Writing papers

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Rumpelteazer
Posts: 143
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2009 5:30 pm
Group: Cheltenham
Location: Gloucestershire, UK

Re: Writing papers

Postby Rumpelteazer » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:09 pm

larcombe wrote:P.S. Meeting reports is even better than meeting notes, because it's already in the title of the section box.

Yes the topic would be called something like "Meeting Report from Cheltenham Group for <date>". The main text of the topic would be what the group members said (like your own and Fiona's reports in the Good Company topic). But in line with your suggestion, on the occasions when we have prepared our own material and want to upload it as a Word document attached to our meeting report topic we could call the document something like "Material discussed". I'll post an example after Thursday - I have to take the meeting this week and the previous meeting-taker managed to use up all the material from the Good Company paper last week!

P.S. Did you know there were a couple of mistakes I noticed in the quotations in the Good Company paper?
1. The first line of the Robert Frost poem should read: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood"
(The wood referred to is one of the ones we visit in the Spring near Dymock. The yellow refers to wild daffodils.)

2. The quotation from Hamlet should read:
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.


(The middle line was missed out)

Diogenes
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:25 am

Re: Writing papers

Postby Diogenes » Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:33 am

I agree with Rumpleteaser. The distinction between "approved" and "unapproved" papers is contrary to the new spirit of openness we are trying to achieve in the Society through this website and forum.
Is there any need for a materials committee at all? Does it actually serve a useful purpose?

DickL
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 12:59 pm

Re: Writing papers

Postby DickL » Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:01 pm

Your views are interesting, Diogenes. A "spirit of openness" is all very well, but we must not confuse this with full-blown anarchy. I think that we do need some control over the management of papers. I will put this on the agenda for the next meeting of the Materials Group in November. And I will include your question as well. If any other members of the group see this exchange, perhaps they can come to the meeting with some constructive suggestions.

DickL
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 12:59 pm

Re: Writing papers

Postby DickL » Fri Dec 04, 2009 10:43 am

THE STUDY SOCIETY MATERIALS GROUP

QUESTION RAISED ON THE WEBSITE


In October 2009, “Diogenes” posted the following question on the Study Society website:

The distinction between "approved" and "unapproved" papers is contrary to the new spirit of openness we are trying to achieve in the Society through this website and forum. Is there any need for a materials committee at all? Does it actually serve a useful purpose?


At its meeting on 16 November, the Materials Group discussed your website posting. We should like to respond as follows:

The approval process for papers has always been deployed with a light touch. If we were to choose a purpose for the Group, it might be to advise, guide, support and encourage those who write papers for weekly groups to study. We do this particularly for each other, and for those who may be writing papers for the first time. In this way we do our best to ensure that the weekly groups have material to study each term. We always welcome new authors. Our experience has shown that constructive comments from colleagues are valuable and reassuring, and help to change “my paper” into “the Study Society’s paper”. Different groups thrive on different sorts of paper. Some like extracts from the Record, free from further commentary. Others value the personal experience of the authors in applying HH’s teaching to everyday life. Groups around the world now have access on the Study Society website to both these types of paper, and many others, going back to 1993; so we have a wealth of material to draw from. We believe that the Materials Group has over the years contributed to an archive of papers that will be of value to the Society.

One final point, for our Webmaster: we are disappointed that some users of the website conceal themselves behind pseudonyms. This seems contrary to the spirit of openness that you espouse, and to Satsang (truth + meeting). We really would like something to be done about this.

Administrator
Site Admin
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Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:31 am

Re: Writing papers

Postby Administrator » Fri Dec 04, 2009 12:55 pm

As the person who has recently assembled and uploaded all these papers to the archive may I say what a splendid job the Materials Group has being been doing over the years. This term our group has used a number of papers from several sources, the Good Company paper, a paper from the C & E & Pewsey Group and a paper from the New York Group. All of these have been to a high standard, are very helpful, and have given us inspiration.

You raise the question of usernames, which is a different topic. The opposing views on this have been discussed at length previously at this location (click on the link below), please can we have that conversation there, or of course privately if you wish. Please also remember that safety comes first, please see the section on safety in the rules.
http://www.studysociety.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=149
Richard.


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