Dear all,

My apologies for the long silence. I have been following the discussion from the beginning trying to formulate my position and where it coincides with either of the models.

Without trying to influence necessarily each of the models. I would like to draw attention to the successes of previous work under ADHO SIG-ship.

On the one hand, there are the indisputable one as seen in projects like DH whisperers (now the Translation Toolkit), AroundDH, Minimal Computing, etc.

On the other hand, are the less visible ones but which I believe have the potential to foster the infrastructure that Tunde and Miguel speak of. These, in my mind, are the roles within the organization that our members are now occupying though their work at GO::DH specifically or through other avenues:

-       First and most obvious, the local organizers of DH2018 – first time the conference will be held and run in the global south,

-       Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that I, personally, am the first PC-chair (co-chair) who is a person of color,

-       The profile of authors, co-authors, and reviewers for 2018 is also showing a stronger global south presence,

-       2018 will be the second consecutive year that the conference is officially bilingual

While it’s true that institutional change is slow, it is precisely now that we are seeing the fruits of our labor. There is no reason to believe that this is as far as we can get. On the contrary, over this basis already within ADHO, and thankfully not exclusively attached to the “special” interests of GO::DH, we can build much more be it in the form of projects or other terms for broader representation from the global south.

I agree that reformulations of the role of GO::DH within ADHO are necessary and we should work towards that – even if it means burying GO::DH as we know it, in order to become something else within ADHO (a CO, or maybe something else?). But observing carefully the landscape that we currently have before us, one full of potential in my opinion, I think that an exit from the organization would be premature, especially in consideration to the objectives and aspirations as those outlined by Tunde and Miguel.

Thanks for reading.

All best,

Élika