I would love to see the Foundation support archive.org and webcitation.org. I have seen dozens of community members express hopes for Foundation monetary support of both continued survival and faster response time for both. But I am not aware of any acknowledgement from the Foundation other than Jimmy saying that he hoped someone would help them apply for grants. Did anyone in the Foundation ever do that?
And in line with my hopes that the Foundation will some day start acting in direct support of the volunteer community, I would love to see some direct financial support for e.g. paywatch.org and healthcare-now.org.
Systematic polling of the community is the correct way to decide the allocation of scarce resources. We need more than the goals that were set back when the community was growing apparently exponentially. We need something that proves to editors, would-be editors, and former editors that the Foundation is trying to improve their lives.
On Wed, Apr 16, 2014 at 12:48 AM, James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com wrote:
I would love to see the Foundation support archive.org and webcitation.org. I have seen dozens of community members express hopes for Foundation monetary support of both continued survival and faster response time for both. But I am not aware of any acknowledgement from the Foundation other than Jimmy saying that he hoped someone would help them apply for grants. Did anyone in the Foundation ever do that?
Yes: re Webcite, at the specific request of community members, I responded on the [[m:Webcite]] discussion and commented on the prospects of a grant (making clear that the Webcite operator may apply for one). A grant application was never submitted, and it appears the immediate need has been addressed in some other manner.
And re the Internet Archive, shortly after the recent fire at the Archive in San Francisco, concerned community members urged us to look into whether the Archive needed help. We did. There was no such need. It seems the Archive is doing okay with its own revenue model and institutional supporters.
Asaf
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