DAWG unleashed!

The Schenley Park Debate Authors Working Group convened its first meeting yesterday, Friday, March 17, 2006. It was a crisp late fall day with resplendent sunshine when charter DAWG members Matt, Kelly, Steve, Gordon, Cate, Damien, John, and Carly trekked up the hill past the Schenley Park Visitors Plaza, CMU and Phipps Conservatory, to settle in at the Schenley Park Visitors Center for a noon meeting. Iced tea was the beverage of choice - evidence of the Pittsburgh group's wishful thinking that spring is just around the corner.

Gordon opened with some reflections on how the DAWG mission relates to the 1975 Sedalia Conference, and how the future might unfold:

* 2008: Eight DAWG papers in print (one for each of the charter members)
* 2010: Second-generation DAWGs up and running outside Pittsburgh
* 2015: DAWG mode of knowledge production recognized as a partial answer to issues raised at Quail Roost

After an illuminating discussion of Matt's paper, "Looking Back, Looking Forward" (perhaps we could elaborate on these in a new post), we decided on a schedule for upcoming meetings:

* First Friday in May - John Rief's paper to be discussed
* Third Friday in May - Paper TBA (Steve or Damien/Carly)
* First Friday in June - Paper TBA (Steve or Damien/Carly)

Also, several committees were formed:

* Taxonomy committee (Matt, Kelly, Cate)
* Co-author guidelines committee (Carly, John)
* Logo, Motto & Manifesto committee (Gordon, Damien, Kelly)
* Blawg committee (Matt, Steve)