Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 15:03:33 +0100
To:   ....
From: Richard M Young <r.m.young@herts.ac.uk>
Subject: Cognitive Science meetings in Europe


European Cognitive Science folks:

Greetings.  It's that time of year again, when we need to think about the
future of Cognitive Science meetings in Europe.  (I must apologise for not
following up the question earlier: my job situation became "interestingly
dynamic", and sorting that out consumed a lot of my attention.)

This message is as much about how we should proceed with the discussion, as
it is about substance.  It mentions the following topics:

   1. A reminder of the present situation
   2. Questions that need to be resolved
   3. How to move the discussion forward
   4. People to add to the discussion      <-- ** please respond **
   5. Website: information to be gathered  <-- ** please respond **
   6. My role.

For discussion on any of these topics, please circulate your views.  Also,
as you can see, I'm asking if you could please send me information and
suggestions about topics #4 and #5.  I look forward to hearing from you.

=================================================================


1. A reminder of the present situation
--------------------------------------

Last year we discussed some of the issues concerning cognitive science
meetings in Europe, and 20 of us signed a letter to the governing board of
the Cognitive Science Society (CSS).  CSS replied that they were setting up
a committee chaired by Keith Stenning to discuss the whole matter of
internationalisation, regional chapters, and local meetings, to make
recommendations back to the board at the Edinburgh meeting in August this
year.  They encouraged us to continue discussing the issues ourselves and
to engage with them.

A small website, currently just with a summary of our discussion and the
text of the letters, exists at
http://www.psy.herts.ac.uk/pub/r.m.young/cogsci-in-europe/cogsci-in-europe.html
.


2. Questions that need to be resolved
-------------------------------------

It's a fair bet that Keith Stenning's committee will recommend some form of
further internationalisation of CSS, with the annual meeting to be held
outside of North America every so often.  But that would still leave a
large number of questions open.

For example, should CSS try to form regional chapters of the Society?  If
so, how would they function?  Would they organise regular meetings?  How
would they relate to existing national (or regional) societies within their
region?  What do national societies do in the years when the CSS conference
is held in Europe?

Suppose that CSS decides to hold its annual meetings in regions in rough
proportion to its membership.  That means that it might be held in Europe
roughly once every 6 years.  If we believe there ought to be a European
meeting at least every 2 years, who organises that meeting in the years
that CSS is not there?  Should the purpose of a European chapter be to
organise that meeting itself, or to pass it on each occasion to a national
(or other) society, or some other way?

These and other questions need to be discussed and resolved.  Hopefully it
can be done in an amicable and co-operative way.  For example, would
national societies be willing to undertake the organisation of a European
meeting very occasionally, probably instead of their own annual meeting for
one year -- as the French ARC did in 1995?


3. How to move the discussion forward
-------------------------------------

I'm not sure what is best to do to move this discussion forward.  The
mechanism we used last year worked well in some respects, less well in
others.  We clearly need to broaden the base of people involved in the
discussion.

An obvious move is to set up a list-server so that it's easier to send
messages to people, and so that people can join and leave the discussion.
I will investigate doing that.

We should perhaps try to develop 3 or 4 different possibilities
("scenarios"), agree on their strengths and weaknesses, and discuss them
with the CSS committee.  It would be helpful, to begin with, if people
would suggest possible scenarios they would like to see discussed.  For
example, one scenario might be:
   - no European chapter of CSS;
   - an informal committee formed from representatives of Euro
          national (and perhaps other) Cog Sci societies;
   - European meetings held every two years when CSS not in Europe,
          organised by the national (or other) societies in rotation.
(Please be clear: I'm not *recommending* that route, just giving it as an
example of a scenario that might be considered.)

People with responsibilities to national societies might want to contact
Keith Stenning's committee directly.  Or they might want to get together as
a group, independently of this current discussion.  (But please do keep us
informed!)


4. People to add to the discussion      <-- ** please respond **
----------------------------------

It was pointed out that the present group is not necessarily representative
of European cognitive science.  It is a biased selection in certain
respects, and important facets are not covered.

My own opinion is that we should not simply try to get lots and lots more
people on the discussion group just to increase the numbers.  Rather, I
think it would be a good idea to look for specific gaps in our coverage.
Obviously, there can't be formal criteria for joining the group, but I
suggest that we all think about:
  - senior European cognitive scientists not on the list;
  - subject areas of European cognitive science that are under-represented;
  - countries active in cognitive science that are under-represented;
  - major research groups that are not represented.

** COULD YOU PLEASE ** email me with suggestions for additional people to
be invited to join the discussion, in the light of these gaps?  I need the
person's name and email address, and their "affiliation" (where they work).
It would also be helpful to have just a few words about how they help fill
the suggested gaps.


5. Website: information to be gathered  <-- ** please respond **
--------------------------------------

As mentioned above, I have started a website, at
http://www.psy.herts.ac.uk/pub/r.m.young/cogsci-in-europe/cogsci-in-europe.html
.  Currently, it has just the summary of last year's discussion and the
exchange of letters with CSS.

I would like to expand the site to have more useful information.

(1) With your agreement, I would like to put there a list of people taking
part in this discussion.  If you have a personal homepage, ** PLEASE COULD
YOU ** email me your URL?

(2) I would like to include links to national and other European societies
in areas related to cognitive science.  If you know of any such societies,
** PLEASE WOULD YOU ** email me information: the name of the society, a
contact person, an email address, and a website URL.  Especially, please
would you send me such information about German GK, French ARC, Bulgarian
society.  (I believe there is also an Irish one?  And a Spanish and/or
Portugese one?)


6. My role
----------

We are not just a shared-interest discussion group.  We have a specific set
of tasks to accomplish.  For that reason, I believe that we need a
coordinator to drive the discussion along and to pull it together, in just
the same way as a committee needs a Chairperson.  (None of you will be
surprised to hear that!)

However, the co-ordinator does not have to be me!  I will be happy to
continue work such as building and maintaining the website.  However, I
would be even more happy if someone else volunteers to take over the job of
chairing/coordinating the discussion.  If you are willing to do it, please
let me know.  If we have more than one volunteer, maybe we will even get a
chance to vote!  :-)

-- Richard