adho-sc-0706-mins

ADHO Steering Committee

Minutes of meetings on Sat 2 and Sun 3 June 2007

Graduate School of Library and Information Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Note: Agenda items 1-3 and 6-13 were dealt with in the meeting on Sat 2 June, 9:30-17:30. Items 1-3, 7 and 9 were chaired by John Unsworth; items 8 and 10-13 were chaired by Harold Short in John Unsworth's absence.

Items 4-5 and 14-15 were dealt with in the meeting on Sun 3 June, 16:30-18:00, chaired by John Unsworth.

1. Attendance

Voting members: Present Elisabeth Burr (EB) - ALLC, also Chair Multi-Lingualism Multi-culturalism Committee; John Unsworth (JU) - ACH; Chuck Bush (CB) - ACH; Harold Short (HS) - ALLC.
Apologies Espen Ore (EO).

In attendance: Present David Hoover (DH) - for Lorna Hughes (LH), ACH President;
Julia Flanders (JF) - Editor DHQ;
Susan Hockey (SH), Chair Conference Coordinating Committee;
Ray Siemens (RS), Chair SDH-SEMI;


Apologies Marilyn Deegan (MD) - Editor LLC; Jean Anderson (JA) - Treasurer; Lorna Hughes (LH) - President, ACH; Geoffrey Rockwell (GR) - Chair, Publications Committee.

In attendance for specific items:
Lisa Lena Opas-H‰nninen (LLOH) for item 9.2.2 Oulu conference in 2008
Neil Fraistat, Maryland for item 9.5 : proposal to host 2009 conference
Glen Worthey, Stanford for item 9.5 : proposal to host 2009 conference

Also in attendance: Patricia Thomas (PT), Oxford University Press.

2. Minutes

Minutes of ADHO Steering Committee, Paris, July 2006 accepted as a true record.
Prop: EB Sec: CB Nem con

3. Matters Arising

No matters arising not covered by agenda items.

Agenda items 4 & 5

Items 4 and 5 on the Agenda were deferred to a re-convened meeting following the Association executive committee meetings on Sun 3 June, in order to take account of new nominations, and to be sure of the number of members of SC as determined by subscription information.

6. Chair's report

Main business of ADHO SC was bringing discussions with SDH-SEMI to conclusion (see 11.1 below).

Stefan Sinclair's proposal to support Humanist was agreed by email; Humanist will move to digitalhumanities.org, which will make management easier for WM.

Finances

7.1 Treasurer's report

Apologies from JA; HS presented report on her behalf for financial year Jan-Dec 2006.

7.2 LLC finances 2006

Increased income from LLC in 2006, up from 37k gbp to 42.8k gbp.

ALLC is at a level where accounts require 'independent examiners', and a new company has been appointed - Alexander Sloan. They are specialists in charity accounts, and have recommended a change of accounting system, in which all income and expenditure related to a particular journal year is to be recorded in that year, irrespective of when the transaction actually takes place. The effect in the transition year is an apparent doubling of income and expenditure, but this will disappear in the accounts for Jan-Dec 2007, which will be reported in June 2008.

7.3 Revenue distribution and SC member numbers

HS presented figures for LLC subscriptions and profit distribution based on these. The increased LLC income means increased distribution to ALLC and ACH.

HS expressed his thanks to PT for OUP income figures for Consortia, Institutions and Individuals. It was not possible to provide consortia income broken down by consortium, so HS used average figure across all consortia for calculations.

On the basis of these figures, representation on the ADHO Steering Committee should remain at ALLC 3, ACH 2.
Note: There was further discussion of SC membership under item 11.1, below.

8. Publications

8.1 Publications Committee report

GR report received and discussed. Emphasis on new initiatives, but recommendation that we focus in the immediate future on consolidating current work rather than pursuing other new ventures.

In the report, GR indicated his wish to step down as Chair. The SC expressed its appreciation for the work of GR not only during the initial ADHO years, but in the period leading up to its establishment.

ADHO website: maintenance mostly done by Stefan Sinclair and JU. We may need to formalise the role somewhat.

AGREED: that responsibility for ADHO website should be made an explicit responsibility of the Chair of the Publications Committee.

AGREED: This would be more effective if modest funding were made available to support it. SC will propose to ALLC and ACH committees that $2,500 p.a. should be allocated as a maximum budget to be charged against if needed (a 'backstop budget').

