Rationale

Why this was created

2019-09-08 Vancouver, WA

Based upon the decades of information that reside in pictures, books, pedigrees, research documents, diaries, dusty files, sticky notes, and collective memory about American Eskimo Dog lives, loves, and heartbreaks throughout the country, we collectively are clique-ish and guarded in our sharing of that information.

With the limited visibilty and usefullness of the multiple existing data locations (Yahoo! Groups, Facebook, Club Sites), I am willing to put my resources and skills toward a more cohesive and less volatile communication platform. Like all good things that starts with a library.

Having a single, organized, curated storehouse of this information is key to:

1. Stabalizing the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) around our beloved breed
2. Promoting new and re-energizing existing Eskie owners
3. Assisting those without decades of experience learn from the information available
4. Act as the reference site for anything tangentially related to the American Eskimo Dog
5. Remove (or at least dramatically reduce) the vitriol and temperature of the online debates by making all the available information available to all interested parties
6. Allow interested individuals to research for themselves topics of interest without having to direct message or email 42 different people for the possibility of getting the information

Eventually, I forsee an almost Wikipedia (or Eskie-pedia, trademark pending) way to visualize and interlink the information available. But the first step is to get a critical mass of information so we're not starting with a blank slate. I won't own anything other than the underlying technology to make this happen; the content remains tied to the uploader and original sources. As a historian, the closer we can get the original data and sources, the less likely interpretations are corrupting the discussion.

So how it will work:

1. There will be a sign-up page that will have
   1. Your email
   2. Password for uploading to the Library
   3. YahooGroup ID, if any (for tagging any information you've posted already)
   4. Facebook Handle, if any (for notices, updates, etc.)
   5. Club Affiliation(s)/Membership/Role
2. Once validated, you'll have access to upload content providing source information, any restrictions, copyrights, etc.
3. The content and source information will be reviewed (not instantaneously) and grouped appropriately.
4. Visibility will follow the restrictions - as we're just starting this it will be a learning curve on the whats, hows, and wheres we can make things available. If there are existing copyrights or something that is only available to members of certain clubs, we'll work out what the best approach may be.

This will be built completely independent of Yahoo! and Facebook, therefore we define acceptable use and maintain true ownership of the content and access to the same. Hopefully without requiring annoying ad support.

As this is about the breed, not tied to AKC or UKC or CKC clubs, this will service shall

1. Not directly affiliated with any of the American Eskimo Dog parent clubs
2. Be utilized by anyone or any group/club that keep the best interest of the American Eskimo Dog Breed in mind.
3. Maintain all known/implied copyrights, restrictions/limitations on provided content
4. Evolve around our needs in acceptable use, proper linking methodology for YahooGroups or Facebook, and other functions beneficial to the breed that remain to be worked out.

In closing, two thoughts:

1. As we share the DNA in our Eskies, we share the responsibility for their future. My hope is that this effort will bring all the information together that aids us in that responsibilty.

2. Reason can be fought with reason.

   How are you going to fight the unreasonable?

Stew Redfield CISA CISSP

Vancouver, WA 2019-09-08

This site is independent of any club membership or board role I may have, have had, or could have in the future.