Arisia 2016 Schedule

I am quite active at Arisia this year (even in comparison with previous years)!

Crystal can wear a pair of goggles like a pro, yo!

Friday at 5:30 pm in Marina 1
SUPERGIRL!

Friday at 7 pm in Faneuil
GENRE FICTION IN TRANSLATION

Saturday at 4 pm in Marina 4
MY FRIEND WROTE A BOOK; DO I HAVE TO BUY IT?

Saturday at 5:30 pm in Burroughs
CULTURAL ASSUMPTIONS IN SFF

Saturday at 9 pm in Room 666
WORLDCON 75 PARTY!!! (open to all Arisia attendees)

Sunday at 4 pm & Monday at 11:30 am in Independence Room (both sessions)
WORKSHOP TO COMBAT IMPOSTOR SYNDROME

 

Friday at 5:30 pm in Marina 1
SUPERGIRL!
“Although not (as of yet) connected to the rest of the TV DC Universe, the new Supergirl show is both a hit, and a blast to watch. We’ll talk about the first half-season of the show, what it means to have a positive female hero on the small screen as a headliner, and how the creators are reinterpreting a familiar mythos through an amazing new lens. We’ll also discuss the verve Melissa Benoist brings to the title role, and the dual roles played so well by Laura Benanti.”
My co-panelists are Adam Lipkin, Sharon Sbarsky, Gordon Linzner, and Cassandra Lease.
I have already warned them about how much prep I’ve done for this panel. It may be EPIC. I may pull out various feelings about feminism and liking imperfect things. I imprinted heavily on the 80s Supergirl movie when I was a child. Seriously.

Friday at 7 pm in Faneuil
GENRE FICTION IN TRANSLATION
“Cixin Liu’s _The Three-Body Problem_, translated by Ken Liu, won the Hugo for Best Novel. Clarkesworld’s recent foray into translating Chinese SF has brought some well deserved attention to the vibrant body of stories in that country. Haikasoru has made a name for itself translating works from Japanese, and Tor.com has recently published SF stories translated from Spanish. What possibilities do we see in translation of other cultures’ SF? How might this change the landscape of the genre?”
I’m moderating this panel, with Ken Liu, John Chu, Sarah Weintraub, and Morgan Crooks.
I plan to bring in plenty of stories the Finns have been telling me about SFF translation work, and we shall plumb the depths of what’s out there and what’s coming up in translation. Likely this conversation will include some structural racism of the genre. Good times, I promise you!

Saturday at 4 pm in Marina 4
MY FRIEND WROTE A BOOK; DO I HAVE TO BUY IT?
“This panel will discuss etiquette for friends of authors and other creators. How do we support their endeavors without going broke or feeling obligated to attend every signing. What do we do when we don’t like their creations and are asked (or feel it’s expected) to give a reaction?”
I’m moderating this panel, with participants Timothy Goyette, Kourtney Heintz, Deborah Kaminski, and Archangel Beth.
This is a panel where I will confess all of my sins that are on-topic, so I half hope none of my friends show up … but actually, I promise to give practical as well as funny advice on this topic, as well as address some of the more sensitive aspects of the question. What is friendship, when money becomes involved? This is another aspect of that question.

Saturday at 5:30 pm in Burroughs
CULTURAL ASSUMPTIONS IN SFF
“Recent novels such as *The Three Body Problem*, *The Grace of Kings*, and *Throne of the Crescent Moon* join other works that challenge the cultural assumptions behind mainstream (American and English) science fiction and fantasy. How are these genres being reimagined beyond just making the space cowboys swear in Mandarin?”
John Chu is moderating this one, with Max Gladstone, Kiini Ibura Salaam, and John Scalzi on the panel.
This panel is going to be amazing, and you should come to all of my panels, but this one especially. I love Firefly, and we’re totally going to address Firefly’s racism. Also, I have some book recommendations you all want to get in on! I know where to find all the cool books doing the awesome shit.

