Dreamin'-True
List
Like the
vision? It is sourced through so many people who, independently, have
revealed the same powerful message about who and what we are and the fact that
our reality is far, far more than physical. What makes
wHeretwoworldsTouch unique is its commitment to be a confluence for all these
together in a way that is its own message. Engage with me
in the process of keeping it accessible to everyone via the Internet.
Having a
'dreamin'
true' list of objectives is my way of keeping people informed about our
developments and needs. wHeretwoworldsTouch is a rather ambitious project
for one person.
Your support to maintain and
continue developing wHeretwoworldsTouch.com. This website subsists mostly off an irrepressible vision that owns the driver's seat of my
life. I'm hoping, imagining that there are plenty of people who
really can see and appreciate what this web community has to offer and would be
glad to help it along in whatever way they can. I'm asking for
this primarily on two fronts -- plain ol' money and webwizard
support.
For your
information and at the present time, wHeretwoworldsTouch.com is not a
not-for-profit (see more on this below). This is an important considerations that
will claim my attention when the time is right, but for now, heck, I'm just
trying to get a few ideas out there and test the waters and trust the path that
calls me.
Of course one of the best ways to support the site is
to purchase the books, products, and services offered. Donations
are also much appreciated. And in either case, you have my sincere thanks for
engaging in this Experiment with me!
If you want to know how I'm going to spend your money
and/or what comprises that list, keep reading. As I said, the first
thing I can always put to work is ...
Just right
out front and impersonal: Money
My highest priorities are
-
Whatever
it takes to produce and maintain and continue growing a high-functioning
website supporting the ideology that drove it into being.
-
A
more ample computer. I just had one rebuilt for $200!
It's twice as fast as the one I just lost and is a 1.3 MgHz Pentium-type PC
with 64 Mg of RAM. It works!! But I only have about 180
Mg left on my hard drive. ... so it's near the top of my list!
-
Other
help onboard as the need arises, when and as things just get too
big, too much to handle alone. E.g.,
-
basic setup and maintenance of the
website/webwiz end;
-
paid contributors, 'guests' who are outstanding
EHE researchers, for example, but who probably aren't going to write
articles or maintain a 'byline' for free
-
hired or contracted personnel to take on various administrative
and technical aspects of the site
-
The
financial wherewithal to outlive/ outgrow/ out-thrive a need for the
rent-paying 'day job' kind of life so I can do this full time.
-
PR:
What does it take to grow a grassroots consciousness and movement?
A
couple of places I plan to start have to do with
-
on-site video/audio
educational programs and archives, such as interviews with EHErs,
as well
as those who study them, call-in shows [or the internet equivalent] as a
major avenue to build up this conceptual perspective as a familiar
understanding and hopefully to attract a wide interest
-
whatever it takes to
meet and to work out the technical end of making such things happen
(production and technical expertise and equipment, hotels and travel ... )
Might be
insightful for you to know, if the best of all worlds works according to the
dream-maker's plans, the site/s will be self-supporting through affiliate
programs for carefully studied products and services both in terms of their
origin and of their appropriateness to the context and objectives of
wHeretwoworldsTouch. These fall into largely two categories -- a mammoth selection of
(1) thematically relevant books/other media; (2)
products/services seamlessly congruent with what it means to live 'the
Awakened life'.
(Grin--sounds a little hokey, doesn't it, unless or until you know what
that really means.) For the moment this boils down to a personal
interpretation as an EHEr and within the aegis of profiles of post-EHE
values and concerns, such as those delineated by Rhea
A. White and Kenneth
Ring.
Briefly, the
post-EHE characteristics representative of 'living the Awakened life' include [Ring]
a greater appreciation for life, increased feelings of self-worth, a more
compassionate regard for others and for all of life, a heightened sensitivity to ecological
concerns; a decreased interest in purely materialistic
and self-seeking values; a universalistic and living spirituality that
reflects clearly in every aspect of the experiencers' lives; an often completely extinguished fear of
death; an experiential awareness that life continues
beyond the body’s death; and heightened powers of higher sense perception,
heightened psychic ability, intuitive awareness, and the gift of healing."
The upshot of all this is [White],
"We think it is likely that the basic meanings
revealed by these experiences, once they become potentiated into EHEs [i.e.,
once they become active agents for transforming the experiencers' identity, life
and worldview], is the
key to the evolution of consciousness and also to saving planet Earth because of
the types of changed consciousness that are associated with EHEs."
