I like what you have to say, Mark and appreciate that you've taken the time to come by to help me flesh out some direction for this project (I know how busy you are). Ya, I agree with you that the term "collective" is misleading. Maybe a better _expression_ is "online community".

In an online sense, no leaderless projects really prosper without a catalyst -- take for example, Wikipedia -- which is free and open, yet still technically despotic -- Jim Wales, I believe, created it and continues to "own" it, i.e. "Those who pay the bills make the rules". Thankfully, thus far Jim Wales has proven to have the interests of the "greater good" at heart.

So we're left with the paradox -- often for something like this to exist, it requires a catlyst to get it going -- in a technical sense, at least. Despite paying the bills, I'm interested in fostering an open (no quotes) community for the benefit of all. I'm interested of course in creating a prosperous project, and as such I feel that its important that my goals and expectations are aligned with the (potential) community.

That the community wasn't part of its inception is problematic, I guess, to the extent that they (we) weren't able to determine its interests from the outset. I approached it from the Kevin Costnerian idea that "if you build it, they will come". I equated it I guess to creating a space and throwing the doors open and inviting others to make it work.

So, what keeps a site like this in check? What ensures that, as one of the site's "founders", I don't do something that runs counter to the interests of the community? The right to leave. And I don't mean that in a glib way.

This puts a severe limitation on the behaviour of this site's bureaucracy because people may just abandon it if it doesn't satisfy them.

I think its important to understand when creating a new project that the project will fail if your members exercise their right to leave -- on the web, its so easy -- a click and a millisecond and you're gone!

Take for instance an idea that I hoped to ad to the community in the near future, a marketplace maybe, a coop-like store where users could list books and sell them. While its an idea that I like, which I think would be beneficial and interesting, I'd be at the mercy of the membership because they can impeach me simply by ignoring the site. My "power" as it were is only in their hands and thus it is really their power on loan.

One outstanding question, and a huge one at that, is why should you (in the global sense) bother? Why should you bother investing your time and effort in this project. I hope to be able to answer this question in time, by illustrating and implementing tools that will make the site useful to all involved.

On your point regarding registration, I agree with you that it creates insularity, and as a result content will be accessible at all times to all users, regardless of whether or not they have registered.

What you say about the developing community of innovative Canadian poets is right on.

I love that it has developed to the point that it has; its particularly true of our weblogs and mailinglists where the power to _link_ is nearly equivalent to the ability to participate. Very democratic. It's something that I'd like to expand upon here.

Hmmm, things are moving quickly now!

I just spoke to Jesse Glass who is, as some of you may know, a friend and co-publisher of Ahadada Books. Arising from our discussions, we're hoping to integrate Ahadada Books to serve as a supporting organization (or parent) for the Small Press Exchange.

The purpose of the relationship is to provide support and protection for the development of the Small Press Exchange. For example, we'll move the Small Press Exchange to the Ahadada servers (which are faster than the ones we're on now!).

I guess this makes the idea of a collective kind of a moot point, as Ahadada Books will serve as a "founder" who will help in promoting activities designed to help grow the Small Press Exchange as well as helping to solicit funding and participation.

This of course, changes nothing mentioned already, as the same principles still apply -- the Small Press Exchange was created to be open for all users

They may be here on hardware and software hosted by Ahadada Books, but (we) users are here for one another.

I feel a manifesto coming on!

Well, I think I've been looking gift horses in the mouth for a bit too long, so I'll just say this: Interesting. I hope it works out.

Mark

Hi all,

For what it's worth I'd like to add a few of my own thoughts here. You won't hear much from me on this side of the fence: in fact this might be my one and only posting, but I think, initially, I'd like to address a few of the key concepts that Dan and I discussed when we first decided to create this unique venture.

First, when I look out my window, I see a suburb of Tokyo. To be frank, not much of interest is happening out there for the foreign writing community. Certainly there are some workshops and a few readings, and a slam or two at a bar, but outside of Gavin Bantock in the wilds of Shikoku and the occasional visiting poet in the univeristies, the talent quotient is surprisingly low. This is not to say that the Japanese poetry community is not active--it is alive and electric. However, on the whole, my end of ahadada books is a bit like Coleridge's pleasure dome rising mid-way on the waves--certainly we are producing books, but those books are sold and read--on the whole--elsewhere, and that is completely fine with me.

Dan, on the other hand sees the skyline of Toronto from his digs, and that's beautiful. What an incredible place for poetry and alternative publishing in English! That's why I feel that this small press exchange project is especially good for everyone--including Ahadada Books, because it grounds us in the land of Canadada and that's a great place to be! I'm heartened by the fact that so much relating to Canadian readings and publishing is beginning to appear here. Of course, that doesn't mean that Brits--I see Phil has signed on--and the Yanks are not welcome too! The more the merrier.

Yep, this is a great place to be so please spread the word and feel free to tell everyone your NEWS--be it a new book, a new press--a new readings, a review--a gripe--anything. This is a great place to post--or even repost. We have no rules against spreading the same news here that's appeared elsewhere, as long as it's useful for your project. Anyway--those are my thoughts, and here's my voice in welcome and my written handshake. Live long and prosper. Jesse Glass