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XML pipeline

In software, an XML pipeline is formed when XML (Extensible Markup Language) processes, especially XML transformations and XML validations, are connected.

For instance, given two transformations T1 and T2, the two can be connected so that an input XML document is transformed by T1 and then the output of T1 is fed as input document to T2. Simple pipelines like the one described above are called linear; a single input document always goes through the same sequence of transformations to produce a single output document.

Linear operations
Linear operations can be divided in at least two parts

Micro-operations
They operate at the inner document level
 * Rename - renames elements or attributes without modifying the content
 * Replace - replaces elements or attributes
 * Insert - adds a new data element to the output stream at a specified point
 * Delete - removes an element or attribute (also known as pruning the input tree)
 * Wrap - wraps elements with additional elements
 * Reorder - changes the order of elements

Document operations
They take the input document as a whole
 * Identity transform - makes a verbatim copy of its input to the output
 * Compare - it takes two documents and compare them
 * Transform - execute a transform on the input file using a specified XSLT file. Version 1.0 or 2.0 should be specified.
 * Split - take a single XML document and split it into distinct documents

Sequence operations
They are mainly introduced in XProc and help to handle the sequence of document as a whole
 * Count - it takes a sequence of documents and counts them
 * Identity transform - makes a verbatim copy of its input sequence of documents to the output
 * split-sequence - takes a sequence of documents as input and routes them to different outputs depending on matching rules
 * wrap-sequence - takes a sequence of documents as input and wraps them into one or more documents

Non-linear
Non-linear operations on pipelines may include:

 * Conditionals — where a given transformation is executed if a condition is met while another transformation is executed otherwise
 * Loops — where a transformation is executed on each node of a node set selected from a document or a transformation is executed until a condition evaluates to false
 * Tees — where a document is fed to multiple transformations potentially happening in parallel
 * Aggregations — where multiple documents are aggregated into a single document
 * Exception Handling — where failures in processing can result in an alternate pipeline being processed

Some standards also categorize transformation as macro (changes impacting an entire file) or micro (impacting only an element or attribute)

XML pipeline languages
XML pipeline languages are used to define pipelines. A program written with an XML pipeline language is implemented by software known as an XML pipeline engine, which creates processes, connects them together and finally executes the pipeline. Existing XML pipeline languages include:

Standards

 * XProc: An XML Pipeline Language is a W3C Recommendation for defining linear and non-linear XML pipelines.

Product-specific

 * W3C XML Pipeline Definition Language is specified in a W3C Note.
 * W3C XML Pipeline Language (XPL) Version 1.0 (Draft)  is specified in a W3C Submission and a component of Orbeon Presentation Server OPS (now called Orbeon Forms).  This specification provides an implementation of an earlier version of the language.  XPL allows the declaration of complex pipelines with conditionals, loops, tees, aggregations, and sub-pipelines. XProc is roughly a superset of XPL.
 * Cocoon sitemaps allow, among other functionality, the declaration of XML pipelines. Cocoon sitemaps are one of the earliest implementations of the concept of XML pipeline.
 * smallx XML Pipelines are used by the smallx project.
 * ServingXML defines a vocabulary for expressing flat-XML, XML-flat, flat-flat, and XML-XML transformations in pipelines.
 * PolarLake Circuit Markup Language used by PolarLake's runtime to define XML pipelines. Circuits are collections of paths through which fragments of XML stream (usually as SAX or DOM events). Components are placed on paths to interact with the stream (and/or the outside world) in a low latency process.
 * xmlsh is a scripting language based on the unix shells which natively supports xml and text pipelines
 * Stylus Studio XML Pipeline is a visual grammar which defines the following operations: Input, Output, XQuery, XSLT, Validate, XSL-FO to PDF, Convert To XML, Convert From XML, Choose, Warning, Stop.

Pipe granularity
Different XML Pipeline implementations support different granularity of flow.

 * Document: Whole documents flow through the pipe as atomic units. A document can only be in one place at a time. Though usually multiple documents may be in the pipe at once.
 * Event: Element/Text nodes events may flow through different paths. A document may be concurrently flowing through many components at the same time.

Standardization
Until May 2010, there was no widely used standard for XML pipeline languages. However, with the introduction of the W3C XProc standard as a W3C Recommendation as of May 2010, widespread adoption can be expected.

History

 * 1972 Douglas McIlroy of Bell Laboratories adds the pipe operator to the UNIX command shell. This allows the output from one shell program to go directly into input of another shell program without going to disk.  This allowed programs such as the UNIX awk and sed to be specialized yet work together .  For more details see Pipeline (Unix).
 * 1993 Sean McGrath developed a C++ toolkit for SGML processing.
 * 1998 Stefano Mazzocchi releases the first version of Apache Cocoon, one of the first software programs to use XML pipelines.
 * 1998 PolarLake build XML Operating System, which includes XML Pipelining.
 * 2002 Notes submitted by Norman Walsh and Eve Maler from Sun Microsystems, as well as a W3C Submission submitted in 2005 by Erik Bruchez and Alessandro Vernet from Orbeon, were important steps toward spawning an actual standardization effort. While neither submission directly became a W3C recommendation, they were considered key sources of inspiration for the W3C XML Processing Working Group.
 * September 2005 W3C XML Processing Working Group started. The task of this working group was to create a specification for an XML pipelining language.
 * August 2008, xmlsh, an XML pipeline language was announced at Balisage 2008

Recommendations

 * XProc: An XML Pipeline Language, W3C Recommendation 11 May 2010

Working drafts

 * W3C XML Processing Model Working Group
 * W3C XML Pipeline Definition Language Note
 * W3C XML Pipeline Language (XPL) Version 1.0 (Draft) Submission

Product specific

 * XProc tutorial and reference
 * Oracle's XML Pipeline Definition Language Controller Implementation Part of XML Developer's kit, no individual download
 * Cocoon sitemap
 * NetKernel XML Pipelines
 * Managing Complex Document Generation through Pipelining
 * XML Pipeline Language (XPL) Documentation
 * SXPipe
 * PolarLake Reference data management PolarLake XML circuits and reference data management
 * smallx
 * ServingXML
 * XML Pipeline Implementation from Stylus Studio - This program allows XML transforms to be chained together along with other operations on XML files such as validation and HTML Tidy.
 * IVI XML Pipeline Server XML Pipeline Server is an implementation for the Stylus Studio XML Pipeline language
 * Norman Walsh's XProc web site - Norman Walsh is the chair of the W3C XProc standards committee.
 * yax - an XProc Implementation currently with commandline and Apache ant interface
 * Yahoo! Pipes let's users create multi-source data mashups in a web-based visual environment
 * xmlsh A shell for manipulating xml based on the unix shells. Supports in-process multithreaded xml and text processing pipelines.
 * How to implement XML Pipeline in XSLT
 * Calabash is an implementation of XProc
 * Calumet is an XProc implementation from EMC
 * QuiXProc is an XProc implementation of Innovimax

title: XML pipeline


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Fred Flintstone

Frederick "Fred" Flintstone is the main character of the animated sitcom The Flintstones, which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960 to 1966. Fred is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintstone and together the family live in their homely cave in the town of Bedrock. His best friend is his next door neighbor, Barney, who has a wife named Betty.

Fred lives in the fictional prehistoric town of Bedrock, a world where dinosaurs coexist with modernized cavepeople and the cavepeople enjoy "primitive" versions of modern conveniences such as telephones, automobiles, and washing machines. Fred's trademark catchphrase yell is "yabba dabba doo!", a phrase that was originally his club's cheer, and later adopted as part of the theme song from the third season on and used in the 1994 live-action Flintstones film.

Since the original series' run, Fred has appeared in various other cartoon spinoffs, live action adaptations, music videos, video games, and commercials.

Biography
While the mid-1980s spin-off series The Flintstone Kids depicts Fred as a child, the series may be apocryphal due to its presenting Wilma as a childhood friend of Fred and Barney; the original series asserts that they first met as young adults. Still, the series' depiction of Fred as the only child of Ed (a handyman) and Edna (homemaker) Flintstone might be canon. (Pops Flintstone was in a comic strip.)

As young adults, Fred and Barney worked as bellhops at a resort. There, they met and fell in love with Wilma and Betty, who were working there as cigarette girls. Fred met Wilma's mother, Pearl Slaghoople, and the two took an instant dislike to each other. An unspecified amount of time later, Fred married Wilma.

Fred is a typical blue-collar worker, who works as a "bronto crane operator" at Slate Rock and Gravel Company (also known as Rockhead and Quarry Cave Construction Company in earlier episodes). Fred's job title in the second-season episode "Divided We Sail" is "geological engineer".

During the original series' third season, Wilma gives birth to the couple's daughter, Pebbles. Years later, when Pebbles is a teenager, Fred and Barney join the Bedrock police force for a time as part-time police officers. Eventually, Fred becomes a grandfather to the adult Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm's twins, Chip and Roxy. Fred's family grew again in A Flintstone Family Christmas, when he and Wilma adopted an orphaned caveboy named Stony, and despite a rough start, Fred and his new son bonded well.

Relatives
The Flintstone family's paternal side originally came from the prehistoric state of Arkanstone in Camp Mastodon, where they had been engaged in a feud similar to the Hatfield–McCoy feud. The feud was originally started by an ancestor of Fred's making a joke about a Hatrock family portrait ("I don't know what the artist got for doing that painting, but he should've gotten life!"). In the fourth-season episode "Bedrock Hillbillies", the feud is ended when Fred helps rescue Pebbles and a Hatrock baby, only to start up again when Fred makes the same joke as his ancestor. The Hatrocks later appear in the follow-up fifth-season episode "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes", where they visit Bedrock. The last of the Camp Mastodon Arkanstone Flintstones was Fred's great-great-granduncle Zeke Flintstone who lived to 102.

Other relatives of Fred include: Rocco Rockbottom "Rocky/Stony" Flintstone, Fred's grandfather, who was a Camp Mastodon veteran of Air Force Stone World War One; Uncle Giggles Flintstone, a rich, eccentric practical joker whose jokes drive Fred into a mad rage; James Hardrock, Edna's father; Uncle Tex Hardrock, Fred's rich Texan uncle; Tumbleweed and Mary Lou Jim, Fred's rich Texan cousins.

