Be Free to Comment – Heedfully

[Update on 7 Feb 2025: Added a bit more detail concerning the term 'heedfulness', with a link to my research.]

I offer some initial thoughts for a novel service, a kind of overarching comment system for news media across the world.

First, we need some background.

Then we can introduce our intentions for the service.

A narrowing field

Ever since news organisations started publishing on the Web over 20 years ago, their current affairs content has steadily grown from front page headlines and news bulletins to in-depth articles and features, ranging from local to international affairs. Nowadays, with digital editions having largely overtaken print-based media, the majority of their output and subscribers are online.

Opportunities were soon identified for reader contributions through feedback mechanisms, discussion fora and online communities, following a practice that was established before the arrival of the Web with various Internet services such as bulletin board systems (BBS), Listservs and UseNet newsgroups. Eventually, news media organisations provided opportunities as part of their Web presence. Hence, the BBC’s Have Your Say and The Guardian’s Comment is Free, which allowed members of the public to share their views on a variety of topical issues.

The Guardian usefully provides various entry points to their conversations, including an index of themes. Although it was last updated in 2013, it still links to a list of current articles on the given theme, such as Christianity. However, relatively few articles have a comments count, whereas clicking on the same link 11 or 12 years ago (archived), reveals a page where almost every article has comment counts.

This reflects a general pattern. In recent years, the number of articles open for comment has dwindled as has the visibility of comments — in some cases, only succinct emails are solicited. The media companies have become more selective, increasingly erring on the side of caution, particularly on matters that they regard as sensitive (to whom, is not always clear).

And this change has been noticed:

(Google's auto-complete suggestions on entering a search about The Guardian's service draw on existing usage patterns.)

Feelings of Discomfort as signs of Opportunities

Why the change? The inclination towards closure became increasingly expressed as more people joined in the conversation. Whilst at the first glance this was democracy in action, it also — to some — led to an unacceptable decrease in overall quality. Such a sentiment was expressed in 2015 by a journalist in The Guardian, who describes feeling under attack, where odious comments become prominent and worthwhile contributions become buried. Yet, as the article hints, avoidance can mean missing out on something valuable. And the issue of quality is not a new phenomenon: I recall a contributor to a Usenet group confiding to me in around 1995 that he was disinclined to post further because the signal-to-noise ratio had become too low, but he still continued to make contributions where there was something of interest.

Having forbearance can be worthwhile. Especially with newcomers. It did not take me long to get into a bit of hot water, receiving a couple of angry responses following my first Usenet posting (on ‘Quantum Theory and Meditation’). In hindsight, I was naive and not following good practice: the choice of topic (too ambitious), the way I expressed myself (perhaps dismissive in tone) and the use of markdown (what?!). Altogether probably injudicious. Within two days the first irate message appeared in my Inbox, “No! No! No! … ” , quite a sobering experience. Yet, I never intended to offend and, undeterred, I persevered in trying to understand and to articulate my point. The thread continued, gaining some further interest, others extended the conversation and I was happy to see it develop freely. I became on friendly terms with several participants and along the way received glimpses of the life of an atomic physicist working in a laboratory. Although I had got bitten, I found the experience valuable. Viewed as opportunities to learn, it is worth persevering with such situations and seeking to improve one’s conduct. Potentially everyone can benefit.

The problem with quality on the Web today is in large part due to the user interface, where the design is often optimised for ease of use. Following Steve Krug’s influential work, Don’t Make Me Think, Web designers have made it a trivial process to enter one’s thoughts in a box and hit the [Send] — the interfaces are slick, as in oil slick, with words potentially gushing forth without due consideration.

Freedom of Expression and the Right to be Heard

Much is made, especially in the West, of the right to freedom of expression, as declared in Article 19 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

(English language version; many other languages available via the the translation project.)

However, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights added a limiting clause to Article 19 (1966):

3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others;
(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.

Who decides what is necessary? What is really in the national interest? These clauses are open to varying interpretation, but in general there is a spectrum of views from those who declare themselves to be ‘free speech absolutists’ to others who would like it closely controlled.

In trying to foster appropriate contributions to Comment is Free, The Guardian weighs in with a quote from a former editor and owner of the Manchester Guardian, C.P. Scott, taken from his centenary essay:

“Comment is free, but facts are sacred.”

The subclause is heavily leaned upon as a restraint, but in reality it may not be a straightforward matter to establish those facts and what may be promulgated as such can sometimes fade away (consider, for example, the origins of the Covid-19 virus). However, it is soon followed by another sentence that also merits quoting:

“The voice of opponents no less than that of friends has a right to be heard."

This becomes more urgent in a society that has an increasing tendency to see complex situations in simplistic terms as black and white, which often creates or reinforces division. In that contentious area of ‘freedom of speech’, it is evident is that many people find it very hard to listen to other points of view and to discuss them with an open mind.

Balance and Impartiality

Some media outlets have maintained comment sections across a broad spectrum of topics and taken a relatively liberal position in terms of allowing critical views. To enable this they still maintain oversight and will promptly delete comments regarded as falling foul of their community guidelines. They often requiring participants to have a paid subscription. One example is the Daily Telegraph, which provides conversation space for perhaps the majority of their articles, with journalists occasionally joining in for a kind of real-time Q&A.