There will eventually be a third funding
source offered at a later
stage of development. One of the
upcoming subwebs will be a membership site which will ask for a small monthly or
yearly fee. Still another membership subweb is also in the
works, but it is undecided whether this will be supported with a regular
membership fee.
To go
nonprofit or not?---that's a question I just don't know enough about yet.
I plan for
the site/s to make money and hopefully to pay my way as well as be on the
high-functioning end. Once you've spent some time getting to know
what's here and if you are familiar with the ins and outs of nonprofits and
would be willing to offer advice, I'd welcome your thoughts. Three of
the most fundamental features of wHeretwoworldsTouch are education, service
and collaborative research (see John
Heron's ideas). Although it has no formal affiliations with
traditional or professional institutions, which in part is an intentional
trademark, it could be looked at from the point of view that grounds for a nonprofit are
there.
Silent
Partner/s?? That's a possibility I'm willing to
consider. It's just a matter of finding or ensuring that such a move
would be the 'right fit' for everyone concerned and as a long-term
commitment. I say 'silent' because I'm very driven to honor a certain
'vision' and am not interested in any deviation from that plan.
Supplementation, support, and ideas about how better to get the job accomplished
in the spirit of that plan is something else,
however, and my ear is always to the ground for ways to nurture that
vision. Spend time with what's available on the website
and see if indeed the shoe fits. I mentioned there are three other
subwebs yet to be built (and a fourth being considered) within the wHeretwoworldsTouch
infrastructure. I'm not willing to make those 'public information'
at this time, but in the face of possible partnership or depth of support of
this nature, and as a confidence agreement, I'd be willing to discuss the 'whole
enchilada' with anyone interested in that kind of involvement.
My virtual
tribe needs a savvy web shaman!
FIRST AND
FOREMOST: a REAL webmaster!!
Much as I like the idea of having
'webmaster' as one of my roles, that is the result of sheer necessity, not
skill. Right now I can't pay anyone, but as wtwT grows into a haven
of communities, that will change. [At the moment the planned number of
communities is five; increase is a factor of
inspiration, which happens on a regular basis, and time, which is never enough,
to do it.] Ultimately, I'm looking for someone who is very excited
about what wtwT is all about, who has the time, expertise, and inclination
to take this on as a fulltime obsession. Monetarily, when the site
is stable enough for me to actually hire someone to take this on, I will be
looking for a full partner who is as committed to this as I. If all
evolves according to vision, it's going to be a hummmmingly busy adventure!
In the meantime, if you look at the site/s and read
this page, you'll see what's what. And naturally, I've got a list of
immediate needs!
What I have and don't have, know and
don't know
The website
has thus far been built with FP 2000. I'm, ah, learning as I go;
love to create graphics on a couple of graphics programs, but then what do I DO
with them other than plunk them down on a page with 'insert' and play with
making them bigger or smaller? Good organizer, also know a fair amount of
basics -- well, you can figure that part out from what you see on the
site. But that's ALLLLL I know. Didn't touch building
from the html end. Stuck with the visual page. Don't
know anything about DHTML or XHTML or whatever. Haven't figured out how to
do cute things such as with Anfy effects, etc. Besides, I respect
the reality of my ignorance and am a bit paranoid about what I don't know and
specifically what kind of compromise it takes between running an efficient
click-and-it's-here environment and my love for wow aesthetics [color and
graphics].
Aha. The List. Some of my immediate needs
are
-
Ideas and expertise to
build a better website. One of the reasons this has
taken so long is I'm doing this solo and on a never-certain budget of
'pennies from heaven'. That means I've had a go at learning how to
physically build the website, which I did with Front Page. I
actually enjoy the building angle of the endeavor but begrudge all the time
I'm thus not able to focus on the information/ideas end.
Bottom line---this ain't my native thing and I know it could be better in a
million little ways and at least a dozen big ones! If you have
ideas, resources, the inclination to adopt a website because you're a
webwizz and you LOVE what you see here, well, snap those wonderful fingers
of yours into keyboard position and contact me!
Here's a tentative collection of needs or I-don-t-know--do-you? things that
I as an un-expert know I'm looking for. If you're a web shaman,
you my know some things I'm looking for or need that I didn't even know to
know! Here's what I know ... or think I do ... that I'm looking
for: emphasis on cheap-to-free when it comes to software or
programs, or just whatever!