Personality
Fred's personality was based on those of early television's Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners and Chester A. Riley of The Life of Riley, both roles held at various times by Jackie Gleason. (Riley was more closely associated with William Bendix, who originated the role, though Gleason replaced Bendix due to a contract dispute for The Life of Riley's first season on television.) Much like Ralph, Fred tends to be loud-mouthed, aggressive, temperamental and constantly scheming ways to improve his family's working class lot in life, often with unintended results. Also like Ralph, despite his harshness, he is friendly, and has a loving heart, who is very devoted to his family and cares a lot about his best friend and next door neighbor Barney Rubble. Fred loses his temper easily and is very impatient, but he seems free of malice and never holds a grudge. Although his loudness irritates the people around him, Fred proves friendly, often going out of his way to help others. Also, although Fred often annoys Wilma with his immaturity, he is known to go to great lengths to please his family and apologize when he goes too far. Other known characters from other programs may also be known to have personalities based on Fred Flintstone including Archie Bunker from All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place (both played by Carroll O'Connor), George Jefferson from The Jeffersons (played by Sherman Hemsley), Mel Sharples from Alice (played by Vic Tayback) and Frank DeFazio from Laverne & Shirley (played by Phil Foster).

Fred's interests include bowling, playing pool, golf, poker and lounging around the house. Fred has won championships with his bowling skills; in one episode, he goes so far as to take ballet lessons in order to improve his game (hence his trademark bowling delivery). The nickname of "Twinkletoes" stuck with him when Fred attended a local university and became eligible to play on their football team, and it became his call sign. Fred is also an excellent golfer. Fred is a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos Lodge (named "the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs" in an early episode). Fred also has a serious gambling problem; the mere mention of the word "bet" causes Fred to stammer "bet" over and over again (sounding like a clucking chicken) and go on gambling binges. Fred is also an avid driver. In the fifth-season episode "Indianrockolis 500", Fred entered the famed prehistoric auto race under the pseudonym "Goggles Paisano".

Fred's catchphrase is "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!"; Alan Reed, voice actor who provided Fred's voice from 1960 to 1977, reportedly said the inspiration for the phrase came from his mother, who used to say, "A little dab'll do ya," probably borrowed from a Brylcreem commercial. When the script called for a simple yahoo, Alan either asked if he could alter the phrase or he ad-libbed. It inspired, in the 1970s a short-lived fruit drink called "Yabba Dabba Dew" and may or may not have also inspired George Jetson's similar-sounding catchphrase, "Hooba-dooba-dooba" (or "Hooba-Dooba"). It does, however, become the subject of a song by Hoagy Carmichael which the singer-songwriter performs in one episode of The Flintstones. Fred's ability to carry a tune was quite good in his younger years. One early episode sees Fred (with Barney, who is a skilled drummer) perform at a nightclub with his musician friend "Hot Lips Hannigan" where his singing caused teenage girls to swoon over him; on this occasion, he was nicknamed the "Golden Smog". In another first-season episode, "Girls' Night Out", Fred recorded a demo record at a carnival of the song "Listen to the Rocking Bird", which ended up making him a teenage singing idol named "Hi Fye". As the series progressed, however, his voice became worse and worse (even during his success as a singer, Wilma was never impressed by Fred's voice), eventually to the point that a temporary maid the Flintstones hired quit rather than having to hear Fred sing. (Alan Reed himself was not a good singer; in instances where he was expected to sing well, a stand-in—usually Henry Corden from 1965 onward—would be used.)

Due to his impulsive and short-tempered behavior and stubborn and somewhat selfish nature, Fred seems to be accident-prone. Even his most innocent and mundane actions often cause widespread confusion. At the end of the closing credits, Fred puts the Flintstones housecat "Baby Puss" outside; the cat however jumps back inside and puts Fred out who begins to knock on the door of his house and starts yelling "Wilma", to open the door.

According to the original series' third-season episode "The Birthday Party" (originally aired April 5, 1963), Fred's birthday is February 2. Fred's address has varied through the series' run, with addresses given for the Flintstone residence including, 201 Cobblestone Lane (October 21, 1960 - "No Help Wanted" episode), 345 Cave Stone Road, 39 Stone Canyon Way, and 1313 Cobblestone Way. Fred's address was cited as "35 Cobblestone Rd" in the 1961 episode "The X-Ray Story".

Television shows

 * The Flagstones (1959)
 * The Flintstones (1960–1966)
 * The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971–1972)
 * The Flintstone Comedy Hour (1972–1974)
 * Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics (1977–1978)
 * Fred Flintstone and Friends (1977–1978)
 * The New Fred and Barney Show (1979)
 * Fred and Barney Meet the Thing (1979)
 * Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo (1979–1980)
 * The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980–1982)
 * The Flintstone Funnies (1982–1984)
 * The Flintstone Kids (1986–1988)
 * What a Cartoon!, featuring Dino: Stay Out! (1995)
 * The Rubbles (2002)
 * Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs (2020)
 * Jellystone! (2021)
 * Bedrock (Cancelled)

Films and specials

 * Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1966)
 * The Man Called Flintstone (1966)
 * The Flintstones on Ice (1973)
 * Energy: A National Issue (1977)
 * A Flintstone Christmas (1977)
 * Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue (1978)
 * The Flintstones: Little Big League (1978)
 * Hanna-Barbera Educational Filmstrips (1980); featuring A Weighty Problem, Fire Alarm, Fire Escape and Driving Guide
 * The Flintstones' New Neighbors (1980)
 * The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone (1980)
 * The Flintstones: Fred's Final Fling (1980)
 * The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera Arena Show (1981)
 * The Flintstones: Wind-Up Wilma (1981)
 * The Flintstones: Jogging Fever (1981)
 * Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper (1982)
 * The Flintstones' 25th Anniversary Celebration (1986)
 * The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987)
 * The Flintstone Kids' "Just Say No" Special (1988)
 * A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration: 50 Years of Hanna-Barbera (1989)
 * I Yabba-Dabba Do! (1993) (voiced by Henry Corden)
 * Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993)
 * A Flintstone Family Christmas (1993)
 * The Flintstones (1994) (portrayed by John Goodman)
 * A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
 * What a Cartoon!, featuring Dino: Stay Out! (1995)
 * The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000) (portrayed by Mark Addy)
 * The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001) (voiced by Jeff Bergman)
 * The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown! (2015)
 * Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) (briefly voiced by Jeff Bergman)

Video games

 * The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy
 * The Flintstones
 * The Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak
 * The Flintstones: The Treasure of Sierra Madrock
 * The Flintstones: Bedrock Bowling
 * The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas

Portrayal
George O'Hanlon originally auditioned for the role of Fred Flintstone. He later went on to voice George Jetson, another Hanna-Barbera character in the animated sitcom The Jetsons. Alan Reed was the original voice artist of Fred (minus the original short pilot where he was voiced by Daws Butler, who also voiced him on a 1973 record) until Reed's death in 1977.

Henry Corden occasionally voiced Fred on records throughout the 1960s, and also provided the singing voice for Fred in The Man Called Flintstone. Following Reed's death, Corden officially took over the role until his retirement in 2000, although he continued to voice him in Post Pebbles commercials until his death in 2005. Corden voiced Fred's father and mother in The Flintstone Kids, while young Fred was voiced by both Lennie Weinrib and Scott Menville at different points.

Australian voice actor Keith Scott provided Fred's voice in various commercials throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and the live show Hanna-Barbera Gala Celebrity Nite at the Wonderland Sydney amusement park in Australia.

Jeff Bergman voiced Fred in the fourth episode of The New Show and Flintstones/Jetsons: Timewarp and performed the character throughout the 1990s and 2000s for various Cartoon Network and Boomerang commercials and bumpers,  and voiced him in The Flintstones: On the Rocks, his guest appearance in Johnny Bravo, some episodes of Family Guy, and The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!. James Arnold Taylor voiced Fred in commercials following Corden's death, up until 2011, as well as his guest appearance in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. Taylor returned to voice Fred in 2016 for a Columbus Zoo commercial. He has also been voiced in recent years by Scott Innes (in a Toshiba commercial),

Other voices include Maurice LaMarche (in Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law), Stephen Stanton (in Robot Chicken), Dave Coulier (in Robot Chicken), Fred Tatasciore (in MAD), Seth Green (in Robot Chicken), and Rick Zieff (in Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2021). In various Italian dubs, Fred's voice was provided by Italian voice actor Carlo Bonomi. Stephen Root was planned to voice Fred Flintstone in the scrapped FOX series Bedrock.

Live action portrayal
In the first live-action film, The Flintstones, Fred was played by John Goodman, who also provided his voice for the film's pinball adaptation. In the prequel film, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, in which Fred is portrayed as younger than he was in the original, he was played by British actor Mark Addy.

Commercials
Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble were pitchmen for Winston cigarettes, the show's sponsor at the time. In one ad, Fred and Barney saw the men working hard at the quarry and decided to retire out of sight for a smoke break. After extolling the virtues of their favorite brand, Fred lit up and delivered the catch phrase: "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." A similar ad featured Wilma and Betty as well. By the original series' third season, Winston had been dropped in favor of Welch's.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Fred Flintstone


text:
Lyman Hall

Lyman Hall (April 12, 1724 – October 19, 1790) was an American Founding Father, physician, clergyman, and statesman who signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Georgia. Hall County is named after him. He was one of four physicians to sign the Declaration, along with Benjamin Rush, Josiah Bartlett, and Matthew Thornton.

Early life and family
Hall was born on April 12, 1724, in Wallingford, Connecticut. He was the son of John Hall, a minister, and Mary (née Street) Hall, daughter of Rev. Samuel Street. He studied with his uncle Samuel Hall and graduated from Yale College in 1747, a tradition in his family. He was a nephew of Anne Law, daughter of Gov. Jonathan Law, cousin of Dr. William Brenton Hall, and a grandnephew of Capt. Theophilus Yale of the Yale family. In 1749, he was called to the pulpit of Stratfield Parish (now Bridgeport, Connecticut). His pastorate was a stormy one: an outspoken group of parishioners opposed his ordination; in 1751, he was dismissed after charges against his moral character which, according to one biography, "Were supported by proof and also by his own confession." He continued to preach for two more years, filling vacant pulpits, while he studied medicine and taught school.

