> ----------
> From: Stuart C. Aitken
> Reply To: Urban Geography
> Sent: Wednesday, December 2, 1998 1:49 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: The Annals and the PG (fwd)
>
> PLEASE POST:
>
> I am glad to see some kind of public discussion of the Annals/PG merger
> proposed by Will Graf and endorsed by Council. JP Jones, Janet Franklin
> and I (the current editors of those journals) were not party to
> discussions
> of the merger, nor were we invited to participate in the decision making.
>
> The merger of the PG/Annals was presented to us as a fait accompli after
> AAG Council met at the end of September. I asked Will Graf for a copy of
> his Whitepaper on the journals prior to the Council meeting but was
> refused. Will invited me to the Council meeting (which took place during
> the APCG meetings in Flagstaff) to make a short presentation on "the
> current success of the PG." I was NOT invited to stay and be part of the
> deliberations on the Whitepaper.
>
> We put together the following points which we intend refining for the AAG
> Newletter in February. I think it is appropriate that you see them now:
>
> 1. We were not party to this decision and we do not endorse it.
> 2. We do not believe it is in the best interest of any professional
> society
> to reduce the number of journals it publishes. At this time, we believe
> the
> association should be thinking of expanding the journals.
> 3. The decision was made on partial or incorrect information (for example,
> there is no evidence that combining the journals will save the association
> money).
> 4. We feel that the membership should have some say in such an important
> decision. IF the membership thinks there are serious structural problems
> with the journals, the whole membership (not a 20% sample) should be
> involved in defining those problems and a solution.
> 5. If Council is unhappy with the job that we are doing then they should
> ask us to resign. Combining the journals is not an appropriate solution to
> the issues raised. We have been told that this decision is not about our
> editorship and editorial policies.
> 6. Combining the journals could be especially harmful to the PG which,
> after 50 years, would in all likelihood simply be "absorbed" by the
> flagship Annals. This is a waste of a credible place in academic
> publishing
> (and library subscriptions and so forth) earned over 50 years.
> 7. We are concerned that there does not seem to be plan for implementing
> the proposed changes and yet they will happen by the end of our terms as
> editors (1999 for the Annals and 2000 for the PG). We question the wisdom
> of merging the journals, changing the format, relocating the management
> (to
> Washington DC) and installing new editors in such a short period.
>
> 8. The journals seem to be doing quite well. For example, the PG received
> nearly 180 submissions to date for 1998 as far as I know, this is the
> greatest number of submissions ever. The PG will be increased by 50-80
> pages in 1999 to accommodate the influx of submissions and we think that
> the journal could probably expand to 6 issues in the not too distant
> future.
> 9. We urge the membership to email Will Graf, the Councilors, and ask for
> more information, express their wishes for the association's journals (but
> to carefully distinguish between their satisfaction/dissatisfaction with
> the Editorial policy, content, and their support of the proposed
> solution).
>
> Sincerely
>
> Stuart C. Aitken
>
>
> At 10:14 PM 11/30/98 -0800, you wrote:
> >I'm sure many of you have seen this message posted to other lists, but in
> >the interest of those who haven't... Perhaps we can generate some
> >discussion about this on URBGEOG.
> >
> >---------- Forwarded message ----------
> >Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 20:06:44 -0400
> >From: Altha Cravey <[log in to unmask]>
> >Subject: The Annals and the PG
> >
> > PLEASE POST WIDELY
> >
> >Did we give our AAG president a mandate to change the AAG's
> >official publications?
> >
> >I was surprised recently to hear of Wil Graf's plan to merge
> >the Annals and the Professional Geographer. The journal which
> >will replace these two is proposed to include articles of
> >various lengths and be printed on large paper (8.5 x 11 inches).
> >
> >Graf suggested (at the recent Southeastern Division Meetings
> >in Memphis) that the long "think piece" format of the Annals is
> >exclusionary. Whom does it exclude? According to Graf's speech
> >in the Business Meeting at Memphis, geographers who are
> >technically-oriented need larger pages to present their results.
> >Likewise, he claimed, physical geographers need a forum for
> >shorter articles. Let me list a few other points from this meeting:
> >
> >1) Graf began his comments by saying he was elected on a platform
> >that specified a reconsideration of AAG publications. At the same
> >time, Graf characterized the project to replace the Annals and the PG
> >as a *grassroots* movement. It was unclear whether the *grassroots*
> >claim was meant to refer to his own election or to the 30 or so
> >responses he got to his column in the summer newsletter (July 1998).
> >I'd certainly like to know what percentage of the membership voted in
> >the election, and what percentage of those voted for Graf.
> >
> >2) Social theorists were criticized repeatedly. This group of
> >geographers were blamed for taking criticism "too far" which, Graf
> >says, has the potential to destroy the community of which they
> >are a part.
> >
> >3) The AAG Council voted to consider publication changes at a
> >recent meeting in Flagstaff. SOME of the membership (20%) will be
> >surveyed by the AAG. Others were invited to send comments to
> >Duane Nellis at the University West Virginia.
> >
> >4) Our AAG Executive Director, Ron Abler, spoke in support of Graf's
> >ideas and cautioned American geographers not to follow the example
> >of the Canadian and British associations. Abler suggested that
> >American geograpers have better communication among various
> >sub-disciplines. The unstated but barely concealed implication of
> >Abler's remarks was that we must defend ourselves from those who
> >embrace a divisive and *foreign* social theory.
> >
> >5) Neither Graf nor Abler offered to take questions from the floor
> >for this *grassroots* movement. If this were indeed a grassroots
> >movement, I believe these leaders would have been willing to take a
> >quick question or two from the floor.
> >
> >There are a number of issues here. Perhaps the most immediate one
> >is whether destroying the existing journals is the best course of
> >action? Are the editors and editorial boards of the Annals and the PG
> >sufficiently involved in this process? Will a survey of 20% of the
>
> >membership be used to justify a merger that already sounds like a done
> >deal? I am also concerned that *social theorists* have been singled
> >out as the problem in the discipline. Who's next?
> >
> >+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
> >Altha J. Cravey (919) 962-5157
> >Geography Department
> >203 Saunders Hall CB #3220
> >University of North Carolina FAX (919) 962-1537
> >Chapel Hill NC 27599-3220 EMAIL [log in to unmask]
> > http://www.unc.edu/depts/geog/cravey.html
> >*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
> >
> ==============================
>
> Stuart C. Aitken, Professor
> Co-Editor, The Professional Geographer
> Department of Geography
> 5500 Campanile Drive
> San Diego State University
> San Diego, CA 92182-4493
> USA
>
> [log in to unmask]
> <http://typhoon.sdsu.edu/aitken.html>http://typhoon.sdsu.edu/aitken.html
>
> (619) 594-6498 (office)
> (619) 594-5437 (department)
> (619) 594-4938 (FAX)
>
> ==============================
>
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