Jim....As editor of Disability Studies Quarterly and as one who never told
you that I would "get back to you someday" I want to reply to the DSQ
parts of your posting dated today. The other parts I will leave to
others....David Pfeiffer
On Sun, 14 May 2000, Jim Davis wrote:
[snip]
> As someone working in another (closely related) discipline, the only
> university library I have access to is one that doesn't carry their DSQ
> Journal. So, I paid for a membership that was advertised as including a
> subscription. No Journals arrived, and when I inquired, I was then told
> that publication is erratic, but that when they someday publish again,
> the org. has decided NOT to honor it's membership agreement with me, to
> send them. So much for ethics.
Quite to the contrary, DSQ has published on a regular basis although we
are often later than we would wish. I could give you a long list of things
which have delayed us, but I will only give a sample. One symposium editor
has a client who was murdered and when the editor asked for more time I
certainly agreed. Another went into the hospital and when released was
suddenly faced with an increased professional work load which took more
time than was expected. The printer at the University of Texas at Dallas
(who prints DSQ) takes an incredibly long time to complete the job. But
this is understandable since they also print all of the university's
registration, admission, and publicity material.
Please remember that I as editor have NO assistance whatsoever. If you
are in Honolulu and want to volunteer to help, you are on. Remember also
that none of the staff (editor, managing editor, book-video-film review
editor, contributing editor, copy editor) are paid and some of us do not
ask for reimbusement of costs. Granted that this is not a good way to run
a journal, but it is what we have at present.
The people in Chicago who run the national office are not in much better
shape. But we are fairly separate from the national office.
I am not certain which years of DSQ you refer to, but the Spring and
Summer 1999 went into the mail by September 1999. The Fall 1999 issue
which went to UTD could not be printed until January 2000 and since it
takes a while to stuff the envelopes (which Richard Scotch does) and at
least 30 days to be delivered via bulk mail, it is just now being
delivered. The Winter 2000 issue is awaiting a person at the printers to
return from a vacation for it to start through the presses. Hopefully it
will be delivered to you by the end of May. The Spring 2000 issue is not
ready yet because the editor responsible for a major part had a very close
friend diagnosed with a terminal condition. Since we have no backup,
things like that can cause real havoc.
> I have no way to even find out what the themes or lists of articles in
> past Journals have been (the button on the web-site offering that info,
> leads to a dead end)...
I am aware of that problem and others with the web site and lament them,
but I have absolutely not control over the web site. I have sent the
national office the lists and other material, but they also have problems.
> and when I ask "What stores sell the Journal?"
> so I can finally see it, I am told "We'll get back to you on that." (and
> then, they don't.)
I can get back to you right now: NO stores sell the Quarterly,
regretfully.
> Obviously, it's impossible to intelligently invest
> time in trying to write something for the Journal, if you've never been
> able to even see a copy.
I completely agree and will send you a copy of the Fall 1999 issue if
you will send me your snail mail address.
> Is the "problem" that -- more volunteers might threaten to dilute the
> insiders' "control"?
That is not my problem. Instead my problem is being spread out too thin
to be able to have backup of any type.
> Even the org's biggest dysfunctional project, the Journal, whose
> publication schedule lies in a complete shambles, and which cannot even
> post a list of back issues -- does NOT solicit any additional volunteer
> help, to get it's work done.
Now Jim, that is not a fair statement. Unless you can physically come
either to Honolulu or to Dallas there is nothing we can ask you to do. We
are not the New York Times! And, it is the QUARTERLY.
And we have three out of four issues a year composed primarily of
articles in a symposium which is solicited and reviewed by one or more
symposium editors who are volunteers. We have volunteer symposium editors
with issues scheduled into the year 2003.
[snip]
> I realise that many reading this, have professional reasons to fear
> openly discussing some of these questions, on a public list-serv....
I have no fear of such open discussion and would like for it to
begin. There are several problems which I will not discuss because I have
no control over them. I will leave their discussion up to those who do
have some control.
[snip]
Hope I have answered some of your very legitimate complaints and
provided information which you did not have previously. Let us not leave
this discussion behind closed doors.
David
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David Pfeiffer, Ph.D.
Resident Scholar
Center on Disability Studies
University of Hawai`i at Manoa
[log in to unmask]
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Center on Disability Studies....maximizing individual
potential by encouraging independence, self-determination,
and full participation in the community.
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