[Forum] Berkshire Arts Forum.

[Edward Cating]

I certainly don't want to be misinterpreted as urging Joshua's
berkshirevisualarts.org site to close or even to take a back seat to
ArtStart. The site is beautiful and I think that there is a powerful
argument for separating the visual arts coverage from the cyber clutter of
performing arts information that we in the Berkshires are privileged enough
to enjoy. It seems clear that the first Forum simply hit a nerve in this
community - a good thing. And several people immediately stepped up to the
plate with tools to empower the community by facilitating communication -
also good. Now it's time for fine tuning and deciding what we need and how
to accomplish that. Kurt's call for us to define our personal needs is a
critical step. This forum is working (thank you Jason!) and the fact that we
are feeling some growing pain so early is yet another good thing. Now there
is a need, as Jonathan expressed, for the people who have provided this
channel to coordinate their efforts. We need to be sure that the growth path
for separate web technologies will either converge or stay parallel - but
not diverge! In my view, this forum can be hosted anywhere, and links to it
for new members can be posted everywhere. The crucial thing is that
http://www.berkshireartstart.org/ and
berkshirevisualarts.orginter-operate. I think that that is happening.
And it would be shortsighted
of us to set a precedent that might limit the next great idea for a site
that could ultimately provide benefits to all. We simply need to be mindful
that once systems are put in place they tend to develop inertia in
proportion to their usefulness, becoming more difficult to change over time.
I hope Jason, Joshua and Jon will coordinate their activities so that
everyone's good intentions will dovetail. Sites and forums will help us all
so long as they do not result in diluting our voices at this critical time.
My $0.02.

On 3/12/07, Gregory Scheckler <Gregory.Scheckler at mcla.edu> wrote:
>
> I agree with Ed's concerns. I think the Artstart website would be the best
> place to sponsor the web-based forum; keep this all in one place. It's
> wonderful to see these discussions happening; I think they can be a great
> help to all of us.
>
> gjs
>
>


-- 
Edward Cating
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