Yet, even there, certain topics or people still seem out of bounds, which cannot be explained by the fulfilment of legal obligations alone. So the spotlight is turned on networks and relationships, particularly those of a financial nature — who are the sponsors and what do they have to gain? The Daily Telegraph Global Health Security is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Can the paper really retain full editorial independence on matters relating to health and the pharmaceutical industry?

Cases of vaccine harms emerged as soon as they were issued: UK CV Family, which has long-known about problems, was granted core participant status in module 4 of the UK's Covid-19 Public Inquiry in 2023, but had been reporting problems the year before with mRNA-based vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, as well as AstraZeneca's viral vector vaccine . However, they only get mentioned by the Telegraph in 2024, and the article itself confines itself to AstraZeneca, after they had left the market. Gradual acceptance of Covid-19 vaccine harms and their seriousness is belatedly emerging: ‘The truth about Covid vaccines may finally be coming to light’, but the article is brief and comments conflict markedly with its general direction. Similarly, an investigation by a former Government minister has again focused solely on AstraZeneca. Newspapers are expected to investigate, to reveal different sides of the story, but have fallen short with this virus. It brings to mind the old adage, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”

Many comments have made points to this effect, but for media that are supposedly on the pulse, the response on matters like this has been glacial. It tends to shift faster the more such valid data, properly established, become common knowledge. Providing a global forum for the public to share their responses and insights can help with this process.

Acknowledging and working with diverse views

The Internet has doubtless assisted many people in freedom of expression. However, it is generally recognised that there is increasing polarisation of views, fostering growing anxiety and talk of the need for more constraints (usually of others). Differences are evident in the political views expressed in the editorials of The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, but are even more pronounced among their readers, who appear to form distinct camps. Attitudes to other points of view are often derogatory and dismissive (“LOL”); some [im]posters seize the opportunity to engage in trolling, searching for places to score points, often using language designed to upset. There’s little benefit in the short term and probably negative effects in the long term.

This dynamic is nothing new, but one can rise above it.

Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, engage in wrangling argumentation, (saying to one another): "You don't understand this doctrine and discipline. I am the one who understands this doctrine and discipline." — "How can you understand this doctrine and discipline?" — "You're practising the wrong way. I'm practising the right way." — "I'm being consistent. You're inconsistent." — "What should have been said first you said last, what should have been said last you said first." — "What you took so long to think out has been confuted." — "Your doctrine has been refuted. You're defeated. Go, try to save your doctrine, or disentangle yourself now if you can" — the recluse Gotama abstains from such wrangling argumentation.'

Brahmajāla Sutta (the All-embracing Net of Views), Digha Nikaya (Long Discourses of the Buddha) number 1, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi

This quote describes the behaviour of spiritual wanderers 2,500 years ago. Today, across all walks of life, there are still these same futile patterns of argumentation, which brings the weariness that we’ve already indicated. However, the Buddha spent much of his time giving teachings, being engaged in conversation, in which he makes a valid case, draws on solid evidence and develops sound lines of reasoning. So, in that spirit, we can try to foster healthy, constructive discussion.

In fact, a proportion of readers cross over and subscribe to other papers of different hues and contribute comments there. There is great potential in this scenario. I remember being told about a reader with an avid interest in current affairs who regarded himself as a liberal, naturally inclined to The Guardian. However, he regularly read the Daily Telegraph to seek out other points of view and developed an appreciation of its “cosy” perspective without a fundamental shift in his views. He sounds like the kind of person able to enter dialogue with a relaxed openness that I would like to foster online.

The potential of collective support is also worth noting. In 1999, I attended a remarkable session of the annual conference of the International Interfaith Centre, Facing The Past – Freeing the Future — in which there was a wary dialogue between a Turkish Cypriot and a Greek Cypriot, both honed in arguing for their respective opposing positions. The audience, for a long time without speaking, tried to support them, willing them on to seek cooperation rather than confrontation.

At the last minute, as recorded by David Craig for the IIC Newsletter 11, June 1999 , there was a breakthrough:

“There was a tangible tension in the room but when Deepak Naik asked what each was going to do when he got back to his community, common ground had been found: each would tell the young people in his island group that the other side wanted peace, and co existence and an end to division.”

Sources

News media often omit citing primary sources, seemingly content to receive information by word of mouth, in press briefings, though a fairly recent trend has been to embrace ‘fact checkers’ to ostensibly give definitive answers. As to why this is the case, there has (of course!) been some discussion with suggestions that the Internet’s disruptive nature is difficult for them to handle.

From my experience, whereas the BBC makes reference to primary sources in some of its articles (with clear disclaimers, as it sees fit), I have found the Daily Telegraph hardly does so. Articles seldom contain a dedicated reference section (which might be expected at the foot of the article) and linked text that sounds like it should point to a source (such as “according to a recently released report”) usually leads instead to another Telegraph article, effectively a kind of clickbait. That might boost the service’s analytics and aid monetisation in the short term, but when repeated, I am put off.

With trust ebbing away from mainstream media, access to primary sources really ought to be given priority.

Outline of a Proposal

Here’s my idea. I propose Be Free to Comment — Heedfully, a new service reflecting the primary intention of freedom of expression conducted in an appropriate manner. It’s a working title to capture what it’s about. By ‘heedful’ I have in mind the Pali Buddhist term appamāda, a notion I have researched in relation to the Fifth Precept, concerning the avoidance of intoxicants. The heedfulness is self-directed, keeping in mind the consequences of one's actions, and should be in reference to 5-star speech, which is described below.

