An Open Letter to Wiscon and the Wiscon community
I was drafting a more politic, measured note, but the truth is that I'm angry and heartsore and maybe it's the right place to write this from. (I nearly wrote "right this from," and I mean that, too.)
I'm tired of seeing Wiscon failing to step up to the mark in some significant ways, when Wiscon walks the walk as well as can be managed in so many others. Hallway access and mindfulness to gender variance are wonderful, but when there's a continuing failure to respond to crisis at modern speeds, it's clear that it's time for big changes to be made.
I'm mindful of the careful consensus culture that Wiscon is founded on...but it works really badly for communication in crisis, whether outward facing notes to the public, or year to year handling of problem issues. There appears to be a horrible two-pronged approach where some things cannot be done without long deliberation by the mass; and other things are placed on individuals, to be potentially dropped or mishandled as other life crises or misconception or mishandling have unfortunate effects.
I am clear that Wiscon is capable of change and improvement, and that there are people with deep commitments to this process for Wiscon...but I also see the effect of 38 years of institutional practice, born of an era even before there was an internet. APA speeds are not sufficient for the issues Wiscon faces. The knowledge and practices of academia and published feminism and fandom are not the only places where our culture lives in 2014.
It is time for new tools and new processes. Teams rather than fiefdoms. Active recruitment rather than passive welcome. The lack of nimbleness and transparency is an archaicism that needs to end. The inability to simply post, "The concom is aware of the issue and is in discussion" both during MoonFail and in the aftermath of the Frenkel Decision is appalling. Asking everyone to wait with bated breath while the perfect wording is sorted out is an artifact of a bygone age.
The same issues that dog the larger world and create systemic injustices should not be meekly accepted at Wiscon -- not if it wishes to keep the epithet "The World's Leading Feminist Science Fiction Convention". If it hopes to reclaim the title, it must be incorporating all the advances of the newest waves of feminism and social justice.
I thank the emeritus members of Wiscon for their service, and respectfully request that they consider laying aside their comfortable, well-worn processes. There are many things about the running of the physical convention that are functional and worth preserving. From the outside it appears that the communications and philosophy of the convention are in dire need of revison.
Express track to a radically revised Wiscon, incoming.
This entry is cross-posted at http://trinker.dreamwidth.org/372695.html for the convenience of DW users. There are slightly different conversations happening at each. Currently
comments at DW.
I'm tired of seeing Wiscon failing to step up to the mark in some significant ways, when Wiscon walks the walk as well as can be managed in so many others. Hallway access and mindfulness to gender variance are wonderful, but when there's a continuing failure to respond to crisis at modern speeds, it's clear that it's time for big changes to be made.
I'm mindful of the careful consensus culture that Wiscon is founded on...but it works really badly for communication in crisis, whether outward facing notes to the public, or year to year handling of problem issues. There appears to be a horrible two-pronged approach where some things cannot be done without long deliberation by the mass; and other things are placed on individuals, to be potentially dropped or mishandled as other life crises or misconception or mishandling have unfortunate effects.
I am clear that Wiscon is capable of change and improvement, and that there are people with deep commitments to this process for Wiscon...but I also see the effect of 38 years of institutional practice, born of an era even before there was an internet. APA speeds are not sufficient for the issues Wiscon faces. The knowledge and practices of academia and published feminism and fandom are not the only places where our culture lives in 2014.
It is time for new tools and new processes. Teams rather than fiefdoms. Active recruitment rather than passive welcome. The lack of nimbleness and transparency is an archaicism that needs to end. The inability to simply post, "The concom is aware of the issue and is in discussion" both during MoonFail and in the aftermath of the Frenkel Decision is appalling. Asking everyone to wait with bated breath while the perfect wording is sorted out is an artifact of a bygone age.
The same issues that dog the larger world and create systemic injustices should not be meekly accepted at Wiscon -- not if it wishes to keep the epithet "The World's Leading Feminist Science Fiction Convention". If it hopes to reclaim the title, it must be incorporating all the advances of the newest waves of feminism and social justice.
I thank the emeritus members of Wiscon for their service, and respectfully request that they consider laying aside their comfortable, well-worn processes. There are many things about the running of the physical convention that are functional and worth preserving. From the outside it appears that the communications and philosophy of the convention are in dire need of revison.
Express track to a radically revised Wiscon, incoming.
This entry is cross-posted at http://trinker.dreamwidth.org/372695.html for the convenience of DW users. There are slightly different conversations happening at each. Currently
comments at DW.