Agenda...

["James Purchase" <jpurch@interlog.com>]

On July 12, I posted a proposed Agenda for us to focus on. I re-post that
here, with some adjustments and some additions. If you wish to compare it to
the original, feel free to check the archives. I do make comments (don't I
always??? <g>) where I think it appropriate. This shall be posted to the
web-site for reference. Remember that this is ONLY a suggested Agenda,
anyone can add points they feel which should be addressed, and not ALL of
these points might be necessary for the preparation of our Proposal to the
AGA MC:

A. Nature of the Beast
   I think that this is settled, at least if everyone agrees with the "Core
Values".

B. Scope of the Beast
   Depending upon everyone's feelings on the "Core Values" we have been
discussing for the past little while, this should be settled now as well.

C. Endorsement / Backing
   Unpopular topic I know, and my closing of it didn't seem to go over very
well either. But it remains closed at least publicly, and at least for now.
Should our proposal fail to gain acceptance by the AGA MC, we can consider
our collective options at that time. If anyone wishes to discuss the issue
further, send me a PRIVATE e-mail.

D. Name
   Done.

E. Entries - Acceptable Formats
   I believe that we agreed to leave this with Erik for him to
decide/formulate. I WOULD like to have some sort of "statement" that I could
place on the prototype web-site regarding this (from Erik) - a list of what
can/cannot be accepted, given the limitations of our capabilities to get
things scanned. The sooner I can post this to the web-site as a "done deal",
the better.

It would also be nice to have a list of "scanning points" or pointers to Web
or other resources we could give people who will be doing their own
scanning, to ensure that they get the best possible results from their
efforts. This could also be placed on the web-site. I will accept input on
this from anybody, either publicly or privately.

F. Submission Elements / What are the parts of a submission?
   We have talked about this, but not reached a consensus yet. Possibilities
mentioned included:
1. The minimum and maximum number of images we should either suggest or
require. Considering that this is an aquascaping contest and not a
photography contest, it probably should be more than one. We want to look at
the aquascaping from several points of view. More discussion needed.
2. Entry Form - what's in, what's out. I am working on a draft of a
suggested format, and I'll post it to the web-site when ready. Things I'm
keeping in mind are clarity, brevity (no more than 1 page), and
completeness. But there might be points we bring up in later discussions
which could affect just what goes into the Entry Form, so let's just leave
this with me for the time being.
3. Set-up Details. We have had suggestions but need to nail down exactly
what we want. Again, other things can affect this (notably Judging
Guidelines), so perhaps now is not the time to get panicky.
4. Hand drawn plan - necessary or not, required or optional? This has to be
decided with the same comments as #3.

G. Submitting Entries / Points of Contact
   I think mainly settled but folks might still have the need to discuss.

H. Return of Submissions - S.A.E.
   I believe most everyone agrees that while this would be nice, it cannot
be 100% guaranteed to work in all cases so it is best if we advise entrants
to submit only duplicate images and that entries will not be returned.

I. Copyright
   Again, I think that this has been discussed and agreed to pretty much -
"Copyright for images remains with the creator of the images, however by
submitting the images to the event, the creator/submitter agrees to allow
the AGA and/or this Committee and/or whomever is running this event to
publish those images on the Web, on CD-ROM, in TAG, and/or in other print
media for the purposes of publicizing either the Contest or promoting the
hobby. A credit line is to be given in all such instances citing the
owner/creator of the image, but no other payment for such use shall be
required/forthcoming."

I apologize for my convoluted prose in this - when I do things like this for
work, I would have a PR person or a lawyer available to "dress it up". If
anyone feels competent to do that here, please step forward. Such a
statement must be comprehensive and consider every possible situation while
still being general.

J. Judging
   We have discussed a list of possible people to approach and names have
been put forward. I wish the group to remain open to suggestion on this
point until we actually have this whole thing ready to announce publicly. I
think though, that Judging Guidelines will have an impact here, so this is
not urgent.

K. Judging Guidelines
   Likely next topic. We seem to have agreed on a set of "core values" and
one of those core values is unbiased judging. Considering the sponsor and
the preference of everyone here for plants while at the same time remaining
open to other points of view, we are ready to consider this now.

Several people have mentioned guidelines which are used in other venues. I
know that guidelines are used for "fish shows". We have to agree on a set of
guidelines for this which, while mindful of our "plant" slant, is open to
OTHER points of view as well.

If anyone has access or can obtain access to sets of Judging Guidelines from
other venues which might be helpful to us in this, please mention it NOW and
I shall place them on the web-site. We can then refer to them there as we
discuss this issue. This should prevent things from getting lost in the sea
of the discussion.

L. Privacy
   !!!!!This is NEW!!!!!
   One thing which has been mentioned as being very educational is to read
what the Judges have to say about the various aquascapes which will be in
the Contest. This could be done in various ways and I remain very open to
suggestions on how best to do it. But the other point of view has also been
raised about negative comments which might be made by a Judge, or possibly
even derisive comments which might be made by a Judge. I don't think that
any of us wants to hurt the feelings of our entrants or publicly make fun of
their aquascaping efforts. How do we balance these to points of view? Do we
forward the Judges' Comments on specific entries to the particular
contestant in private or do we post everything to the web? Remember that not
everyone has web access. Much discussion needed.

M. Prizes/Awards
   !!!!!!This is NEW!!!!!!!!!
   We need to discuss and decide how we deal with this issue.

N. Promotion
   Still lots to discuss. We need a list, with hopefully an e-mail address
and preferably a contact name and full mailing address, of every POSSIBLE
person/group/organization/company which we may wish to be able to contact
regarding this event and the promotion of it. I can place this list on the
web-site as an on-going reference. Aquarium clubs are vital in this and the
widely spaced nature of this group will help greatly in this regard. If you
know of a club in your area, please send me a PRIVATE e-mail with this
information and I will add it to the list. We shall only contact the people
on that list when we are ready for a public announcement.

Note to Jose - can you get a list of clubs in South America for us?
Note to everyone - clubs in Europe/Australia/Africa/South East Asia/Japan
would be nice as well. I believe that there is someone on the APD who is
currently living/working/going to school in Japan. Perhaps he might know of
clubs in that country.

I did contact the individual whom Karen suggested that does German
translation for the AGA, and invited him to join in this discussion. Due to
other commitments, he cannot at this time do so and I don't know if we can
depend upon him to be able to translate any of our material into German.

N. Costs
   Very little has been discussed but this must be addressed, possibly later
once we have most other things nailed down.

O. The issue of Entrance Fees
   Related closely to the above, but also intimately tied to the list of
"core values". The sponsoring organization is a "special interest group"
within a much wider arena. We have decided (at least I hope we have decided)
that we see this event as one which has a wider focus, at least as far as
participation is concerned, than the sponsoring agency. We have to determine
if it is fair/practical/possible for us to assume/request/consider that the
entire cost of this event be shouldered by that organization or do we put an
Entrance Fee in place and waive it for registered members of the sponsoring
agency. But this can only be discussed AFTER we know the likely costs
associated with the event.

Quite a list, but now that we have focused our "core values" we should be
able to work through them with more ease than before. Again, I can't think
of everything and if someone can think of a point which I have missed,
please put it forward.

Please see my next post for my suggestion of what we do next.

James Purchase
Toronto
AGA member


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