The service acts as a meta discussion area in which — subject to legal compliance in respective jurisdictions — each article of a mainstream newspaper has an accompanying discussion area with a link to the original source (which is automatically archived, for example, by the Wayback Machine). Where access to articles is restricted, for example, by requiring a subscription, a paragraph summary of the item is created as a basis for a broader discussion of the topic as a whole.

This is just an outline to indicate my approach.

Which Sources?

Following a well-established process, considering how the largest social media have evolved, the service should start on a small scale and be expanded gradually.

So, it might begin in the UK, with a few national newspapers and long-established broadcasters. Candidate sources include (in alphabetical order): the BBC, The Guardian, The Independent, the Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, The Observer, The Sun, The Telegraph, and The Times. There may follow a horizontal expansion (across the UK) or vertical (across the world). Whichever way is chosen, the intention is to include ‘alternative’ sources, which enhances their visibility and therefore their scrutiny.

The articles themselves can initially be confined to certain topics. One possibility is to choose those where opportunities for comments are sparse. However, these are likely to be the most controversial topics, the most difficult to handle well. A fledgling service should start with easier fare, build up experience and confidence, and then expand in a measured way to take in more challenging areas.

News Access

The system will use a database to store basic details of each news item: the publication (source), URL, title, date, author, type (bulletin, feature, etc.), keywords, comments status (open, moderated, email, closed, etc.) and access details. The design can follow conventions established by news aggregators sites and apps, of which there is a large choice. (Note that Reddit has news aggregator functionality, but it’s more general than that.)

There should be search and browse facilities to quickly find specific items and items on a particular topic or theme. Insights may be gleaned from news coverage as a whole. So, we can find answers to questions such as: What proportion of articles on climate change are open to comments?

Machine can use techniques in natural language processing (NLP) to carry out topic analysis and sentiment analysis.

Participation

There are many successful online communities, ranging from Meta’s offerings of Facebook groups and WhatsApp to Reddit and Stack Exchange. These last two are both distributed question-and-answer (Q&A) systems, but whereas Reddit encourages subjective contributions, Stack Exchange is not interested in opinions, but objective solutions. As with Stack Exchange's history, many started out as programmers’ hobbies and extra-curricular activities, but subsequently the user base has grown and diversified, with the subject coverage becoming encyclopaedic. The experience gained in these kinds of communities should inform service design, whilst I also wish to introduce a Buddhist perspective, as I believe this is rooted in a deep understanding of behaviour in human interactions.

Following general practice, discussion of current affairs are text-based and do not include audiovisual multimedia, only links to such content. This should be easier to manage.

User accounts

Should contributions require a user to be registered (with minimal personal data: first and last name for identification, a forum username and an email address)? Perhaps the option of anonymous comments might be supported, albeit with additional constraints (as per The Register’s Anonymous Coward).

Bots are not allowed (and don’t try to impersonate one and say “Did you come here because you are irritated? Come, come, elucidate your thoughts.”)

Guidelines based on the Buddha’s teaching on speech

The main guidance on contribution would be ‘Five Star Speech’, a direct appropriation of the Buddha’s teachings where one contributes:

1. truthfully
2. in a mind of good will
3. expressed in a kind manner
4. something relevant and beneficial to the recipient
5. at the right time.

Vāca Sutta (On Speech), Anguttara Nikaya (Numerical Discourses of the Buddha) number 5.98, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

These are not rules, but users are strongly encouraged to try to contribute along these lines as far as possible as it will enhance the overall experience and make it easier to adhere to the actual rules. These will be in the terms of service, which will be along existing lines and may borrow from those that already exist for social media.

Moderation

This is the main requirement of managing the service and for its basis, I quote again from the Buddha:

Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect.

Nibbedhika Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya (Numerical Discourses of the Buddha) number 6.63, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

In Buddhism, actions in body, speech and mind, termed in Sanskrit karma, sow the seeds of happiness and unhappiness. When comments are laced with ill feeling and hatred; we refer to it as hateful speech. The words that result from hatefulness might be termed hate speechem> but need to be contextualised since the same words expressed in other contexts, with a benevolent mind, are entirely different in nature. This means that more effort is needed to ensure that contributions are appropriate, which we will address below.

Requiring users to register has some positive impact in terms of self-restraint, but is not sufficient. Skilful moderation is key to the viability of any such service, maintaining its civility. I envisage a combination of manual oversight supported by automated monitoring, with the adoption of some existing best practices, but with more focus on the nature of speech.

There are many facets to this, so, just as an example, monitoring should spot trolling patterns and then advise (with evidence) the poster to review their contributions.

Human moderators

Who should moderate? What should the criteria be? Essentially those who understand, uphold and encourage the principles of well-informed and kindly dialogue in the context of online discussions of current affairs.

The kind of scenario they would deal with would be a subscriber email or automated notification that one or more posts in a particular thread has crossed a ‘bad speech’ threshold. Their role is then to pay closer attention to that discussion, using their experience to facilitate it in a way that keeps it on topic and generally in accordance with 5-star speech. Mindful of the controversy concerning editorial practice at Wikipedia, expressed by its co-founder, Larry Sanger, for example, in an interview with UnHerd, I feel special care is needed to avoid and mitigate bias as far as possible.

So, the kind of person I would like to largely carry out this role is not someone with expertise or strong views on the topic, but rather someone who is a good listener and discerning in human interactions. A service that brings together people who are potentially at opposite ends needs very skilful support. So who is qualified for such facilitation? I have in mind experienced practitioners of Nonviolent Communication, a practice developed by Marshall Rosenberg to solve problems through communication rooted in empathy. Ideally, when problems arise, they enter into a dialogue with the poster, but it depends on resourcing.

