16.1019, Disc: Re: 16.894: Abolishing Fund Drive

Mon Apr 4 04:39:25 UTC 2005

LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1019. Mon Apr 04 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.1019, Disc: Re: 16.894: Abolishing Fund Drive

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Wayne State U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Reviews (reviews at linguistlist.org)
        Sheila Collberg, U of Arizona
        Terry Langendoen, U of Arizona

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, Wayne
State University, and donations from subscribers and publishers.

Editor for this issue: Michael Appleby <michael at linguistlist.org>
================================================================

To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at
http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html.

===========================Directory==============================

1)
Date: 01-Apr-2005
From: Oktay Ahmed < oahmed at flf.ukim.edu.mk >
Subject: Re: 16.894: Abolishing Fund Drive

2)
Date: 02-Apr-2005
From: V. J. Fedson < ranifeds at yahoo.com >
Subject: Re: 16.894: Abolishing Fund Drive

3)
Date: 02-Apr-2005
From: Claire Bowern < bowern at rice.edu >
Subject: Re: 16.894: Abolishing Fund Drive

-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 00:07:27
From: Oktay Ahmed < oahmed at flf.ukim.edu.mk >
Subject: Re: 16.894: Abolishing Fund Drive

Fund Drive 2005 is now on! Visit http://linguistlist.org/donate.html to donate now!

Dear Editors,

Regarding fund drive, I would like to make this comment:

I teach Turkish linguistics at the state-run University of ''St. Cyril and
Methodius'', Faculty of Philology, Department of Turkish Language
and Literature - Skopje, Macedonia.

I would like to be on this list more than anything else on the internet.
You are doing an extremely good and noble job. Thank you for that. For
us, who are coming from poor countries, this list is invaluable. My
university has no money, I repeat, absolutely no money for these type
of activities and accesses. So, if you start to collect fee, I'll be off list.
Also, I am not able to pay from my personal monthly salary, as it's too
low. I would like to pay, but I am not able to do it.

With this message, I just wanted to ask you to keep this list free, as
there is no other way we could get all of these information from other
sources.

Good luck with fund drive.

Best,
Dr. Oktay AHMED
http://www.oktayahmed.com/

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics

-------------------------Message 2 ----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 00:07:59
From: V. J. Fedson < ranifeds at yahoo.com >
Subject: Re: 16.894: Abolishing Fund Drive

Dear LinguistList,

Here's my input from off the map. You might want to count the
marginal too.

I am a retiree PhD in Linguistics, who has never had a career in
Linguistics, but had to enter another field to earn a modest living. I
was not able to do any research in Linguistics for many years when I
was working, for lack of the  luxury of time. I have referred to
LinguistList, after it was started, primarily for intellectual satisfaction,
stimulation, or curiosity, deriving no practical benefits from it.

Still, on my modest fixed income, I make it a point to contribute to
LinguistList, as I do to other charities.

I find it difficult to believe that readers in the West, and American
readers especially, even students, cannot spend the equivalent of a
cup (or forgo a cup) of good coffee a month, $ 2.00- $3.00 ($24-$36 a
year) out of a sense of obligation or responsibility for the practical
benefits they might get from it.

I know that many readers, whether students, or poorly-paid
academics, from other parts of the world will find it  difficult to pay any
fee. Banks and Credit Cards tend to charge high fees for conversion
of currencies, among other difficulties.

I do hope that those of your readers who can in truth afford to support
you, will decide to do so. May your tribe endure long!

        Best wishes,
        vj fedson

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics

-------------------------Message 3 ----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 00:08:27
From: Claire Bowern < bowern at rice.edu >
Subject: Re: 16.894: Abolishing Fund Drive

I have a suggestion regarding the fee for access. I don't know if it
would be economically viable but it would be testable and modelable
based on previous years' usage.

Linguistlist could still be free to access, but people posting would have
to pay on a sliding scale to post to the list, say from $1 for a question
to $5 for a dissertation announcement to $20 for a call for papers to
more for publishers' book announcements. This would probably
reduce the posts to the list - it would probably reduce repeat
conference announcements, for example, and questions where the
information is readily obtainable through a quick google search.
Posting could still be free in certain circumstances but it would be an
alternative user-pays model and would not result in a closed list.

I tested this on linguistlist data for the last 3 months. I counted (well,
got my computer to estimate) the number of posts in different
categories, and made up a sliding scale. If Jan-March were taken as a
typical quarter, this scale would raise almost $65,000. (Of course, this
isn't typical, as (for example) most of the adjunct jobs are advertised
this quarter, but anyone with more inclination for number crunching
could come up with a better estimate. I don't know how much
transaction fees would cut into this, too)

Category --------------- Posts ------ Rate ------ Amount

dissertations ............ 45 ......... $5 ........ $225
discussion ............... 37 ......... $1 ......... $37
conferences .............. 80 ........ $15 ....... $1200
software .................. 5 ........ $15 ......... $75
jobs .................... 150 ........ $30 ....... $4500
support .................. 21 ........ $25 ........ $525
journal tocs ............. 75 ........ $25 ....... $1875
book announcements ...... 200 ........ $25 ....... $5000
questions ................ 90 ......... $2 ........ $180
summaries ................ 20 ......... $1 ......... $20
reviews .................. 60 ........ $15 ........ $900
media .................... 25 ......... $1 ......... $25
fyi ...................... 50 ......... $1 ......... $50
conference calls ........ 280 ......... $5 ....... $1400

Total   $16,012 x4  $64,048

[Editor's note: To best view this table, we recommend a fixed-width font, such
as Courier.]

- Claire
--------------
Dr Claire Bowern
Linguistics, Rice University
Houston TX

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics

-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1019	