In 1752, he married Abigail Burr of Fairfield, Connecticut; she died the following year. In 1757, he married Mary Osborne. He migrated to South Carolina and established himself as a physician at Dorchester, South Carolina, near Charleston, a community settled by Congregationalist migrants from Dorchester, Massachusetts, decades earlier. When these settlers moved to the Midway District – now Liberty County – in Georgia, Hall accompanied them. Hall soon became one of the leading citizens of the newly founded town of Sunbury.

Revolutionary War
On the eve of the American Revolution, St. John's Parish, in which Sunbury was located, was a hotbed of radical sentiment in a predominantly Loyalist colony. Though Georgia was not initially represented in the First Continental Congress, through Hall's influence the parish was persuaded to send a delegate to Philadelphia to the Second Continental Congress. Hall was delegated and was admitted to a seat in the Congress in 1775. He was one of the three Georgians and one of four doctors to sign the document of Independence.

In January 1779, Sunbury was burned by the British. Hall's family fled to the North, where they remained until the British evacuation in 1782. Hall then returned to Georgia, settling in Savannah. In January 1783, he was elected governor of the state – a position that he held for one year. While governor, Hall advocated the chartering of a state university, believing that education, particularly religious education, would result in a more virtuous citizenry. His efforts led to the chartering of the University of Georgia in 1785. At the expiration of his term as governor, he resumed his medical practice.

Death and legacy
In 1790, Hall moved to a plantation in Burke County, Georgia, on the South Carolina border, where he died on October 19 at the age of 66. Hall's widow died in November 1793.

Lyman Hall is memorialized in Georgia where Hall County, Georgia, bears his name; and in Connecticut, his native state, where the town of Wallingford honored him by naming a high school after its distinguished native son. Elementary schools in Liberty County, Georgia, and in Hall County, Georgia, are also named for him. Signers Monument, a granite obelisk in front of the courthouse in Augusta, Georgia, memorializes Hall along with Button Gwinnett and George Walton as Georgians who signed the Declaration of Independence. His remains were re-interred there in 1848 after being exhumed from his original grave on his plantation in Burke County.

title: Lyman Hall


text:
John Hart (New Jersey politician)

John Hart (c. 1713 – May 11, 1779 ) was an American Founding Father and politician in colonial New Jersey. As a delegate to the Continental Congress, Hart signed the Declaration of Independence. He died several years before the end of the Revolutionary War while still active in patriotic efforts.

Ancestry
Sources disagree as to the year and place of Hart's birth. His official U.S. Congress biography cites 1713 as a likely birth year and Stonington, Connecticut as his birthplace, though his family relocated to Hopewell Township, New Jersey at some point thereafter. Hart was baptized at the Maidenhead Meetinghouse (now the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville) on December 31, 1713. He was the son of Captain Edward Hart, a farmer, public assessor, justice of the peace, and leader of a local militia unit during the French and Indian War. Hart was the grandson of John Hart, a carpenter who came to Hopewell from Newtown, Long Island.

Early life
In 1741, Hart married Deborah Scudder (1721–1776). The couple had thirteen children: Sarah, Jesse, Martha, Nathaniel, John, Susanna, Mary, Abigail, Edward, Scudder, an infant daughter, Daniel, and Deborah. His wife, died on October 28, 1776. In 1747, he donated a piece of land in his front meadow to local Baptists who had been seeking a place to build a church. The location was known for some time thereafter as the Old Baptist Meeting House.

Political career
Hart was elected to the Hunterdon County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1750. He was first elected to the New Jersey Colonial Assembly in 1761 and served there until 1771. He was appointed to the local Committee of safety and the Committee of correspondence, and became a judge on the Court of Common Pleas. He was often called "Honest John."

When New Jersey formed a revolutionary assembly (or provincial congress) in 1776, he was elected to it and served as its vice president. Prior to June 1776, the New Jersey delegation in the First Continental Congress was opposed to independence. As a result, the entire delegation was replaced, and Hart was one of those selected for the Second Continental Congress. He joined in time to vote for and sign the Declaration of Independence. He served until August of that year, then was elected speaker of the newly formed New Jersey General Assembly. He later took on additional duties as Treasurer of the Council of safety (which was given "extraordinary and summary powers" to carry out affairs of the state during emergencies), president of the joint meetings of the New Jersey Congress, and commissioner of the State Loan Office.

Revolutionary War
In December 1776, the British advance into New Jersey reached Hunterdon County. A marked man because of his status as speaker of the Assembly, Hart was obliged to escape and hide for a short time in the nearby Sourland Mountains. His farm was raided by British and Hessian troops, who damaged but did not destroy the property. The Continentals' capture of Trenton on December 26 allowed Hart to return home. Prior to the Battle of Monmouth, Hart invited General George Washington and the Continental Army to make camp on his farm, and his offer was accepted. From June 22 to 24, 1778, 12,000 men occupied his fields, and on at least one occasion Washington dined with Hart.

Death and legacy
On November 7, 1778, Hart returned to Hopewell from the Assembly in Trenton. Two days later, he indicated that he was too ill with "gravel" (kidney stones) to return. He continued to suffer from the painful affliction for more than six months until his death on May 11, 1779, at age 65. He is buried at the Old Baptist Meeting House, to which he had donated land.

The following obituary for John Hart appeared on May 19, 1779:

"On Tuesday the 11th instant, departed this life at his seat in Hopewell, JOHN HART, Esq. the Representative in General Assembly for the county of Hunterdon, and late Speaker of that House. He had served in the Assembly for many years under the former government, taken an early and active part in the present revolution, and continued to the day he was seized with his last illness to discharge the duties of a faithful and upright patriot in the service of his country in general and the county he represented in particular. The universal approbation of his character and conduct among all ranks of people, is the best testimony of his worth, and as it must make his death regretted and lamented, will ensure lasting respect to his memory."Hart is the ancestor of Congressman John Hart Brewer and former House majority leader Steny Hoyer. Roadways named after Hart include Hart Boulevard in Flemington, New Jersey; Hart Avenue in Hopewell, New Jersey; and Hart Lane in Ringoes, New Jersey.

title: John Hart (New Jersey politician)


text:
Joseph Hewes

Joseph Hewes (July 9, 1730 – November 10, 1779 ) was an American Founding Father and a signer of the Continental Association and U.S. Declaration of Independence. Hewes was a native of Princeton, New Jersey, where he was born in 1730. His parents were members of the Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers. Early biographies of Hewes falsely claim that his parents came from Connecticut. Hewes may have attended the College of New Jersey, known today as Princeton University but there is no record of his attendance. He did, in all probability, attend the grammar school set up by the Stonybrook Quaker Meeting near Princeton.

Mercantile business
About 1749 or 1750 he moved to Philadelphia and joined Joseph Ogden's mercantile business at Chestnut and 2nd Street as an apprentice. Ogden was married to Hewes's first cousin Jimima Hewes. Part of his apprenticeship had him traveling by cargo ship either with Ogden or one of his assistants known as a supercargo as they visited Boston, New York, Edenton (North Carolina), Charleston and Tortola in the British Virgin Islands to buy and sell goods to other traders in those port cities. During this time in Philadelphia, Hewes attended Quaker meetings at the Arch Street meeting house.

Completing his apprenticeship he determined that opportunities in the port in North Carolina at Edenton, a prospering well protected port town on a small bay on the north side of Albemarle Sound he had visited while still apprenticed to Ogden, offered the best chance for his success. Hewes moved there in late 1754 and with Charles Blount formed "Blount, Hewes and Co." and he soon became Edenton's leading merchant. In a 1772 letter to a friend, James Iredell said of Hewes "'there is a Gentleman in this Town, who is a very particular favourite of mine, as indeed he is of everybody, for he is one of the best and most agreeable Men in the World. His name is Mr. Hewes. He is a Merchant here and our Member for the Town; indeed the Patron and greatest honour of it. About 6 or 7 years ago he was within a very few days of being married to one of Mr. [Johnston's] sisters who died rather suddenly; and this unhappy Circumstance for a long time embittered every Satisfaction in Life to him. He has continued ever since unmarried....'"In 1763, "Blount, Hewes and Co.", was dissolved. Hewes joined with a local attorney, Robert Smith, to form "Hewes and Smith." In addition to the store at the NE corner of Main and King the firm possessed "offices, three warehouses, a wharf and five ships, three sloops and two brigs." Hewes was also the personal owner of a ship repair and ship building yard at the mouth of Pembroke Creek. In 1777 Hewes created a rope walk—a factory for braiding ropes, twine, hawsers and cables to be used in the rigging of ships. It became one of the main suppliers of high quality ropes and lines to the American shipping industry during the next decade.

In 1757 Hewes was appointed justice of the peace for Edenton. In 1760 he was elected to the North Carolina Assembly, where he served on important committees involving finance and treasury. He remained in the Assembly until 1775.

The Quaker historian Charles Francis Jenkins argued that Hewes remained a Quaker his entire life: "As to Joseph Hewes, who had thrown off most of the outward observances of a member of Meeting in good standing, the time has come to say whether he was or was not a Friend. The answer is that he was a birthright member of Chesterfield, N.J. Monthly Meeting, that he never resigned or was disowned, that he never formally connected himself with any other religious organization and that when he died his death was recorded in his old home meeting showing that they, at least, regarded him as one among them."

The claim that he never formally connected himself with another religious organization is contradicted by the records of St. Paul's Anglican Church in Edenton where he served as a vestryman. There is some evidence that Hewes was a deist—someone who believes in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind.