Whilst they might not by themselves be able to determine the pertinence of an argument, the truth of a statement or validity of evidence put forward, they are trained in techniques to facilitate that process. Suppose that someone keeps insisting on an assertion, but complaints are received claiming that the assertion is false. What then? The original poster may be invited to clarify, but at this point some authority in the subject matter might be called upon to arbitrate. If no resolution is found, then what kind of closure is appropriate? Closing the thread? Or, as a general measure, limiting the number of posts to a given thread? Whilst wikis can descend into edit wars, in these fora, one can only edit one’s own posts. Some ‘hot topic’ or ‘contested’ flag might be raised.

There ought to be some kind of rewards system as well for those who have made substantial and highly regarded contributions. These might include badges and free newspaper subscriptions.

The use of automation to support moderation

We can enable the sites to be self-moderating to some degree through the use of devices such as a reputation system, commonly indicated by ‘likes’; in Stack Exchange, users largely determine this by indicating support for or approval of posts by others.

However, to aid efficiency and to improve coverage, automated moderation should be deployed, running in the background. Just as topic analysis and sentiment analysis can be used to give an overview, so it can also be used to discern problematic posts such as the trolling already mentioned. Algorithms can fulfil many assistive functions such as automatically grading topics for sensitivity, to give a quick overview, refined with human guidance.

At this point, a note about artificial intelligence (AI). The meaning of AI has narrowed to be, in many people’s minds, synonymous with machine learning, with the emphasis on machine capability. In contrast, I give centrality to the paradigm of Augmenting Human Intellect, as conceived by Douglas Engelbart in his report for Stanford Research Institute in 1962. This approach, as exemplified by his ‘Mother of all demos’, emphasizes the potential of machines to help us do things better and more efficiently.

The actual methods used should also be given careful consideration — I would prefer to avoid the use of ‘black box’ methods such as neural networks wherever possible, especially for reasons of transparency.

Management of Sources

The system should collate, store and readily make available metadata about the original articles, so that visitors to the site know their provenance. Ideally, each one should be archived in more than one way, including on the Wayback Machine at Internet Archive. The sources typically depend in turn on other sources, so there is scope for web crawlers, with many possible foci, such as exploring dependencies of thought.

Discussions, will bring up further sources. So, contributions should be mined also, building up a knowledge base available for analysis. This knowledge can be made available in various ways through the user interface and programmatically through APIs. For example, each article can have a tab that summarises the sources mentioned, perhaps with weightings, though that needs to be robust against gaming the system.

System Architecture

I’ve hardly given any thought to this as I’ve only been pondering what the service might look like. However, one aspect that particularly interests me is the potential for a distributed architecture. So, I would like to explore further Bluesky’s decentralised approach, as discussed in less technical terms in The Pragmatic Engineer.

Conclusion

So there it is. An idea, a tentative proposal, which, I hope, will give fresh impetus to commentary on current affairs, facilitating a fresh dialogue among and between people of differing views. A service for individuals, citizens of the world, that might even help in resurrecting ‘What the papers say‘, last seen at the BBC.

I’d like it to be turned into a business case. I’m not the best person to do this, but I can see how it might be of professional benefit to many parties: it should drive traffic to news sources and various professionals will find it a valuable repository for public opinion.

I’ll just add that an important consideration is how to maintain the service’s independence and protect it from undue influence (in the spirit of the declaration on freedom of expression). Policy statements are just one aspect. To increase its chances of longevity, the funding needs to be well spread and, when implemented, the moderation principles to be firmly maintained, true to the original intention.

Recollecting Robert Papini

In Memoriam

Robert Papini in meditation at Vaults & Garden cafe,
University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford, 2007.

 

This is a belated tribute to Robert Papini, particularly for his contributions to interfaith, notably with the International Association for Religious Freedom.  I also include excerpts from his other activities, with a sprinkling of quotes to offer glimpses of his erudition.  I hope to highlight in these brief excerpts how he exemplified the voluntary and vocational nature of his work and reflected deeply.

Background

Robert was originally from South Africa, with Italian ancestry through his father who was originally from Florence.  Possessing an open and inquisitive mind, he developed an interest in people, culture and the environment, which he nurtured throughout his life.  His academic study included two degrees in the UK: a Bachelor’s in English and African & Caribbean Studies at the University of Kent at Canterbury and a Master of Studies in Ethnology and Museum Ethnography together with Museology at the Department of Ethnology & Prehistory/ Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (as a member of Linacre College).  This led to employment as a Research Officer in the Local History Museums, Durban from 1989 to 2002.  Some fruits of his research are evident in papers on his Academia site.

Robert at IARF

About a year later, from November 2003, he started a new job in Oxford, as General Office Administrator at the Secratariat of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF). IARF is one of the first international interfaith organisations, which traces its formation to 1900 and is a UN NGO with general consultative status, which means it can be consulted on any matter, not just religion.

Robert was soon immersed at his desk in a compact office space, within a series of rooms on the top floor of a corner block in Market Street, which also housed the World Congress of Faiths (WCF), the International Interfaith Centre (IIC) and, in little more than a storage room, Rissho Kosei-Kai (RKK).  There he started to familiarise himself with the organisation and the distinctive features of dealing with adherents of world religions and the complexities of faith-based issues.  There were numerous projects that needed planning and facilitating.  It was a demanding initiation into international interfaith work.

