On Jun 7, 2016, at 10:53 PM, Mike Giarlo <mjgia...@stanford.edu> wrote:
>>> I'm also interested in investigating how to formalize Code4Lib as an >>> entity, for all of the reasons listed earlier in the thread… >> >> -1 because I don’t think the benefits will outweigh the emotional and >> bureaucratic expense. We already have enough rules. > > Can you say more about what you expect "the emotional and bureaucratic > expense" to be? Bureaucratic and emotional expenses include yet more committees and politics. Things will happen increasingly slowly. Our community will be less nimble and somewhat governed by outside forces. We will end up with presidents, vice-presidents, secretaries, etc. Increasingly there will be “inside” and “outside”. The inside will make decisions and the outside won’t understand and feel left out. That is what happens when formalization take place. The regional conferences are good things. I call them franchises. The annual meeting does not have to be a big deal, and the smaller it is, the less financial risk there will be. Somebody will always come forward. It will just happen. — Eric Lease Morgan