Tibor Kiss (tibor@heidelbg.ibm.com)
Tue, 09 Dec 1997 09:04:11 +0100
Dear Collegues around the world, now that I know from Shalom's and Karel's reactions that I did not miss the important bits and pieces in the process which led to the announcement of F... 97, let me point out in some more detail why I did ask. 1. The Background HPSG n>5 used to be an opportunity for HPSG practitioners to talk to other HPSG practitioners without having to explain that SUBCAT, ARG-S or what-have-you is a list, can be concatenated and stuff like that. But even if you are talking to other people who share lot of your background assumptions, putting interesting analyses into 20 minutes is pretty hard. There seems to be a misunderstanding around that talking in front of CG people about HPSG is easier than talking in front of GB/MP people. It's not, and I do not share Shalom's opinion that most CGs and FGs are open-minded. Shalom surely is, but he is surely not the standard for open-mindedness (he should be, anyway). Everybody who does not share my opinion should closely examine the review Karel got and should give me an explanation which is consistent with his/her view in *this* world. 2. Democracy The HPSG community does not have a constitution. It is thus not a necessary prerequisite for the organisers of such a conference to appeal to democratic methods such as 'ask the ones who will be affected', 'let's get a broader opinion and discuss the issue in the HPSG list'. But I still feel sad about being excluded from the decision process. 3. Civil Disobedience I am however not excluded from reacting to the result of the decision process. In this context, I have to express my deepest concern about the fact that I received personal emails from HPSGers who shared my views but required that I do not make these public. Could anybody explain this to me? In any case, I have a suggestion: Every committee is open to issue Calls-for-Papers for conferences, and every scientist is open to not react to these calls. Anti-democratic tendencies can always be made explicit by offering alternatives. So why not have HPSG 5 (a.k.a. we-are-we 1997) in Saarbruecken? Comments please, particularly from big shots and no *personal* notes, please. Tibor =============================================================== PD Dr. Tibor Kiss, IBM Germany WT, Vangerowstr. 18 D-69115 Heidelberg, +49-6221-594483 -3400 (fax) Alles was man sagen kann, kann man klar sagen. ===============================================================
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