Meeting of the ADHO Steering Committee (SC)

Paris, 4 July 2006 *9:00 a.m. *

Attendance Voting members: Chuck Bush (CB); Laszlo Hunyadi (LHd); Espen Ore (EO); Harold Short (HS); John Unsworth (JU)

In attendance: Jean Anderson (JA) (Treasurer); Elisabeth Burr (EB) (Chair SCM); Julia Flanders (JF) (Editor, DHQ); Lisa Lena Opas-H‰nninen (LLOH) (Chair, Programme Committee 2006); Lorna Hughes (LHg) (President, ACH); Willard McCarty (WM) (Editor, Humanist) Ray Siemens (RS) (Chair, SDH/SEMI); Guest attendance: Patricia Thomas (PT) (OUP) Apologies: Marilyn Deegan (Editor, LLC); Susan Hockey (Chair, Conference Co-ordination Committee); Geoffrey Rockwell (Chair, Publications Committee)

Elections

Chair John Unsworth prop HS sec EO nem con.

Secretary Harold Short prop JU sec CB nem con.

Appointment of Treasurer Jean Anderson prop CB sec LH nem con.

Finances REPORTED: HS presented a document summarising and analysing LLC subscriptions and income for Jan-Dec 2005. AGREED: this document is to form the basis for 2006 revenue distribution of 2005 income, and the membership basis of the ADHO SC. Prop HS Sec JU nem con.

AGREED: Timing of payments to be mid-year, within 6 weeks of ADHO SC meeting at which the financial statement is agreed. Prop CB Sec HS nem con.

Publications

REPORTED: The report from the Chair of the Publications Committee, and the current draft protocol can be seen on the Digital Humanities (DH) web site.

LLC REPORTED: Report from OUP presented by Trish Thomas. OUP now has complete archive of back issues online, which are available to libraries for a fee, and to individual subscribers without charge as a benefit of subscription. The Chair thanked PT for her attendance and her report.

DHQ REPORTED: JF reported that there has been substantial progress, but DHQ is not yet ready for its formal launch. Her full report can be seen on the DH web site.

Humanist REPORTED: WM reported on the past year and the current state of Humanist. He made the case for ADHO to provide practical support - e.g. finance and/or infrastructure. ACTION: SC to consider provision of support for Humanist.

Illinois series REPORTED: RS and Susan Schreibman are working with Illinois University Press to establish the Topics in Digital Humanities monograph series.

Conferences 2006 REPORTED: LLOH reported on preparations for the 2006 conference.

2007 REPORTED: JU reported on local arrangements. RS reported on the start of the 2007 Programme Committee deliberations.

2008 PROPOSAL: LLOH presented a proposal to host Digital Humanities 2008 in Oulu, Finland. AGREED: 2008 conference will be held in Oulu. Prop CB Sec LHd nem con.

ACTION: HS to send list of three names proposed by ALLC Committee to the SC for appointment of 2008 PC Chair.

ACTION: HS and LHg to send names of PC 2008 members appointed by ALLC Committee and ACH Council (4 names each) to the SC.

2009: ACTION: Call for hosts for DH09 to be issued asap by Chair of CCC. HS to liaise with SH.

SCM REPORTED: Report from EB included overview of draft protocol for the SCM. AGREED: the working cycle should be annual, although it is important that the SC and the COs ensure appropriate continuity as well as renewal.

Appointments to SCs AGREED: as Standing Committee Chairs are to be appointed for a year at a time, with the appointment renewable, these appointments need to be a standing item on the SC agenda.

CCC Chair: SH prop LHd sec EO nem con.

PC Chair: GR prop EO sec CB nem con.

SCM: EB prop HS sec LHd nem con.

ACTION: COs to include appointment of representatives on Standing Committees as part of their annual conference meeting agendas.

Busa Committee REPORTED: LHg reported that proposals have been received, and a short list of three has been agreed. Decision on the award is to be made asap, and in any case no later than 1 Sep 2006.

New Opportunities REPORTED: JU reported that arising out of work of the Commission on Cyberinfrastructure for Humanities and Social Sciences, there are possibilities for ADHO to pursue and perform a role in the online publication developments for learned societies in the Humanities.

A practical way forward would be to establish a clearing-house equivalent of Science Online. Likely that funding would be forthcoming, e.g. from the Mellon. WM suggested that Humanist might be a suitable vehicle.

AGREED: JU will present and discuss these possibilities at the ADHO open meeting at this conference, and HS and LHg will ensure discussion at ALLC and ACH meetings. All will participate in ongoing discussion about possible actions.

Protocols

Governance

II.5 addition of DHQ Editor and Humanist Editor

II Sub-Committees: 2 Add DHQ and Humanist Editors to Pub Com

II Sub-Committees: insert new item 3 for Standing Committee on Multi-Lingualism and Multi-Culturalism.

II.5 deleted

II.7 deleted

II.8 Responsibilities of ADHO SC to be retained, and moved higher.

IV.4 clause added to reflect sharing of revenue from joint individual subscriptions (cf V.2)

AGREED: with these changes, the SC commends the Governance Protocol to the committees of the Constituent Organsiations for final ratification. Prop EO Sec CB nem con.

Conference

SH will be following up with CCC members (EO and JF) to pursue further modifications to the Annex, and preparation of additional guidelines.

AGREED: PC Chair to be asked to ensure the election of a Deputy Chair of the PC from among its members at its first meeting.

AGREED: With this change, the SC commends the Conference Protocol to the committees of the Constituent Organsiations for final ratification. Prop LHd Sec HS nem con.

Admission of new organisations

REPORTED: HS reported on discussons with RS about possible admission of SDH/SEMI as a full Constituent Organisation of ADHO. The emergent preferred model involves membership of SDH/SEMI becoming via subscription to LLC, and Text Technology being adopted as a financially supported ADHO publication. HS tabled a financial model illustrating the consequences of such an approach.

HS tabled a draft document on admission of new organisations, and talked briefly about some of the key elements.

AGREED: that the principles under discussion for the admission of SDH/SEMI were likely to be acceptable to the SC.

ACTION: HS and RS to continue discussions on admission of SDH/SEMI. ACTION: HS to continue with work on a general admissions protocol.

The meeting was closed at 12:50 p.m.

-- Main.JohnUnsworth - 05 May 2007