David Silbey
Candidate Statement
I've been a List Editor for H-War since January of 2003, and was a Book Review Editor from 2003-2006. H-Net has been expanding rapidly in the last decade, and I think that our success has led to some growing pains along the way. We have a flourishing set of discussion networks, and a remarkably prolific book review program. Both, I think, are demonstrations of what committed and intelligent volunteers can do when their effort is leveraged by the internet. But three issues face H-Net. First, we have been supported with a range of resources by Michigan State University, support that is now not as readily available. H-Net must develop alternate sources of revenue to fund itself in the future, as state and university budgets continue to shrink. Second, the internet is evolving at a rapid pace. Email is becoming increasingly clogged by spam, and filtered by software, and alternate forms of communication, like weblogs, are becoming more and more popular. H-Net must figure out how to evolve its discussion networks to keep pace. Finally and most importantly, H-Net has outgrown its systems, both human and email. The book review system is creaking under the strain of limited resources, an ancient software system, and its own success. H-Net has to look for efficiencies and improvements in the current system, and implement a new and more effective system. There are numerous possible solutions for each of these problems, simple and complex. Which we choose should be ones that are discussed and agreed upon by all of H-Net, council, administration, and editors alike. If I am elected to H-Net Council, these are the three problems upon which I plan to focus my energies, and reach solutions that work best for all of H-Net's communities.
