Re: NomCom 2020 Announcement of Selections

[Keith Moore <[e-mail]>]

(not really directed at Bron, just riffing off one line in his message)

On 1/23/21 12:09 AM, Bron Gondwana wrote:

> We see many claims that it would be better to increase the diversity 
> of representation among the leadership of people along certain of the 
> axes along which humans differ

Yes, that's true, but humans are (and should be) diverse in how they 
gauge diversity.   I'd personally like to see more diversity in the 
kinds of "sponsors" that I* members have, probably more diversity in 
cultural background, and less pigeonholing of people.   But that's just 
me, and I understand that these are not independent variables.

(I also understand that the very constraints of the I* jobs - which last 
I knew were more-than-full-time, unpaid positions, with no travel budget 
- limit the diversity of potential candidates. And there's nothing 
noncom can do about that, it's a structural problem with no obvious 
solution that doesn't risk creating worse problems.)

I recognize that the nomcoms have difficult jobs, they have to weigh a 
lot of conflicting opinions and needs, and a limited candidate pool to 
choose from.   IMO second-guessing them is pointless at best, and the 
best thing to do if one doesn't like the results is to provide 
feed-forward to the next nomcom.

And I'd recommend giving the new I* groups some benefit of the doubt, 
give them a chance to improve the organization, rather than shooting 
them down from day one based on pure prejudice.

Keith