we need to think less about completed products and more about text in process; less about individual authorship and more about collaboration; less about originality and more about remix; less about ownership and more about sharing.
open up the conversation to the public whose support the traditional humanities has lost. If anyone and everyone can join in, if the invitation of open access is widely accepted, appreciation of what humanists do will grow beyond the confines of the university
The ethos of THATCamp fits this need in some way. Put together a bunch of like-minded people who meet up at a low-stakes (and low-cost) situation and ask them to come up with their best ideas. Crowdsource those ideas and let the group weigh in on where, when, and how to discuss them. It’s chaotic, but it can work wonders.
How do I start to build a body of information, practical tips, how to’s, etc., that can be passed on from a student that is with me now to the one that will work with me next summer? How do we, at our very small school, start to be good stewards of an upcoming big equipment install, when at larger ones the associated maintenance tasks would be taken on by full-time staff?
Who else out there feels a bit isolated and would like to cultivate a community of like-minded physicists at small schools, so that we can work together on potential grant proposals? How do we actually collaborate on these proposals?