org
afloat
I believe that freedom of information should mean exactly what it says: in this case that information, ideas and knowledge should be freely available (like universal health care) to all, rich or poor, powerful or disempowered, wherever they live and whatever their situation. That’s why I don’t charge for any services available on this site. Still, it does cost me money to run this non-commercial web site, including its e-book download service. After retiring fully in January 2010 I will not be able to afford the luxury of subsidising this noble cause! Therefore, if you can afford $5 or more, please donate now to help keep this site going in 2010 and after (planning is essential!). Just click on one of the buttons below. You can use PayPal, or a credit card, or a debit card. If you donate via the ebook page [computer] [handheld device] you will receive an e-book as a token of appreciation.
Seldom (but frequently enough) asked questions
Why
on earth would anyone want to donate to this cause?
The majority of site visitors (over 100 a day) are not my students. Judging from the comments I receive about it, including these opinions, the site seems to be of interest to a surprising number of people with whom I have no contact and for whom I have technically no responsibility.
Not many websites cover the ground of this one. I put some effort into making it as useful and as interesting as possible. I try to keep the site simple, uncluttered, unglitzy, utilitarian and, most importantly, free from the blight of consumerist propaganda (‘advertising’). In short, I am led to believe that this site is a good thing not just for me and my students.
It costs money to run this site. The indexing/search facility, is really professionally run and used around 40 times each week, but that costs a few hundred dollars every year. Web space doesn’t come free, either; nor do the various bits of software needed to run the site.
Now that I’m retiring I can’t afford to pay out of my own pocket to run this site as it is now. However, if it is to include useful resources like audio and video illustrations, I will need to pay for help and for radically increased disk space. I will not be able to do all the work or to cover these increased expenses without help.
Where does the
money go?
The indexing/search facility, used currently about 40 times a week, is really useful and professionally run, but costs a few hundred dollars each year. Web space doesn’t come free, either; nor do the various bits of software I need to run the site (see also here).
It would also be good to be able to pay a research student to some of the work involved in maintaining, expanding and improving this site. I don’t have the time or the money to do all that even now.
Why
not use a university server?
Although teaching materials for university students are an important part of this site’s content, many files are documents which do not relate directly, if at all, to commitments at my university.
I must adapt to the corporate ’look’ of the university’s website when I infinitely prefer this kind of utilitarian aesthetic with a very low level of superficial gloss. I also think that black screen presentation, though a tiny drop in the ocean of environmentally less unfriendly measures, is preferable to the corporate-looking white-background screens that university administrators, in their inscrutable wisdom (!), seem to favour. This page is in grey so it can be read on handheld devices.
I can’t utter any ‘contraversial’ political opinion on a university website. For example, I was once asked to remove, from my clearly labelled Political page, a photo and a report of shocking and important events not covered in the bourgeois media. Call me pompous or pig-headed, but I’m not prepared to sell my convictions about truth or justice for the price of free disk space on a university server. ‘My grandma used to say “if you don't stand for something you’ll fall for anything”.’ (Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televized, 1968).
I sometimes have to upload short audio extracts of music under copyright for teaching or research purposes. University legal ‘experts’ don't tend to be so expert about fair and scholarly use of copyrighted materials for non-profit purposes. As a private individual, I am less likely than a well-known university to be pursued for breach of copyright [about music copyright and popular music studies | about copyright on this website | about copyright, YouTube, teaching and research].
Why
not use MySpace®™, Facebook®™, etc.?
These are personal contact and chat systems not designed for the dissemination of adademic information. They can't handle thousands of files and cross-referencing. Besides, anyone wanting such information would have to 'join' or sign up' (i.e. register) and be much more trackable.
Why
not pull in some money from advertising?
For me, this is not so much a matter of avoiding the clutter, annoyance and vacuous stupidity of most advertising as of an unshakeable conviction in the intrinsic evil of consumerist propaganda (‘advertising’, ‘public relations’). Don’t get me started on this, please! Read this instead.
How
much is anyone expected to donate?
No-one is expected to donate anything to the running of this website. However, if it is has been at all useful to you, and if you live in an OECD nation and are neither unemployed, nor an imporverished student, nor registered as a student at the Université de Montréal, then please make a donation: $5, $10, or whatever you think fit. $10 a year from 50 visitors, or $5 a year from 100 visitors would, for example, cover current running costs. Since I first posted a request for donations in 2005 until I offered ebooks as a token of appreciation in late August 2009, only two (2) people contributed.