CNI Cancels Spring 2020 Meeting in San Diego, Will Hold Virtual Meeting

From a Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) Announcement by Cliff Lynch:

I deeply regret to announce that I’ve decided to cancel our Spring 2020 Member Meeting in San Diego due to COVID-19 developments. I reached this decision after close monitoring of recent developments, including declarations of states of emergency, increasing numbers of cases being diagnosed around the country, warnings from the medical and public health communities, suspensions of face to face classes by some of our member institutions and imposition of travel restrictions by others, and after extended consultation with the CNI Steering Committee and members of the broader CNI community. I am sorry for the disruption that this decision to cancel will cause, but I feel convinced that it’s the best choice based on what I know now, and I think it’s better to make the decision earlier rather than later to reduce uncertainty.

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Over a period from March 30 to May 30, we will run a virtual spring meeting; note that we have “re-instated” all registrants who subsequently cancelled their participation in the in-person meeting. While all the details are still being worked out, this is the rough plan.

Rob Sanderson will open the virtual meeting by delivering his plenary at 1pm PDT/4pm EDT on Monday March 30.  Tara McPherson’s closing plenary will be at the same time on Tuesday March 31. As with our in-person meetings, both of these will be recorded and made openly available as well.

During the period from April 2 through May 30, we will invite all of the breakout sessions to present as webinars during the noon-5pm EDT/9am-1pm PDT window; we will reach out to those speakers (including speakers of accepted sessions that subsequently contacted us to withdraw from the in-person meeting). When the presenters are willing, these sessions will be recorded and made openly available. The exception will be the short updates; for these, presenters will be invited to record a 10-15 minute talk and we’ll make these available as they are received. One side effect is that this will be the most extensively documented CNI meeting ever, with the most material available to the public.

Learn More, Read the Complete Announcement

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