[SIGCIS-Members] SIGCIS Conference 2020: Regretfully Canceled

[Evan Koblentz]

A good decision, thank you for sharing.

In 2020, "The only winning move is not to play."


On 4/22/20 10:27 AM, Laine Nooney wrote:
> To our fabulous SIGCIS community,
>
> It is with great regret that I write to announce the cancellation of 
> the SIGCIS 2020 fall conference. The organizing team was incredibly 
> excited to share the conference call and keynote selection for our 
> annually co-located event with SHOT, scheduled for this year in New 
> Orleans. Yet as the time for launching the CFP approached, we felt it 
> was essential to take an unvarnished view of current events.
>
> Travel and large gatherings seem likely to remain restricted in the 
> fall and will certainly remain high risk for many members of our 
> community. Furthermore, many of us are experiencing greater 
> institutional and economic precarity than ever before, as we watch 
> hiring lines pulled, offers withdrawn, and research funds frozen. The 
> full impact of COVID-19 is going to run a long course through our 
> community.
>
> This decision is not a message about the likelihood of SHOT happening. 
> Rather, as a small set of volunteers with no economic 
> liabilities/contracts in play, we made the decision that we did not 
> want to go through the labor of pulling together a conference if there 
> was a probability that it would need to be canceled or it would be 
> challenging for members of our community to attend.
>
> We considered keeping our call and holding the conference virtually, 
> but virtual events have their own logistical challenges, in addition 
> to all the standard labor of conference organization. In short, we did 
> not think it was prudent for the mental health of any of us to take on 
> a set of new and unfamiliar burdens in the middle of a pandemic that 
> is rapidly changing our research, teaching, and service. Furthermore, 
> we all shared an unease about putting out a call for scholarship 
> during these obviously turbulent times; moving forward as if business 
> was usual did not sit well with any of us.
>
> We do intend to organize some kind of connecting event, probably 
> virtually, during the weekend that SIGCIS would usually occur. 
> However, we want to be able to be responsive to where people are, 
> professionally and emotionally, in several months. Therefore, we are 
> not making commitments to format just yet.
>
> This decision was made with a grim certainty that this was the right 
> course of action; that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard to make. For all of 
> us on the organizing committee—myself, Stephanie, Morgan, Andy, and 
> Kera—SIGCIS is a key intellectual and interpersonal community, a space 
> of not just colleagues, but friends. Personally speaking, SIGCIS has 
> become one of the highlights of my academic year, and I have 
> tremendous gratitude for how enthusiastically so many of you have 
> supported the work this team does, as we work to build a history that 
> imagines a better future.
>
> Stay safe--until we meet again,
>
> SIGCIS Conference Committee
> Laine Nooney, Vice-Chair of Meetings
> Stephanie Dick
> Morgan Ames
> Andy Russell, SIGCIS Chair
> Kera Allen
>
>
> ---------------------------------------
>
> Laine Nooney <http://www.lainenooney.com/>
>
> MCC <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/> @ NYU <http://www.nyu.edu/>
> Assistant Professor
>
> -Need to make an appt? Click, don't email: https://bit.ly/2GIHuK0
> -Probably typed by voice recognition, so please cherish typos
>
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