I had been a member of the IIC and kept in touch with the office, sometimes exchanging e-mails.  At the beginning of March 2004, I sent a note about a Dhammakaya meditation session that I was organising at the Friends Meeting House in St Giles, which was circulated internally.  Robert picked it up and was interested.  He had already practised Vipassana as taught by S.N. Goenka, but was open to exploring other methods. 

However, he was swamped by work.  It was not until June, when another series of classes was on offer, that he felt that he was starting to cope with his role and ready to attend, commenting early in June 2004:

Many thanks for this; six months on, & I'm a bit more on top of admin routines at IARF, so have some time for myself now. Am definitely there for the first & last of the dates mentioned...

Robert did make it, but only just, and couldn’t stay:

Very sorry to have had to walk out on the class - please excuse, I was just so shattered from the day's work, found myself dropping off as soon as the eyes closed, in spite of all efforts!

I need to have a good day at work first, I realise...

Robert’s exhaustion came from his wholehearted efforts and over the next years he continued to grapple with – what seemed to me – an exceedingly demanding job.  In typical corporate style, his job titles were frequently shuffled without a clear career progression; from Office Administrator, he became (in succession): Office & Research Co-ordinator, Executive Officer, Office Manager and later he signed off merely as Admin.

Occasionally, Robert’s dissatisfaction was intense (he once admitted to me that he had walked out on an important meeting), but by and large, Robert gradually found his way, managing the challenges more effectively.  One of his most impactful involvements was in human rights education, especially in India, resulting in numerous training sessions.

In parallel, with opportunities to explore near and far, he developed his leisure activities. He drew on a long-standing interest in photography that inspired the likes of High School students and photojournalists (archived), with camera in hand, he started to reacquaint himself with the geography of Oxford and the Thames, dutifully contributing photographs of historic landmarks to the Historic England Archive IOE Series.

In Osaka

His travel abroad provided an opportunity for him to apply his empathic approach towards different cultures and for others to experience his considerable writing skills, whether that meant capturing the zeitgeist in brief pithy comments or much longer, evocative narratives.  This was epitomised in an unexpected turn of events. 

By 2007, as documented in the annual report of 2008/9, IARF was suffering a crisis and underwent major organisational change with operations moved to Japan.  After holding the fort in Oxford, Robert, as the sole surviving staff member, was sent to Osaka in mid-December, to run operations out of IARF’s Japan office, assisted by unpaid volunteers.  At the invitation of Reverend Yoshinobu Miyake, he was hosted by the Konko Church of Izuo (of the Shinto tradition), one of the charity’s main supporters.

Robert was once again having to orientate himself in a new culture and, despite severe financial constraints, he embraced it with enthusiasm, vividly penning his initial impressions:

Getting back to UK end-2003 was a buzz, but this is another order of excitement. Always been hard for me to remember what it's like when you land blind in a totally new country where the script is a scribble to you, and a handful of words is all you have.

During his first week, his creative juices started flowing:

18/12/2007
OK, this should be on a blog, but gimme time - I just got here...!.

(How about 17 years or so?)

He could barely wait to describe his environment:

Evening of my third day as a transient of Izuo neighbourhood, Osaka – just got back from my first real solo sortie into the surrounds, & my virgin supermarket safari. Been itching to get reactions to file, so lucky i brought over the old Toshiba laptop from Oxford, as no office PC bought yet, let alone set up in the new IARF office, which is double ex-res rooms two doors along from my little living-cell here on level three, topmost, of the Izuo Konkokyo church residential block (From my window, that's filled with the watercolour-fine foliage of dwarf bamboo and looks directly onto the Ancestors' Hall, I can see the massive coped gable of the mighty temple's great tiled roof, which is steep & gold-monogrammed, and the antique pale green of oxidized bronze).

The loaded term 'cell' i mean in the fully positive sense – i'm sat tapping away right now on the beautiful fine-weave /tatami/ mat flooring that's integral to the traditional Japanese home, with enough room on one edge of the living space to have a mattress, on the other a thin futon for my morning & evening bodywork; no furniture, but a roomy built-in cupboard & wall-mounted heater/aircon. My tiny kitchenette has a sink, mini-fridge & single electric ring, which would be fine anyway (though you might think I look a bit outlandish looming over my wok in its recess) but there's a much bigger cooking space, with gas, in the office-to-be, where i'll likely do most feeding..

Robert proceeded to describe his use of the local public bath (for his ‘cell’ had no shower or bath) as very much a social activity, but a tradition in decline as a result of Western influence.  Then came further details of his residence,

So anyway – there it is, my monkish cell with its outhouse ablutions. In all it's small for a great lunk of a spotty barbarian like me, kinda 'cubicular' i guess, but perfect for your stripped-down living, your monastic aspiration, and i have near-perfect silence here. There's a little street goes down the one side of this long 3-storey residential block, but hardly any traffic, and it's utterly charming, in the way of everything i've seen so far in the neighbourhood: /so/ different from our innercity streetscapes, obv everything three-quarter size, yes, but in many other ways such an insight into pre-modern urbanity while being totally modern, and refreshingly non-postmodern in the human scale of it, the sense of neighbourhood & the diversity & almost hobbitonian individuality of structures, the mingling of small business with residential, the balconies, jungle of oldstyle wiring overhead through all the interlinked alleyways & arcades that make up our Izuo 'hood, in the district here of Sangenya Nishi, a ward of Taisho, one of the many areas of what is a truly huge, trade-grown megasprawl between distant coastal mountain range and bay, with a good part of it reclaimed from the sea (including the airport, built by infilling the bay with mountain-top) --- and much of that in centuries well before the Dutch began their much-celebrated polders.