Iredell wrote in his diary:  "I took a Walk with Mr. Hewes to his Wharf, & spent a happy Afternoon with him afterwards at his own House - This Gentleman I greatly love & respect; & I feel much Concern that he has imbibed some Prejudices which cannot stand the Test of a fair Inquiry, & which, if justly founded, would destroy the strongest ties of Moral & Social Virtue, - would render doubtful every rule of Evidence that has been hitherto held certain, -& would leave unconquerable Difficulties in the room of those which only seem such for want of due attention or a competent Knowledge of the Subject.-As a Man & Gentleman,-possessed of an excellent Understanding, -Blest with a good heart, - Mr. Hewes is deserving all the honor & respect universally shewn him. How happy am I in being intimately connected with that Family which is admired by all the World for their improved Minds, exemplary Conduct, & agreeable Deportment!"

First Continental Congress (September 5, 1774 – October 22, 1774)
The British Parliament responded to the December, 1773, Boston Tea Party by passing in 1774 the Coercive Acts (known as the Intolerable Acts In the American colonies) closing the Boston harbor and restricting town meetings in Massachusetts to one per year. While the act applied only to Massachusetts, the other colonies feared their rights would soon be in jeopardy as well. Through the Committees of Correspondence a proposal was circulated for an inter-colonial congress to meet in Philadelphia in September 1774. In response to that call the North Carolina Committee of Correspondence consisting of John Harvey (the Speaker of the Assembly) Wiliam Hooper, Richard Caswell, Joseph Hewes and four others called for the Assembly to meet to select delegates to send to the Philadelphia congress. Members of the North Carolina Assembly met as an extra-legal body at New Bern on Aug 25, 1774.

The first order of business, of this First North Carolina Provincial Congress, was Joseph Hewes reading some of the letters from the Committees of Correspondence from other colonies. After this reading, it was decided to send three delegates to the Philadelphia congress. The second order of business was to pass a resolution affirming loyalty to the British crown and the British Constitution and declaring that they sought only their rights as Englishmen. The hope was that reconciliation and compromise with England would resolve all disputes. On 27 October William Hopper, Joseph Hewes and Richard Caswell were named to attend the Philadelphia Congress. The three delegates shared the belief that reconciliation was unlikely, but they also believed that only when the evidence was abundantly clear that reconciliation was unobtainable should independence become an option. The Provincial Congress gave the delegates two instructions: (1) to contend for their rights as Englishmen, and (2) to agree with the colonies to prohibit all imports and exports to Great Britain. They had no authorization to advocate or even debate a call for independence.

The Congress reconvened in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774. Hewes and Hooper arrived on the 12th and presented their credentials on 14 September. Caswell arrived three days later.

On September 18 Congress passed the Suffolk Resolves calling for the termination of trade with Great Britain. On October 15 the Congress adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances and on 18 October the Continental Association establishing the end of all imports from England effective on December 1, 1774, and an end to all exports to England, Ireland, and the West Indies effective September 1, 1775. The North Carolina delegation voted in favor of both measures. Congress adjourned October 22, calling for a new congress to meet on May 10, 1775, if Britain did not adequately respond to redress American grievances and restore their rights. Hooper and Caswell returned to North Carolina. Hewes stayed on until 24 November 1775.

Hewes had family in the area. His mother lived about 40 miles (64.37 km) away in New Jersey. She may have come to Philadelphia to stay with her daughter Sarah, who was married to the Philadelphia merchant Joseph Ogden. Or, she may have stayed with Hewes's younger brother Josiah, also a merchant, a member of the Philadelphia committee of correspondence, a manager of the Pennsylvania Hospital and a director of the Library Company. Hewes also had relatives just a couple of miles south of Philadelphia in Chester County.

Second Continental Congress first session (May 10, 1775 – August 1, 1775)
The 2nd North Carolina Provincial Congress convened in New Bern on April 3, 1775. Hewes, Hooper and Caswell were reappointed to serve as delegates from North Carolina to the 2nd Continental Congress. Their instructions remained as they were. The delegates were not authorized to seek independence but were to seek redress of grievances. On April 29 Hewes and Caswell left together for Philadelphia. As they crossed the Potomac River into Maryland, they met the Virginia delegation led by George Washington. From then on to Philadelphia they were met at each county line by various companies of troops who marched with them to the next county line. It looked to Hewes that in comparison North Carolina lacked patriotic fervor and was far behind in military readiness. On May 11 he wrote to Samuel Johnston urging him to promote the training of the militia.

Congress convened on the 10th. Hewes was appointed to three committees: the finance committee, the committee writing the rules and regulations for the army and a committee to inquire into the ore and lead resources of the colonies. For the first three months of the Congress, the focus of attention was on the prospects for reconciliation and organizing a defensive military force These were the two messages that Hewes emphasized in his letters. One June 19, Hooper, Hewes, and Caswell sent an address to the all the county committees of safety in North Carolina urging them quickly get ready to "stem Tyranny in its commencement."

On August 1, 1775, The Continental Congress adjourned, scheduling to reassemble on September 5.

At the 3rd North Carolina Provincial Congress (Aug 20, 1775 - Sept 10, 1775) Hooper, Hewes, and Caswell were again selected to represent North Carolina as members of the Continental Congress. The Provincial Congress considered and rejected a Draft of Articles of Confederation proposed by several of the colonies. The North Carolina delegation was instructed "not to consent to any plan of Confederation" in that any such "Confederacy ought only be adopted in Case of the last necessity". The creation of a confederation was considered one step too far, turning resistance into a move toward independence.

On September 8 Caswell resigned as a delegate to the Continental Congress. John Penn was named in his place.

Second Continental Congress, second session (August 13, 1775)
Congress reconvened August 13, 1775. In November, it was learned that at the end of August, the king had officially declared the colonists rebels. Late in 1775 Hewes was appointed to the Naval Board and to the Marine Committee. These committees drafted the regulations that would govern the navy and began the process of acquiring ships and the officers and men who would operate them. These acts laid the foundations for the American Navy. Hewes kept the accounts of the Naval Board, conducted the bulk of its correspondence and was responsible for getting John Paul Jones his commission in the Navy.

During the winter of 1776, Congress turned slowly towards independence. In February a resolution was proposed rejecting independence. Congress rejected the resolution. By March Hewes was beginning to think that independence was inevitable. Writing to Samuel Johnston on March 20 he said "I see no prospect of a reconciliation. Nothing is left but to fight it out.”

As a practical matter, independence was declared on March 23, 1776, when Congress opened American ports to all countries except those under British control and in its declaration that British commercial shipping would be subject to attacks by American privateers and the American Navy. On April 12 North Carolina authorized its delegation to "concur...in declaring Independency.…" Richard Henry Lee of Virginia offered a resolution on June 7 for independence "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." The Lee Resolution was deferred for three weeks until July 1. On June 20 Hewes wrote to James Iredell "...On Monday the great question of independency and total separation from all political intercourse with Great Britain will come on. It will be carried, I expect, by a great majority, and then, I suppose we shall take upon us a new name...."

The Continental Congress voted to politically separate from Britain on July 2, 1776. On July 4 the wording of the Declaration of Independence was ratified. An engrossed copy to be penned by a skilled calligrapher was ordered on July 19 and most of the signatures were appended to this copy on August 2 including that of Joseph Hewes.

Between July 8 and August 2 Hewes visited his mother near Princeton, New Jersey. In a letter from Philadelphia of July 8, 1776, Hewes wrote "I had the weight of North Carolina on my shoulders within a day or two of three months. The service was too severe. I have sat some days from Six in the morning till five, and sometimes Six in the afternoon without eating or drinking. My health is bad, such close attention made it worse. ...Duty, inclination and self preservation call on me now to make a little excursion in the County to see my mother. This is a duty which I have not allowed myself to perform during almost nine months that I have been here." Towards the end of September Hewes returned to Edenton for rest and recuperation.

John Adams and his comments on Joseph Hewes
In 1813 John Adams wrote of the struggles that Hewes experienced as he set about serving in the Continental Congress: "For many days the majority depended on Mr. Hewes of North Carolina. While a member one day was speaking and reading documents from all the colonies to prove that public opinion, the general sense of all, was in favor of the measure, when he came to North Carolina and produced letters and public proceedings that the majority in that colony was in favor of it, Mr. Hewes, who had hitherto constantly voted against it, started suddenly upright and lifting both hands to heaven as if he had been in a trance, cried out, "It is done and I will abide by it." I would give more for the perfect painting of the terror and horror upon the face of the old majority at that critical moment than for the best piece of Raphael. The question, however, was eluded by an immediate motion for adjournment".

Because these comments were written about 37 years after the event, there is reason to doubt the accuracy of Adams' memory. First, he is simply wrong about the vote for independence depending on Hewes' vote. Secondly, there is no evidence that Hewes changed his mind suddenly on the matter of independence.

John Adams divided the Congress into two distinct factions: the militants who strongly supported independence from the beginning of the First Congress and those who did not support independence. The Adams view oversimplifies the situation. There were actually three camps: (1) a small group of militants who early on supported independence, (2) a small group of anti-independents who never gave up hope for reconciliation and (3) the majority who gradually realized that reconciliation was impossible and so gradually came to see that a defense of their rights necessitated military operations which placed them in a state of rebellion. Hewes belonged firmly in this group, in the majority. Hewes experienced no sudden change of mind.

Hewes did not take independence lightly. There would be a human cost in pain and suffering. Yet, independence gradually came to be accepted as an inevitable consequence of their defense of American rights. Defense of these rights was of primary interest to Hewes. In April 1775, more than a year before independence was declared, Hewes was promoting more training for the North Carolina militia. His work in the organization of the navy began well before the vote on independence indicating again his willingness to support a militant defense of American rights.

Naval affairs
At the end of October 1775, the Continental Congress created a seven member committee to begin fitting out two vessels one with no more than 20 guns and the other with no more than 26 guns. Hewes was appointed to this committee and to two others that became the Naval Committee which later evolved into the Marine Committee. Hewes was selected for these committees not only because of his marine experience but also for his business and accounting acumen. The following month two more vessels were ordered and the Naval Committee began adopting regulations for the conduct of Naval officers and seamen. The Naval Committee met from six in the evening sometimes to around midnight in a house they acquired for its meetings. Stephen Hopkins chaired the committee and Joseph Hewes kept its accounts as well as handling a good portion of it correspondence.