ACTION: HS to put proposal to ALLC Committee; DH to ACH Council.

8.2.1 LLC report

In MD absence, HS presented her report. This raised the question of the scope of the journal. There was general sympathy for broadening the scope, but no concern at core focus remaining 'literary and linguistic'. PT suggested there could usefully be a statement of scope at the front of the journal. Concensus that change should continue to be organic, possibly with extra issues being commissioned (and paid for by the associations). The SC thanked MD and her Associate Editors - Simon Horobin, Stefan Sinclair and Edward Vanhoutte - for their excellent work for the journal.

ACTION: MD to discuss scope statement with editorial team, and liaise with PT. The statement should not only describe the scope of LLC but the position of LLC within the wider ADHO constellation, including DHQ (see 8.3 below).

8.2.2 OUP report

General trend of falling direct institutional subs but rising consortium subs. PT reiterated willingness of OUP to send promotional materials to conferences if given due notice. The SC thanked PT for her attendance at the conference and at the meeting, and for the attention she gives to LLC.

8.3 DHQ report

JF presented her report. First issue appeared in Apr 07. 2nd issue due in Jul 07.

Finances: development of technical infrastructure cost less than expected - mainly because of volunteer labour. Consequent unanticipated balance (c. $11k) likely to go on interface development.

Editors are pleased with progress, and the feedback from the community has been very positive.

Scope: recent discussion among DHQ editors; main responsibility is seen to be representing ADHO community to a wider audience who are not yet part of it.

AGREED: It is important to consolidate links between adho publications, e.g. by cross-advertising, cross-linkage, and a common statement of scope to appear in LLC and DHQ expressing wider ADHO publications strategy. Perhaps also composite ADHO flyers that advertise all adho publications.

ACTION: JF and DHQ editorial team to liaise with MD and LLC editorial team over statements of scope and other mechanisms to promote the range of ADHO publications.

The SC expressed its warm congratulations to JF and her Associate Editors - Wendell Piez and Melissa Terrass - for the high standards achieved and the excellent start they have made.

8.4 Humanist

Humanist continues to thrive, with increased subscriber numbers. The SC expressed its thanks and appreciation to Willard McCarty for his continuing care of it.

8.5 Illinois Series report

RS reported. Two new titles accepted by the Press. Brief proposals and enquiries from a number of people; it seems the series will be an active one.

It may be worth clarifying the links between the series and the wider ADHO publications strategy. The SC suggested this could be discussed by RS and the new Chair of the Publications Committee when appointed.

The SC expressed its appreciation for the work RS and Susan Schreibman are doing.

9. Conferences

Agreed to take item 9 early for the convenience of SH and LLO, who were attending only for this item.

9.1 Conference Co-ordinating Committee report /
9.2 Conference protocol and annexes

SH gave a verbal report, and led discussion of a range of issues affecting the CCC. SH would welcome receving more information. Work still to be done on various protocol annexes. First item should be timetable, following up earlier work.

Review process: there are various concerns:

ACTION SH to co-ordinate revision of review procedures and other refinements of the Conference Protocol and Annex.

ACTION SH will consider whether separate additional guideline documents would be useful for PC Chairs and Local Organisers, or whether the guidance contained in the Protocal and Annex, with revision, is sufficient.

ACTION SH will co-ordinate development of guideline documents for:

AGREED It would be useful to provide guidelines and a template for submissions by prospective conference hosts, and for the submission procedure to require at least a minimum level of contact with the CCC Chair.

AGREED There should be a standard Memorandum of Agreement between the ADHO Steering Committee and the selected host institution, to be signed by the host prior to confirmation of selection. The MoA should specify the responsibilities and rights of the host organisation.

ACTION: SH will co-ordinate the development of guidelines and a template for proposals to host the conference, and a draft MoA; and will review the Protocol in regard to submission procedures.

ACTION: JU/SH to ensure names of past and future PC Chairs and Local Organisers are added to the CCC email list.

AGREED: In view of the admission of SDH-SEMI to ADHO, rather than increasing the size of the PC, the distribution of nominated seats should be changed, with effect from PC 2009, to: ACH 3; ALLC 3; SDH-SEMI 2.

ACTION: DH and HS to put this proposal to their respective committees.

