Subject: CCL:IMPORTANT -- Future of CCL

From: Jan Labanowski <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 17:09:24 -0400

Date released: Oct. 18, 1996

Dear Members of CCL,

Please read this, since it is about the long and short term future of CCL.
The full text of this message can be found at:
   http://www.ccl.net/ccl/future.html
or 
   ftp://www.ccl.net/pub/chemistry/future/vision.txt
or retrieved by e-mail by sending a message
    select chemistry
    cd future
    get vision.txt
    quit
to [email-masked]

I will repost this message again next week, so most of you can take notice.

I wholehartedly encourage you to reaad the whole piece, since I cut out
(as marked with ...) most of my justifications and comments which represent
my way of thinking, just to make this message shorter for e-mail distribution.
Sit on it for a few days though, since I will be out of town untill Tuesday.

As you know, I applied twice for the support of CCL to the National Science
Foundation. I got it...
The CCL was granted NSF support, under the condition that CCL becomes
self funded after 3 year period. And I need to show progress soon. 
(...)
The NSF support,
in my humble opinion is a TRIBUTE TO THE SUBSCRIBERS OF CCL for 
keeping this unmoderated list at the high standard and contents level.
(...)
The list grows, the number of topics grow, and I have less and less time,
which I CAN JUSTIFY to spend on administering, to say nothing about improving
the list.
(...)
 While I recognize the potential,
the list eats OSC resources (the Web, gopher, and ftp archives send
gigabytes of stuff to the world every week), it eats my personal
operational budget, and the Center cannot really justify these costs
indefinitely. So please do not get me wrong... The situation is forced
upon CCL. While it is a challenge for me (AND YOU), it is also an
opportunity. The CCL may evolve into a much better resource, have a person
(or maybe more...) who will be working for CCL and maintain it professionally,
and it can offer paid services which you may need and want to use.
Moreover, I assume that I will be always involved in running the list,
and get some compensation from it, i.e., running the list will be in
my  "job description". What it means is that I will be accountable for
the list performance, and cannot excuse myself by saying (to myself
or others) that I have to work on things which justify my salary.

The NSF grant provides for some hardware, miscellaneous, and a single
position for 3 years to support and develop the list into an enterprise
which can support itself from income. If you are interested in working
WITH me on this, please read the job opening announcement in the
positions.offered file in CCL archives
	(http://www.ccl.net/chemistry.html --> CCL archives --> jobs)
or go there directly via anon. ftp:
   	ftp://www.ccl.net/pub/chemistry/jobs/positions.offered
and check under: 96.09.10. I already have a few candidates, but I did not 
make decision yet, so if you are interested, please apply, but do it soon.
(...)

So, how to become self funding? it boils down to essentially 2 models after
you consider all cons and pros... Believe me, I did a lot of thinking,
asking, and discussing... 
   1) non-profit, membership based, educational organization, [501(c)(3)].
      with dues.
(...)

   2) non allied, independent, for-profit enterprise, which provides
      FREE discussion forum as a price for its visibility and image.
(...)
  The recipe for "success" which I was given quite often (but not always!!!)
was: "Charge the membership fees". But I do have reservations.
(...)
Dues are a doubly edged sword. On one hand you get only people who want
it and pay for it - a few good people. On the other hand, by charging dues,
CCL would lose people for whom it would be too difficult (i.e., people
who hate to pay for the free Internet; subscribers from abroad,
especially from countries without free currency exchange;
and students, for whom a 100 bucks is a 100 bucks, and 200 bucks is
a million.). Moreover, membership fees may shrink the advertising audience.
And besides, can one advertise to paid customers? 
With fees or no fees, I consider advertising only through the CCL Web site
and occasionally put some plug about visiting the Web site and praise
our supporters. On the other hand, I realize that I cannot overdo
this stuff, since some of you are very sensitive to this issue.
(...)
The other option is to go for-profit. This is a brave proposition,
and by no means easy. It requires vision, knowledge, and you need to put your
own money into it (not only work, but also your second mortgage -- only then
you are "stimulated"). But it has one advantage... You can: "engage in any
lawful act or activity for which a corporation may be formed in Ohio, pursuant
to O.R.C. 1701.04(A)(3)." I do not have yet a formal business plan, and
we have at least a year, probably more to decide how to do it. The FREE list
will be here until NSF grant is terminated/concluded, unless something
unpredictable happens
(...)
Therefore my current thinking is that I want to preserve the list as it
exists NOW for FREE. It will have the current wide scope, and an interactive
feel. I will most likely connect CCL to Usenet, as a moderated group, though
moderating will be done by software to the extent software can do it with
a very limited human intervention.
(...)
But of course not all can be free, since CCL will have to earn money to pay:
   1) a salary for at least one full time person,
   2) a high bandwidth Internet connection
   3) pay for hardware, software, and maintenance/licensing.
(...)
These additional services and activities will have to
pay for the whole operation.

