NoSP business meeting; conference dinner

This afternoon I attended the annual business meeting of The Nordic Society for Phenomenology (NoSP) / 
Nordisk Selskab for Fænomenologi here in Tampere
. In a minute I´ll be going to the location for the conference dinner.

3 meetings

Today I have attended 3 scheduled meetings. This included an "allmøte" (general meeting) at University of Stavanger on the economic prospects in the time ahead, and this Autumn´s last department leadership group meeting.

Annual meeting of Minding Animals Norway held

On November 20th, the annual meeting of Minding Animals Norway was held at Domus Nova in Oslo. The meeting approved report of activities for the last year and plans for the next, plus budget. Financial report for the last year was presented, but not treated conclusively due to a mismatch between sums for assets last year on one hand and surplus plus assets by the time of the meeting on the other. Also, despite having 5 candidates for board posisions, election to the board was postponed. This means there will have to be an extraordinary general meeting, once again.

General meeting in Minding animals Norway announced

I have just announced the annual meeting of Minding Animals Norway, which will take place at Domus Nova in Oslo on November 20th at 20.00.

General meeting at faculty attended

Today I attended a general meeting at the University of Stavanger´s Faculty of Social Sciences, on the ongoing reorganization process.

Extraordinary General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway to be held

An extraordinary General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway has been called. The meeting will take place via Skype on February 1st. Hopefully a new board will be elected at the meeting. Other items on the agenda includes revision of the statutes or, if a new board is not elected, dissolving the organisation.

Minding Animals Norway: General meeting held, no board elected

Today Minding Animals Norway held its annual General Meeting. Six people were present, five of whom current board members. No financial report or budget was prepared for the meeting. An annual report and an action plan was decided on, however. Election of board members was discussed for an hour or two before it was decided that an extraordinary General Meeting will be held on February 1st to elect a new board. This was because two people wants to quit the board and two more were ambivalent with regard to continuing.

General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway held; reelected as chair

This year´s General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway (MAN) was held yesterday afternoon at Funky Fresh Foods (a vegan restaurant) in Oslo. 7 people were present. I was reelected as chair of MAN for another year, and August Torp and Iselin Linstad Hauge were elected as new board members.

General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway to be held December 4th in Oslo

At the recent board meeting of Minding Animals Norway (MAN), it was decided that the General Meeting of MAN will be held in Oslo on Friday December 4th at 4 pm (not December 5th as earlier said). It was later decided the meeting will take place at the restaurant Funky Fresh Foods.

See also:

Board meeting of Minding Animals Norway chaired

Minding Animals Norway board meeting chaired; date and place of GM, research seminar

Minding Animals Norway board meeting chaired; date and place of GM, research seminar

Yesterday I chaired the board meeting of Minding Animals Norway, the first for two and a half months. Among the topics were place and time for this year´s research seminar (the 5th) and General Meeting, both of which will take place on Saturday December 5th in Oslo (10-14 and 2 pm respectively). More details are to follow.

Complete mess at IASS Executive Committee meeting - Paul Cobley new President, Kristian Bankov new Secretary General

Yesterday the Executive Committee of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS-AIS) had its meeting to elect a new IASS board (all executive positions). The meeting took place during the 12th world congress of semiotics (Sofia, Bulgaria, September 16-20), and was attended by 50-60 Executive Committee members. I represented both Norway (along with Drude von der Fehr) and the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS), and voted on behalf of both.

Paul Cobley was elected the new IASS President. He got my support after announcing a sensible, reform-oriented electoral program. Kristian Bankov was unanimously elected new Secretary General, after Massimo Leone withdrew his candidature. Both are elected for the period 2014-2019.

Like the IASS General Assembly held the day before, the meeting of the Executive Committee was unfortunately characterised by a selective and random approach to rule-following. I was embarassed at both occasions. At the General Assembly no proper financial report was presented, for instance - and the electoral procedure was a mess, and far from transparent. At the meeting of the Executive Committee, the Committe first decided with a clear majority that after two consecutive mandates, an elected official is not eligible for any position for the next 5-year period. Then, an hour or so later, a majority of the very same Committee elected Susan Petrilli as one of five Vice-Presidents (if only for 2 years), even though she was ineligible for any position according to the decision just made by 80% of those present. In other words: The Executive Committee voted on whether or not to follow its own rules, and a clear majority voted not to follow them.

A bit later two Treasurers (plus one Vice-Treasurer) were elected, since by mistake too many names had been put forward, and the Committee did not want to choose between them.

Adding to the unprofessional mess, at both occasions, was the fact that even though English, French and Spanish are all official languages of the IASS-AIS, at several points voting took place after the members had been informed e.g. just in French. At these instances half the audience did not know what was going on.

All this is funny at best, tragic at worst. The IASS is in desperate need of some simple professionalism.