Saturday at 9 pm in Room 666
WORLDCON 75 PARTY!!! (open to all Arisia attendees)
We shall offer some Finnish delights (which are totally different from Turkish delight), and some prizes! Some books! Some music! It’ll be great. Come visit us in Room 666, where apparently we still can’t get past the impression that we’ll nickname the Helsinki Worldcon something evil. 😉

I’m also going to be offering TWO FREE WORKSHOPS to address Impostor Syndrome at Arisia.

Sunday at 4 pm & Monday at 11:30 am
Location: Independence Room (both sessions)

“Impostor Syndrome: the feeling that you aren’t really qualified for the work you are doing and will be discovered as a fraud. Many women, People of Color, QUILTBAG persons, and others from marginalized groups deal with this feeling, especially when they’ve been socialized to value other’s opinions of their work above their own. This workshop includes practical methods of addressing one’s own Impostor Syndrome as well as suggestions for how to improve one’s community. Limit 15 (due to room size).”

This workshop is usually given at a cost of $200 per person (or a company pays for their employees to take the workshop). In 2016, I’ve pledged to offer 12 workshops for free to nonprofits, and these sessions are toward that pledge. I care about the Arisia, Inc. community and want to help make fandom a better place. This is one way I’m working toward those goals.

After taking my workshop, participants have reported higher productivity on projects, improved self-esteem, and better capacity to deal with the negative messages society sends so many of us. I love giving this workshop, and want as many people as possible to take it. I hope to see many of you there this weekend!

Ba mhaith leat vótáil ar suíomh Worldcon? Go hiontach!

Seo iad na rudaí gur gá duit a dhéanamh chun vóta a caitheamh ar son iarratas Heilsincí d’óstáil Worldcon 2017:

Ceannaigh ballraíocht do Sasquan (an Worldcon dhá bhliain roimh ré). Tá costas USD $40 ar ballraíocht tacaíochta faoi láthair, cé gur feidir leo é sin a ardú.

Ba chóir go mbeadh an ballóid do suíomh Worldcon 2017 oscailte thart ar 15 Iúil 2015. Bí cinnte go bhfuil an dáta sin marcáilte i do chuid féilire!

Íoc an táille don ballóid, ar suíomh idirlíon Sasquan. Pé áit ina bhfuil WorldCon 2017, geobhaidh tú ballraíocht tacaíochta as íoc an táille seo.

Líon isteach do roghanna le haghaidh suíomh Worldcon 2017, in ord tosaíochta.

Seol isteach do ballóide tríd an bpost, trí fhreastal ar Sasquan go pearsanta, nó trí ríomhphost. Níl an próiseas chun vóta a sheoladh isteach trín ríomhphost soiléir go fóill, ach tá sé geallta go mbeidh sé faoin am sin!

Seol ríomhphost chuig info@helsinkiin2017.org ionas gur féidir linn cinnte a dhéanamh go bhfuil do vóta san áireamh, gur féidir linn tuilleadh chabhair a tabhairt má tá deacrachtí agat, agus gur féidir linn ár mbuíochas a chur in iúl! 🙂

Tá tionchar mór ag gach suíomh Worldcon ar na chomdhálacha atá le teacht, le mórán blianta anuas. Mar sin, is dócha go bhfuil vótáil ar an suíomh an rud is tábhachtach gur féidir le gach ball a dhéanamh, go háirithe nuair atá an iomaíocht chomh géar is atá sé i mbliana.

 

Many thanks to Nóirín Plunkett for the awesome translation into Irish!

Yes, Codes of Conduct Are Required.

Anyone who’s spoken with me over the past couple of years, after Readercon 23, probably knows that I have a strong opinion about harassment and how we handle it, particularly in fannish events like conventions (and parties, and work weekends, and all sorts of other fannish gatherings).  I’ve also been in HR in my professional life, so hopefully I know something about the topic, at this point, from multiple perspectives.

