[Air-L] some tidbits ofr Aoir history

[Barry Wellman]

1. I was the first keynoter at the first AoIR conference in 2000 in 
Lawrence Kansas. It was an amazing event, filled with positive energy and 
smarts and a sense of mission. Nancy Baum, altho weighed down by an 
imminent birth of a child, did a wonderful job running the conference.

2. Besides the elected presidents of Aoir, Jeremy Hunsinger was the glue 
that kept Aoir going -- establishing and running the DB, listserv, and 
providing a unique combo of wry humor, common-sense, and incredibly hard 
work.

3. I also got elected to the first board of Aoir, when it formalized. A 
key debate then is what I characterized as Quality vs Quantity.
In short, do we refer papers strictly for the annual conference or do we 
allow in as many as possible. In my biased opinion, the latter won.

4. One unmentioned crisis is that the key organizer in the Toronto annual 
meeting was not doing the job, and several weeks before, a bunch of other 
Torontonians had to leap in and pull it together (successfully, I may 
add.) I recall Catherine Middleton as one of the key pullers-together, but 
there were others who can contribute their own age. (The ousted organizer 
is now deceased, RIP).

YMMV

   Barry Wellman

    A vision is just a vision if it's only in your head
    Step by step, link by link, putting it together
                  Streisand/Sondheim
    The earth to be spannd, connected by network -- Walt Whitman
        It's Always Something -- Roseanne Roseannadanna
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