New subject: invitation: participation in book+manifesto sprint: diversity 4 sustainability

22 Jul 2019


      Dear all,
I am writing to follow up on the long-dormant discussion thread about the future of GO::DH with regard to ADHO. The vote in late 2017 indicated that the membership would like the exec to look into what would be involved in joining ADHO as a constituent organization (CO). At DH 2019, Barbara Bordalejo and I met with Harold Short (chair of the ADHO Admissions Committee) and Ray Siemens (also on the Admissions Committee) about the conditions under which GO::DH could join as CO of ADHO.
Since the GO::DH membership last discussed the possibility of becoming a CO, ADHO itself has undergone a massive reorganization. Most significantly, ADHO is led by a Constituent Board, where each CO has one representative -- regardless of the number of members of that CO. (Previously, EADH had the most representation because they had the most members, followed by ACH.) There is also an Executive Board, which is in charge of carrying out the decisions made by the Constituent Board. Becoming a CO would give GO::DH a voice equal to any other CO in the high-level decision-making processes of ADHO.
Barbara and I made it clear to Harold and Ray that not having a membership fee was essential for GO::DH, and while GO::DH would be the first organization with that requirement, they noted that ADHO has adapted its rules many times for new members, and didn’t see not charging a membership fee as a barrier to ADHO admission. A related requirement from the ADHO side is that COs have an official way to receive and manage money (i.e. a treasurer, bank account, etc.), but since we’re not collecting membership fees, they were also receptive to the idea of not having that as a requirement for GO::DH, either.
Currently, ADHO COs are guaranteed $3k/year if their membership fees aren’t enough to provide at least that much. Because GO::DH doesn’t collect membership fees, and wouldn’t have an official way to manage money, we talked about waiving the annual $3k subvention from ADHO, and instead requesting funds on an as-needed basis for projects. These funds could then go directly to the institution(s) organizing those projects (e.g. workshops, etc.) Instead of getting $3k from ADHO, we talked about the possibility of getting annual registration fee waivers for our members (e.g. those from countries that can receive free access to LLC) to the DH conference, and other events, workshops, and trainings. We felt that those registration fee waivers may ultimately be more valuable than the $3k, and working with other COs to obtain those waivers will help strengthen our partnerships throughout ADHO.
We welcome any thoughts or feedback from you on the possibility of admission to ADHO as a CO, now or at any point in the process. Please let me know if you have any questions. From here, the next step is to draft a proposal, get feedback from the GO::DH membership, and ideally, connect with other COs about what we might be able to do together. I started some of these discussions informally at the conference, and so far the response has been overwhelmingly warm and positive. Laura Mandell of centerNet, in particular, is excited about the possibility of having another globally-scoped organization to collaborate with.
Looking back on the discussions from 2017, I’m optimistic that GO::DH is now in a position to have the best of both worlds: giving our members a voice in international DH decision-making through becoming an ADHO CO, as well as working on projects that raise the visibility of digital humanities work going on across the globe, in many languages. As mentioned at the GO::DH meeting in Utrecht, we’re starting work on a new “Around DH” project that will run throughout 2020, as well as revisiting the 2012 infographic quantifying DH that was rightly criticized for omitting the Global South: http://www.globaloutlookdh.org/around-dh-2020-and-quantifying-dh-infographic...  If you’d like to help work on either of those projects, or have your work featured in “Around DH 2020”, please fill out the form(s) on that blog post.
Thanks for reading this long note; please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions on it.
All the best,
Quinn

GO::DH and ADHO membership