Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 15:26:04 -0400 To: r.m.young@herts.ac.uk From: "Lawrence W. Barsalou" Subject: a response to your letter Dear Richard, As you witnessed at the Board meeting in Philadelphia, your letter to evoked a productive discussion of how we could internationalize the Cognitive Science Society. The Board was unanimous in its enthusiasm for promoting internationalization. In this spirit, we point out that the Society has already made a major acknowledgement of how international cognitive science has become. The decision to hold our next conference in Edinburgh--the Society's first meeting outside North America--constitutes a considerable step in this direction. Furthermore this illustrates that structures already exist for holding the Society's meetings internationally. We very much hope to see strong attendance of European cognitive scientists, thereby setting a precedent for further meetings in European venues. In response to your letter, we have taken another step towards internationalization. At the Board meeting this summer, we established an international committee to explore greater internationalization. Keith Stenning has agreed chair this committee. Given the importance of the issues, we are opening the discussion up to anyone on the Board who would like to participate. Indeed, this will be the primary issue that the Board discusses this year. You can be assured that it will have our attention. If possible, we hope to have some resolution by the Edinburgh meeting. Clearly one of the primary topics to be addressed is the optimal organizational structure for internationalization. You have raised the possibility of establishing a European chapter affiliated with the Cognitive Science Society. This is indeed a possibility, and one that we will consider. However, we will also consider other approaches as well, such as creating a truly international society with regional chapters, or perhaps no chapters at all. At this time, it is difficult to know what our recommendation will be. However, we want you to know that a wide variety of possibilities will be considered, and we urge you and your European colleagues to consider them as well. We also need to address national interests, such as the need for local meetings, and the implications of holding meetings abroad on a regular basis. In considering the attractions of greater international cooperation, we agree that it is essential to maintain regional activities. Indeed, the ideal structure may be a complementary mix of international and national activities. Again, though, the critical question is exactly the best way to do this. As the Board begins its discussions of these issues, we encourage you and your European colleagues to continue your discussion, and to continue sharing your thoughts with us. We will continue sharing ours with you as they become formulated. Should you wish to discuss anything with me or Keith, please feel free to get in touch at any time. We are very excited about the possibilities for internationalization, and we look forward to greater interaction and cooperation. Sincerely, Larry Barsalou President, Cognitive Science Society barsalou@emory.edu Keith Stenning Chair, International Committee, Cognitive Science Society k.stenning@ed.ac.uk ***************************************************** Lawrence W. Barsalou Department of Psychology Emory University Atlanta, GA 30322 (404) 727-4338 office (404) 727-0372 fax barsalou@emory.edu http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~barsalou/ *****************************************************