Why ISALTA Does Not Charge Membership Fees

“Build it and they will come”

Voices in the corn, to Kevin Kostner in the movie Field of Dreams

If a baseball reference implies American cultural imperialism, then I am in the comfortable company of Stephen Jay Gould, Frank Sinatra and Harold Bloom. However, neither the celebrities nor the corn spoke about membership fees for ISALTA, but reason did so, and suggested that we should do without them.

At the moment ISALTA consists mainly of artists, educators, authors, academics and others who would have little difficulty with membership fees. Fees are not necessarily a good model for an organization whose purpose is research and communication among all persons interested in understanding traditional arts everywhere in the world. For example, the 2004 estimated per-capita income for Bangladesh was $440 US. Bangladesh, which has been iconic since the famines of 1973 and 1974 for its struggle with dense population, relatively recent autonomy and poverty, is in the Internet loop, (1) and Yahoo will soon offer telephony in India (per-capita $3,400 US), whose computer technological investments in education and industry have had a significant impact on building the system itself. (2) This technology is becoming universally available at decreasing cost, (3) making the price of Internet communication, publication and distribution infinitesimal compared with that of print and mail. So long as this operation can be supported otherwise there will be no need for fees, and access will be universal.

The implication, then, is that every artist, craftsman, researcher, etc. on the planet with an Internet-connected computer can participate in this research community of special interest whether that individual is the Director of a mega-museum or a village craftsman.

Carleton Palmer

(1) “Internet Extends Reach Of Bangladeshi Villagers: Cellphone-Linked Computers Help Break Rural Isolation,” By Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post Foreign Service, Wednesday, November 22, 2006; A12

(2 )“Yahoo to offer Internet telephony in India,” By John Ribeiro, IDG News Service, 11/06/06

(3)"Low-Cost Laptop Could Transform Learning," By Brian Bergstein, The Associated Press, Tuesday, January 2, 2007; 11:21 PM