pcplantdb

[Stephanie Gerson <sgerson@stanfordalumni.org>]

howdy folks,

So I assume you've all been seeing the postings on funding from Gates and
concerns with using 'dirty money'...

but considering that Gates is a computer dude, and has large $um$ to donate,
our plantdb project would certainly interest his foundation.

I know we are still in the initial planning stages, but if you all agree that
you would like to apply for funding from the Gates Foundation, I will take on
the grantwriting and application process.  I believe there is no deadline for
grants (you can apply whenever), but I will write them to ask.

I know from past grantwriting experience that a solid and well-planned budget
is one of the most crucial elements of a successful grant proposal.  So I
wanted to ask you a few questions - please respond:

-are you willing to dedicate a serious amount of time to this project?  (are
you on board, or would you rather help out and provide feedback only when you
have the time?)

-what would be your preferred role in this project?  (i.e. programmer, UI
designer, tester, Permaculture knowledge expert)

-what wages/overhead seems reasonable to you?  (I don't know if we would
calculate this per hour, per week, or per month - let's discuss this.  I *do*
know that wages/overhead should not exceed 20% of total budget costs.) 

so what do you all think?  

no worries, I am not looking to apply next week or anything - just wanted to
get this dialogue started.  But when I start working on the grant proposal, I
can send rough drafts to you all for comments and feedback.

I think this has incredible potential.... 

peace
*Stephanie

p.s.  Thank you yet again, Rich, for playing with TouchGraph!  your template
demonstrates the wealth of possibilities, but also the challenges of
organizing such an enormous quantity of information in a usable form...will
discuss more on this topic in a later email.

Richard Morris <webmaster@pfaf.org> wrote:

Extracted http://www.ffii.org.uk/council.html which has more
details on how to write.

Dear UK Supporter[1],

The European Parliament voted in September for a clear exclusion[2] of
software from patentability, having heard powerful arguments from
economists[3], scientists[4], small business associations[5] and MEPs[6]
that software patents would be bad for e-commerce[7], bad for small
businesses[8], and bad for innovation[9].

But this vote is in danger of being set aside[10] at a meeting of the EU's
Competitiveness Council of Ministers[11] on 10 November. The ministers'
meeting is to be "negotiated" at a meeting of senior patent officials[12]
from across Europe even sooner: this Thursday 23 October.

If UK ministers cannot be convinced otherwise before 10 November, it
is believed they will push for the Council to adopt a November 2002
draft text[13], which is even worse than the infamous McCarthy
report[14]. The European Parliament's rules for second reading make it
very difficult for MEPs to fix a bad text from the Council.

So far UK ministers have been sleepwalking, automatically following a
Patent Office script.  The FFII is therefore calling for all supporters
to contact their local MPs, as soon as possible.  We have until 10 November
at the latest to wake up UK ministers up the dangers of software patents.
If at all possible we need to try to make an impact before this Thursday.

It could be our last good chance to stop software patents in Europe.

Every letter could be the one which tips the balance.

Every letter counts.


--
Plants for a Future: 7000 useful plants
Web:   http://www.pfaf.org/ same as http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
Post:  1 Lerryn View, Lerryn, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0QJ
Tel:     01208 872 963 / 0845 458 4719  
Email: webmaster@pfaf.org
PFAF electronic mailing list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pfaf


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+++++++++++++++
Stephanie Gerson
sgerson@stanfordalumni.org
415.871.5683


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