I’ve been considering projects, some from the (poorly maintained) public list and some that never made it there to play with this summer while I’m not taking classes (I will be working on research, just not taking classes). It occurred to me recently that this will be longest continuous time I wasn’t enrolled in a class since the summer after my sophomore year of high school (which is weird), and that makes it an excellent time for projects that require some sort of repeating time commitment.
One idea that appeals strongly is trying to run an internet-based reading group (as not to exclude people scattered elsewhere/require everyone be there at the same time) for some thematic subset of the vast backlog of “Things I need to read to feel like a cultured human being.” (I’ve talked about this phenomena with a couple friends, I suspect most interesting people have such a list, if just in their head. My favorite postsecret card was about this. ) I did a little bit of intensive reading a while ago, when I read several design/usability books in rapid succession, and I think it would be fun to do with a group.
A logical implementation to me is as a mailing list, probably using GoogleGroups (set to private?) AND a chat system of some sort (IRC channel or gTalk or AIM room), so that there was both persistent and immediate (log the chats to the list for both at once?) communication options. Using a community blog/wiki/bbs sort of thing would also be a good option, but that would require a little more infrastructure.
One possible topic that seems like fun given the collection of weirdos I know would be to read (honest) classical erotica, things like Justine, Venus in Furs, and The Story of O. I’d like suggestions for other possible topics, I want something that isn’t what I do most of the time (ie. NOT an Engineering/Math sort of thing), but there are definitely choices a wider group of people are (willing to publicly admit they are) interested in.
Any interest? List ideas? Etc.