Let’s be clear, though — I developed some of my strongly-held opinions and beliefs after experiencing harassment myself, and I did a lot of reflecting on the topic during my three years as chair of Readercon.  It infuriated me to read the following email about whether or not a convention needed to have a code of conduct (which I won’t attribute because I don’t have permission to do so and suspect I’d never get permission from the person in question)…

“Do we need such a thing?   I have never heard of this being an issue at [convention name redacted] and see no reason to open a can of worms that is best to keep closed until there really is a need to open it.

“And if we do need one, I’d rather have a very short ‘act reasonable, don’t do dumb things, or we may ask you to leave.'”

I would like to say, unequivocally, that we DO need such a thing as a code of conduct.  The time of pretending that harassment doesn’t happen is behind us (not that that was ever an appropriate decision to make, on the part of people running events).  Now is the time of making sure that our conventions are as safe as we can make them, and that when someone behaves in an unsafe fashion, their behavior can be addressed in a clear and unambiguous fashion.

As for a “don’t be stupid” statement in lieu of having a real policy?  Pardon me, but that’s bullshit.  Poorly-developed policies don’t serve anyone well, as we’ve experienced in the past.  Poorly-defined policies don’t set people’s expectations for what they can or should do when they have a problem, other than that people might expect the problem won’t be handled well by the event organizers.  The only thing a lack of policy or barely-existing policy might do is send people the message that you don’t care if they harass other members of your convention.  That’s not quite putting out a welcome mat at the door of your convention for poorly-behaved attendees, but I do note this:  at [convention name redacted] referenced above?  I experienced being harassed multiple times, and no longer want to attend it.  I don’t trust the convention staff to take it seriously if I report a problem, nor address problems appropriately.

I have been the convention chair of Arisia in the past.  A few years ago, despite some objections about it “not being relevant to science fiction” (among other things), I was one of the people who started the tradition of inviting BARCC (the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center) to run workshops with Arisia staff in order to offer some helpful training and tools for addressing harassment and other inappropriate behavior at our conventions.  Since then, I have helped coordinate workshops with BARCC for Readercon, Arisia, Vericon, and local SCA staff.  Readercon ran BARCC workshops as part of the convention programming in 2013 (and possibly also 2014; I can’t recall).

I believe it really helped to have these workshops.  Fandom is not historically good at dealing with harassment, but I hope we are improving, as evidenced by things such as this post about harassment at RWA 2014 and this post about dealing with harassment at Arisia 2014.  I have hope.

But I base that hope partly on having codes of conduct that help set the tone for attendees.  So yes, I think codes of conduct are required.  Not having one is a different message you send to your attendees, if that’s what you choose to do.

Arisia 2015 Faux Newsletter

It turns out that the Arisia staff didn’t manage to put together a faux newsletter during con this year.  That’s a shame, and too large a crime to let stand.  So, tipsily, we must address this omission!  Let’s hope this works:

Ether Egg Arisia 2015

 

Arisia Plans Needing More Assistance

It’s time to ask for help for Arisia next week!  It’s past time, actually, but the past month has been hectic enough that I haven’t managed to put out another all-call until now.  Additionally, I’ve heard from an epic number of people unable to come to Arisia this year, which is sad.  So now we scramble.  I’m posting this to all my social media options.

There are two things I could use the most help with: working on the Arisia Photobooth (taking photos of people with props and backdrops we provide) and/or helping with the Helsinki in 2017 party.  Please read more beyond the cut!

So, Du möchtest also über den Ort der Worldcon abstimmen? Hurrah!

(Aka, our German teammates are awesome, and have given us a version of my “Worldcon voting info” post in Deutsch!)

Worldcon ist historisch gesehen eher schlecht wenn es um die Wahl des Ortes geht. Letztes Jahr hatte die LoneStarCon 6130 Teilnehmer… davon haben lediglich 1348 Teilnehmer die Chance wahrgenommen über den Ort abzustimmen. Dies entspricht noch nicht einmal 22% der Teilnehmer.

Die niedrige Teilnahme liegt sicherlich nicht nur daran, aber das Worldcon Wahlsystem ist sicherlich nicht einfach zu Verstehen.