Bringing his historical survey into present times, he paused again to reflect:

Not too hard then, wandering about, to sense for oneself how the cities of pre-modern Japan must have been before American bombs & the post-war boom ushered in the built environment we see now. And this Now itself is all very much of that era; what gives the charm is the 50s/60s retro feel in building design, kinda like visions of old-school futurists, now a little worn & dated, but very much inhabited & alive, & conforming well to a certain stereotype we have of Japan (or at least, that the sophisticated have; I'm disturbed to discover how crude were my notions of this country & culture - just as with everywhere unknown, you come to realise. Pious it may sound to ask again, but the old chestnut stands: When will we learn to attribute the very same full humanity to others as we do to ourselves & 'our own'? Travel the cure? Shame it has to be on fossil fuel).

And found other sites particularly striking for being of a certain period:

Took a wander around the neighbourhood this afternoon … Found my way into the Osaka Dome (Police & Bon Jovi to play soon), & it's so /very/ much of its time - 80s futurist, now beginning to wear a bit. This was the Wembley Arena of its day, and vast it must have seemed then. Still pretty impressive. They have some kind of snowmaking lark going on at the top level, & loads of young people were buying snowboarding & other gear at a big indoor market, then queuing to get in. All the rage, obv. Minded me of Dubai's snow mountain in the desert, & other insanities of the incipient anthropocene era of atmosphere-wrecking.

Back in the office, it was time to deal with some practicalities.

Izuo, Osaka

18 Dec 07

dears

First day spent assembling the few bits of office furniture, devilish diagrams but eventually got them figured & glued, banged & screwed all together, trala, with just one cockup, of slight consequence though odd appearance (I blame it on a skewhiffed hands-off education. Come naa then, Bob the Builder To Be, make yo papa's ghost proud...)..

He was seemingly adopting the famed Japanese work ethic, as exemplified by his distinguished host:

 … Tomorrow we go off to Kyoto again, this time to some of the great shrines, for a 'greeting'. And it seems there's a trip to Tokyo next week, for this G8 Religious Leaders thing of Rev. Miyake's. He richly deserves the honorific 'tireless' that's given him in the biography of his grandfather that i'm reading: having gotten back from Tokyo at 3.30am this morning, after three top-level meetings with cabinet secretaries, etc., he was up at 4.30am to hold a temple service, then hit the desk to complete a newsletter for a 11am deadline! Even with the flu that he's inevitably picked up (quite a few people going about in facemasks, as it's said to be bad this year), he remains cheerful as ever, happy to help me out, managing well enough without his office girls today (Tuesday is a day off around here).

After an eventful start, he was in good spirits, sending the following note to welcome the arrival of 2008:

Dear friends

This year I count myself probably the first of you to greet the new year, here in Osaka, on the western Pacific rim. Aah yes - to be first, for once... ;}

(Most of you at least nine or ten hours away from first continental landfall of Jan 1st. 2008, some much more. Shame... But the suspense is everything, right?)...

Enjoy it when it comes, & here's to the year -- hope you're facing it with courage & commitment.

As ever -  Life, Love & Unity  !

Robert was in his element on this sojourn.  With his stay being extended, his wife, Catherine, went over several times to join him.  After a successful spell that met the approval of his hosts, he returned towards the end of 2008 to establish a ‘virtual office’, subsequently returning to Osaka for shorter spells.  In the minutes of the IARF Council Meeting of March 2009, the Personnel Committee reported:

Guji Takahiro Miwa had supervised the Osaka Office and was pleased with Robert’s performance. From November 2008 Robert had operated a virtual office from his London home and this had worked well with appropriate cooperation from the Church of Konko, whose staff had checked the incoming post. The three months in Osaka and three months in London arrangement will continue during 2009. A motion of thanks to Guji Takahiro Miwa, Guji Yoshinobu Miyake and Robert Papini was passed by acclamation.

Through generosity and fruitful collaboration, IARF survived and was able to maintain a significant international presence, providing input on a range of issues that affected religious practice directly and indirectly.  Robert provided a continuous thread to all these activities, not merely in fulfilling his office duties in practical terms, but, more profoundly, by his sincere cultural adaptation, demonstrating a deep dialogue with the Japanese members who provided the main financial support.  He earned considerable respect and hence encouragement to keep going.

Laying Foundations for Digital Communications

IARF’s severely limited financial resources prompted the organisation to make increasing use of electronic means of communication, a direction already evident in Council Meeting minutes of 2009.

Robert was again instrumental in this development; the ‘IARF - RFYN Young Adults’ Human Rights Training, Kolkota: 2011’ report noted:

Mr. Robert the administrator-IARF has began with session where he has made us know actualization of HRD ie “Human Rights Defenders” He introduced us with the various sources from where we can began and channelize our revolution towards Peace. In his continuing session he has mention the various ways ie media, SMS, Facebook, and Twitter can play significant Role.

