[OWW-SC] OpenWetWare and Nature Publishing Group

[Drew Endy]

Sri and everybody,

Great work on the first final draft of the grant.

Meanwhile, I'm uncomfortable with what's being proposed re: NPG at  
several levels.  Once the grant is edited and submitted on Monday  
I'll loop back and elaborate.  Could we also plan to spend some time  
on the future of OWW at the next SC meeting?  And, might it also be  
worth considering "splurging" for a 1/2 day SC retreat to discuss  
issues around this topic at length?

Thanks!
Drew


On Jul 7, 2006, at 4:28 PM, Sri Kosuri wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> First, thank you to everyone that helped with drafting the grant  
> and writing letters of support.  The proposal is essentially in  
> final form and it took much effort by many of us.  Having the  
> document will have benefits beyond this grant, and will help with  
> any new venture or collaboration in the future.  The grant will be  
> submitted by the OSP (Office of Sponsered Projects) on Monday, and  
> at that point I will send out a copy of the grant to everyone.
>
> Second, we were approached recently by Peter Collins and Greg  
> Urquhart of Nature Publishing Group about strengthening ties  
> between our two groups.  For the past few years NPG has been  
> exploring how best to engage  communities of scientists more  
> directly, as well as provide new communication tools for them (or  
> so they say).  They are interested in forming relationships at many  
> levels depending on our interest: from just general support and  
> help with funding all the way to complete managerial take over of  
> the site.
>
> Obviously such an offer, while flattering makes us ask questions  
> about the intentions of such a venture and the trustability of  
> relinquishing control to or even establishing close ties with an  
> old and venerated for-profit publishing group.  After giving it  
> some thought, a few of us thought we would put together a  
> reasonable set of offer  and then run it by the committee for  
> thoughts/reactions/suggestions/or better proposals that would seem  
> to work. So here goes:
>
> In general, we are asking for collaboration at first, and would  
> consider tighter relationships with NPG in the future depending on  
> the success of these initial projects.
>
> 1.  What we are asking for: NPG and OpenWetWare would form a  
> relationship which could include any or all of the following things:
> A.  Direct support for hardware and/or support for that hardware.
> B.  Direct support of a software developers tasked by the steering  
> committee.
> Both of these could either take a form of a direct monetary  
> donations, or contractual committments to provide these services  
> through NPG's existing infrastructures.
> C.  A major project chosen by the steering committee is planned and  
> execute independently by NPG in house.  For example, NPG could  
> become responsible for development of a personal OWW distribution.   
> This would involve simple installers for Unix, Mac, PC,  
> installation instructions, and simple ways to publish to OWW.  The  
> specifications for such software would be made by the Steering  
> Committee, and NPG would produce the software, and committ to  
> continued development for some time period.
> D.  Advertising for OpenWetWare.  This is minimal and obvious to  
> some extent.
> E.  Tools that make sense for NPG.  For example, a link on all of  
> their papers saying "discuss and comment on OpenWetWare".  They  
> would be taking advantage of our existing community and we would  
> get traffic and growth. (and perhaps tools to support this with  
> other publishing groups).
>
> 2.  What they would recieve: We can also imagine a couple of things  
> that could be pallatable depending on the level of committment and  
> support.
> A. On every page will be a link to Sponsors.  Upon clicking that  
> link, there will be a page describing sponsoring groups and details  
> on how they are helping OpenWetWare.  For example, such a page  
> would already include MIT CSBi for server space, and Microsoft  
> iCampus project for seed funding through the end of the year.  That  
> page could also describe the current status of any relationship  
> with NPG along with a logo.
>
> B. A small NPG image on the bottom of OWW pages (i.e, the CC logo).
> We need help with all aspects as we are a volunteer effort.  We can  
> begin by some modest levels of support for some basic hardware/et  
> cetera as well as people that will help support openwetware.  those  
> members would work with OWW on projects of mutual interest. (i.e.,  
> the distribution, tighter integration with the literature, et  
> cetera).  If the relationship is fruitful for the both of us, we  
> will continue to make stronger committments to each other.
>
> So we are asking for your thoughts and comments specifically on  
> these proposals, and also on what proposals you think could work  
> better.  Finally, I also should say that of course these  
> discussions are somewhat private, and that they not be disclosed  
> directly on OpenWetWare.  So please email me, or the steering  
> committee list if appropriate.
>
> Thanks,
> Sri
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