Adding some historical perspective to the thread ... We had this discussion sometime back - at the 2nd anniversary or so of skunkworks I believe. What we concluded then was that skunkworks was a community - and a community isn't really an organization. A community is a baraza, explosion of ideas - and it's what will catalyze other things to happen. So back then we decided to leave it as such. I still feel strongly that skunkworks is a community. It's like BarCamp and other communities out there. They're run by volunteers who come up every now and then. They might have a committee sometimes, but it's all a volunteer effort. I think in Kenya, we are drilled into believing in structures of committees & power. Maybe there's a structure out there for skunkworks too - I don't know. But thankfully so far we have had volunteers come up and do amazing jobs of organizing things. And I hope that goes on always. At that meeting so many months/years ago - it was also brought up that people who get bright ideas from this whole interaction with the community are free to build & develop their own ideas, and pool in resources from the community. Look at something like Ushahidi - it started as a small idea, then they tapped into the community, and now they have several of the leading Kenyan devs working on it. And it's BIG. HUGE. It's not just software dev or techie things - I know Alex Gakuru has built on all the innovation he sees, and has tried to bring it to light in the mainstream communities in Kenya. Another thing - starting a thread here & brainstorming ideas will not make them come to life. It takes a lot of personal initiative to really see an idea through - and largely, you have to do it yourself, with people that similarly believe in it, and will also see it through as a team. That is the secret ingredient behind organizing BarCamps - we realized someone has to physically see the idea through. It's not enough to brainstorm on a list & try make plans that way. Someone who has enough time, will take charge, put in some effort, and it will happen. Same for any ideas that have been discussed on this list in the past. I know many successful people who have used such ideas, acted on them, and profited. And I know many more who have been busy with work, life, and everything else, and continue dreaming up amazing ideas. Which one are you ;) ----- Original Message ----- From: "aki" <aki275@googlemail.com> To: "Skunkworks Forum" <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 9:58:52 PM GMT +03:00 Iraq Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] Skunks just more than a mailing list and internet contacts? The debate/discussion is here ok, let me throw a spanner into the works! My opinion...:-) I have on very many ocassions shared ideas/ways etc to what the community can do or the number of projects I've openly listed on this list. I remember the thread early last year by Arthur and creating a financial scheme, while Crystal had suggested youth fund initiatives, or others who wanted to create what @Philip and others are discussing on this thread. I think there are many who have started initiatives only to realize that the thread goes to the archives. Plenty of my thread contributions too are just a statistic in the archive. There is also the problem that founders of this list cannot take part in all ideas or other things so it would be too much to expect this. Until they work towards those goals, things will be difficult to move. For the majority, Skunks is a great place to discuss tech stuff and has different views. Sometimes some of us get carried away and want to do something but reality is very different. And no one is to blame for this. Skunks did not start off as a club or ngo so it would be very difficult to create it as one. And I think for a long time it will remain what it is. And just so that you do not feel that you are alone on this, 2 of my threads ( ati 2010 devs year, kitu gani? ) are soon heading into the archives. Hehehe... A happy Jamuhuri day tomorrow :-) Rgds. _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Server donations spreadsheet http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AopdHkqSqKL-dHlQVTMxU1VBdU1BSWJxdy1f... ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke Other lists ------------- Announce: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general