Worldcon ist eine große Sache und viele Dinge sind zu berücksichtigen und leider hat ist das System wie der Ort bestimmt wird nicht immer ganz oben wenn es darum geh Dinge zu erklären. Außerdem, waren laut dem Sasquan Artikel den ich letzten Monat gelesen habe, die letzten fünf Worldcon Entscheidungen ohne Mitbewerber. Vielleicht ist es deswegen verständlich, wieso die Entscheidung in den letzten Jahren nicht so sehr im Fokus war. Ich glaube ich war in mindestens zwei Worldcons involviert, bevor ich gehört habe, daß wir überhaupt abstimmen können.

Aber wir können abstimmen und es hat einen hohen Einfluss darauf, wo die Worldcon als nächstes sein wird. Außerdem ist es die günstigste Variante um an einer Worldcon teilzunehmen.

Nachdem wir Worldcon 2015 mit nur 35 Stimmen verloren haben glaube ich, dass DU Worldcon nach Helsinki bringen kannst. Du und all die anderen die für uns stimmen.

Convention Terminology

A friend of mine recently said something along the lines of, “hey, I go to conventions, and I still don’t understand more than half the lingo!”  I care a lot about making conventions inclusive and accessible, so this seems like a great opportunity to share some intel.  Here are some terms we came up with that might need explaining…

A dictionary by any other name …

the 5-2-1 rule – This is a somewhat infamous guideline for attending conventions.  The idea is that you get at least 5 hours of sleep, 2 meals, and 1 shower every day during the convention.  You can’t make up for a lack in one category by doing extra in another; 3 meals will in no way forgive a lack of shower or having fewer than 5 hours of sleep at con.  Please follow this guideline if you go to a convention.  You, and everyone else around you, will have a better time than if you don’t observe the 5-2-1 rule.

code of conduct – A code of conduct is a set of expectations for behavior at the convention, usually written and adopted as policy of the convention by its staff or leadership.  It should be communicated to all attendees well in advance of the convention and it should be applicable to all members (including staff, leadership, guests, etc.).  Ideally, a code of conduct includes specificity on how unacceptable behavior is defined, clear information on what to do if unacceptable behavior is witnessed or experienced, and what might happen upon the convention receiving a report of said behavior.  In addition, many people have co-signed John Scalzi’s policy on codes of conduct, which is very related reading.

conchair – The conchair is the most common term for the person at the top of the leadership for a convention.  If there are multiple conchairs, they are called co-chairs.  An assistant conchair is considered the next level down on the org chart, and is sometimes called a “vice chair.”

Arisia 2011: Moving Locations for a Convention, Creating Positive Relationships

I wrote this up for a mailing list I’m a member of, and it seems also useful to post it here, as well.

I learned a lot from chairing Arisia 2011.  Arisia moved from the Cambridge Hyatt to the Westin Boston Waterfront for the 2011 convention, and it was a really fascinating learning experience.  All told, I think it went smashingly well.  This was partly circumstance, and partly really intentional work from all parties.

First off, in general, I highly recommend getting to know the staff of your hotel or facilities very well, very far in advance.  I had several lunch and coffee meetings with our hotel representatives more than a year before signing the hotel contract, even.  (The contract signing is at least a year in advance, but preferably multiple years in advance, note.)  I stayed in the hotel several times prior to signing the contract.  I became a familiar face they saw several times a year (and sometimes several times a month, in the case of the door staff).  Some Westin staffers still recognize me and remember my name, years later, and they associate me with positive things such as large-ish tips and remembering who they are.  (I am lucky to have reasonably good facial/name recollection.)

Worldcon Voting Info & Instructions in Chinese!

After writing the post “So, You Want to Vote on Worldcon Location? Yay!” I’ve been asking various friends and associates if they can help translate the info into their native languages, to get the word out.  You can find the Finnish version here, the Swedish info here, and now we have a Chinese translation!  (More to come, as well, I believe!)

那么，你想投票选择世界科幻大会的会址吗？当然！

Worldcon is historically kinda bad at getting the vote out on site selection(aka “voting on where Worldcon will be in the future”).  Last year, there were 6130 total members of LoneStarCon3.  Of these, 1348 members voted on site selection, or not quite 22% of the membership.  And that was a highly contested race!

