Excellent idea Ed!!
-Glenn Whiteside
----- Original Message -----
From: <EdGrenda@aol.com>
To: "Elaine Hunt" <ehunt@ces.clemson.edu>; <rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi>
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2000 12:24 PM
Subject: Proposal to: Communication problems was third on the vote list...
> Dear Elaine et al:
>
> Thanks for your thoughtful response and divinations concerning the field
of
> RP. Working with sparse data sets is very difficult, but I think you do
> describe some general trends and needs which are stronger than the limp
> returns suggest.
>
> Two comments regarding numbers 1 and 2 on the list:
>
> 1) RP materials will continue to be expensve until there are more users.
The
> cost of development must be spread over very few customers. There are
only
> 5,500 cumulative machines in the world, after all, and these are divided
> among several material families and technologies.
>
> 2) If the second most important thing in the RP world is to produce
criteria
> for a standard test part, there seems to be a lack of leadership in the
> standards setting organizations and committees. It's not a trivial
problem,
> but there ought to be some way of accomplishing this through the good
offices
> of the SME, GARPA or the numerous universities involved. There's at least
a
> Master's level thesis lurking here. Dick Aubin woulda dunnit, but he's
become
> difficult to reach.
>
>
> Proposal:
>
> 3) I'd like to offer an instantaneous solution to the third item on the
> voting list quoted below, but I'm wondering how (or if) people would react
to
> the solution. The RPML contains an enormous fund of knowledge and even a
lot
> of phone numbers. That's why I have saved almost every message for the
last
> 5 years.
>
> Of course, the best solution would be to index and post the entire
contents.
> However, I made some tests to estimate the size of the job and storage
> requirements. It's clear that will be a lot of work and require several
10's
> of megabytes. I'm getting tired just thinking about it, (but I'd perk
right
> up if offered money).
>
> Instead, I propose to generate several concatenated files of all the
messages
> for the last 5 years or so. These would be compressed in zip format to
> manageable size, and downloadable from the Castle Island web site. You
would
> then be able to decompress the files and search them locally on your PC
using
> your word processor or any text editor.
>
> The files already exist and don't contain any attachments, flame wars or
> jokes. (Jokes are saved separately.)
>
> If ENTHUSIASM is demonstrated, you all might be able to have this stuff
next
> week.
>
> Don't everybody shout at once.
>
> Regards,
>
> Ed Grenda
> Castle Island Co.
> 19 Pondview Road
> Arlington, MA 02474 USA
> 781-646-6280 (voice or fax)
> EdGrenda@aol.com (email)
> http://home.att.net/~castleisland/
>
>
>
> In a message dated 00-05-31, ehunt@ces.clemson.edu writes:
> >>
> Communication problems was third on the vote list. The idea behind the
wish
> list was to allow the user community to vocalize and identify the
direction
> that RP technology seemed to be moving, however, many users focused on the
> RPML itself and voted to set RPML netique rules. Others looked beyond the
> frustration of nuisance emails to see the value in sharing of information
> and made the third top wish to make the list archive searchable. This
third
> place vote seems to indicate that the RPML is an excellent communication
> process. However, many users are frustrated by the time it takes to locate
> topical information by searching though the archives. Therefore, many
> users voted for the creation of a library for different subjects like 3D
> printing or tooling while others called for a web site phone directory to
> help identify experts, users, suppliers. Overall the communication of
> helpful information seems to be a top priority for most users.
> >>
>
> For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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