[okfn-coord] [Fwd: RE: Letter of Inquiry for CKAN]

[Rufus Pollock]

A fairly quick 'no' response from Mellon. Provides useful insight into 
what they fund ('portals' are a no -- which I would have guessed in 
advance). I have to say I am not quite sure how we are a 'portal' while 
something like e.g. 'JSTOR' is a software project. Perhaps it shows we 
should be clearer about how we think CKAN would be used with more focus 
on the actual tools with the site itself as more secondary.

~rufus

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Letter of Inquiry for CKAN
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:12:17 -0400
From: Christopher J. Mackie <CJM at mellon.org>
To: <rufus.pollock at okfn.org>
CC: Fuchs Ira <fuchs at mellon.org>,	Joyce Pierre <HJP at mellon.org>

Dear Rufus; I am writing at the request of my colleague Ira Fuchs to 
thank you for your interest in support from The Andrew W. Mellon 
Foundation. Regrettably, we will not be able to engage with your CKAN 
project.

I am sorry not to be able to write with better news, but as I am sure 
you understand, our Board requires us to concentrate our efforts in 
order to achieve meaningful results. We are charged to develop software 
that targets Mellon's core constituencies in the arts and humanities, 
research libraries, museums, and arts organizations. As a portal rather 
than a software project, CKAN is out of scope for us.
	
What you're trying to do is praiseworthy. I wish you all success in your 
search for funding.

Best regards,  --Chris

Christopher J. Mackie
Associate Program Officer, Research in Information Technology
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
cjm at mellon.org
+1 609-924-9424 (GMT-5)
cjmackie06 @ AIM
cjmackie5 @ Yahoo IM
http://rit.mellon.org; http://wwww.mellon.org
---
282 Alexander St.
Princeton, NJ 08540
---
140 E. 62nd St.
New York, NY 10065



----- Original Message -----
From: Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org>
To: Ira Fuchs	
Sent: Tue Mar 18 10:12:13 2008
Subject: Letter of Inquiry for CKAN

Dear Mr. Fuchs,

I hope this is the correct address to write to for inquiries about the 
Mellon Foundation's Research in Information Technology programme, of 
which you are Vice President.

I have attached a PDF document containing a Letter of Inquiry for our 
Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN) project.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything else about the 
project you would like to know.

Yours faithfully,

Rufus Pollock
Director, Open Knowledge Foundation