RE: rules proposal

From: Eugene Matusov (ematusov@udel.edu)
Date: Sat Feb 26 2000 - 09:34:06 PST


Hi Bill and everybody--

Let me comment on Bill's message,
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Barowy [mailto:wbarowy@mail.lesley.edu]
> Sent: Friday, February 25, 2000 2:03 PM
> To: XMCA
> Subject: RE: rules proposal
>
>
> At 11:22 AM 2/25/00 -0500, Eugene Matusov wrote:
> >I'm joining Mary to say that self-reflection is very beneficial on xmca.
>
> Agreed. However, Eugene, at this point in time, I do disagree that is
> sufficient.

And neither do I.

>We are neither able to insist that all participants be
> self-reflective, nor to hear this plea.

Moreover, I'm not sure it is desirable to be always self-reflective. I found
it is important sometimes completely to dissolve myself in a moment. This is
what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi would probably call "flow experience." As a
little boy, I was always perplexed by the fact that when you start thinking
about your breathing the breaking rhythm gets disrupted.

>
> Rules are not necessarily oppressive: when they are developed by the
> collective who will refer to them, the participants have
> ownership over the
> rules, and may amend them. Ah! Friere.

Granted! Nicely said!

>
> I think of 'our rules' as mediational, and shared on a web site, they are
> available for reference in times of need, and do not require a central
> authority. Mike's off the hook. For example, you might write to me with
> this: "Bill, I think you are being very sarcastic and we agreed to keep
> that to a minimum". And if my memory needed to be jogged, you could refer
> to the website.

Yes. That is why Mike and I propose to have special button on the xmca
website named "Speaking of Rules" where there will be our discourse on rules
that can be added, modified, and referred to.

>Speaking personally, I would be compelled to comply,
> apologize, or at least to explain if I had agreed to such a set.

..or you could insist that I was wrong in interpretation of your words as
sarcastic.... :-) Bill, I love to be a devil advocate, sorry.

> But one does not necessarily need to think of these as rules by which we
> will oppress ourselves, but something also to liberate ourselves. We can
> frame the context out much differently -- a charter that explains our
> purposes, guidelines for interaction, our principles and privileges.
> "Mind as distributed" being among the first.

I agree.
>
> Here is a list of a "Bill of rights" (Acckkkk! NO pun intended)suggested
> only as a stepping stone to something more multi-authored and
> comprehensive. I'd like to think of them as applying not only to
> center-stage interactions, but in response to one of Nate's posts, to the
> private interactions among xmca'ers.
>
> We have the right: to say stupid things, to ask dumb questions, to explore
> genres of writing and interaction including poetry and fantastic prose, to
> protest when our sensibilities are violated, to post field notes, to
> violate the rules of punctuation, to mispell, to grammatically be
> incorrect, to inject humor, to express sadness, to be respected
> for what we
> know, to be aided in what we do not know, to care for each other and write
> in an other's behalf, to be free of ad hominem -- interpreted widely to
> include one's work achievements and field of study as well as
> one's person,
> not to be manipulated, to be women and men and all things in between and
> outside these two categories, to be teased and to tease in an
> alphanumeric-appropriate way ;-) (TBD), to be able to express our beliefs,
> to explore and re-present our multiculturalism, to express theories that
> compete with the prominant ones, to write half-baked notes, to post in
> multiple languages, to trust in each other, to be silent, to be
> students of
> theory and apprentices at writing and reading together...

AMEN! I love your list. I think it can be very useful especially for
newcomers.

Mike, technically speaking, who is going to add the button "Speaking of
Rules" on the XMCA website http://communication.ucsd.edu/MCA/Mail/index.html
and when? I think we can put Bill's, and Bruce's rules on the website right
there. I also think that it can be useful to put Philip C.'s and Judy's
concerns about having rules. Did I forget any other important messages to be
added to the "Speaking of Rules"? Please feel free to add rules or concerns
about rules.

What do you think?

Eugene



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