在世界科幻大会的历史上，一直没那么多人参与选址投票（或者说，选出未来的世界科幻大会举办地）。去年的LoneStarCon3共有6130位会员，其中有1348人投票选了会址，还不到总人数的22%。那还算一场激烈的比赛呢！

I don’t think low voter turnout is the intended outcome, but I do think Worldcon voting isn’t the easiest system to understand.  Worldcon is a big endeavor, and big things are unwieldy, and site selection voting hasn’t often made it to the top of the list of things to make sure the public is knowledgeable about.  Plus, according to the Sasquan report I read last month, the previous five Worldcon races were uncontested.  Maybe it’s pretty understandable that it wasn’t a huge focus in the past.  I think I was on Worldcon staff for at least two years before I knew we could vote on Worldcon location.

我不认为低投票率是预期的结果，但是我真的认为世界科幻大会的投票系统不那么容易让人理解。世界科幻大会是一个巨大的项目，巨大的事情都难以掌控，而且选址投票并没有常常被放在公众必知的列表顶部。另外，根据上个月我读到的Sasquan的第一期报告，前五次世界科幻大会竞争都不那么激烈。这很好理解，因为这在过去并不是一个热点。我当了至少两年世界科幻大会的工作人员之后才知道我们可以投票选会址。

But this is how we decide where Worldcon will be!  Which has a huge impact on the con in the long term (more on that later)!  And it’s the least expensive option for getting a membership to Worldcon!  So I’m going to attempt to explain it.

但这是我们决定世界科幻大会在哪里举办的唯一方法！这在长期来说会对大会产生巨大的影响（稍后详述）！而且投票选会址可以让你以最便宜的价格参加世界科幻大会！待我细细道来。

After losing Worldcon 2015 by only 35 votes, I truly believe that only YOU can bring Worldcon to Helsinki! You, and many others voting with us …

以仅仅35票之差输掉世界科幻大会2015年的举办权之后，我才真正相信，只有你能把世界科幻大会带来赫尔辛基！你，还有许多其他给我们投票的人……

Prerequisite: Worldcon Membership

先决条件：世界科幻大会的会员

The first thing you need to vote on Worldcon location is a membership to the Worldcontwo years prior to the year you want to vote on.  It can be a Supporting (aka non-attending) membership, or an Attending membership.  But it’s required before you can go further on voting.  I cannot stress the two years prior part enough — having a membership to Loncon3 this summer won’t allow you to vote on Helsinki for 2017, sadly, because it’s the wrong year. (You can vote for Kansas City in 2016 or Beijing in 2016 this year, though.)

参与投票选出世界科幻大会会址的第一件事情是：你要成为所投选会址举办年之前两年的那届大会会员。可以是一个支持(Supporting)（或称：非参会）会员，也可以是参会会员。只有进行了这步，你才能继续投票。我在举办年之前两年这部分上怎么强调都不嫌多 ——比方说：今年夏天在Loncon3上具有会员资格并不足以让你为2017年的赫尔辛基投票，真遗憾，因为年份不对。 （但你可以在今年投给2016年的堪萨斯或者北京。）

You can get your Worldcon membership a couple of different ways, but if this is your first time, I’d suggest purchasing online.  The membership prices periodically increase, so you don’t want to wait long if you’re sure you want a membership. If you are at a convention in person, and if the Worldcon has a presence there, you can also usually purchase membership at their fan table (basically, a table where fan-organized groups talk about their conventions, activities, etc.).  Sometimes that comes with an at-con discount, sometimes not.  Online, though, the Worldcon website should have a “Membership” or “Registration” tab that will get you where you need to go.

