear of
playing second fiddle.

dp