The IARF Website was intended to be central to these developments.  Unfortunately, it was not fit for purpose.  Navigating from the home page, one  encountered pages authored in 2009, in one design, and a presumably early 2008 design used for news in 2010.  The site also had a discussion forum that was swamped by spam, and with custom PHP coding that was not maintained, the security status was questionable.  And then there were the styling and presentation issues, the variability in layout, fonts, colour schemes.  All in all it was a mess.

So IARF sought a solution based on an established content management system and Robert was tasked with delivering it.  A tender was put out, to which several companies responded, but I suspect that the budget was not adequate for commercial rates – even after significant discounts.  It likely prompted a reassessment and a reaching out to existing contacts in the hope of finding someone with requisite skills (and a charitable disposition).  That let Robert to me.

At that time, I was employed half-time as Web Officer at the Museum of the History of Science, so I had some spare capacity.  And having developed and consolidated the museum’s web offerings in WordPress, I had some idea about content management.

On 11 May, following a face-to-face chat, Robert sent me their requirements document.  At the end of the month, after further exchanges, Robert wrote:

Apropos, this email is really to tell you some good news (well, I hope it's good for you! - i.e. that you're not committing out of any sense of obligation to the interfaith cause.  The consensus seems to be that our new site project is in better hands with you than with some anonymous vendor for whom we're just another client.

Agreement was reached, and I started the work in early June.

There was endless scope for design, but Robert kept things fairly simple - it would suffice to make the site resemble or, at least, be in tune with the United Nations(!).  At that time, the U.N. site was heavily information-oriented, with hierarchical navigation, which actually suited me because I tend to think that way and am not a specialist in front-end graphic design or user interfaces. I proceeded to customise an existing WordPress theme by Brian Johnson, a member of the IARF US Chapter, extending it to accommodate the wider remit of the parent organisation.

Robert was keen for the site to emphasise its global scope and for it to act as a conduit in both directions and he wanted visitors to be aware of this and hence the use of the Pulsemaps heat map WordPress plugin.  He also sought to offer various means for essential communication from those directly affected by religious persecution.  Hence the Skype contact and the brief contact form, encrypted in case of snooping, especially by state authorities.

The main work was completed in about six months, in time for Christmas 2011; the site was duly delivered on a new virtual private server with not insubstantial system resources allocated.  I provided various documentation and training with further consultancy in subsequent months, when I departed for Qatar to take up a full-time post at the Qatar Museums Authority.  I would come back periodically to the UK and as Robert lived near Heathrow, we met up a couple of times in Terminal 4 before my departure back to the Gulf.

Whilst laborious, the website re-development project consolidated Robert’s knowledge of the entire organisation in its various strands, right across the world.  The international scope was reflected in Robert’s promotion of IARF work on social media, establishing a Flickr group, which featured the Human Rights Education and Training Programme in India.

where he was also involved in panel discussions

With the projects being delivered, his contributions became duly recognised in various countries outside the UK, not just Japan and India.  For example, for his role in the founding of the Kenya chapter:

To IARF administrator brother Robert Papini, I thank him for all the support he has shown towards the formation of IARF Kenya chapter.”  (Rev. Lawrence Adera, Secretary General IARF Kenya chapter)
Midview Hotel, Nairobi, 20 July 2013

By 2015, the website was well established and in much better shape.

The international reach of IARF was evident in its member groups:

 

Having implemented these major deliverables, Robert decided that it was time he moved on and he retired from his post in June 2015. 

Vade Mecum

Over the years, we met up periodically for wanderings on foot, sometimes joined by Catherine; and after leaving IARF, he had more time to roam. For, Robert noted, “We 'obligate bipeds' are in prime health when doing around 20km per day!”

We met mainly in towns and cities, which served as sources of endless anthropological fascination as we navigated across centuries of development and bounced ideas off each other.  One such meander was in 2016, assisted by Designs of the Times: Self-guided walk through the Square Mile (archive).  Always with Robert, as an allotment holder, having an eye for uncovering green spaces (the so-called secret gardens):

Robert in Christchurch Greyfriars Church Garden.

 

[See also some photos on Flickr.]

The next day, Robert reflected:

a very promising beginning to possible probings of whatever may remain neglected & unilluminated in this breathtaking megalopolis.

And in response to a tentative proposal I had in mind for a “3D illuminations of neglected spaces (or similar)”, he was encouraging, clearly seeing a deeper potential:

I've been interested in Psychogeography for a while, though never had the chance to really go into it. Seems all a bit trendy at the moment, but nonetheless may have merit if it matures along with the kind of technology you're clearly thinking about applying.

[See, e.g., an explanation of the term by the Tate. ]

Occasionally, we met in more rural settings, such as Wytham, where we’d observe other kinds of wildlife going about their business.  But it didn’t really matter where we ambled for Robert was perspicacious in any environment.

Thursday’s Lotus

My own introduction to interfaith work, which led to my meeting Robert, was through my mother, the late Fuengsin Trafford, who worked for 10 years at the Multi-Faith Centre in Birmingham before it ceased operating in the mid-1990s.

Shortly after my mother passed away in 1995, I started writing her biography.  By the time Robert left the offices in Market Street, I had a complete draft and was getting editorial feedback with a view to publication.  Robert offered his services and agreed to compile the index, patiently and painstakingly using DEXter, a clever, but somewhat temperamental tool that provided wonderful automated assistance most of the time, but not always.  A little over twenty years after commencement, Thursday’s Lotus was finally published and I was pleased to present a copy to Robert. 