On February 14, 1776, Hewes leased one of the firm's brigantines to the Secret Marine Committee of the Continental Congress for the sum of 400 Spanish dollars per month. Hewes agreed that the "said Brigt shall be Tight, stiff, Strong & Staunch, well & sufficiently fitted, found, Victualed & Manned for this Voyage...." At the time the ship was located on the York River in Virginia where It was to load tobacco and other Virginia Produce and then sail to ports in Europe to sell the Cargo and "shall receive on board any...Goods, Wares, Merchandize arms, & ammunition that the Agent or Factors of the said Secret Committee [may order and then] proceed with all Care & dilligence [sic]..into some Safe Port or place between Connecticut and North Carolina...." The committee agreed to pay all port charges. For insurance purposes, the value of the brigantine was placed at 4 thousand 600 Spanish milled dollars. The committee insured the owners for this amount "against any Capture or seizure...by any Enemies of the said united Colonies."

5th North Carolina Provincial Congress
In November 1776 Hewes was again chosen along with Hopper and Thomas Bourke to represent North Carolina in the 2nd Continental Congress. This Provincial Congress wrote a new constitution for the province and called for the new Bicameral legislature to meet in April 1777 in New Bern. After the Provincial Congress, Hewes did not return to Philadelphia but returned to Edenton staying there through April 1777 until the General Assembly gathered on April 7.

First North Carolina General Assembly
On April 7, 1777, the first First North Carolina General Assembly met in New Bern. On April 18, Joseph Hewes, John Penn, William Hooper and Thomas Burke were nominated to serve as delegates from North Carolina to the Continental Congress. John Penn was eager to obtain one of the three delegate positions for himself. He claimed that if Joseph Hewes were elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress it would be in violation of the new North Carolina Constitution. The Constitution prohibited a person from holding two offices. Hewes served on the Marine Committee so according to Penn's argument, Hewes was not eligible to serve in the Continental Congress. Penn also suggested that Hewes had amassed a fortune from his work on the Marine Committee and that he was frequently absent from meetings of the Congress. On May 4, John Penn, Thomas Burke and Cornelius Harnett were elected as delegates to the Continental Congress.

Reelected to the Continental Congress
In January 1779 Joseph Hewes was elected to represent Edenton in the lower house of the North Carolina Assembly. In 1779 the legislature increased the size of their delegation to the Continental Congress to five members and after a two year absence from Congress, on February 4, 1779, Hewes was reelected by the Assembly to represent North Carolina to the Continental Congress. Still not feeling well, he took his seat in Philadelphia on July 22, 1779. On August 17 he wrote to Richard Caswell that "I have been much distressed with a continual head ach attended with a kind of stupor which renders me unfit for business of any kind and altho I do attend Congress yet I cannot pay that attention to business which the urgency of our affairs seem to require."

On October 25, 1779, his resignation from Congress was received by the North Carolina Assembly.

Chowan County property tax records
This table is compiled from incomplete handwritten records based on information submitted by the taxpayer. Note the list of enslaved workers and the increase in the value of property and the amount of taxes paid in the years from 1777 to 1779.

Death
Joseph Hewes died on November 10, 1779, eight months short of his fiftieth birthday. The funeral was held the following day.

Dunlap and Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser printed an account of the funeral in the November 16th issue on page two: On the 10th of November instant, Congress being informed that Mr. JOSEPH HEWES, one of the Delegates for the State of North-Carolina, died that morning and that it was proposed to inter him to morrow evening, Resolved that Congress would in a body attend the funeral to morrow evening at three o'clock, as mourners, with a crape round the left arm, and would continue in mourning for the space of one month.They further resolved, that Mr. Harnett, Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Griffin, be a Committee to superintend the funeral; and that the Rev. Mr. White, the attending Chaplin should be notified to officiate on the occasion. They also directed the committee to invite the General Assembly, the President and Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, the Minister Plenipotentiary of France, and other persons of distinction in town, to attend the funeral.

Accordingly at three o'clock that evening the corpse was carried in procession to Christ Church; Mr. Carleton, Mr. Troup, Mr. Deane, Mr. Brown, Mr. Pennel and Col. Adams supported the pall. Beside the President and members of Congress as mourners, the General Assembly, a number of officers both civil and military, and a large number of inhabitants and strangers of distinction attended the funeral.

A divine service had been performed by the Rev. Mr. White, Rector of the Episcopal Churches in this city and one of the Chaplins of Congress, the corpse was interred in the cemetery adjoining that of Mr. Drayton.

Mr. Hewes, having at an early period demonstrated his zealous attachment to the cause of American Freedom, he was appointed by the voice of his fellow citizens a Delegate to the First Congress, and from that time to his death enjoyed the fullest confidence of his country. Endued with strong decisive genius and a spirit of industry, his mind was constantly employed in the business of his exalted station, until his health, much impaired by intense application, sunk beneath it. His private life was mild and amicable as his public life was honorable and useful. Adorned with all the social virtues, esteemed by his acquaintance, beloved by his friends and resigned to his fate, unregretting, tho' deeply regretted, his last debt to nature was paid in the service of his country. Hewes was a member of Unanimity Lodge No. 7, visited in 1776, and was buried with Masonic funeral honors in the Christ Church Burial Ground, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

title: Joseph Hewes


text:
Graphic organizer

A graphic organizer, also known as a knowledge map, concept map, story map, cognitive organizer, advance organizer, or concept diagram, is a pedagogical tool that uses visual symbols to express knowledge and concepts through relationships between them. The main purpose of a graphic organizer is to provide a visual aid to facilitate learning and instruction.

History
Graphic organizers have a history extending to the early 1960s. David Paul Ausubel was an American psychologist who coined the phrase "advance organizers" to refer to tools which bridge "the gap between what learners already know and what they have to learn at any given moment in their educational careers." Ausubel's advance organizers originally took the form of prose to merge the familiar—what students know—with the new or unfamiliar—what they have discovered or are learning. The advance organizer intended to help learners more easily retain verbal information but was written in a higher level of language. Later the advance organizers were represented as paradigms, schematic representations, and diagrams as they took on more geometric shapes.

In 1969, Richard F. Barron came up with a tree diagram that was referred to as a "structured overview." The diagram introduced new vocabulary and used spatial characteristics and language written at the same level as the material being learned. In the classroom, this hierarchical organization was used by the teacher as a pre-reading strategy to show relationships among vocabulary. Its use later expanded for not only pre-reading strategies but for supplementary and post-reading activities. It was not until the 1980s that the term graphic organizer was used.

Theories
Various theories have been put forth to undergird the assimilation of knowledge through the use of graphic organizers. According to Ausubel's Subsumption Theory, when a learner connects new information to their own preexisting ideas, they absorb new information. By relating new information to prior knowledge, learners reorganize their cognitive structures rather than build an entirely new one from scratch. Educational psychologist Richard E. Mayer reinterpreted Ausubel's subsumption theory within his own theory of assimilation encoding. In applying the use of organizers to the assimilation theory, advance organizers facilitate prior knowledge to working memory as well as its active integration of received information. However, he warned that advance organizers are not beneficial if the tools do not ask the learner to actively incorporate new information or if the preceding teaching methods and materials already are well-defined and well-structured.

Others find a basis for graphic organizers on schema theory developed by Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. In psychology, schema refers to a cognitive framework or concept that helps to organize and interpret information. The brain uses these patterns of thinking and behavior that are held in long-term memory to help people interpret the world around them. Piaget's theory is that a scheme is both a category of knowledge and the process of acquiring new knowledge. He believed that as people continually adapt to their environments, they take in new information and acquire additional knowledge. Culbert, et al. (1998) posits that by using graphic organizes, prior knowledge is activated, and learners can add new information to their schema and thus improve comprehension of the material.

Pre-writing tool for students with learning disabilities
In one study of 21 students on Individualized Education Plans, graphic organizers were used during the pre-writing process to gauge student achievement on the persuasive essay in a 10th grade writing classroom. Explicit instruction on how to fill out the organizer along with color coding sections and sufficient class time to fill these out resulted in an 89 percent of students saying they felt graphic organizers were helpful in a post-assignment survey.

Metacognition tool for second-language (L2) learners
One yearlong study of a 3rd and 5th grade California dual language classrooms found that through the use of graphic organizers, students increased higher-order thinking skills, enhanced vocabulary acquisition, and developed the academic language of science.

Types of organizers
Graphic organizers take many forms:
 * Relational organizers
 * Storyboard
 * Fishbone - Ishikawa diagram
 * Cause and effect web
 * Chart
 * T-Chart
 * Category/classification organizers
 * Concept mapping
 * KWL tables
 * Mind mapping
 * Sequence organizers
 * Chain
 * Ladder - Story map
 * Stairs - Topic map
 * Compare contrast organizers''
 * Dashboard
 * Venn diagrams
 * Double bubble map
 * Concept development organizers
 * Story web
 * Word web
 * Circle chart
 * Flow chart
 * Cluster diagram
 * Lotus diagram
 * Star diagram
 * Options and control device organizers
 * Mechanical control panel
 * Graphical user interface

Enhancing students' skills
A review study concluded that using graphic organizers improves student performance in the following areas:

 * Retention
 * Students remember information better and can better recall it when it is represented and learned both visually and verbally.

 * Reading comprehension
 * The use of graphic organizers helps improving the reading comprehension of students.

 * Student achievement
 * Students with and without learning disabilities improve achievement across content areas and grade levels.

 * Thinking and learning skills; critical thinking
 * When students develop and use a graphic organizer their higher order thinking  and critical thinking skills are enhanced.

Criticism
In four studies on the effects of advance organizers on learning tasks, no significant difference was found from the control group who did not use organizers to learn as presented in a paper Richard F. Barron delivered to the Annual Meeting of the National Reading Conference in 1980. In that same study, Richard F. Barron did find that student-constructed postorganizers showed more benefits. Graphic postorganizers focus on learners finding the relationships of vocabulary terms by manipulating them in a diagram or schematic way after they have already learned these terms.

title: Graphic organizer


text:
Thomas Heyward Jr.

