[Koha] Fwd: RFP: 3rd NAKUG/KohaNA meeting

[Paul A]

At 03:40 PM 11/19/2015 -0600, glaws wrote:
>Concession: there is sometimes, and possibly in this case, the tendency
>to equate North America (23 countries per Wikipedia) with the United
>States. That is more a careless, linguistic peccadillo, I suggest, than
>a felony warranting a call-to-arms.

Very respectfully, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America> lists 45 
countries (colourful table about 20% down the page)[1] including what 
"old-fashioned me" used to call "Central America" and "the Caribbean." 
North America is, at the very least, Canada, the USA, St Pierre et Miquelon 
and Greenland.

The phrase "Koha North America User's Group would like to invite agencies 
and libraries located within the United States to host its third annual 
meeting" is *NOT* a "linguistic peccadillo", it is an explicitly 
discriminatory invitation.

Paul
[1] Including, btw, La Navasse which is seen by most historians as an 
anomalous US land-grab under the Guano Islands Act of 1856 which allows the 
US President to "consider as appertaining to the United States" any piece 
of real estate covered in ... guano.


>B. Time of Meeting
>
>I don't think meeting in a particular month carries the same weight of
>concern as your first point about inclusiveness, or even your last about
>attendance fees.
>
>C. Attendance Fees
>
>Libraries, few in the US rich, don't always have good conference rooms,
>especially if there are conference break-out sessions. That may mean
>renting some hotel meeting room space for $1,000 a day. If it requires a
>$20 charge per person to get some good facilities I think that's reasonable.
>
>I have always, albeit typically privately, supported the idea of a
>reasonable attendance fee. I greatly appreciate it when a hosting
>organization provides coffee, maybe juice, and pastries for breakfast so
>that I don't have to run all over a hotel in the morning trying to find
>the $5 coffee and $4 donuts, being late for the inaugural address, and
>spilling now-cold coffee all over the nice lady in the row in front of
>me as I say "excuse-me, excuse-me" as I trip over people trying to get
>to the only open seat in the middle of the row in the middle of the
>room. Having coffee and donuts provided at the event is worth some coin
>to me and something more to the ex-nice lady soaked in cold vanilla
>hazelnut coffee which clashes terribly with her /parfum du jour/.
>
>
>
>Greg
>
>--------------------------------------
>
>
>
>On 11/19/2015 02:19 PM, BWS Johnson wrote:
> > Salvete!
> >
> >
> >> The Koha North America User’s Group would like to invite agencies and
> >> libraries located within the United States to host its third annual 
> meeting
> >> held in early August, 2016. This meeting offers participants two days of
> >> instructional sessions and presentations, followed by a two day hackfest.
> >
> >     At risk of beating a dead horse, I am once again disappointed that 
> this body has taken up the mantle of "North America". There are plenty of 
> Libraries, Organisations, and Agencies within North America that do not 
> fit your group's stringent United States centric viewpoint. I am also 
> continually saddened that this body will only consider meeting in early 
> August. It is further too bad that you all charge fees for your meeting. 
> The three of these problems in combination send a strong repeated message 
> that inclusivity is not an aim of your organisation, whether that be a 
> valid conclusion to draw or no. I do so hope that at some point in 
> future, this group might reconsider any or all of those matters.
> >
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Brooke
> > _______________________________________________
> > Koha mailing list  http://koha-community.org
> > Koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
> > https://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
>
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