Subject: Consortium - Group or Collaboration ?

From: Andre HECK <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 06 Apr 94 07:31:05 +0200

Dear Friends,

Just a few words to express full support for `Consortium' as this word
is not only used in English. At least over here, `consortium' has a
connotation that puts the venture more on an institutional level than
on an individual one (which would be more the case for `group' or
`collaboration'). You can always check with the Webster dictionary.

We would rather talk of a consortium of institutions, companies or
countries. An institutional level is quite appropriate for AstroWeb as
we use openly resources and official home pages (at CDS, the home page
goes through a formal approval routine, which is fair enough if one
wants to avoid undesirable bias by individuals and as this home page
will become increasingly a window on the local activities and
achievements).

If AstroWeb is successful, we might even consider a formal agreement
between our institutions to ensure its perennity!

All the best,
Andre.

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From: dwells (Don Wells)
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 94 10:19:09 EDT

Andre HECK writes:
 > `collaboration'). 

I assume that by 'over here' you mean in French. The connotation in
English is exactly as you describe it for French, and that is the
nuance, the hint, that I mentioned in my previous post. Indeed, in my
new page "The AstroWeb Consortium"
(http://fits.cv.nrao.edu/www/astroweb.html), I very carefully crafted
the wording of the first sentence to avoid giving the impression that
I was committing NRAO in any way! I settled on the wording "The
AstroWeb database of resource records is maintained by the members of
the AstroWeb Consortium, at five institutions, CDS , MSSSO , NRAO ,
ST-ECF and STScI , each of which supports a version of the AstroWeb
service." Like you, I hope that I might commit NRAO in some formal way
over a period of time, but I will be pleased if the management merely
has no objections to my work on this project.

In his 'consortium' posting half an hour ago, Bob agrees on the
institutional connotation, and regards it as a small joke. I got a
good laugh out of that, but this is a serious matter. If there is a
possibility that others will regard the name as pompous, or ludicrous,
maybe we should change it. "Group" would be a good possibility, except
that its connotation tends to be people in the *same* institution.
"Team" and "club" suggest some kind of formal organization that is
larger than and longer-lasting than the individual members. On the
whole, "collaboration" is probably the most accurate word choice, and
I would support a change to it if others agree.

 > .. An institutional level is quite appropriate for AstroWeb as
 > goes through a formal approval routine..

Like CDS, NRAO controls the "NRAO Home Page" in a somewhat formal
manner. The NRAO page contains pointers to my FITS archive and to my
"Astronomy resources on the Internet" page.  I intend to request that
the maintainer change the string to "AstroWeb: Astronomy resources on
the Internet" as soon as we make the formal announcement. I have
always been aware that my pages are a part of NRAO's public image, and
so I have acted in a dignified manner to avoid embarrassing my
institution.

 > between our institutions to ensure its perennity!

Yes, but my bet is that the rapid pace of technological change will
make our efforts obsolete in some way long before we could negotiate
such formalities!

-Don

PS- The word 'perennity' in the last sentence quoted above is a
wonderful thing. The meaning is obvious to any ex-Latin-student, but
the word does not appear even in the Webster's Third Unabridged. I
assumed that the word is valid in French, and I hoped that maybe I
could credit you with inventing its use in English.  I checked the
Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which is the definitive reference for
English etymology and historical usages. Sigh... the answer is that
you didn't invent it. The OED says that 'perennity' is "obsolete". For
etymology it refers to the word in OF [Old French] as given in
"Dict. Acad. 1878".  It quotes examples of usage in published English
texts in 1597, 1641 and 1713. But, as I said -- wonderful!