Thomas Heyward Jr. (July 28, 1746 – March 6, 1809) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, jurist, and politician. Heyward was active politically during the Revolutionary Era. As a member of the Continental Congress representing South Carolina, he signed the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation. Heyward's imprisonment in Florida by the British for nearly a year and the loss of a considerable number of slaves led to his being proclaimed a martyr of the revolution.

Life
Heyward was born in St. Luke's Parish (now known as Jasper County), South Carolina, the son of Mary (Miles) and Daniel Heyward. He was educated at home, then traveled to England to study law where he was a member of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1775 and the following year was the last delegate to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Heyward returned to South Carolina in 1778 to serve as a judge. In 1778, he presided over a trial in which several persons were tried for treason; they were convicted and executed within view of the British lines. In command of a militia force, he was taken prisoner by the British during the siege of Charleston. On August 27, 1780, British troops took him from his Charleston home (presently owned by the Charleston Museum) at 87 Church Street and detained him in the Old Exchange Building. They confiscated all of his slaves, and although he later reclaimed some of them, 130 were permanently confiscated and transported to sugar plantations in Jamaica, a loss of $50,000 in property. It was this loss of slaves that resulted him being later proclaimed by the press as a martyr of the revolution. Hours after being arrested, he and 28 other "ringleaders of the rebellion" were relocated to a guard ship in the harbor. On September 4, they were transported to St. Augustine, Florida, and remained there for about 11 months until they were freed in a prisoner exchange. While in prison, Heyward transposed a popular English song, "God Save the King" into "God Save the States".

In 1784, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. He continued to serve as a judge after the war, retiring from the bench in 1798. He is buried at Old House Plantation near Ridgeland, South Carolina. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

In 1970, when the Supreme Court ordered that public schools must be integrated, a group associated with the White Citizen's Council opened a school named Thomas Heyward Academy in Ridgeland, South Carolina.

Marriage and family
Heyward was married twice, at age 26 and at age 40, and each wife was named Elizabeth. His first wife, born in 1753, was the daughter of Colonel John and Sarah Gibbes Mathews and the sister of South Carolina governor John Mathews. She died in childbirth in 1782 in Philadelphia, where she had gone to be with Heyward upon his release as a prisoner of war. She is buried there in St. Peter's Episcopal Church yard. They had six children, but only one son, Daniel, survived childhood.

His second wife was the daughter of Colonel Thomas and Mary Elliott Savage of Charleston. They had three children who lived to adulthood: Thomas, William and Elizabeth. Notable descendants include DuBose Heyward, whose novel and later stage play Porgy portrayed Black African-Americans and was transformed by George Gerswhin into Porgy and Bess, an American opera that achieved both credit as a musical masterpiece and criticism for pervasive racism.

In addition to his wives, he impregnated at least one of the women he enslaved, making him the grandfather of Thomas E. Miller, one of only five African Americans elected to Congress from the South in the 1890s. At one time, the Heyward family had the largest slaveholding in the United States.

title: Thomas Heyward Jr.


text:
Talk:Main Page/Layout design

This is the page for discussing colours, layout, presentation, and similar issues with the front page.

Old talk:
 * Talk:Main Page/Layout design/Archive 1
 * Talk:Main Page/Layout design/Archive 2

 * Current layout - different colour schemes:
 * Main_Page/Temp
 * Main Page/Temp2
 * Main Page/Temp6

 * Totally revamped layout: Main Page/Temp5

 * Sketch of mix of old and new: Main Page/Temp9

 * Another look, another contents, another images: Main Page/iTemp

 * Main Page/Test new!. February 2004 version.

Should we have a new Front Page NOW or leave current front page and visit the issue later?
POLL: 1: We want to design and introduce a new temp page now:
 * so it is ready before the press release goes out. Angela
 * procrastination to an unknown future usually means it done later than it could've been. --Menchi
 * no harm in designing one now, so it will be ready. -- Wapcaplet
 * need a more inviting format for potential new users when the press release goes out. -- Bill
 * New one for the new year, it has to be better than the current, just... -- Sverdrup 19:59, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

2: We want to leave the current front page for now (leaving open the prospect of revisiting the issue):
 * FearÉIREANN 14:43, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * Danny 21:30, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * so we can use the new minds and Ideas drawn from the Wikimedia press release. Fantasy
 * nknight 10:54, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * because it's better than other proposed front pages at the moment -- till we *) 13:28, Aug 14, 2003 (UTC)
 * 172 16:12, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC) I just like the main page as it is.
 * uriber 16:48, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC) So do I

3: We want to let people design new front pages if they like, and judge the outcome of their efforts after actually seeing them:
 * Martin 19:22, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * —Eloquence 04:19, Aug 14, 2003 (UTC)
 * Of course they should do that, but it's quite compatible with "leave the current front page for now" in my understanding till we *) 13:28, Aug 14, 2003 (UTC)
 * Agree --bdesham 18:08, Aug 17, 2003 (UTC)
 * Schnee 00:30, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * Ryan_Cable 03:47, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC)

''2+3: We should announce a competition of new design on press release.'
 * We can get new ideas and some propagation effect. wshun 19:46, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * The details need to be thrashed out, but this is a nice general idea. Martin

4: This is a stupid "vote".
 * Martin
 * whkoh

If a new front page at some stage, what should it include/exclude?
Include:

 * colour, less text, image(s), more explanations on anniversaries, dates etc links to secondary main page where people could get detailed info on what wiki is, how to use it, its detailed index, etc. FearÉIREANN 14:43, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * some sort of classification system that allows people to browse easily. Angela
 * at least one twice-as-small-as-logo thumbnail to illustrate article-of-the-day. --Menchi
 * note we are can be logged in, without providing email. --Menchi
 * More dynamic content in a similar but less cluttered style to the Temp5 design: Actually describe/summarize featured and new articles, anniversaries etc. (maybe take out one category, like Recent deaths, which could be integrated into the News category). Also, I liked the idea of a "tip of the day" box. I have tons of material that I could use for that.—Eloquence 04:24, Aug 14, 2003 (UTC)
 * Should be designed so as to attract the new user; ideally the proposed page would evaluated by new users, not just the old-hands; the "recent changes" page should be optimized for contributers. -- Bill
 * A "Featured Articles" section along the lines of that in Temp5 (i.e., more than just the raw, naked links). I also like Eloquence's "tip of the day" idea. -- Schnee 00:36, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * A complete language index. To me it is no option to not include this, only the word (link) Multilingual does not make people understand there actually are 30 langs to choose from -- Sverdrup 20:02, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Exclude
 * a full detailed index. (Excluded info should be on separate linked pages to main page, where more detail can be put on individual categories, etc. FearÉIREANN 14:43, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * I think there should be a list of at most 10 categories.—Eloquence
 * anything about contributing to Wikipedia. This can just be linked to rather than written on the front page. Angela
 * Sentence-long tip for Wikipedians to learn how to use WP w/ maximum efficiency -- can be done @ separate page --Menchi
 * tables for formatting. -- Wapcaplet
 * Tables for formatting are no problem, IMHO. They tend to be less maintenance than CSS.—Eloquence
 * CSS is a Good Thing(tm), though, since it helps with Accessibility. Use tables for tabular data, but don't use them for formatting. -- Schnee 00:36, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * pictures, and to much news-portal-like appeareance till we *) 13:30, Aug 14, 2003 (UTC)

If leave the front page as it is for now, when should the issue be revised?

 * Never

 * Talk about what you like, when you like, but don't be a bore.
 * Martin
 * —Eloquence
 * Ryan_Cable

 * 1 month

 * 2 months
 * FearÉIREANN 14:43, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)~
 * Make it bimonthly if discussion failed two months ago. --Menchi 20:38, Aug 13, 2003 (UTC)

 * 3 months

 * Christmas/New Year

 * 2 months after the Wikimedia press-release (new minds, new Ideas ;-)
 * Fantasy
 * Make it a deadline of competition. wshun
 * Quite after the press-release is a good time to change the main page, because then newcomers caused by the press release won't be shocked by a new mainpage directly after joining wikipedia till we *) 13:33, Aug 14, 2003 (UTC)
 * 172 16:12, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC) I like the main page as it is. Why the rush to change it?

 * October 14th
 * Angela

 * Other suggestion (please specify)

 * This is a stupid vote

Motivation for above vote
The voting on TEMP5 finally produced a result of
 * TEMP5 - 17 (38.6%)
 * Not TEMP5 27 (61.3%)

which going by comments broke down into
 * 43.18 against TEMP5 but not endorsing the current page.
 * 38.6% for TEMP5.
 * 18.1% explicitly endorsed the current page,

So, not surprisingly, given the wording of the question, the result was still unclear. It could be interpreted as opposing the current page, opposing TEMP5 or if those who were against TEMP5 were for the current page but just didn't say it, an endorsement of the current page. This ambiguous mess solves nothing, and will probably just result in more votes on alternative temps. We need clarity. In reality we have two questions facing us.

 * 1) Do we want a new main page or is the current page OK for the moment, leaving the issue open to be re-debated at some time in the future?
 * 2) If we want a new page what what should be on and what should be out?

Rather than having this issue drift on indefinitely, with Temp6, Temp7. . . Temp 12. . . Temp 21 etc being debated ad infinitum, I think we should focus on the two questions above. So lets start the final ball rolling. FearÉIREANN
 * I agree. The idea of the proliferation of dozens of temp pages gives me the creeps. 172 16:12, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Object to vote - structure of vote presupposes that we want to start a "final ball" rolling. I don't. Martin

So do you prefer going around in circles, spending weeks voting in a manner that at the end still doesn't reach a conclusion on anything? That's all the votes we have had up to now have produced. Nothing but confusion. This way we will have one final decision, which we can then use as a basis to work to the next step. FearÉIREANN 19:59, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * The "ambiguous mess" solved a key question: should we replace the current main page with Temp5. The answer was no. It also provided information on what people liked and disliked about it. And lots more besides, in fact.

