Thursday, May 27, 2021, 10:30 pm (Montréal Time)
Next year
- University of Manchester, UK
- Contact: Vera Hohaus (support, technology, funding)
- Dongwoo Park (Korea National Open University) expressed interest in hosting next year’s AFLA as a last resort – could not do 2023 because the funding needs to be used by next year
Thoughts on:
- virtual/in-person/hybrid
- some votes for hybrid
- no strong oppositions to any option
- possible overlap with TripleA workshop for semantic fieldworkers next summer?
- participants are interested in this possibility
- presentations in languages other than English
- whatever is decided, it was agreed that any restrictions should be stated upfront
- included languages could depend on the organizing team and the languages they have between them
- things to consider: critical mass of speakers of those languages, native speaker linguists
Proceedings
- Relevant issues: cost, open access, using LaTeX
- Notes from Ileana:
- Asia-Pacific had changed their policies which required a book proposal, external reviews, costs for copy editing
- JSEALS accepted only Word which was problematic for LaTeX submissions
- We could continue with Western (as has been done in the last few years) since Ileana is familiar with the process and has control over it
- At least one other voted strongly against JSEALS
- There was general agreement to continue with Western
Code of Conduct
Comments from Mitcho & Carly:
- the objective is to be more thoughtful on how we can do things better
- resources for inclusivity in linguistics include:
- conference organizing manual
- some notes on the code of conduct:
- drafted in consultation with many organizers of some prominent conferences
- has descriptions/discussion about positive behaviour of what we hope to see but also negative behaviour to guard against that are not acceptable
- has some beginnings for procedures for how participants can report behaviours/experiences
Feedback:
- there’s a worry that conferences put it on their webpage but life goes on as usual; perhaps there needs to be more discussion on how to state the “don’t do X”
- we should continue emphasizing and encouraging that these conferences are about exchanging ideas in supportive, positive, and helpful ways
Suggestions for invited speakers
- Things to keep in mind for diversity and equity:
- gender equity
- junior researchers
- branching out from syntax to other areas
- Have a way of creating a pool of suggestions
- so that it’s not last minute
- so that it’s not dependent on only a few organizing members’ memories/experiences
Files to pass on
- ‘Members’ list
- emails
- subject area
- language area
- past participation
- invited speaker (including year invited)
- List of reviewers
- Suggestions for funding
- Past stats
- Website materials
- if organizers don’t mind using the same website format, the account information could be passed on and they can revise as necessary
- All of this information could be stored in a shareable folder (e.g. Dropbox)
Some stats
- overwhelmingly syntax – perhaps linked to the invited speakers
- low percentage of female submitters
- maybe we can target female scholars just to see if they’d be interested in submitting something
- maybe it would help to say that we’ll have a “special session” for p-side topics
- could be helpful if AFLA overlaps with phonology/phonetics conferences
- Manchester has an annual phonology conference: MFM
- Information can be found here: http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/mfm/mfm.html#current
- This year’s was held on May 27th
- Next meeting is tentatively scheduled for May 26-28, 2022
Total submissions: 35 abstracts from 42 authors
| Female vs. male presenters | 31% | 69% |
| Female vs. male submitters | 28% | 72% |
| Overall acceptance rate | 71% | |
| Female vs. male acceptance rate | 75% | 67% |
| Non-prof vs. prof acceptance rate | 67% | 75% |
Other notes
- It may be helpful to have a ‘Suggestions’ page on the AFLA website for attendees to leave comments/feedback
- this could be publicly viewable on the site so that everyone can comment on each others’ posts (anonymously if preferred)
- or there could be an option for attendees to send comments/feedback directly to the organizing committee (also anonymously if preferred)