let's go

[Beeching, Kate]

I like the idea of having a traditional agenda and working
through it (i.e. some kind of structure) but what is the
time-scale of the meetings i.e. between 2-5 p.m. or
Mon-Tues. Working in Europe/America might make this
awkward. How do "get to the end" of an item? Begins to make
all those endless face-to-face meetings we have look like
child's-play. And might discussions not get very lengthy
with so many members?
As few seem to have responded to the call for discussion on
the Philosophy of GALA (a BIG question!), can I ask a small
practical one? (or put it on a future agenda). I look at
Gender in French and am a committe member of the
Association for French Language Studies here in the UK. We
are holding our annual conference in Quebec in the year
2000 (end of August). I have been asked to chair the
Language and Gender Panel. Is there anyone out there
working on Language and Gender in (possibly Canadian)
French who would like to join us? Many thanks and
apologies for airing a personal concern in what is perhaps
an inappropriate place. (Though I hope promoting
international cross-fertilisation which I think is part of
the philosophy of GALA?) Kate Beeching


On Tue, 23 Feb 1999 19:02:10 -0500 "Megan J. Crowhurst"
<mjcrowhu at email.unc.edu> wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> The first item on the agenda was raised for discussion a few days ago; has
> there just not been any discussion, or did I somehow get kicked off the
> list?
>
> Anyway:
>
> <snip>
> > ...proceed with the first proposed discussion item:
> >
> > I. philosophy of GALA,
> >
> >  a)  What will happen when the six months are up?  How will we implement our
> > discussion and resolutions?
>
> So, does this mean that this list will work for six months, and then if we
> still want a list, we should start a new one?
>
> Speaking as a member (and not as a facilitator), I think an email list
> will be a truly important tool in helping this to be a really diverse,
> international community.  So, I would be in favour of continuing the email
> list in some form.  Also, email is the cheapest, quickest, and easiest way
> to get information to and receive feedback from people within the
> organization.  ...but perhaps it shouldn't be the *only* way? What about
> including members who may have only sporadic access (if any) to email?
>
> Speaking as a facilitator now, it had occurred to me to wonder whether the
> process we're leading the list into now seems bewildering, and whether
> we've really explained what the process is and why we're doing it this
> way.  As it turns out, all of the facilitators of this list are or have
> been members of COSWL (the LSA's Committee on the Status of Women in
> Linguistics).  COSWL members are selected from different geographical
> reagions within the USA (and Canada?) and so much of the Committee's work
> takes place on email.  The standard procedure for that organization is to
> have prearranged times for email meetings--at least one summer meeting and
> one winter meeting (and maybe others I've forgotten about).  Prior to the
> meeting, the co-chairs solicit contributions for an agenda, then the
> agenda is approved and distributed, and the various items are then raised
> and discussed in sequence, just as at a business meeting.  In case some of
> us are so familiar with the format that it hasn't been explained well to
> others (and I've not been reading carefully lately, so excuse me if this
> is all repeated), this is where the process has come from.
>
> Best,
> Megan

----------------------------------------
Beeching, Kate
Email: Kate.Beeching at uwe.ac.uk
"University of the West of England"