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Monika Dos Santos

Jun 1, 2015
07:24

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Hi Jim I think an open-based public domain database would come in much use. We look forward to see you develop the other subfields of the proposal. best wishes Monika

Jim Wright

Jun 1, 2015
06:49

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Thank you for your interest, Monika. The problem with working in this environment is that every time someone like yourself makes a useful comment, it opens up an entirely new line of thought that drives me to modify the material I have already put on site! Jim W.

Jim Wright

Jul 2, 2015
12:40

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Hi, Monika, As you will be aware, my proposal did not make the semi-final! In retrospect. I am not really surprised, as I feel that it's scope was too far-reaching in the terms of the contest and needed somebody else to use the "tool" to prove the concept. It might have worked better in another contest. As you were so nice to me earlier, I wonder whether I can impose on you and ask you to do a couple of things for me. Firstly, I would like to know whether MIT or the Colab organisation have any copyright claim to the text of my proposal and if so, whether it will remain in public view in future. If the answer is affirmative, I will simply put a link on my website (reengineeringaustralia.com) so that visitors can look at it. If not, I might publish it myself. My proposal was actually based on work I was doing blogging on climate change and sustainable population. Secondly, is it possible to get any report on my proposal from the judges which might help me improve the concept in the future. I think the Colab concept is wonderful and I will try and put forward a few of my ideas in future contests. I am also impressed by the friendly and supportive attitude of the people involved. You can pass that thought along if you like, too. Regards, Jim Wright (aka jimthegeordie - which means I was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne UK, a hotbed of engineering and scientific development for a couple of hundred years!)

Monika Dos Santos

Jul 8, 2015
01:44

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Hi Jim Apologies for my delayed response. MIT doesn't have copyright over the projects or material. Your proposal will stay on the website unless you delete it. You can certainly use the link to promote your project if you wish. As for the comments of the Judges: unfortunately I don't have access anymore to the Judges feedback, if I do manage to get access again - I will forward it to you. best wishes Monika

Monika Dos Santos

Jul 8, 2015
01:35

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Hi Jim I managed to locate your feedback from the Judges, here it is: The idea of a wikipedia for climate data and especially solutions is compelling and appealing. However, we are very concerned with the units of organization, BEUs. We are sympathetic for the desire to create some level of area structure and that this is arbitrary at some level. However, since climate impacts and how to study them is extremely scale dependent, we don't believe that a single system could work. Perhaps a database that scaled by area of inquiry might work. For example, practitioners might be able to agree that population level studies could be 10 km x 10km or similar. If researchers themselves were uploading the study, perhaps they could tag is will a level. In the style of wikipedia this could be modified and arbitrated by the community. The author originally stated that Australia was the scope and we think that this sort of project would benefit by starting with a limited scope either in geography or topic before attempting to scale up. Cloud services should be quite scalable. Overall, an interesting idea worthy of further development and effort. best wishes, Monika

Jim Wright

Jul 8, 2015
02:45

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Hi, Monika, Thank you so much for taking the trouble to chase up this information for me. I am overwhelmed by the way everybody at the Colab has made such huge efforts to be nice and helpful to me (and to all the other contestants, no doubt!). As it happened, after I wrote to you, the judges wrote to me, commenting on my proposal. They thought it was quite good and recommended that I move it to a general workspace in Colab and either develop it further or perhaps use it to assist other contestants with their proposals. I did reply pointing out (in the nicest possible way!) that the matter of scale had already been addressed in my proposal. Of course, as seems to happen frequently in Colab, one comment seems to lead to another rush of ideas and I am pursuing a few avenues here in Oz to set up a proof-of-concept model, so that I can describe more accurately to contestants and others the work that needs to be done to set up and run the system. I sneaked up and had a peek at your bio and noted that you came from Zuid Afrika. We lived for several years in East Africa, made many South African friends and visited your country a couple of times. The last time was just at the time of the first election post-apartheid and we were so touched by the enthusiasm and hope offered by the huge number of people who wanted to talk to us. I know things are a bit difficult just now, but I am convinced that there is an underlying goodness there which will ultimately emerge and recreate the life and prosperity the nation deserves. I note that you are embarking on an urban sustainability course. I blog on this topic among others (reengineeringaustralia.com) and you might find my post "The urban landscape for a new era" helpful. I wish you every success in this venture. Best regards, Jim Wright

Monika Dos Santos

Jul 8, 2015
10:24

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Thanks for the good wishes Jim! I live in a lovely country and continent - there is something unique and special about Africa. I will follow your blog, thank you for the link. And good wish as well with your planned project/s best wishes Monika

Jim Wright

Jul 9, 2015
01:05

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Hi, Monika, If you ever wish to discuss something where you think that I might be able to help you with, perhaps you might like to use my email address (particularly if any documents need to be transmitted). It is: jimw@acslink.net.au This is a redirect address for the Australian Computer Society. If I change providers, I only have to advise one party instead of everyone I have ever received emails from! Some systems insist on checking the provider ID, so in case the link ever fails, you can use my current provider ID which is: james709@bigpond.com Regards, Jim W.