Merger with ES&H SIG postponed

by Geoff Hart

Previously published as: Hart, G.J. 2002. Merger with ES&H SIG postponed. the Exchange 9(4):4.

In the previous issue, I discussed the possibility of a merger with the Environmental Safety and Health (ES&H) SIG, and asked members of the Scientific Communication SIG for their opinions. Hillary Hart (the manager of the SIG) and I had hoped to work this issue through in enough detail that we could submit a merger recommendation to STC by the end of this calendar year. Unfortunately, I received very little feedback (primarily through our e-mail discussion group). Although the feedback I received was largely positive, a few issues were raised that made me hesitate to rush into this decision. For this reason, I’ve recommended that we postpone the merger until we’ve had a chance to work through these issues. Moreover, I’d like to feel confident that any merger decision truly reflects the majority opinion, not just the dozen or so people who contacted me (less than 2% of the membership).

I hope you’ll be able to join me at the 2003 STC annual conference to discuss these and other issues. I’ve asked STC to schedule our SIG meeting on the Sunday afternoon before the conference, but I’ll publish a firm date and time early in the new year, once the conference schedule has been finalized. Speaking of which, if you’ll be presenting a talk at the conference on any issue related to scientific communication, send me details and I’ll advertise your session in the pre-conference issue of the newsletter.

My essays on scientific communication have now been collected in the following book:

Hart, G. 2011. Exchanges: 10 years of essays on scientific communication. Diaskeuasis Publishing, Pointe-Claire, Que. Printed version, 242 p.; eBook in PDF format, 327 p.