Re: H+ Magazine / Transhumanist Student Network guide

[Ben Hyink]

Hey Thomas,

I wouldn't mind that at all (thanks for offering!) though I would like
to see the new guide in place of the old one (which is much less
readable) on the Humanity+ website, and maybe featured more
prominently than being in the middle of a bunch of other documents.
Highlighting it somehow would make people much more likely to read it
and the best potential organizers crave useful information in a guide.
It also would be wise to have an electronic copy available after the
H+ Magazine articles become ancient history. Other movements and
organizations highlight their electronic student organizing guide or
offer to mail a copy of it somewhere on their website or through a
link, e.g. Center for Inquiry, ACLU, others including de-facto
ideological competitors to transhumanism (e.g. religious conservative
organizations, possibly even some "deep green" organizations). The
best selling point for supporting a student outreach project/program
is that it reaches people when they are most open to exploring new
ideas and have the greatest diversity of career and lifestyle options,
but it should be kept low-overhead if there aren't a lot of resources
to spend on it.

Now would be a great time to publish the guide as students have time
to organize before fall semester or quarter when student activity days
occur (when clubs and organizations staff information tables and get
interested students' E-mail addresses). However, Natasha Vita-More and
Bryan Bishop are still editing sections of the guide and I have no
idea how close they are to finishing.

I also have been meaning to write a very brief (non-stand alone)
section describing some simple heuristics to help organize projects
(SMART goals, SPARK considerations, stages of organization), but I can
do that over this weekend if I budget my time. In fact, I will.
However, I think some of the sections most applicable to the general
public, not just students, are still being created or edited by
Natasha and Bryan.

Natasha, Bryan, others, any input on this proposal and current
progress on the document would be appreciated! :)

Best,
Ben H.

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 1:49 AM, Thomas McCabe <pphys...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey Ben. Would you mind if we split up the Transhumanist Student
> Network guide you sent, and published it in sections as articles on H+
> Magazine, with each article on a different topic? I think more people
> are likely to read magazine articles than a single, monolithic guide,
> and this way we can split off the sections that are specific to
> students, so everyone can benefit from the more general material.
> Thanks!
>
> --
>  - Tom McCabe
> http://www.rationalfuturist.com/
>
> Department of Mathematics, Yale University
> http://www.math.yale.edu/
>
> Executive Director, Humanity+
> http://www.humanityplus.org/
>

[Bryan Bishop]

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 3:53 PM, Ben Hyink wrote:

is that it reaches people when they are most open to exploring new
ideas and have the greatest diversity of career and lifestyle options,
but it should be kept low-overhead if there aren't a lot of resources
to spend on it.

Now would be a great time to publish the guide as students have time
to organize before fall semester or quarter when student activity days
occur (when clubs and organizations staff information tables and get
interested students' E-mail addresses). However, Natasha Vita-More and
Bryan Bishop are still editing sections of the guide and I have no
idea how close they are to finishing.

I thought Natasha already submitted you her edits, and the Google Doc wasn't updated yet?
 

I also have been meaning to write a very brief (non-stand alone)
section describing some simple heuristics to help organize projects
(SMART goals, SPARK considerations, stages of organization), but I can
do that over this weekend if I budget my time. In fact, I will.
However, I think some of the sections most applicable to the general
public, not just students, are still being created or edited by
Natasha and Bryan.

specifically, for the other people CC'd, these topics that I've been outlining and writing are:
+ hackerspaces and other hardware groups like dorkbot or manufacturing groups
+ do-it-yourself biology groups and community labs
 

Natasha, Bryan, others, any input on this proposal and current
progress on the document would be appreciated! :)

I don't like Tom's suggestion to split your document into posts for the blog. That seems backwards. Maybe an interview would be better for the blog, then link to the file.

- Bryan
http://heybryan.org/
1 512 203 0507

[nat...@natasha.cc]

I am finished except for one small section.

I'll work on it this weekend and let you when I am finished.

I think we need to give it a once over and get it out!

best,
Natasha

[nat...@natasha.cc]

Hi Byan,

You are correct. I did submit them. I do see that there is one
section that needs some editing and I'll do this over the weekend.

N

[Ben Hyink]

Attached is the short section on projects that I wanted to write. It
can go into the document either over the projects Natasha and Bryan
have written about or after Presentations under Incorporating a Campus
Group. Whatever you guys prefer; I'm flexible.

I think Bryan's idea of a link to the full document in any Humanity+
Magazine article is a good one. I'm not crazy about doing interviews
but I would be willing, especially if it is an E-mail interview.

Ben