购买世界科幻大会的会员资格有很多不同的方式，但如果这是你第一次购买，我建议你在网上买。会员资格的价格会阶段性上升，如果你确定想买就别拖延太久。如果你参加某个大会上，而且世界科幻大会在那儿有个展台，你也可以在展台上买会员资格（展台就是幻迷组织介绍他们的大会、活动等等的地方）。有时有特别折扣，有时没有啦。在网上，世界科幻大会的网站上总有一个“会员”或“注册”的选项钮，引导你如何买票。

SIDE NOTE: HUGO VOTING

边注：雨果奖投票

The Hugo Awards are the premier fan-selected awards in science fiction and fantasy.  All Supporting and Attending memberships come with Hugo nomination and voting rights.  If you get your membership early enough, you can nominate works for the Hugos to the year prior, the year of, and the year after your membership.  So if you have a membership to Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon, and if you got it early enough, you could nominate works for the 2014, 2015, and 2016 Hugo ballots.  You also get to vote on the final nominated ballot for the year of your membership.  For members of Sasquan, we will get to vote on the Hugo Award nominees next summer, and help select the winners.  The Hugos are a huge thing unto themselves, and something I love, but that’s not the point of this post, so I’m going to leave it at that for now.

雨果奖是科幻奇幻界由幻迷投票选出的最高奖项。所有支持和参会成员都拥有雨果奖的提名权和投票权。如果你拥有会员资格够早的话，你可以在你拥有会员资格的前一年，当年以及后一年为雨果奖提名作品啦。比如，如果你有Sasquan，2015年世界科幻大会的会员资格的话，而且你买的够早，你可以为2014年，2015年和2016年的雨果奖提名作品。在你获得会员资格的当年，你参与最终选票。对于Sasquan的会员来说，我们可以为明年夏天的雨果奖提名人投票，并且选出最后的获奖者。雨果奖本身是巨大的荣誉，也是我喜欢的，但这不是这篇文章的重点啦，所以我就此打住。

Also Required: Site Selection Fee & Ballot

次级要求：选址费及选票

The next step may involve some waiting, depending on what year you want to vote on.  Please don’t give up!  We want your voice to be heard!  (Or at least, I do!)

进行下一步之前也许要等上一阵，这取决于你想为哪一年投票。请不要放弃！我们希望听到你的声音！ （至少，我想！）

At some point around July 15th or so, the Worldcon coming up (“the seated Worldcon”) will publish a ballot for the site options being voted on at the con.  This is also the point at which the con will tell people how to pay their site selection fee in order to vote.  The fee amount is frustratingly different every year, but for somewhat understandable reasons.  This fee turns into a supporting membership for whichever bid wins the convention, and therefore the bids in question are required to agree on what the fee amount will be.  If they can’t agree together, there’s a formula to which it reverts, according to the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) constitution:  “If agreement is not reached, the default fee shall be the median (middle value) of the US dollar fees used in the previous three (3) Worldcon site selections.”  Generally, this fee has ranged from $30 to $70, I think, recently.  There was a bit of politicking (which I personally thought was bullsh*t) last year about trying to make it higher, but we prevailed with $40 to vote on the 2015 Worldcon, which meant more fans could afford to vote.  All site selection fees paid are given to the winning bid as seed money to start working on their convention.

 

大约7月15日左右，该年世界科幻大会将公布大会上用于会址投票的选票。同时大会也会告诉来投票的人们如何支付他们的选址费。令人沮丧的是，出于某些可以理解的理由，该费用数额每年不同。不管哪个城市赢得申办权，这笔费用都会变成支持会员会费，因此各个申办城市必须在数额上达成一致。如果他们没有达成最终一致，有一个公式帮助解决问题。根据世界科幻协会（WSFS）章程：“如果协议没有达成，则默认世界科幻大会选址费应为之前三（3）届的大会选址费的中位数（中间值）。”一般情况下，最近几年这项费用大概在30至70美元之间。去年曾经有些政治活动（我个人认为是瞎扯淡）要把费用抬高，但我们成功把给2015年世界科幻大会的选址投票的费用定为40美元——这意味着更多幻迷能买得起门票。所有选址费用所得将移交给中标的城市作为种子基金，以开始他们的准备工作。

So you need to pay a fee in order to vote on Worldcon site selection, but “fee” is possibly a misleading word.  It turns into a Supporting membership of whichever bid wins.  This is the absolute cheapest way to become a Worldcon member, and the bid that wins is required to offer an upgrade fee for those who voted and want to change their membership from Supporting to Attending.  The exact fee for upgrading is up to the convention; the WSFS constitution only requires that “this fee must not exceed four (4) times the site-selection fee and must not exceed the difference between the site-selection fee and the fee for new attending members.”  Hence, cheapest option for membership, whether you want a Supporting or Attending one.

