Proposed Section Additions  

 I would like to suggest adding two new sections. In this post I will first detail these sections, and then explain how I think they will improve the article. The first new section would be a high level overview of the current IBM, similar to or even drawn from the intro on the main IBM article.  This section will provide the reader with a sense of what the end point is for the evolutionary story told by the remainder of the article. 

 The second new section will in effect become a New Timeline. It will consist of a chronological bullet list of significant developments in the company's history - products, technologies, people, corporate and organizational events. It will be factual, not promotional. I will be happy to provide the initial content for this section. DISCLAIMER: I am Paul Lasewicz, IBM's Corporate Archivist (see my user page). I understand and fully support the reader's and editor's right to be suspicious of any and all content I provide. For my part, I will strive to make this content factual and objective. But I recognize that there will be those who may feel it is still not neutral enough for this purpose, and I would look to those folks for additions and language edits in order to keep make sure the article is in keeping with Wikipedia's policies. 

 The current section Old Timeline content, which by its narrative format lends itself to a more interpretive, thematic function, would become a new section 3. It would retain its focus on linking events and developments in order to help the readers better understand the broad sweeps of the evolutionary path the company has followed. It would have to be renamed, perhaps something like 'Major Themes'? Similarly, the current section 2 (Major events et al) would become section 4, and retain its utility as a place to capture aspects of the company's history that require deeper dives. See also, Further reading, and References would then become sections 5, 6, and 7. 

 The benefits that I see in adding this content and shuffling the current organization of the article are multiple. First, the addition of bulleted content will authoritatively enhance the depth and breadth of company historical information presented by the article. It will give the reader a fuller, more accurate account of the scope IBM's activities over nearly a century of being in business.  

 The second benefit is that it will provide raw material for fleshing out the more narrative, thematic aspects of the article. This fleshing out is, I feel, necessary, because one of the few critiques I have of this article is that the narrative sections tend to be a little uneven. No doubt due to the participation of multiple authors and editors - each who has diverse and different areas of expertise - the current timeline and major events sections can be shallow in some places and too granular in others. This additional material will, when incorporated via future edits, serve to fill in gaps in those narratives. Anything we can do to smooth that uneveness out will enhance the accuracy of the article, and increase its value to the reader. 

 Lastly, these proposed changes will make editing and maintaining this page less troublesome. IBM can be a polarizing institution - it's a profitable corporation that has in the past and continues to deal with world changing technologies and engages with domestic and foreign governments and businesses. Each of these aspects can be a touchstone for strong feelings. By presenting much of that sometimes polarizing content in brief, bulleted snippets, the article will better and more easily maintain a NPOV. Hopefully, this unbiased, factual manner will minimize subjective word choice and (hopefully) help mitigate, if not actually avoid, controversy for the readers/editors. 

 Your thoughts?   PCL July 28, 2009 
 Moved 9/15