It would also be interesting to see how the LibriVox philosophy of open structure would work in a “real life” setting… organizing community groups or other activities on a local basis. Would the same loose organization work in the “real world”?

I look forward to reading what you have to say here Hugh, and contributing my thoughts.

1. Story. LV is book-centered, and books range far and wide, so it’s an enormous center with a place for everybody. It’s a profound center, and that’s a lot to explore.

2. Philosophy. Here’s you, hugh. You set it all up with big heart and open arms: let’s read books together and offer them free; let’s be nice to each other; let everyone contribute who can; it’s gotta be from the public domain and offered back into the public domain. Simple. Always with the simple guidelines, so eventually we all get it. We encounter the profound effect of letting everyone contribute who can; we pass on and reflect and multiply the enjoyment of being nice to each other, having fun together. And when we’re unsure, here’s hugh, all humorous and humble lowercase-like, getting it simple again: have fun, be nice, let’s make more books.

3. People. What sorts of folks do you think are attracted to 1. and 2. described above? Yeah. We’d get a heck of a lot more books done if there weren’t so many interesting people to banter with on the forums! I can’t be concise on this point, unless I just stop there.

As I see it, as I’ve experienced it, LibriVox is essentially excellent in its story, its philosophy, and its people, and so it grows.

TextoSolvo will explore how-tos, right? If you start with a right idea, nurture its very nature, and genuinely invite others to work alongside you, not beneath you, the how-tos may apply.

I believe I’ve just been stating the obvious about LibriVox, but that’s handy to do at the outset. Yes?

Though of course the applications in the business world should be important too.

but yes, keep on pitching in ideas!

Since I’m thinking about it (i.e. in brainstorming mode & for what it’s worth =)… I’m going to expand on my idea of the Randian experiment, which I think is often misunderstood and often thought of only as “selfishness”, or individual vs. society, or applying only to a business/profit environment…. but my personal point of view boils Objectivism down to this: If individuals take care of themselves they are able to do what they love (even if they aren’t always very good at it)… society/community automatically benefits from this by having content/happy/satisfied individuals as part of the group.

And generally, this is how it works at LV … people do what they enjoy and the entire community (and potentially the world) reaps the reward… there is only one instance where we/LV intentionally discouraged an individual from participating in their choosen manner (though encouraging them to participate in other areas) … and looking back, I regret that we took that route, because we lost an active member who was excellent at other things in our community (intentionally vague… if you want me to be more specific, just say so)… though, I think we have learned from the experience and hopefully will be able to grow from it.

What distinguishes LibriVox from objectivisim as I understand it, is that we have a common goal, a very few rigid guidelines, and a couple of policies to govern over the whole thing. And then we said: go to it. Do what you wish as long as it fits within those guidelines. So we give great importance to the individual, while *also* (and unavoidably) working for a collective goal. A goal that everyone, maybe for different reasons, believes in (and chooses to believe in … those who don’t are not forced to participate). A goal that is inviolable, and is the reason for the existence of LibriVox.

I do wonder what Ayn Rand and others on the Right of the Libertarian/Anarchist spectrum would think of projects like ours, like wikipedia etc. To me there is a great beauty in that we have *created* the structure for a goal and people can choose to join or not. The internet lets them choose other places if they don’t like things where we are.

ekibastos…