Dear Dr. Durling,
With much respect (as an almost-PhD novice), I'd like to offer a thought
for consideration.
The issues of this list are common to relevant degrees of all human
endeavors I've been part of, or been able to witness closely. I suspect
this is the case in all activities where more than one human participates
and contradictory points of view need resolution. I often remember one of
my dad's favorite quotes: "a camel is a horse designed by a committee".
I wonder if it wouldn't be obvious to declare that not all points of view
or conversation styles will have space on this list and that a specific
community needs to be described and serviced in a particular way. Yes, that
leaves out some other communities (hence your recent sifting of potential
members); but this list can only be efficient if it is focused (I believe).
Also, wouldn't all designers here agree that we all design within
limitations?
The best contribution this list can offer to the specific community it's
trying to serve is to demonstrate that PhD-level Design thinkers can
actually design a forum to operate efficiently in a designerly way. Where
efficiency is perhaps understood as, mostly all interactions result in
useful focused service for that specific community.
This could mean that, in the designerly spirit, there could be a model of
interaction that considers iterative points of view, but that has the
limitations that you (the list owner) decide when and for how long to
implement so that overtime, the list can continue to transform into
something mostly useful most of the time.
Perhaps you could consider:
(1) retaining the final say (this includes blocking access, if temporary,
to people who exhibit certain behaviour or continue to contribute outside
of the set parameters);
(2) creating a system to receive suggestions that you consider and
implement as you see fit (yes, this will leave out, if temporarily, some
points of view);
This can very well include that you will select a group of helpers who can
assist with implementation, but I would strongly suggest that you retain
the last word and that, like a leader of an enterprise (not like one of a
government) take the risk of seeing what works and what does not. The
'consensus' system perhaps has an underlying illusion that a level of
autopoiesis will emerge. Perhaps it has, but it appears to not have been to
bring focused benefit to a specific community.
Best regards;
Fernando
https://northumbria.academia.edu/fmrojas
---
On Mon, Jul 20, 2020 at 7:21 AM DAVID DURLING <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi all
>
> There are calls to consider a code of conduct for this list. Recent posts
> have raised issues about the scope and type of discussions here, and list
> management. In particular it is time for some guidelines on subscriber
> behaviour and how to manage any misdemeanours.
>
> A little history... phd-design was started by Keith Russell (Australia)
> and myself (UK) shortly after the original 1998 conference Doctoral
> Education in Design held in Ohio. Following some poorly considered
> statements and much public criticism, Keith decided to step down as list
> co-owner a few years ago, leaving me as the single listowner. 'Listowner'
> is a JISC term for the administrator responsible for maintaining the list,
> and the list is run under JISC rules and located in the UK. The list is
> independent of any society or university.
>
> It is a privilege to run this list and to learn from many of the
> discussions here. For many years I have remained in the background and
> almost never post my own opinions, though my longstanding attempts to
> remain a neutral observer and administrator are sorely tested at times of
> silliness.
>
> The list continues to grow slowly. Nearly every day people subscribe and
> unsubscribe. In periods of heated debate, more people leave than are
> replaced by new subscribers. It has never been clear to me whether a larger
> number leaving is due to the nature of the debate or an unwanted volume of
> emails at times of more intense debate.
>
> Some years ago we had some heated discussions over for example
> decolonialisation of design, harsh words were said, and a number of people
> left the list. Matters were not helped by a persistent troll who was
> eventually removed by JISC.
>
> Around that time I decided to moderate subscriptions to the list. Lists
> are often open to anyone to subscribe with whatever address and name they
> choose. This had led to a number of unknown subscribers hiding behind fake
> identities who were abusive or disruptive. There had been cases on the list
> of people who turned out not to be who they said they were. This came to a
> head when we realised that some people had taken one-day free email
> accounts apparently to disrupt discussions here.
>
> I therefore decided to check out every new subscriber, and developed a
> protocol where if a new subscriber applied from an institutional address
> (for example university or company where their identity could be verified),
> they were subscribed straight away. But applying from for example gmail or
> yahoo was met with a request for more information. Just over half of new
> subscribers sign up with a corporate address. This process has kept the
> list safe from hidden disruptors for several years.
>
> It is time to expand management of this list. Several subscribers have
> suggested to me off-list that this might be achieved either through one or
> more co-owners, or with the addition of an advisory group, or both. For
> example, an advisory group might set a code of conduct as a priority, and
> then help arbitrate any disputes.
>
> I call for volunteers - please pop me a note off-list for a 1:1
> discussion, or discuss publicly if that is your preference. Alternatively
> you may wish to nominate someone. I will especially welcome diverse non-UK
> suggestions. All ideas are welcomed. It seems sensible to use the power of
> the list community to agree a way forward.
>
> best wishes
> David
>
>
> ____________________________________
>
> David Durling HonFDRS PhD http://durling.tel
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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