Dear Jan,

This is an acknowledgement of your communication rather than thanks.
The list owner and I have both addressed this issue. You have
continued the thread, stating it as an ethical principle. Since you
and others have commented on private communication, I will restate
conference policy.

This is a conference with a purpose and protocol. Everyone interested
in conference issues is invited to enter into the dialogue. In doing
so, they agree to accept conference policy. This principle is
generally true of list policy as a whole.

A conference is a voluntary assembly. People who think that the
conference is uninteresting or badly managed are free to ignore it.

The list is voluntary. No one requires anyone to subscribe. JISCMAIL
offers dozens of lists in design, art, technology, craft, and related
fields including RTI, ENQUIRE, RIDE, DRS and many others. Beyond
this, Yahoo hosts hundreds of lists, and there are thousands of other
Listserv lists on different host servers.

If you wish to demonstrate that your view builds good communication,
why not start a discussion on another list? There are hundreds of
lists - large and small - in the art and design sector that will
welcome you. You can even start a new list with your own policies. If
you think the conference topic is interesting and you do not agree
with the way we are managing the conference, you are free to start
your own conference on the UCI proposal elsewhere.

I am not suggesting that you leave this list. I am saying that if you
insist on a radically different way of working, you can set up
another list with different policies. You can try your new model
there. We ask you to accept the policies of this list for your
interactions here.

You are welcome to participate in the conference. In doing so, we ask
you to respect the policies and protocols of this conference and the
policies of the PhD-Design list.

At this time, I am calling an end to any further discussion about the
issue of private notes.

Here is the conference policy on private communication.

If any list member sends a private note to anyone else, that is his
or her decision. If a list member does not wish to receive private
communication from another list member, he or she is free to inform
the author of the communication that private communication is not
welcome.

Participating on JISCMAIL lists requires that list members make their
email available to the community. In doing so, an author necessarily
permits private communication. JISCMAIL is an academic list service.
Scholarly and scientific journals publish author contact details,
often including email address and even telephone numbers. Presenters
at a conference are available to anyone during the coffee break. Many
public exchanges of ideas in the great scholarly and political
journals of the past several centuries grew from private exchanges
that took place before the authors were ready to launch their
exchange in public. A member of a voluntary public list SHOULD be
available for private queries, private contact, and even for private
challenges from other members who seek to influence his or her
opinion. That is the policy in this conference and the policy of this
list.

Under no circumstances is private communication to be posted here.
Neither is private communication to be discussed in such a way that
the originator or respondent feels forced to make the communication
public to defend against misrepresentation.

Some notes from the convener constitute both private notes and
conference business. When the convener sends a private note for the
purposes of the conference, it is because the convener specifically
intends the content to be private. Making appropriate judgments on
such issues is the convener's responsibility. If anyone believes that
the convener has in some way neglected his responsibilities or
interpreted them badly, he or she is free to address his concerns to
the convener. I am the convener. Anyone who feels that the convener
needs a caution or reminder from higher authority is free to take
matters up with the list owner, David Durling.

Jan, if you or anyone else feels the issue of private communication
within the list community of PhD-Design is important enough to
warrant further discussion, I invite you to raise the issue as a
thread AFTER this conference is completed.

The matter is closed until that time.

--

Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Leadership and Organization
Norwegian School of Management

Visiting Professor
Advanced Research Institute
Faculty of Art, Media, and Design
Staffordshire University