-
Let's
start with that left-column hot text menu -- needs elegance,
readability -- some kind of drop-down menu with submenus; also, isn't there
a way for that menu to stay there always in view while the viewer wanders
all over the page or even all pages within a given site?
-
Music
-- from my side or the viewer's side: the option to play music or not across all pages on the site; can also go to a music page and select what
you want to listen to; also the option for visitors to buy. Has to be
a situation where I do have control over the kinds of music I want to have
available on
the website.
-
Communications,
dialogue -- that's 'a discussion'; every possible option; needs to be a highly
interactive site.
-
Surveys
-- one that is on the LLR homepage; an archive of optional surveys including
ones (a) that are ongoing and (b) ones that have ended -- in both cases with
the immediate counts/percentages visible and configured with each new
submission. Also some method that 'remembers' or prevents someone from
'voting' more than once at least with a given connection to my site or even
with that particular viewer [a cookie memory?] if they return and just don't remember if they did a certain survey or not.
-
The
easy way to build a very large database on the fly -- will be adding or
editing items on a daily basis. Also concerned, since it's so big and
always growing, with how much time it may take to load on people's
computers. On my server, I have MySQL.
-
Rotating
quotes -- I have a large collection of quotes [and a couple
of other such collections] that need to be set up so every time you refresh
a page, the one that is showing changes.
-
Rotating
graphics collection -- like the quotes rotation situation; also a kind of catalog layout
with which to archive those graphics, an album look. I was just going to build a table, but with
the rotating factor in the works, wondering if there is something more efficient
that sort of does all that. It would rotate simultaneously the
graphic, a name, a website address, and a note about the graphic--preferably every time the
page is refreshed on the main page. But you also have the option to see
the whole album, or if the collection gets too large, a catalog of albums.
-
A
graphic built elegantly and efficiently into the background --
I love the idea of a graphic that takes over your visual field, at least
where I want it to, such as on the opening pages of the various subwebs,
e.g., the LLR homepage. Or maybe an entry page with one of those FLASH
fade in/out constructs; only concern is loading time on the viewer
end. But that's something I just haven't
studied.
-
One big question for the graphics I have is
format. The graphics are
RICH in color and detail. I loath jpg, and gif will just never
do. PNG was a revelation, but it naturally weighs in very hoggy on
file size. Think what I want is to make my own template so the front
pages at least don't look so 4-square clunky. I've spent the
equivalent of weeks looking at templates, but just don't know enough to make
optimum, adaptive choices utilizing templates with my own
graphics. I tried creating an 800x4000 or so page as a
background and placed a graphic at the very top. Very slow, cumbersome. It's mainly
for the major
connecting pages like the LLR homepage that I'd
like to take advantage of a little graphics drama. Also haven't
figured out how to satisfactorily fit the graphic I have in mind for that
particular page across the left column as well. Must be a
smoother, cooler way!
-
A
back-end management system for all the affiliate programs
--
the whole a-z of that; there will be hundreds and at least one big one,
probably amazon.com, for the books. Also an effective means to
prevent the incredible theft problem with APs that's been a major preoccupation
across the internet community lately.
-
Protecting
the website from who-knows-what
-- the server I have has automatic backup systems, but all I can say is I
hope I made a good choice and that that's the best that can be done.
Of course I have my home copy, but that doesn't seem very adequate
considering all the activity that can go on on a site of the size this one
ultimately will be. Maybe I just need a little education on options.
Down the road a bit as first-things-first settle down:
-
Audios/videos--or?
-- archives of interviews and other types of programs, 1-click-and-see.
-
Pre-recorded
or live programs -- e.g., interviews, other types of talk
programs; programs shown on my site from other sites, programs originating from my site; radio, video or
whatever -- lots of choices. What's realistic and what's not?
-
To chat or not to chat
-- there's only
me for now, and at
least for the moment I have a day job too; so I can't monitor the site very
much, but I really want to offer as close to 'real time' converse as
possible.
-
Real-time, planned and
advertised, on-site [internet] conferences -- down the road with the membership
sites;
live; video? audio? cheap?
-
Real-time forums
-- always or regularly open, planned and spontaneous.
-
Two
sites
(or subwebs) will be organized as membership
setups -- alll that goes
with that.
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