[conlang_learners] Voting

[Padraic Brown]

--- On Mon, 7/13/09, Jim Henry <jimhenry1973 at gmail.com> wrote:

> As I said, I plan to look more closely at many or even all
> of the
> conlangs nominated and post here what I think about them,
> but if we
> move the vote up I won't have time to look at all of them
> more than I have already.

All the more reason nòt to vote anytime in the next fortnight!

To be honest, mostly what I've seen here so far (and it ìs an important aspect to discuss) is housekeeping stuff. When do we do it, how do we do it, what is it we're actually doing? Haven't seen much group discussion on the languages themselves as of yet. This is another reason not to rush the choice. But neither should it be put off for too long!

> > I think a short questionnaire gauging opinion and
> hopes for the project, reasons for choosing this conlang /
> this kind of conlang, and desireable outcomes befóre the
> project gets going would be helpful, in conjunction with an
> exit questionnaire (hopes realised or dashed, goals attained
> or missed, surprises) at the project's conclusion, for
> future iterations.
> 
> That's probably a good idea, except for a potential problem
> with
> defining the project's conclusion.   When is
> it over?

Well, that's part of the housekeeping issues that should be discussed early on! How long of a commitment is this going to be? Six months? A year? A decade? I think of the comments I've read regarding a time span, six months to a year would be about right. If you were in school learning a language, you could potentially take five to six courses in that timeframe -- plenty of time for people who really like the language to learn the basics and stick with it, but not so much time that those uninterested feel put off by the project's length.

I would also suggest a year, so that the next round could get started next September...

> When none of
> the people who started out with the project are still
> studying the
> chosen conlang?
>  When a certain percentage of them
> have dropped out?
> When a certain amount of time has
> passed?

Well, that's an important consideration for a questionnaire to ask! This comes under "where your goals met" / "did you learn the language"? If you didn't, "why did you choose to leave the project"?

>   When some of us start
> discussing and voting on what conlang to learn next, even
> if some are
> still studying the first-chosen conlang?

Ideally, sóme people will become truly interested in the chosen language and will decide to keep learning it, even after the project is over. I suspect that there will be a bunch of people who want to try again with a different language. How long do you keep them waiting before discussing round two?

Padraic

> Jim Henry
> http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry/
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