9.3 2007 Conference: reports from PC and Local Organisers

PC Chair
RS thanked the PC members for their constructive approach throughout. All seemed to proceed well. Introduction of Conftool slowed some things down, but on the whole it was a very useful addition. A checklist was developed and circulated early, and this worked well. This was the first year of having a Deputy Chair (Paul Spence) and RS felt this had been valuable for the working of the PC.

Submissions: 19 sessions; 86 papers; 32 posters/demos.
Accepted 67% of proposals.
13 panels; 51 papers; 28+x poster/demos

88 reviewers. Reviewer names added to the conference book. Great majority of papers received 3 reviews; where fewer received, the PC Chair and Deputy arranged quick reviews.

Local Organiser
JU reported that all has gone well on the whole. First year where LLC subscriber number was checked. Various nuisance factors associated with this will be followed up with OUP.

Registrations: 99 members; 18 new members; 51 non-members. Total so far 175; possible that total will get close to 200.

It may be sensible to offer a subvention to local organisers from ADHO and associations as a quid pro quo for validating membership number in the registration process. As a potential disincentive to registration, this is something that is in the interests of ADHO rather than the local hosts. A figure of US $5,000 was suggested as a possible subvention level.

Consideration should also be given to ADHO meeting the costs of attendance at the Conference of the PC Chair. In a number of institutions, costs to attend conferences are available only to staff with accepted papers, and the Conference Protocol specifically precludes the PC Chair from submitting a proposal.

XML system for abstracts developed for UVic conference were handed on and used to prepare Conference Abstracts book; this has worked well, and will be handed on to future local organisers.

JU paid specific tribute to Sara Schmidt, who did a great deal of work in the local organisation.

The Committee recorded its thanks to PC and its Chair, and to Local Organisers.

ACTION SH and CCC will review questions of ADHO subvention for local organisers and the requirement to validate membership.

ACTION SH and CCC will review question of covering costs of attendance at conferences of PC Chair.

9.4 2008: report from Local Organiser

LLOH reported that the local organising committee is fully operational, the conference web site is up and arrangements are well in hand.

Free wireless now covers not only the university but also the whole city centre.

Skeleton programme produced, but may need revision:

Registration likely to be about € 200 for members.

9.5 2009 Conference: proposals from prospective hosts

Presentations were made by Neil Fraistat on behalf of Maryland, and Glen Worthey on behalf of Stanford. The SC asked a number of questions in each case. This was followed by detailed discussion within the SC.

AGREED: To accept the Maryland proposal.
Prop: HS Sec: CB Nem con.
JU will report the decision to both presenters. Neil Fraistat to be asked to look for ways to reduce costs of attending.

The SC agreed that the process of preparing a proposal to host the conference should involve the CCC - see 9.1 above.

10. Prizes/Awards

10.1 Report on arrangements for 2007 Busa award

JU reported in absence of LH. Wilhelm Ott will give the Busa Lecture during the conference.

10.2 Busa Award protocol

If proposal to establish a Zampolli Prize (see 10.3 below) as an ADHO award is accepted, then protocol for Busa Award will need to be revised.

10.3 Zampolli Award protocol

ALLC has proposed that a Zampolli Award should be established, and would be happy for this to be adopted alongside the Busa Award as an ADHO scheme. In this case, ALLC proposes that the Zampolli Award should be for a specific achievement, perhaps recent; and that the Busa Award should be for a long-term - perhaps lifetime - achievement in the field.

Preference of SC was to retain 3-year gap between Busa awards, and to introduce the Zampolli award on the same basis, a year before or after the Busa. It was further suggested that a student award might be established for the third year of the cycle of awards.

AGREED: The Zampolli Award should be adopted by ADHO, subject to approval of ACH Council.
Prop: CB Sec: EB Nem con.

ACTION: DH to put proposal to ACH Council.

NOTE: DH reported at second SC meeting that ACH Council were in favour of the SC recommendations.

AGREED: An AHDO Awards Committee should be established as an additional Sub-Committee of the ADHO SC, with 1 representative from each constituent organisation plus a Chair appointed by the ADHO SC.
Prop: HS Sec: CB Nem con.

ACTION: HS to work with David Robey to prepare draft terms of reference for an ADHO Awards Committee, and draft wording for the revised Busa Award and the Zampolli Award protocols.