He graciously responded:

I do have to say, it's such a total pleasure to heft in one's hand the finished work -- thank you!  It's been a while since I was involved in anything that saw the solidity of bound paper.

To say it again, it's been a privilege to be associated with something out of the ambitious world of interfaith that has this much integrity & worth. So much of what I toiled at with IARF so often seemed futile, but your labour of love has gone quite a way to persuading me of the merit of its wider context.

I’m sure that if Robert had been writing to or about someone he worked with at IARF, he would have been more positive, for he appreciated his colleagues in the office; his frustrations were (I feel) to do with the organisation's corporate management.  At the same time, some of these comments came from a natural modesty and humility, indications of his own integrity, which were what encouraged him to persevere.  But also, in hindsight, these were signs of low self esteem.

Environmental Awareness and an unusual Anthropological Project

Robert’s connection with Nature was deep, informed by study of evolution and observation of the present.  In May 2020, the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, Robert drew further inspiration from cultivating his allotment plot to  fuel a passion for returning to a more sustainable living and community:

I've never been more physically exhausted in any Springtime of soil toil - but it's fantastic, a joyful weariness. The life of plants, I've come to realise, is an allure that beats any that comes out of a screen.

I'm investigating a place called Tinker's Bubble, down in Somerset. Check it out, there's a great video on Vimeo.

Tinkers Bubble is a small off-grid woodland community in Somerset.  This ‘back to basics’ lifestyle was, Robert mused, probably too radical for Catherine (or, indeed, most of the population used to their creature comforts), so he wondered about milder alternatives and, so, I suggested the LandARK.  Naturally, he had already come across it and considered its viability:

Thanks for reminder of this excellent venture, which I stumbled upon years ago, bookmarked, and had not revisited. The question would be, of course, where one might be permitted to plant one's little bubble. Might it help to be tugging one's forelock before the great & good one percent who own more than half this island?

We exchanged further speculative messages against a backdrop of a world in utter confusion, without any definite conclusion.

Meanwhile, at the writing desk, within a year of leaving IARF, Robert embarked on an ambitious writing project, a kind of anthropological novel describing Mesolithic life in Africa.  He was tentative about revealing it, perhaps fearing that it wouldn’t lead anywhere, but did share a few tantalising glimpses.  Robert first mentioned his ideas to me in a park café near SOAS towards the end of October 2017 shortly before I attended an evening meeting of The Biographers' Club.  Afterwards, I wrote to him to relate that there was reflection on how to 'enter' a different time and land; in all cases the key was immersion, directly or indirectly.

Robert responded:

 …  Interesting to hear that biographers do still cherish the credo that it's possible to immerse in another time. It undergirds the whole craft, I suppose, but as the tired saying goes 'The past is another country...they do things differently there'. So I propose to market my work as a satirical subgenre of Fantasy, so absurd do i find the proposition that a modern consciousness can evoke anything faintly approaching the conditions of life even a century back - let alone the millennia that 'prehistoric fiction' wades blithely about in...

Serious fiction is only ever contemporary.

But my hunch is that even as the globe shrinks & the old nomad wanderlust of our kind dies spatially, it will compensate temporally, and while the kids are hurtling off to fantasy worlds rich in dragons & elves, or fearsome deep-space aliens, the adult imagination will want inter alia to probe further & further back into our imagined past.

And what the market calls for, none shall gainsay! Hooray indeed. Long may huddled creatives continue to earn a crust down the 'satirical fantasy' alleyway... with cakes & ale to the trailblazers, of course.  ;)?

Gradually, having got to know about Robert’s project, friends and family became curious about his writing.  I was not alone in thinking that a publisher might be interested and, so, enquired about samples.  In March 2021, replying to a message which had started on zero emission zones, Robert was characteristically thoughtful:

Molweni, bra Paul (Gauteng-greets)

Thanks for asking about my long-ongoing writerly ambitions.
It's become more effortful as I've had to start infilling the structure with plausibly thought-out, anthropologically-informed pattern & process around the storyline.

I wish it were possible to offer some sample, as it seems most creatives are able to do even just a few months after conceiving a project (mine has been five years in the making so far). 

However it's a 'built world' I'm about, so even a short passage would demand of any reader an immersion into backdrop detail (I provide it in maps, timelines, synopses, etc.) which few are prepared to undertake, given the Titanic-scale 'raft of alternatives' on market offer any day of your life... (and all within a few seconds' whisper of your fingers' busy tap-tapping). 

That begs the larger question of whether readerly attention span nowadays has any inclination toward 'built-world immersion' (aka Fantasy?). Maybe the New Pandemia inclines the newly underemployed among them that way? 

I'm counting on a few other things to make the offer stand out - not least that Fantasy has always been hugely ethnocentric. Counting most riskily of all, though, on a readership that's able to slow down, in order make sense of language rendered faux-archaic.
Not much ask there! :)

He confirmed his commitment in further correspondence.:

I've come too far now to abandon it. Huge investment of time, and sacrifice of earnings. Sometimes I do wonder what can have driven me to it!

Sadly, he would never see its completion. 

Robert’s Passing

Robert Papini passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday 23 April 2022 shortly after 3pm.  Whilst difficult to comprehend, there has since come to light much of biographical interest.  This post offers just a taste of Robert’s life, one that epitomised an enquiring mind and service to humanity. He worked hard, facilitated, inspired and did not seek credit.  It’s especially evident from his time at IARF, where he made a major contribution in delivering projects across the world, touching many people’s lives in a positive way.