 * Final decisions are inflexible and overly conservative for a wiki, in my opinion. Martin

Include/exclude debate
''When or if it decided to introduce a new front page it should be based on what the community recommends below. (The final draft or drafts should go to the community so that, every step of the way it rather than a small group makes the decisions.) FearÉIREANN''

 * Designers should feel free to design the design that they think will have the most community support. This may or may not correspond to the outcome of the opinion poll above. Sometimes people don't know what they like until they see it, for example. Martin

 * Mock ups can always be produced, Martin. But the way it was arranged before we were going around in circles, discussing everything and actually deciding on nothing and not even know if we wanted a new front page to begin with. That is the first question we have to decide. Then when, then work to a template reflecting people's views. That is how professional decision making is done. FearÉIREANN 19:57, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * See above - it decided on plenty of stuff.
 * It's not how professional design is done, in my experience with the h2g2 redesign, for example. Martin

how to vote
Not sure quite how to vote. I believe the main page could be improved and would like to see it change, and I support that. My vote against Temp5 was simply because I did not see it as an improvement. On the other hand, I do not feel any particular urgency to update the main page, and do not believe that the timing relative to the press release is important. Generally, I consider it unlikely that the press release will have the degree of impact that is ascribed to it by some Wikipedians. As a means of proceeding, I would suggest that a decision first be made on what to include, what to remove (Temp5 was too cluttered); design can follow. Kat 22:18, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * That is why I called the vote, as all the votes we have called have been badly worded and negative, what do we want 'x' temp or not? This time it is a positive vote: keep the main page or change it, if change, indicate when, what should go in it and what should be left out. Martin may be happy producing temps every week or two but most of us are bored silly having to constantly vote on them. This way, clear decisions can be taken with a clear outcome, with a design based what people want, not the latest design designed by a small clique and presented as a fait accomplait. FearÉIREANN 22:45, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Should Temp5 replace the current main page?
Votes and comments have been archived at Main Page/Temp5/Votes archive.

There are currently 17 votes for and 28 against. So basically rejected, but you can still express your opinion there if you want. A summary of the comments follows. This does not include comments which would not help in future redesigns such as "it's better" or "It's abominable". You can add to these if you like. Temp5's been modified a little since then - these comments apply to older versions.

Good things

 * It's got a picture (4 positive comments made about this)
 * a lot more informative
 * the explanations are more human.
 * its catchy "Featured Articles" section is likely to appeal much better to a wider audience
 * the proposed new format more inviting
 * it goes farther than the current main page to make Wikipedia attractive to end-users

Bad things

 * stuffed/ confusing/ too much detail/ cluttered (12 comments)
 * uses tables for layout
 * The current main page is much easier to navigate (2 comments)
 * uglier and wider
 * seems like high maintenance
 * the featured articles all blend together
 * Too many line breaks in the wrong places on account of the narrow columns
 * accomplishes little more than the current design
 * the "Featured articles" is very unsightly and difficult to survey. The same goes for "Browse Wikipedia".
 * The new one gives more importance to news rather than the encyclopedia- looks like a news website
 * not a user-friendly welcoming space
 * oversized headers

Suggestions

 * The current main page needs a larger "welcome newcomers" heading like what
 * The ideal frontpage design would write "Don't Panic" in big, friendly letters.
 * This is an encyclopedia, not a portal, so a list of articles and topics is all that is necessary.
 * we should have a search box visible in the page not above it, to encourage searches

Timing

 * We should have a layout contest for the Main Page after we are done with with the logo contest. But not too soon afterward - we don't want to overtax the creative among us. --mav
 * Let's wait on this. Paullusmagnus
 * echo mav; I would like more options before I put my vote on any. kt2 04:56, 8 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Voting procedures
Moved to Meta: Voting procedure and m:Talk:Voting procedure

Discussion
move to Talk:Main Page/Temp5

"Other languages" section
The "Other languages" section is real ugly. I suggest using a colspan 2 cell at the bottom for all the languages and sister projects. Even then I would put smal tags around all of it and give the cell a light gray background. --mav 02:09, 5 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * It didn't look right with colspan 2 as it was then too far down the page (and it got lost in an edit conflict anyway). The current version has the small tags and grey as suggested which I think is an improvement. Angela 21:13, 5 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Small colspan 4 looks good. I put that there. LDan 01:22, 7 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * That's not colspan 4, that's 4 columns. It is now double-small as the whole thing already had small tags. Vicki and I have both commented on Talk:Main_Page/Temp5 that it is now too small. Please can you explain why you did this (preferably on the temp 5 talk page rather than here). Thanks. Angela 01:28, 7 Aug 2003 (UTC)

When to implement
We should have the main page layout decided by when the Wikimedia press release gets out. It looks like the majority of people voted for the new design (7 to 3), so can I please impliment it?

 * I wish I could say yes, but the vote only started on August 4th. I'd say wait a week. Angela 18:02, 7 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * There should be notice on the main page, or a message to each wikipedian. How could such an important change be decided by just handful of people? wshun 18:07, 7 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * It is now listed on the recent changes page and on the village pump. Can someone decide what the cut-off date should be and advertise on the English mailing list. Thanks. Angela 22:30, 7 Aug 2003 (UTC)

There are a few things brewing right now: It seems like people want to wait until all three are finished, and do them all at once. I am obviously a big supporter of temp5, but I do think we should wait. When the time gets closer, it will probably be announced on the Announcements page, the current Main Page, and the Village pump. For now, please direct all your suggestions and criticisms to Talk:Main Page/Temp5 so we can concentrate on making a main page that everyone (well, almost everyone anyway) is happy with. Be specific, and be ruthless :) -- Merphant 22:22, 7 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * The Wikimedia press release
 * The logo contest
 * The main page redesign

Regarding link for vote on Recent Changes
I am glad to see my suggestion of a link on the recent changes to the vote here proved useful. However in the interests of clarity I would suggest a slightly different wording. What is there now, Vote on the new design of the main page  is ambiguous. It could be interpreted as another vote on the current new page. A clearer working would be Vote on the proposed replacement design for the main page. That are three important word changes.

I think that sentence is more factually correct, less potentially ambiguous and also more correct grammatically. FearÉIREANN 23:19, 7 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * Proposed avoids the impression that this is an end process vote, ie, a decision has been taken and people are just been asked for their final approval. Instead there is also scope for discussion and tweaking of the proposed layout based on people's views. In other words, it is still an evolving proposal, not 100% set in stone, a 'it is this or nothing' ballot.
 * replacement makes it clear that what is proposed is, well, a replacement of what is currently there. new could be misinterpreted as referring to the current recently introduced page.
 * for is more correct grammatically than of.

BTW when a final cut off date is set, I'd suggest stating it on the village pump, the wiki-l and on the Recent Changes page, ie, Vote to finish on 14th August or whatever date is chosen. That way you add a bit of urgency into the thing. FearÉIREANN 23:19, 7 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * I don't think it is a good idea to vote at this point. Many people have now chosen to take a stand, which will make it harder to address their concerns -- people usually don't like changing a position once they have taken it. How about scrapping this vote and turning it instead into a "List of things people want to see changed before they can accept the proposed alternative design"? Yes, I know that is slightly unfair towards those who don't want it to change at all, but those could still vote against the new design once it has been finalized.—Eloquence 02:19, Aug 9, 2003 (UTC)

 * Are there any objections to removing the vote as present and replacing it with a summary of the pros and cons of the new design, so that those of us who want to change the layout can try to address the cons, before we vote on it? The end result may then be a combination of elements of the current layout and elements of the new one, to find a solution that satisfies both camps.—Eloquence 02:35, Aug 9, 2003 (UTC)

 * Sounds good to me. Martin
 * No objection from me. Angela

Yeah. Let it go on for a while. It is giving a useful idea of what people want.

We could sort of borrow from the lawmaking method. If there is agreement to design a new one, a list of questions set together (Committee Stage) Do you want the page to have Finally, here is the version put together based on all people want in. (Report Stage)
 * Do we want to work on a new front page? Y/N (First Stage)
 * (a) Y/N
 * (b) Y/N etc
 * Vote: "Do you want to adopt this page as the new front page? Y/N (Final Stage)

And hey presto, a Bill has been passed, oops, I mean a new front page has been adopted. (If we want to be really political, we can send it to President Jimbo with no right of veto. Hee Hee!) And finally, definitely, we have a front page, not the Temp1, Temp2, Temp3,. . . Temp214, 'no, lets go back to Temp108 and resign it again' debate. Heck I knew those guys in Westminster, Leinster House, Capitol Hill, etc had to have some good reason for doing things that way. FearÉIREANN 02:37, 9 Aug 2003 (UTC) (the politics wonk!)

 * Design by committee? *worried look* Martin

That is what we have now, Martin, except it isn't one committees but many, each doing their own thing. What I am proposing is we pull everything together by taking a decision in stages; do we want a new front page, if we do what should be in or out of it, are we all happy with the final proposed new front page. Right now all we are doing is going around and around in circles; we don't know if we even want a new front page, let alone what we want in it, what is sometimes colloqually known as "pissing in the dark". At this stage we will still be sort-of discussing sort-of ideas for what sort-of should be on the frontpage in Christmas, with no real decisions taken on anything, and everyone by that stage bored rigid by the whole thing. Do it in stages and everyone focuses on each question as it comes up, with a definite decision taken on which we can build, the ever decreasing cirles management of decision taking, as it is known.

- Where the heck is the documented consensus indicating a new vote is warranted? If this cannot be shown then I declare the "new vote" to be invalid, null and void. It is ridiculous in the extreme to call a new vote just because you personally don't like the results of the previous one. A person could do this repeatedly and wear out his or her opposition until they get their way. Very unwiki and undemocratic. --mav

 * I agree. Although I dislike with the results of the vote, and I could use the argument that the voting was done somehow "improperly", I believe that that first vote was perfectly fine and we shouldn't keep revoting and revoting. This will make the third vote if we vote again, although the first one really *was* done wrong. LDan 20:44, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Hold on a moment, Mav. That is a gross misrepresentation that is unworthy of you. We have been going around in circles for weeks. At the end of all of this, not alone do we not know what we want, we don't even know where the hell we are anymore. Some people want Temp5. Some people want change but not Temp5. Some people want bits of Temp5, some people don't want to change at all and prefer the current page.