11. Admission of new Constituent Organisations

11.1 Formal application from SDH-SEMI

RS confirmed that the SDH-SEMI Committee had confirmed its formal request to be admitted as a constituent organisation i ADHO, on the basis of the timetable document sent to SDH-SEMI by JU and HS on behalf of the SC.

AGREED: To accept the application for admission, to welcome SDH-SEMI into ADHO, and to adopt the timetable document as formal basis for proceeding.
Prop: CB Sec: EB Nem con

AGREED: To invite RS to continue as a member of the SC.
Prop: EB Sec: CB Nem con

Perhaps the key issue still to be resolved in relation to SDH-SEMI membership of ADHO is the exact role of its journal Text Technology. There are various possibilities, including that of TT becoming an OUP journal. HS proposed that as a gesture of goodwill, the planned subvention to TT of Can$3,000 should be paid in 2007 - i.e. a year earlier than would be required under the timetable document.

AGREED: To make an initial subvention to TT in June 2007, subject to the agreement of the ALLC and ACH committees.
Prop: HS Sec: : CB Nem con.

ACTION: HS and DH to put subvention proposal to their respective committees.

NOTE: DH and HS reported in the second ST meeting that both their committees had approved the early subvention.

ACTION: RS and HS to continue to liaise to ensure admission timetable is followed appropriately, and to continue discussions with GR and PT with respect to Text Technology.

ACTION: RS and HS to liaise with PT and MT over subscription invitations/renewals to ensure appropriate integration of SDH-SEMI for 2008 subscriptions to LLC.

There was discussion about implications of SDH-SEMI admission on size and constitution of the ADHO SC. The Model 2 spreadsheet shows two possible configurations for a 5-person and a 7-person SC, based on a projection of SDH-SEMI membership at the same level as in June 2007.

ACTION: SC to discuss further by email and agree change to Protocol for proposal at June 2008 meetings.

11.2 Admissions protocol

ACTION: HS to continue re-drafting of protocol, and make it available to SC for email discussion, with a view to making a formal proposal at June 2008 meetings.

12. Membership services

MT presented her report, highlighting the actions taken to increase membership, including: mailings to previous members; new publicity materials; working with JU and the local organising team to ensure that those claiming reduced conferences fees on the grounds of LLC subscription really were subscribers. She has also done a lot of work with PT and colleagues at OUP to iron out problems in the subscription process.

The SC expressed its thanks to MT for all that she has been doing, and invited her to continue in her present role as a Co-opted member of the SC. MT expressed her willingness to continue. There will be further email discussion of a more formal Membership Services Coordinator position.

ACTION: JU/HS to initiate email discussion of MSC position on the SC.

13. Multi-Lingual Multi-Cultural Committee

EB presented her report. She highlighted a number of issues, including: she proposes that new Multilingual Editor of DHQ should be co-opted to MLMC Committee; Issues around work placements for simultaneous translation at conferences - more research is needed; her vision of tying ADHO's MLMC agenda into the training of interpreters and translators. One specific proposal is for a small project to use students to gather and analyse data.

RS reported that SDH-SEMI have been exploring wiki context, where important pieces are translated by interested members of the community.

AGREED: with agreement of ALLC and ACH committees, to provide the MCML Committee with a backstop budget of EURO 1-1.5K to employ students to gather and analyse data. (By 'backstop budget', the SC means a limit up to which expenditure may be made, but claiming only the amount actually used.)
Prop: CB Sec: EB Nem con

ACTION: DH and HS to put the proposal to their respective committees.

This led to wider-ranging discussion about the needs of Chairs of ADHO standing committees and the journal editors to fund meetings and meet other small-scale needs in carrying out their duties. This discussion led to a further proposal.

AGREED: with agreement of ALLC and ACH committees, to provide backstop budgets of 500 GBP each for the Chairs of the three Standing Committees - Conference, Publication and Multi-Lingual Multi-Cultural - and for the two journal editors - LLC and DHQ. Prop: HS Sec: CB Nem con.

ACTION: DH and HS to put the proposal to their respective committees.

NOTE: DH and HS reported in the second ST meeting that both their committees had approved the backstop budget proposals: (a) up to EURO 1.5K for student research for the MLMC Chair; and (b) up to 500 GBP for each of the three ADHO standing committee chairs, and for the two journal editors.

