Closing Remarks on Multiple Impressions of Kamepao, 8/05/99
In the past 9 reports I have tried to be informative, critical, and descriptive in discussing Kamepao. Yet I have not tried to become an authority. My thoughts and impressions were sometimes personal, sometimes historical, and sometimes theoretical. I took the privilege of writing these reports as a way to explore Kamepao in multiple directions. My intention is not to sell Kamepao, nor is it to criticize it, but I have also not hesistated to do either. These reports should be taken as my impressions and not always compatible with the ideology of the Kamepao Project Team members. In writing, I was always open to the whims of my thinking and writing process. I have not taken the stance of a Kamepao member nor as a non-member - I am both inside and outside, and neither inside nor outside.
I tried to define Kamepao for myself, and then also for those who look to this website. This task alone may seem self-defeating since Kamepao wants to exist as if its definition could forever be expanded. What I saw this past week was one example. Kamepao is defined by those that execute it. My definitions, nor the definitions of its creators don't seek to complete Kamepao. In the same way, the specific members of Kamepao Project Team mentioned and their methodologies don't seek to set a model, but an example.
The members present this week are not necessary to execute Kamepao, nor is the information in this website. Yet at the same time, I don't want to encourage the tendency to make a pile of sticks out of pieces that should make a chair. Just as a chair is a chair, there are many varieties, yet they all seek to allow a person to sit. Kamepao has a specific purpose and specific benefits. Yet within the design there is the potential for both creativity and alteration. One way of executing Kamepao is to copy the model. Another way is to begin from the point of a new methodology. Kamepao is a site for experimentation and seeks to promote individual thinking. It seeks to take the user to a new place.
I am grateful for the priviledge of being the first person to thoroughly introduce Kamepao to an English speaking audience. I have tried to understand what this privilege entails and understand my role as both outsider and insider, reporter and critic, definer and experimenter, listener and speaker, and adult and child. I hope that my reports can be useful to both the Kamepao Project Team I met this week, and to future Kamepao Project Teams.
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