From the figures of the last vote
 * 19 said no to temp 5 but did not endorse the current page as their choice of front page;
 * 17 said yes to Temp5;
 * 8 endorsed the current page.

In other words, no clear decision on what we want, which is hardly surprising as the question never gave a clear choice on the current page, merely yes or no to a proposed replacement. Just because you wrote the current front page does not give you the right to throw tantrums, much less think you can declare anything null and void. We are going to have this issue revisited time and time again, with Temps being thrown up every couple of days. All this vote does is clearly and unambiguously (something completely lacking in any vote heretofore) state give clear choices.

 * 1) Keep the current page. A straight yes/no. No ambiguity, which there was with the other vote.
 * 2) If change is wanted, when and what sort?

That is how professional organisations do business, not wait until Martin comes up with a temp people like, or you keep your fingers crossed that no-one comes up with a more popular option to your front page, one which was not voted onto the page in the first place. (And BTW I was the one who defended your page when Oliver and The Cunctator tried to do their unilateral thing.) After weeks of debate, we still produced no clear result, merely endless ambiguity. This way, we actually take a decision, clearly and definitively and whatever is the result can claim to have been a result of a decisive vote, not endless going around in circles. Your comments are a gross misrepresentation of what is going up and all the more surprising coming from you. FearÉIREANN 21:31, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * I vote that Jtdirl learns to write more concisely. :)
 * I agree with mav and LDan. A group of us had a design we genuinely thought would get lots of support, based on earlier discussion here. So we had an opinion poll. The new design was rejected. We were wrong - that's fine, if a little depressing. So on to other projects for me, for now. Back later. Martin 21:24, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Could it be that Mav is worried the vote might show his designed page actually is not what people want, and that Martin is worried that people might just say "enough, leave it alone for now", and his pre-occupation with designing temps might have to be put on hold. But it isn't their decision to make, but everyone's. FearÉIREANN 22:14, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Oh stop it JT. My opposition is a very valid one based on procedure. I haven't even read the options (just a quick skim). --mav 22:17, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Thanks Mav for rushing to judgment without even doing my proposals the courtesy of a proper read. FearÉIREANN 00:36, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Nope, it's my decision on how I spend my free time. If people want to tell me what to do, I suggest they start paying me a salary. Martin

 * Martin, I never said you shouldn't draft new temps. But we should have started off the debate with the question - do you want to keep or replace the current main page? That is the elementary question. Everything else flows from that. The information should offer you guidance so that you don't waste your unpaid time producing a front page people don't want or don't want it at that moment in time. Everyone's time, including your own is being wasted in hit and miss temps - 'how about this one?', 'OK, this one?', 'will this one do then?' etc. With this vote you will know 'exactly' if, what and when, the three questions we should have asked at the very beginning! FearÉIREANN 00:36, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)z

I can see Martin's point - people generally need to see something before they know if they want it or not. Angela

I vote that I need help with the Eurovision articles, especially with actual details of each contest, and some help with national preselections and internal selections. O I also vote that I will go to sleep now :-).-fonzy
 * I vote fonzy is not allowed to sleep - show more dedication to Wikipedia. Angela

I second. Lets have a vote:
 * Fonzy to sleep: -fonzy
 * Fonzy to stay awake: Angela FearÉIREANN 01:13, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * Fonzy to stay awake until all the Eurovision articles are finished. Danny 01:15, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I second. Lets have a vote: Sorry, Fonzy, no sleep for you tonight! :-))))  (Unless Martin wants to create a TEMPfonzy!!!)   FearÉIREANN 01:13, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * Fonzy to sleep: -fonzy
 * Fonzy to stay awake: Angela FearÉIREANN Danny)

Good God staying awake till all Eurovision ARticel are finished that will take me over another year mabye even more, thank god only1 person voted for that one. :-) - fonzy - This "new vote" has no legal basis and is illegal and void. There was no consensus on whether there should be a vote and a single person has no authority to unilaterally call for a binding vote. This is a slap in the face of our traditions of trying to seek the best proposals through discussion, compromise and consensus building. Simply forming the questions of a vote is way too much power to be trusted to any one individual. Whatever the outcome of this straw poll (and that is all that it is), I will fight to make sure it is not binding. Voting is absurd and unwiki when it is used as a way to circumvent the process of consensus building. --mav 07:31, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)~

 * I completely agree. Anybody who wants should be allowed to wake Fonzy up or put him to sleep.  Eventually, we'll reach a consensus.  If we keep waking him up and putting him to sleep too often, though, somebody will have to protect him. :) DanKeshet

There are clear divergent views on the nature of the front page. No clear method was provided to allow people to decide. There now is a method. If Mav wants to keep his page he can argue for it, not turn around and tell people they cannot because he says they can't. This is the way we should have done it all along; put the current page on (which I defended and stopped people vandalising) in a full vote. Decide whether to keep it in a vote. Instead the whole process up to now has been a complete fiasco. And it is outrageous that Martin tried to take the mention of this page on the Recent Pages.FearÉIREANN 18:23, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Personal attack deleted. Martin 19:34, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

STOP IT, ALL OF YOU! You guys need a calm-down period. :) wshun 19:11, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Jt - No-one deserves personal attacks. You don't earn them.
 * mav - There are enough people here who want a vote that it should be allowed to go ahead. You can't expect everyone to agree to having a vote in the same way you can't expect everyone to vote for the thing you want them to, so I don't see how you can demand consensus before a vote is called. Angela

Do we need a Playground where you can all run around shouting at each other and being silly? Angela

JT, you are missing the point. I am not taking issue with the value of the current vote or trying to protect the current layout of the Main Page. In fact I think the current Main Page can and should be greatly improved. What I'm taking issue with is how the way the current "new vote" at the top of this page was created; unilaterally by you. This violates a core Wikipedia concept; that we seek to form broad-based consensus on issues that appeal to the great majority of users and then, when all else fails, we democratically set-up a vote in order to resolve the issue. But the community should be the ones setting-up the vote, not a single person. I'm not taking issue with the goal of the vote or your intentions (both good, IMO), I'm taking serious issue with your methods. --mav

Martin's concerns
Let me list my concerns with this vote, and apologies for the length. First, fixed concerns:

 * 1) The original wording talked of the vote being a "final decision". Fixed by moving Jtdirl's introductory text out of line
 * 2) First question: I didn't like either of the two options here. Fixed by adding additional options.
 * 3) Second question: good question, and I will be interested to see the results, but I don't think it's obvious how the votes would be tallied, so it should be, as it is now, an opinion poll, not a vote.

However, I still have some outstanding concerns:

 * 1) Voter fatigue: we just had an opinion poll on this subject, which was heavily promoted - and quite rightly, in my view. I feel that we should wait at least a month before starting a new vote. Alternatively, we could set a long polling time (eg, two months) for the vote, and advertise it again a week before close.
 * 2) First question: I wonder if this procedural vote is really necessary - I would have preferred to see more discussion of the relative merits of a competition, an evolutionary-style approach, doing nothing, or a committee-like approach, as we've not had much of a discussion on how to go forward.
 * 3) First question: the wording of the first option is not ideal: do we mean "temp page" or "front page"? Also, the wording suggests that we're committing ourselves to introducing the new page. I also dislike the "we want to design", since most people don't personally want to spend time designing. It's too late to fix this, probably, but I welcome attempts to try.
 * 4) First question: the wording of the second option is unclear: does it refer to changing the layout of the main page, or does it refer to "revising" the issue, as implied in the third question? Further "for now" is misleading: it should be "for some period of time, as determined by the third question".
 * 5) First question: no indication of whether this is first past the post or approval. Not Jtdirl's fault, because his proposal had only two options, so it didn't matter when he started the vote, but it is now a problem.
 * 6) Second and third questions: conditional on the first one - it would be better to do them seperately. IE, take the first vote, wait for the results, and THEN take the second or third, depending. This could be fixed by temporarilly archiving them until the first vote is concluded.
 * 7) Second question: it's all very well to say "we need X, Y, and Z" - but until you see some designs based on that you can't really tell whether X, Y, and Z will be too cluttered, or too sparse, or simply won't fit well together.
 * 8) Third question: unclear - is this a vote on how long before changing the layout, or how long before discussing the issue at all? Will I be "allowed" to faff around with toy layouts in the interim? To discuss it with like-minded folks?
 * 9) Third question: I gather that this doesn't apply if people don't support the "leave for now" option, but certain of Jtdirl's comments seem a little at odds with that, so
 * 10) Third question: tallying problems - is this approval, first past the post, or a median voting situation?
 * 11) Missed question: the statistical question from archive 2 should be revived, along with the old replies: asking why you use the front page for, and whether it's bookmarked, etc. But not until question 1 is decided, of course.
 * 12) Missed question: it would be good to ask people to look at the front pages of some of our competitors, and say which they find the most appropriate for Wikipedia, in terms of style, colour, etc. Again, not until question 1 is decided

I don't see that any of these concerns are insurmountable, so if we work together to address them, along with any others that may be raised, then we might end up with the community-setup vote that Mav seeks. Martin 21:58, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

An example of groupthink and More heat than light. Looks like were stuck in status quo at the moment -- Kat 00:28, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC) (links changed: Martin)

I quail at the thought of reading all the above and actually trying to understand what I'm voting on - life is too short. So I'll just say that I like the Mainpage/Temp5 one a lot. Tannin 11:04, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Oh, those pastels are still brutally mindnumbing. I feel strangely compelled to eat jellybeans now and save kittens. --The Cunctator 05:14, 25 Sep 2003 (UTC)

The Main Page doesn't look good when I use Explorer 5.0/Mac. Have a look at this: Image:Enwikimainpage.jpg -- Nico 01:07, 5 Dec 2003 (UTC)

title: Talk:Main Page/Layout design