Reelected chair of Minding Animals Norway

At the Annual Meeting of Minding Animals Norway in Oslo on September 5th I was reelected as chair of Minding Animals Norway. Ida Knutsen was elected Webmaster, and Gunnar Kornberg member of the board.

The statutes was simultaneously changed so that board members are from now on just elected for 1-year periods, not 2-year periods.

Exact time of annual meeting of Minding Animals Norway

The annual meeting of Minding Animals Norway has been scheduled for 12.00 at Friday September 5th. It will take place at the same location as the 4th research seminar of Minding Animals (Blindern campus, Oslo), which takes place earlier the same day.

ISBS annual meeting attended; annual biosemiotic prize to be launched - details to be worked out

On Thursday July 3rd, during the 14th International Gathering in Biosemiotics (London, 30th of June to 4th of July), I attended the annual meeting of the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies (ISBS). 

Among the topics were the proposed "Biosemiotic Discovery Prize" - a draft of the statutes for this prize, composed by Timo Maran, Alexei Sharov and myself (and language edited by Paul Cobley), was presented at the ISBS annual meeting and at the preceding panel presentation of the journal Biosemiotics. Different concerns were raised. At the annual meeting it was decided, on the suggestion of Jesper Hoffmeyer (the ISBS President), that the three mentioned Editors-in-Chief of Biosemiotics will invite the GiB14 participants to suggest changes in the prize statutes, and then decide on the final version of the statutes. We are currently in the process of receiving such suggestions.

See also:

Biosemiotics journal presented at gathering in London

15th Gathering in biosemiotics to be held in Copenhagen

General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway to be held in Oslo August 23rd

The General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway will be held in Oslo on Friday August 23rd. The Norwegian language call for GM is available in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme.

Research seminar, General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway to be arranged August 23rd

On May 13th Minding Animals Norway had a board meeting. Among other things it was decided that the 3rd Research Seminar of Minding Animals Norway will take place on August 23rd in Oslo, and the General Meeting of MAN the same evening. This year's Norwegian animal ethics conference takes place the day before.

New ISBS constitution and board: About a backroom deal

The International Society for Biosemiotic Studies (ISBS) has now uploaded its new constitution and a brief report from its first ever General Meeting, held in Tartu, Estonia, on July 20th. Since I played a role with regard to both the new statutes and at the General Meeting, here's a brief report from my side.

A draft of the constitution (the old board's proposal) was distributed on July 18th, the day after the 12th gathering in biosemiotics started. It had several flaws. I wrote to Jesper Hoffmeyer, the president of the ISBS, and Kalevi Kull of Tartu, about my concerns, and also talked with Sara Cannizzaro, who acted as the ISBS' Vice-president after Don Favareau stepped down. We agreed that Jesper, Sara and I should meet informally to see whether we could sort things out ahead of the General Meeting, and so we did, on the afternoon of July 18th (at Leigo farmstead). After half an hour's talk we agreed that Jesper would go through my concerns point by point and see what he could change.

On the morning of the day after, on the 19th, I received a revised draft where only one or none substantial change had been made. I then replied that I would raise my concerns at the General Meeting after all. Later that afternoon Kalevi, my former supervisor, came over during dinner to negotiate. Practically all my suggestions had now been incorporated into the board's constitution draft, and I gladly approved of it. The changes made due to this included (in addition to making a few points clearer or more accurate):

 - that the board's annual report is to be presented to members, not just the board itself - at an annual General Meeting (and indeed that annual General Meetings will be held)

 - that a rule stipulating that members at elections "will give a vite 'for' or 'against' each candidate" was dropped (a rule I feared would trigger conflict) in favour of the more common positive/blank voting

 - that the constitution may only be changed at General Meetings, not by the board

I am happy I thus contributed to making the ISBS a little more democratic and transparent. But as the decision-making process described above illustrates, this learned society still has some way to go in terms of being inclusive (there were complaints at the General Meeting about the board's attempts to avoid discussion, and the decision that no substantial changes to the constitution could be proposed at the General Meeting).

Tomorrow: "New ISBS constitution and board: About the election drama"

Biosemiotics: ISBS to hold first General Meeting ever

After weeks of discussion by email in the biosemiotic community, the president of the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies (ISBS), Jesper Hoffmeyer, today made clear that he will call for a General Meeting. According to the constitution of ISBS, which has been in place since 2008, such meetings open to all members should be arranged annually. The ISBS, however, has so far been run in an informal way, and these rules have not been put into practice.

On April 30th I wrote this in an email distributed in the biosemiotic community, in reply to an email (one of many) from Marcello Barbieri to all participants at this year's Gathering in Biosemiotics (Tartu, July 17-22).

Dear all, I have not gotten any response from anyone in the ISBS Committee on my prior notice (April 25), which read:

I can not recall ever having been directly invited or encouraged to attend an ISBS General Meeting at a Gathering (and I've been to 5 gatherings). I think this is regr[e]ttable - and problematic in terms of organisational democracy. I sincerely hope that the ISBS will develop a culture of greater inclusion in the future. The General Meetings were never (cf. the ISBS constitution) supposed to be mere meetings of the Executive Committee (in the constitution called "Committee"). 

