ANNOUNCEMENT
The T.E.
Lawrence Studies website, list and journal
The T.E.
Lawrence Studies website has achieved a unique status. It is
used by all kinds of people from many parts of the world. In
2007 the servers logged nearly 700,000 unique visits. Visitors
include significant numbers from schools and universities as
well as private individuals interested in Lawrence. There are
also many visits by journalists working for newspapers,
magazines, radio and television.
The site is far
from complete: there's a tremendous amount to add. However, to
do that I need free time, or voluntary helpers/organisers, or
the means to pay to get things done. Developing the site will be
one of my highest priorities over the next two or three years. I
want to add at least 1,000 more pages by the end of 2008.
Volunteer help will be extremely welcome.
The need to
secure the future
More work will
make the site even more useful - which in turn will make it more
important to secure its future. At present, its survival depends
on mine - a risk we recognised in 2006 when I was seriously ill
for a while. Setting up an arrangement that secures the future will
take a while, so it's time to do something about it.
In the long
run, the most suitable host for the website might be an
appropriate university library, or a museum. However, most
institutions are at present struggling to find resource to build
websites for their own purposes - and many show little
understanding of the wider potential of the web. I'm sure that
will change within a few years. For the moment, however, things
are difficult - as I discovered when I sounded out some
institutions last year. This is not a good moment to suggest
adding outside content to an institutional website.
A second
problem is that institutions do not easily give outsiders access
to their servers. Therefore, moving the site to such a host
might handicap or even prevent further development. It may be
possible to resolve that, but it won't be easy. As the server
costs are relatively small, it might in the end prove simpler to
keep the site independent.
I hope to
continue working on the site for several years. We will then
have something really worthwhile to offer - at about the time
that institutions grasp the promotional benefit of hosting
high-profile educational websites. Meanwhile, however, we need a fall-back
solution in case I have to drop out. We also need an organisation
with the knowledge and skills to develop
the site, both now and in the future.
A new
society to take responsibility for the site
I therefore
propose to set up a Society for T.E. Lawrence Studies. This will, potentially, have two categories of membership.
Members and
Fellows
The first
category will consist of Members and Fellows who have researched
and published high-quality material on some aspect of Lawrence's
life, or have relevant specialist knowledge, or have contributed
significantly to T.E. Lawrence scholarship in some other way.
There will be no subscription fee for this category of
membership, which will be by invitation.
Collectively,
this body will be responsible for the content of the site.
Members and Fellows will be invited to provide guidance on
aspects of site-content in their fields, and to suggest and help
generate such content. We estimate that the potential membership in this
category is currently around 75-100, though that number will
surely increase.
Fellows or
Members who wish to contribute to the society's revenue may also
take out Associate Membership (see below), but this will be
entirely optional.
Associate
Members
The second
category of members will be Associate Members - people who believe that
the work of
T.E. Lawrence Studies is sufficiently worthwhile to merit
an annual donation of at least £5 ($10). Money raised this way
will be used to pay for help with things such as such inputting and proof-reading site content, and for other T.E. Lawrence Studies
activities. The availability of this funding will also secure
the server costs, in the event that Castle Hill Press were
no longer able to pay for those.
Associate Members will have privileged
access to plans, work-in-progress reports and accounts, priority
booking at lectures organised by T.E. Lawrence Studies,
and possibly other benefits to be decided.
You can become an Associate Member
online.
We will also consider
raising money by offering high-quality companies in relevant
fields space for editorial-style advertising on the site. This
would extend the principle under which Castle Hill Press, which
currently pays all the web-hosting costs, has a promotional area
on the home page and an acknowledgement in the footer.
It remains a
key principle that our website, discussion list and online
journal should be freely available to anyone with Internet
access. This should be achievable because
the server costs are quite small. However, to develop the site
we need volunteer help and additional revenue.
Communication
with members will be by e-mail and a members' website. The society
will aim to use its resources for productive activity, keeping
administrative work and cost to a minimum. For this reason - and
depending on the level of response - we may need to limit the
number of Associate Members.
The Society for
T. E. Lawrence Studies is to be registered with the UK tax
authorities, financially independent and non-profit-making. It
will not be registered as a charity, because UK
charity status involves additional accounting costs and
expensive management
practices. Unless the Society for T.E. Lawrence Studies becomes
much larger that I expect, those
drawbacks would outweigh the advantages.
Activities
The essential activities of the Society for T.E. Lawrence
Studies will be developing the website and
the online journal, and providing a moderated discussion list.
The society
will also organise public lectures and other activities
consistent with its aims.
Next steps
A working party
with representatives from several countries will draw up a
constitution, which I hope will be in place by April 2008. The
working party will also define the categories of Membership
and Fellowship, and send out invitations.
Up until now,
few people have been engaged in developing the T.E. Lawrence
Studies website and its related activities. This will be a
chance for many more to contribute or support the project in various ways. By forming the society, I hope also to
secure the future of these activities.
T.E.
Lawrence Studies performs a valuable educational role and
has thus far proved enjoyable and satisfying for everyone
involved. I will welcome all who wish to help in its work.
