|
|
|
|
Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing Committee Meeting, 11th July 1995 Minutes of the Committee Meeting of the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing held at the University of California, Santa Barbara on 11th July 1995 at 08.00 hours Present: Susan Hockey (Chair), Harold Short (Treasurer), David Holmes (Secretary), Gordon Dixon (Editor of Literary and Linguistic Computing), Lou Burnard, Michael Sperberg-McQueen, Lisa Lena Opas, Espen Ore (visitor). Note: since only 3 members of the Committee were present, the meeting was not quorate. If you wish to register dissent from any of the decisions taken, please inform the secretary forthwith. 1. Apologies for absence were received from Marilyn Deegan, Christian Delcourt, Paul Fortier, Antonio Zampolli. 2. The Minutes of the previous meeting, held at the Sorbonne on 18th April 1994 were accepted as correct. 3. There were no matters arising from the Minutes. 4. Chairman's Report The Chairman reported that Paul Fortier and Christian Delcourt had been re-elected to the Commitee, and Nancy Ide and Lisa Lena Opas has been elected as new members. It was noted that Antonio Zampolli was automatically on the Committee as President. After discussion, it was agreed that, ideally, three members of the Committee should be up for re-election each year and to move towards the achievement of this goal one of this year's four elected members should only serve a two-year term. The Constitution of the Association would need to be amended in this respect, so notice was given of an Extraordinary Meeting of the Committee to be held immediately following the Annual General Meeting on 13th July. It was envisaged that there would be a drawing of lots to decide on who was to serve the two-year term. At this Extraordinary Meeting, the Constitution would also be revised in order to add the specific point that no person could propose themselves for election to the Committee. 5. Treasurer's Report The Treasurer presented the accounts and the healthy financial position of the Association was noted. A new bank account had been opened with the Bank of Scotland and it was resolved that this account would be held until further notice. A lengthy discussion followed the report concerning the most productive way in which to spend surplus monies in order to maximise the benefit to the Association. Three main strategies were agreed: (i) Support for young people (under 30 years of age) to attend the annual conference should be provided by offering up to five 'scholarships' each up to £500, each year. Notice of these scholarships would be put into the 'call for papers' and they would be competitive. Papers would be submitted to the Programme Committee in the normal way but candidates would need to slate that they were entering the competition. A delegation of ALLC representatives on the Program Committee would then judge the papers for the awards. (ii) Funding should be provided for a guest speaker to present a 'special lecture' at each annual conference, subject to discussions with the ACH. (iii) Active Special Interest Groups (SIGS) should be encouraged and supported by funding. There would be a call for proposals from groups of people to form such groups and a sub-committee consisting of Lou Burnard, Lisa Lena Opas and David Holmes would decide how best to implement this proposal. The hope would be that the work done by SIGS would result in ALLC handbooks. Other ideas discussed were the production of promotional material and the sponsoring of workshops. 6. Secretary's Report The Secretary drew attention to the membership figures for the past three years and the need to promote the Association in order to arrest the small but steady decline in membership. The Secretary also highlighted the problem of the size of the Committee and the desirability of moving as quickly as possible to the position where, each year, three members become eligible for re-election. 7. Election of Officers The current officers were re-elected and Susan Hockey resumed the Chair. 8. Publications The Editor of Literary and Linguistic Computing, Gordon Dixon, presented an extensive written report. It was noted how, although the main editorial activities remain unchanged, Oxford University Press have now released the Editor from the responsibility for many activities associated with production of the Journal. OUP have also arranged to preserve all publications received by the Editor since the establishment of the Journal in a repository. The Editor visited OUP during the year to discuss editorial and production matters and the discussions had led to an agreement that a major push would be undertaken in the next 12 months to boost subscriptions. A small increase in subscriber prices was necessary for next year. It was noted that three vacancies had now arisen, namely the posts of Book Reviews Editor, Bibliographer and the representative for English Texts for Language Research. Susan Hockey, as co-editor of Research in Humanities Computing reported that Volume IV was in press and that Volume V would cover the Georgetown and Paris Conferences, with Volume VI covering the present conference. 9. Conference Arrangements Espen Ore reported that arrangements were well advanced for the 1996 Bergen Conference and gave details of costs. It was noted that a Program Committee needed to be formed as soon as possible. Two general issues remain to be resolved concerning conferences, namely the length of the abstracts and whether or not people on the Program Committee should be allowed to submit papers. These matters were the subject of on-going discussions with ACH. 10. Text Encoding Initiative Lou Burnard reported on the recent workshops. He pointed out that sales of the 'Guidelines' have continued to exceed expectations and they will be re-printed. A 50-60 page document 'TEl Lite' has been produced for training purposes, the first in a series of specialised tutorials aimed at specialised audiences. The Executive Committee of the TEl have approved procedures for keeping the 'Guidelines' current. 11. World Wide Web It was agreed that it would be useful to have an ALLC page on the WWW, preferably one on each side of the Atlantic. A person was needed for editorial responsibility in this respect. 12. Honorary Membership It was agreed that John Roper and Tom Corns should be given Honorary Membership of the ALLC in recognition of their service. 13. Any other business There was no other business. The meeting closed at 10.00 hours. |
|
|
