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Bob …

From BobTrower

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Hans – feel free to shift this elsewhere. I just wanted to get this ‘on the table’ (or off of my table, anyway) and felt the best place (as per usual) is to post at the top.

I would like to see the material about Ada at least linked as a TOC (forgive me if this is already the case). Ideally, I would like it somehow packaged up so that I can move the material to another location.

As you know, I have had so many people around me pass away that I have a special section of files for them now. I have been remiss in collecting the obvious (like photos). Except for my voluminous correspondence, I have no other record except hard copies of the many people I have known. I am becoming more fussy (as you seem to be) about making sure that ‘gone is not forgotten’. If I can’t have my friends about me, I would at least like to have clear memories.

I am still working on the technical aspects of this, but some environments that I have here both dovetail into wiki environments and generate PDF files directly including proper headings and images. I am not 100% certain about moving my content there, but it is my inclination to do so. Getting access to the ‘raw’ wiki content without having to click on ‘edit’ for every page would be helpful.

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Don’t give up on attempting to get people to jot down some notes. There is an old joke by George Carlin something to the effect of:

The same applies for any capacity (like height in the case of you and I, since we are both so tall). The fact is, to enter stuff on to the wiki with respect to Ada; one needs a whole bunch of capabilities and proclivities. To whit:

  1. Had to know Ada well enough to say something.
  2. Have to be inclined to ‘speak up’ (for instance, to not be too ‘shy’ to write).
  3. Have to know what this wiki is.
  4. Have to know where this wiki is.
  5. Have to know a little about using wiki.
  6. Have to have the confidence to use this environment.
  7. Have to be reasonably comfortable typing.
  8. Have to be reasonably comfortable composing prose.
  9. Need to have time or make time to do it.

If my math is correct, all things being equal, one would expect that roughly (0.5^9*100)% of your correspondents will make it to the 50% threshold on all items. That is, about 1 in 500. Naturally, the population is somewhat selected (all things aren’t quite equal), so one would realistically expect to see perhaps (holds thumb out and closes one eye) 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 people respond to an initial invitation.

I am particularly concerned about ‘shyness’ as informed by the combination of comfort with the environment plus comfort with keyboarding plus comfort composing. The grim reality is that only a small fraction of the population can meet basic requirements for producing written work. My experience is that people don’t even know their limitations in this regard, they just feel a vague sense of discomfort. Mark Twain is credited with the following quote:

I expect that whether they think about it consciously or not, most people (like, really, the vast majority) have some sense that the above is true either by divination or selection.

The bottom line is that there is no sense in us expecting more from people than they have to give.

Meantime, we would still like to get something from people. I think that the idea of emailing people directly and asking them to respond via Email to your note is likely your best course. You will probably have to do this more than once and may have to drag stuff out with Q&A.

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