14. New opportunities

This item was discussed briefly in the second meeting. It was agreed the following topics could be followed up in email discussion:

  1. ADHO-level initiatives
  2. archives
  3. developing new constituent orgs
  4. summer institutes?
  5. workshops/teaching fund
  6. support for TEI: support for work groups
  7. support for young scholars
  8. graduate conferences
  9. mentoring

15. Any other business

15.1 TEI Members Meeting, Oct 2007

AGREED: that ADHO would provide some form of sponsorship, e.g. for food at a reception.

ACTION: JU to follow up on details by email.

Re-convened meeting : Sun 3 June 2007

4. Follow-up Business

4.1 Ratification of decisions

DH and HS reported that the ACH and ALLC committees respectively had endorsed all recommendations made by ADHO SC in Sat 2 June meeting:

  1. SDH-SEMI accession into ADHO as a constituent organisation
  2. Goodwill subvention to TT of Can $3,000
  3. Revenue distribution agreed as in the 'Model 1' spreadsheet
  4. From PC 2009, distribution of seats should change to ACH 3, ALLC 3, SDH-SEMI 2
  5. Subvention of US $500 [QUERY AMOUNT] to support move of Humanist to digitalhumanities.org*
  6. Backstop budget of US$2,500 to Publications Committee to support ADHO website
  7. Backstop budget of EURO 1,500 to MLMC Committee for research and analysis
  8. Backstop budgets of GBP 500 each to Chairs of standing committees and journal editors

Note: ADHO SC decision to support this was taken by email prior to the conference.

ACTION: HS to advise JA of decisions with financial consequences.

4.2 Membership of ADHO Steering Committee

DH and HS reported on the following nominations by the ACH and ALLC committees:
ACH: CB; JU
ALLC: EB; EO; HS

4.3 Election of Chair

John Unsworth Prop: CB Sec: EB Nem con

5. Appointments

The SC appoints a Secretary and Treasurer, the Chairs of the standing committees, and the Chair of the Programme Committee. Other members of the committees are nominated by the constituent organisations - one nominee per association per committee.

5.1 Secretary

Harold Short Prop: CB Sec: EB Nem con

5.2 Treasurer

Jean Anderson Prop: CH Sec: HS Nem con

5.3 Conference Coordination Committee

Chair: Susan Hockey Prop: HS Sec: CB Nem con
ACH: David Hoover
ALLC: Espen Ore

5.4 Multi-Lingual Multi-Cultural Committee

Chair: Elisabeth Burr Prop: JU Sec: HS Nem con
ACH: Natasha Smith
ALLC: Concha Sanz Miguel
Co-opted members: Christian Wittern; Jan Rybicki

5.5 Publications Committee

Chair: Ray Siemens Prop: JU Sec: HS Nem con
ACH: Gary Shawver
ALLC: Edward Vanhoutte
plus
LLC Editor (Marilyn Deegan)
DHQ Editor (Julia Flanders)
TT Editor (Geoffrey Rockwell)
Humanist Editor (Willard McCarty)
ACH web master (Elli Mylonas)
ALLC web master (Arianna Ciula/Paul Spence)

AGREED: to appoint a sub-Committee of the Publications Committee to advise on publications standards and archiving of past abstracts:
ADHO SC: JU; RS (Co-Chairs)
ACH: Allen Renear; Gary Shawver; Matt Zimmerman
ALLC: Espen Ore; Melissa Terras; Edward Vanhoutte
SDH-SEMI: Stefan Sinclair

5.6 Programme Committee 2009

As required by the Protocol, the ACH Council put forward two names for Chair of PC 2009: Allen Renear; Claire Warwick. The matter was discussed in the meeting, but as two ALLC members were absent, it was agreed that further discussion and the vote should be carried out by email. This was done during the course of the 2007 conference. The membership of PC 2009 is therefore:

Chair: Claire Warwick Prop: CB Sec: HS Nem con
ACH: Brett Barney; Willard McCarty; Allen Renear
ALLC: John Nerbonne; Jan Rybicki; Paul Spence
SDH-SEMI: Stefan Sinclair; Michael Eberle-Sinatra

Resp: Harold Short, Secretary ADHO Steering Committee
Date: August 2007
Status: Draft for ADHO SC

-- Main.JohnUnsworth - 03 Sep 2007

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