[tdwg] tdwg 2012 in inappropriate venue

[Paul Kirk]

Greetings from Beijing ... this is just an observation ... not an opinion.



Frustrated that the entire content of the Biodiversity Heritage Library is blocked, here in the Chinese Academy of Sciences - the issue is being 'escalated up the chain of command', but I'm not holding my breath ... :-)



Paul

________________________________
From: tdwg-bounces at lists.tdwg.org [tdwg-bounces at lists.tdwg.org] on behalf of Annie Simpson [simpson.annie at gmail.com]
Sent: 10 May 2012 23:23
To: tdwg at lists.tdwg.org
Subject: Re: [tdwg] tdwg 2012 in inappropriate venue


Dear Fellow TDWG members:

Often the discussions on TDWG lists can overwhelm due to number of responses and depth of content. I am therefore astounded that there have been no replies to Bob Morris' well-thought-out and convincingly-delivered argument of 22-April (copied here below) about our 2012 meetings. I did not answer sooner under the assumption that there was discussion going on behind the scenes by the TDWG Executive. So far, crickets.

I'd like to go on the record with a personal but hesitant response that does not reflect the views of my employer.

I share Bob's concerns. What do the rest of you think?


Annie Simpson


From:


Bob Morris <morris.bob at gmail.com<mailto:morris.bob at gmail.com>>


To:


tdwg at lists.tdwg.org<mailto:tdwg at lists.tdwg.org>


Date:


22/04/2012 15:22


Subject:


[tdwg] tdwg 2012 in inappropriate venue


Sent by:


tdwg-bounces at lists.tdwg.org<mailto:tdwg-bounces at lists.tdwg.org>





Dear fellow TDWG members,

As I said publicly at TDWG 2011, I feel that it is inappropriate for
an organization devoted to the open exchange of scientific data and
information to hold a meeting in a country where there is routine
governmental suppression of internet connectivity on political
grounds.  I personally would attend any scientific meeting in such a
country except one by an organization like TDWG which should be taking
a position about openness of access to information, and I hope others
will join me in this position and publicly decline to attend TDWG
2012.

Sometimes an argument is made in such cases that participation is a
way to support the hosting organization, which in this case is
eminent. But often just the opposite can result: the authorities will
proudly say to themselves: "See, they come anyway."

Bob Morris

--
Robert A. Morris

Emeritus Professor  of Computer Science
UMASS-Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd
Boston, MA 02125-3390

IT Staff
Filtered Push Project
Harvard University Herbaria
Harvard University

email: morris.bob at gmail.com<mailto:morris.bob at gmail.com>
web: http://efg.cs.umb.edu/
web: http://etaxonomy.org/mw/FilteredPush
http://www.cs.umb.edu/~ram
===
The content of this communication is made entirely on my
own behalf and in no way should be deemed to express
official positions of The University of Massachusetts at Boston or
Harvard University.
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P Think Green - don't print this email unless you really need to

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