<html><head></head><body>Bravo. This is excellent news to start the day and workweek!<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On December 3, 2018 9:39:36 AM EST, Lee Vinsel <lee.vinsel@gmail.com> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,".SFNSText-Regular",sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,".SFNSText-Regular",sans-serif">Hi, everyone. </span></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,".SFNSText-Regular",sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,".SFNSText-Regular",sans-serif"><br></span></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,".SFNSText-Regular",sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px">Andy Russell and I are pleased to announce that the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will be supporting some activities of The Maintainers. With funding from the Sloan Foundation, we plan to build our capacity to create and nurture communities that connect scholarly research and practical applications. We’re thrilled to be partnering with the Educopia Institute, a non-profit organization focused on "building communities, connecting likeminded people, and using collective action to advance institutions of all kinds." Educopia will provide some staff support and its considerable expertise in community cultivation to help us further grow The Maintainers network.<span class="gmail-m_-1512649220082587412gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,".SFNSText-Regular",sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px">Our primary focus will be something we call the Maintenance Community Framework, through which we'll study the state of maintenance in individual sectors and professions, and document and disseminate best practices and lessons learned. The first two maintenance communities we'll focus on are InfoMaintainers - people working in libraries and digital preservation - and Maintainers in the Workforce, a group of experts on the law and policy of labor and poverty. We plan to identify and seed some other maintenance communities this year, including ones on transportation and water infrastructure, engineering, and philanthropy. We'll also be seeking additional funding sources that can sustain this effort for several years. And we’re now starting the planning process for Maintainers III, a conference that will take place in the fall of 2019. We’ll be sending out announcements soon to detail different ways that individuals or organizations can get involved – so stay tuned, and drop us a line in the meantime if you have any ideas or questions!</p><p style="margin:6px 0px 0px;display:inline;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,".SFNSText-Regular",sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px">Most of all we are happy that the Sloan Foundation has given a vote of confidence in The Maintainers, and we are grateful for all of your support. </p><div><p style="margin:6px 0px 0px;display:inline;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,".SFNSText-Regular",sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px"><br></p></div><div><p style="margin:6px 0px 0px;display:inline;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,".SFNSText-Regular",sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px">Best to all,</p><div><font color="#1d2129" face="system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14px"><br></span></font></div><div><font color="#1d2129" face="system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14px">Lee </span></font></div></div><div><div><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Assistant Professor <br>Department of Science, Technology, and Society<br></div><div>Virginia Tech<br></div><div><a href="http://leevinsel.com" target="_blank">leevinsel.com</a><br>Twitter: @STS_News<br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br>-- <br>Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.</body></html>