Dear Colleagues,
In light of the deplorable Muslim travel ban and the inspiring petitions to boycott conferences held in the States in response, IACAP’s executive board has been weighing our alternatives as we prepare for the 2017 meeting at Stanford University. Given the timing and the work that has already gone into preparing for the conference, we have decided to move forward with the conference as planned, with the final submissions deadline of February 15th fast approaching.
In doing so we seek neither to carry on as if business were as usual–it decidedly is not–nor in the slightest way to repudiate or ride roughshod over the concerns of those who choose to honor the boycott–with whom, frankly, we entirely agree.
We will do the best we can under the circumstances. To wit, we plan to
- Develop a special track on the role of information technology in protecting and corrupting democracy (an announcement and call for extended abstracts forthcoming shortly);
- Arrange for remote presentations from those affected by the travel ban, facilities permitting;
- Live stream the conference for the same, again facilities permitting; and,
- Take up a resolution at the conference business meeting–open to all members–whether to move future North American IACAP meetings to Canadian and Mexican venues, at least for the time being.
Respectfully Yours,
IACAP’s Executive Board
Don Berkich, President
Steve McKinlay, Executive Director
John Licato, Membership and Promotions Coordinator
Tom Powers, Director for Minds and Machines S.I.G.
Rosaria Taddeo, Member at Large and Past President
Giuseppe Primiero, Member at Large
Judith Simon, Member at Large