We have several distinct streams to display and discuss, and each has a place in the proceedings:
The history of DS is worth reviewing, since I think we named it in the first place: the earliest document is the January 2000 server proposal I wrote, the FIPSE/LAAP proposal I wrote, and other bits of MY versions of Digital South Reality found in various of the almost-20 documents in my collection of proposals, reports, RFCs and suchlike, sprinkled through my sabbatical log, and summarized in the piece I've been working on: Updating and Extending the Digital South Project (revision of 30 January, and due for another update very soon).
And the practical upshot, as of today:
That's really a lot of stuff to cover, and to find time for in planning a program, but I think each piece is an essential part of thinking about the evolution of GIS for ACS, for NITLE, for, well gosh, everybody...