I will try to list some ideas (not all, though) how the list can support
itself from related service:
   1) the CCL could be involved in non-intruding advertising (via Web),
   2) filtering messages on specific threads/topics for people who want to
      keep their e-mail volume low (personal profiles...).
   3) searching for particular information (in CCL archives or anywhere on
      the Internet),
   4) consultant's brokerage,
   5) selling derivatives of CCL discussions (i.e, highly organized
      archives, with CD-ROM editions), 
   6) organize virtual conferences (possibly for a fee) which will result
      in publishable CD-ROMs.
   7) start a rapid Comp.Chem. Comm. News flash,
   8) provide a home to some computational chemistry electronic journal(s)
      (or develop one),
   9) have a job market/employment service (i.e., positions.offered may
      be a paid service in the future)
  10) sell things over Internet (virtual store) using secure 
      credit-card/digital-cash (or alternatively the credit cards numbers
      can be provided via FAX/phone) transactions and get commission for
      goods sold,
  11) Web presence, Web site design, etc.,
  12) provide anonymous participation for users who do not want to be
      associated with their employers when posting, though such messages
      will be reviewed for contents before they are posted.
  13) provide site for Requests For Proposals for companies which want
      to find contractors, or organize consortia.
  14) create searchable databases of comp.chem. results, data, and
      sources,
  15) access to other services (e.g., selling computer time at computer
      centers) as commission,
  16) selling software for small developers who cannot afford the marketing
      infrastructure,
  17) educational services (e.g., on chemistry related HTML design),
      and providing infrastructure for Web based instruction in chemistry
      related disciplines, which was prepared by 3rd parties,
  18) selling our own software developed for running this CCL services,
  19) providing Web space information and membership services for
      societies and associations in related areas
  20) providing US representation for chemistry related services of
      foreign small businesses, and vice versa.
  21) Providing some ISP functions (e.g., private e-mail accounts
      not associated with person's employer, providing e-mail interface
      to Usenet groups).
This is by far not a complete listing of possibilities, and obviously,
there maybe not enough market needs for some possibilities listed above.
Do I want to do it all by myself? I wish there were 240 hours a day. But
I hope that some organizations/persons may want to use CCL infrastructure
to provide their services, and CCL can take some markup. So if you have
some good ideas, I will be glad if you can e-mail me.

Now, I will have to protect CCL assets. Thanks to the new US copyright law and 
some court decisions, I have some rights to the assets of CCL archive,
since it represents the collection. I also have rights to the derivatives
of the archive. I will put there soon some copyright notice to deter
(...)
Now, each of you has a choice: do nothing, or support me and CCL which
I am trying TO SAVE (Yes, SAVE!!!) I also have my choices. When many of you
choose to help me, we will have CCL for the long time to come, and it will
be better. And remember, right now, there is no for-profit corporation
associated with the list which is run by myself. The list is supported
by NSF, and runs off the Ohio Supercomputer Center. But it WILL HAVE
TO CHANGE IN THE FUTURE.  Now, how can you help me? In many ways...
For example:

1) Give me good stuff, good content, good discussions, and good, thought 
   provoking questions for discussions. When you publish a paper, you give 
   your best shot, since it is your divine call, and your name is on it. The 
   CCL is a chat forum, but people listen, and they have feelings.

2) Contribute free stuff to CCL archives. You have lots of nifty software
   which you wrote, a lot of educational materials, good data and results,
   handouts, mpegs, jpegs, and gifs, and you reviewed a lot of software, and
   did write-ups for internal use, etc. Copyright it to yourself or whoever,
   and give me a license to use it for public distribution via CCL archives.
   You will get recognition, and I will get good stuff which will make CCL
   a valuable resource. But put some doc with it please, it will add a lot
   of value to your contribution, and save you time on answering questions.
   Moreover, with my other activities and involvement in the Center, I have
   a chance to bring some additional assets to the list archives and add
   this stuff to the CCL COLLECTION (sic!). I cannot talk about it in detail
   yet, since I am now researching the options, conditions, and constraints.

3) Give me ideas. Do not be offended or disappointed, however, if I do not
   apply them, since I may not see their importance, or I have some plan,
   which would be in conflict, or, simply, I do not have manpower. I will
   always try to tell you why, if I can.

4) Give me money... Contribute to the "OSC Development Fund (CCL)".
   I will give you details soon, but in short, if you, or your
   organization gives me something, you will be thanked on the Web,
   proportionally to the amount. I will soon decide levels for Ambassadors,
   Patrons, Friends, Supporters, etc. and the amount of exposure associated.
(...)

5) I am not a business yet... But all of you have to understand that
   if I take a business path, and you do not like it, all you have to
   do is unsubscribe. And I am out of business. However, give me your
   ideas on possible business opportunities for CCL. I will keep your
   propositions and comments in full confidence, until that time when
   we can announce collaborations.

6) I will bug you with the info on CCL directions, changes in format, will ask 
   you to participate in testing some ideas or software, and I will solicit 
   your advice, your inputs, and your opinions.
   PLEASE, DO NOT DISCUSS CCL ON CCL!!! 
   ====================================
   It may create flame wars, and will also increase the noise level 
   since CCL is for Comp Chem. It is more than enough that I have to do it. 
   Please send me your responses directly, and even if I do not write back
   immediately, I will read them, and be grateful.

So, please comment! Send me your nice comments, or harsh criticism since
I need it. I understand that some of you may feel disappointed. In a sense,
some innocence of the list has been lost. But, as you can see, I tried
to convince you that these are the means, and not ends for me.
And if you think that this is another "get rich fast on the Internet",
look closer at the record. The list is now at the end of its 6th year,
and I am yet to see my first penny made on the list. I try to keep the
good thing. But I cannot do it without your guidance, support, and trust.
On the other hand, I have to take charge, since we cannot vote on everything,
(...)
We have to work together, but I understand that not all of you would
want to support this venture. But the simple truth is that CCL has to pay
its bills, or dies in pain. If there are other options, tell me about it,
or you may try them yourself.

Yours,

Jan Labanowski
[email-masked]

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