[tei-council] Farewell!

James Cummings James.Cummings at oucs.ox.ac.uk
Sat Jan 29 05:34:14 EST 2011


I should point out, in case of any misunderstanding, that I am not in 
any way claiming that these problems were Dan's fault.  They certainly 
existed before his term, and the TEI has increasingly become more 
transparent during it and has changed much about the way it works.  I 
only mention it because of the other thread discussing an increase in 
transparency and openness in the way the council works. As I suggested 
it might benefit community involvement if when new minutes were posted 
here: http://www.tei-c.org/Board/ that an announcement was sent to 
TEI-L. That seems a simple step. And I notice that this board page 
doesn't seem to be linked to from the website menu in an obvious place, 
is this intentional? Should David or I change it? Again, none of this is 
Dan's fault, it is just as much mine and yours, we are a community-based 
organisation. Dan will be missed and has done a lot in promoting public 
awareness of the TEI during his term.

-James

On 28/01/11 15:51, O'Donnell, Dan wrote:
> Ah well. These all seem quite valid criticisms.
>
> One does one's best, especially in a volunteer position at a time of
> great change. But it is difficult to get it all right, especially in an
> organisation that is as active in as wide a range of activities nowadays
> as the TEI.
>
> What's needed is people with a vision of what needs to be fixed: James
> you should run for the Board next November! I had a similar sense of
> (different) things that needed addressing on the Board when I ran. And
> now it is time for others to fix the things I messed up, or didn't see,
> or imperfectly implemented.
>
> -dan
>
> On 11-01-28 01:55 AM, James Cummings wrote:
>> On 27/01/11 18:28, O'Donnell, Dan wrote:
>>> He's been active on the list already, I thought. That was why I thought
>>> you guys already knew. Anyway. Now you do.
>>
>> And more to the point, since tei-council is a public list, this means
>> you've announced it publicly so might as well do so on TEI-L.
>>
>> Welcome Martin. I'd noticed him contribute but to be honest wasn't quite
>> sure why he was on the list. I think this is symptomatic of a lot of the
>> decisions that happen at the board level. The Council often does not
>> hear about them, or know about changes in policy, until they are
>> announced on TEI-L. (If, indeed, they are.) I would welcome greater
>> reporting from the Board to the Council and transparency in Board
>> activities. e.g. A lot more public minutes of Board meetings would
>> certainly help, announced on TEI-L when they are made available. I
>> recognise the Board has to have some confidentiality (e.g. in financial
>> matters or ad hominem discussions) but think that we could be a lot more
>> transparent generally, and that this would be a good thing in terms of
>> community building and publicity.
>>
>> -James
>>


-- 
Dr James Cummings
Research Technologies Service, University of Oxford


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