I now feel compelled to ask explicitly for response, from the ISBS Committee itself. Has my notice been discussed in the Committee? If so, what was the outcome, or the opinions presented? If not, then it should now be discussed by the Committee. In the following I will make clear why this is of the highest importance. 

The constitution of the ISBS says:  

7.1 The supreme authority of the Society is vested in a General Meeting of the members. 

7.2 An Annual General Meeting shall be held.  

Marcello writes that "[a] General assembly [which he defines as "the actual community that is present at a General Meeting"] has never been convened before." My questions, then, are these:  

1) If Marcello is correct, why has the ISBS Committee never convened a General assembly (aka meeting)?  

2) Does not the ISBS constitution explicitly state that such meetings shall be held annually?  

3) If no General Meeting has ever been convened, what is the legality of all the decisions that have been made by the ISBS Committee in the period of 2005-2011? This point concerns rules etc. established by the ISBS (cf. Marcello's case), and more.  

4) If no General Meeting has ever been convened, then what of the validity of elections of ISBS committee members? Cf. the constitution's point 8.2: "Names for the above offices shall be proposed and seconded at the Annual General Meeting and election will follow on a simple majority vote of the members." If no General Meeting has ever been held, then WHO have elected the ISBS Committee members? Surely not the Committee itself??  

5) In case anyone would claim that General Meetings have actually taken place: If so, why have not all ISBS members present - i.e., all participants attending each Gathering - been explicitly invited to take part? Cf., the constitution's 7.5: "Notice of meeting stating the date, time and place of meeting shall be sent by the Secretary to all voting members". Is not the lack of such formal, personal invitations in violation of the spirit and letter of the ISBS constitution, which defines a General Meeting as "a General Meeting of the members"?  

Out of curiosity I also wonder:  

6) Approximately how many persons have been present at the ISBS meetings held during Gatherings so far? How many besides members of the Executive Committee? 

and  

7) What is the proper name for these meetings (at Gatherings up to 2011) - "Committee meetings"? If so, see points 3 and 4 above.  

I am not asking these questions to be difficult, but I do hold that they need to be answered satisfactorily - particularly because this is in terms of organisational democracy a problematic story whether the meetings held have been regarded as Committee meetings (which does not have such a wide mandate) or as General Meetings (which has in case not been correctly convened). 

For a start, the ISBS Committee should explain its practice, and signal whether it intends to follow the same practice in the future, or, if not, on what points it intends to change practice.

I will not, here in Utopian Realism, go into all details of this conflict - most of which has little to do with what has been my concern, as described above - but these were, in brief, the answers to my questions (many of which given by Donald Favareau, the former Vice-President of the ISBS, who withdrew about half a year ago, as a first sign of a looming crisis):

1) Don explained how the ISBS has been run in an informal way, and claimed the constitution was never meant to be taken literally. He accused me of being formalistic.

2) The ISBS constitution does indeed explicitly state that such meetings shall be held annually. The President of the ISBS has now signalled that the constitution will be followed from now on.

3) The legality of all the decisions that have been made by the ISBS Committee in the period of 2008-2011 has not been discussed further. Marcello Barbieri asked me, in a reply to my email, not to ask questions about the past (which he had done a little before). He has in the course of this changed argumentation, and recently focused exclusively on the validity of the constitution, and that a general assembly must be convened.

4) The validity of elections of ISBS committee members has not been addressed by anyone. Election of committee members will now likely start at the first General Meeting, to be held in Tartu in July. 

5) Noone have claimed that General Meetings have actually taken place so far. 

6) The number of persons present at the ISBS meetings held during Gatherings so far have been estimated to less than 10. As far as I understand only members of the Executive Committee (which has 15 members) have been present.

7) The proper name for the meetings (at Gatherings up to 2011) is Committee meetings. No minutes were taken.

***

Don, who's done a lot of good work for the ISBS over the years, wrote in his reply to my questions that he thought my "approach would be odious, and the final nail in the coffin of this group's long and often contentious journey from a warm fellowship of friends to what it is now: an arena for a war of escalating sides-taking." He talked about the death of good faith (as have many others - it is saddening to hear good colleagues be so defaitistic). But good faith did not die with me. I have not been involved in this conflict, but been a regular member only - and I do doubt very strongly that my concern for organisational democracy could ever be "the final nail in the coffin" for biosemiotics.

Today it became clear that the ISBS will introduce organisational democracy this year. I applaud that, and look forward to seeing it happen. What I cannot accept is that my allegiance should be given to persons (whoever they might be), regardless of ideal and principle. I pledge my allegiance to the cause of biosemiotics, the cause of organisational democracy, and the restoration of good faith.