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  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] News Challenge - How might we leverage libraries as a platform to build more knowledgeable communities? - The Manual for Civilization at The Interval: A crowd-curated library of the 3500 books you would most want to sustain or rebuild civilization, accessible in a community gathering space focused on long-term thinking.
  • Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2014 13:21:16 -0400

News Challenge - How might we leverage libraries as a platform to build
more knowledgeable communities? - The Manual for Civilization at The
Interval: A crowd-curated library of the 3500 books you would most want to
sustain or rebuild civilization, accessible in a community gathering space
focused on long-term thinking.
https://www.newschallenge.org/challenge/libraries/submissions/the-manual-for-civilization-at-the-interval-a-crowd-curated-library-of-the-3500-books-you-would-most-want-to-sustain-or-rebuild-civilization-accessible-in-a-community-gathering-space-focused-on-long-term-thinking
The Manual for Civilization at The Interval: A crowd-curated library of the
3500 books you would most want to sustain or rebuild civilization,
accessible in a community gathering space focused on long-term thinking.
The Manual for Civilization is a crowd-curated library at The Interval: The
Long Now Foundation’s bar, cafe and event space focused on long-term
thinking. We hope to complete our collection of books and further engage
our community through live events and online collaboration. The community
and invited experts will recommend books, and vote on which to include in
the library. The collection will be digitized for online access by our
partner The Internet Archive, and the physical collection can be browsed
using the ‘chaos locator’: a system that allows books to be found wherever
they are shelved. Once full, the library will continue to evolve: we will
hold regular events where people can nominate a book for inclusion or
removal.

In one sentence, describe your idea as simply as possible.

The Manual for Civilization: A crowd-curated and community-driven library
of the books you would most want to rebuild or sustain civilization.

Briefly describe the need that you’re trying to address.

Libraries are too static for our social and connected world, so we’re
building one that will be a living and breathing part of the community.
With a local audience here in the Silicon Valley Bay Area and a worldwide
audience online, The Manual for Civilization at The Interval has already
captured the public’s attention through pieces in Wired and even an XKCD
comic. Now we hope complete the collection, and institute a vibrant social
program around it to bring our library alive.

What progress have you made so far?

So far we have completed and opened the library’s physical space. We’ve
also collected about 30% of the books through submissions by our nearly
6000 members and a group of experts that includes Brian Eno, Stewart Brand,
Violet Blue, Kevin Kelly, Maria Popova, Danny Hillis, George Dyson, Neal
Stephenson, David Brin, and Megan and Rick Prelinger. We have begun a
series of weekly talks and book events in the space that have universally
sold out, and the collection so far is used daily by our thousands of
weekly patrons.

What would be a successful outcome for your project?

It is our hope that The Manual For Civilization becomes a meme and
touchstone for conversations around how to responsibly run a civilization.
We feel that we can acquire the 2000 remaining books, have them scanned,
and build the ‘chaos locator’ browsing system within a year of funding.
During this year we will continue to have speaking engagements and book
events that drive the process and engage the community.

Please list your team members and their relevant experiences/skills.

Alexander Rose - Executive Director of The Long Now Foundation and
originator of The Manual for Civilization Kurt Bollacker - Data and
Cataloging Director. Past experience at The Internet Archive and Freebase,
wrangling massive data collections Brewster Kahle and The Internet Archive
- Scanning and digital archiving partner Catherine Borgeson - Collections
Associate Over 30 subject and field experts Nearly 6000 Long Now members
and the greater public

Location
San Francisco, CA, United States of America




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