所以，为了给世界科幻大会选址投票你需要支付一定的费用，但也许“费”是一个误导性的词。它会转化为获胜城市的支持会员资格。这是成为一个世界科幻大会会员最便宜的方式，获胜的城市得定一个升级费用，让那些投票了并且想成为参会会员的人可以从支持会员升级到参会会员。具体的升级费用取决于大会；在WSFS章程中只规定，“这个费用不得超过选址费用的四（4）倍，不得超过新参会会员资格费用和选址费用之差”，因此，无论你是想成为支持会员还是参会会员，这都是最便宜的选择。

 

(You can see how this becomes a self-perpetuating cycle for some fans — membership plus voting on site selection turns into having a membership every other year, at the least expensive rate possible.  Maybe that’s okay, but you have to know about it to take advantage of it, which means new fans are hugely disadvantaged, here.  That’s also probably a different post unto itself, particularly as I have some ideas on how it could/should be mitigated.  But I do acknowledge it, and part of the point of this post is to help fix that if I can.)

（你可以看到对一些幻迷来说这是如何成为死循环的——会员费加上投票选址费逐渐变为每一年都成为会员，这样花的钱是最少的。但你得知道这个事实才能从中获利，这对新幻迷不怎么友好。我有一些减轻这种现象的想法，但那是题外话。我也承认，这篇文章也是部分为了帮助解决这个问题。）

Filling Out the Ballot

填写选票

So!  Once you’ve got your membership, and you’ve paid your site selection fee (which hopefully the convention has allowed you to do online), you get to fill out a ballot!  We’ve not yet had a site selection ballot be available electronically, but I’m hoping that’ll change for voting on the 2017 bids.  Regardless, a paid site selection fee means you’ll at least be able to download and fill out a paper copy, which can then be mailed to the convention or sent with someone you trust who is themselves attending the convention, if you can’t be there.  Your ballot needs to be received well in advance of the con if you’re mailing it, so be sure to check the website for deadlines on this.  (For example, site selection ballots last year had to be received by August 15th if mailed, or presented on site at LoneStarCon3 by 6 pm on August 31st.)  At con, site selection hours will be posted, and all ballots must be cast by the day and time publicized.  This is usually 6 pm on the evening of the Masquerade event, so the results can be announced during the WSFS Business Meeting the next morning.

所以！当你买好了会员资格，而且支付了选址费（希望你能在网上支付），你现在就能填写选票啦！我们目前还没有电子版的选址选票，但我希望在投2017年的票时会有所改变。不管怎样，付选址费意味着你至少可以下载并填写一张纸质选票。如果你不去会场的话，可以邮寄到大会或交给你信任的会参加大会的人。如果你使用邮寄方式，你的投票需要在大会之前寄到，所以一定要检查网站上提到的截止时间哦。（例如，去年的选址选票要在8月15日之前邮寄到，或在8月31日下午6时之前提交到LoneStarCon3现场）。大会现场将公布选址截止时间，所有选票必须在公示日期和时间前提交。通常是截止于化妆舞会活动的当天下午6点，这样的话结果能在第二天早上的WSFS会议中宣布。

The ballot for site selection, as with the Hugo ballot, utilizes an instant runoff voting system, also sometimes called the Australian system for preferential voting.  This means that you vote for your top choice as number 1, your next favorite choice as number 2, and so on.  When ballots are being tallied, first they’ll count number 1 choices.  If there’s a majority (over 50%) vote allocation at that point, we’ve chosen a Worldcon location and everyone can get to the partying part of the evening.  If there isn’t yet a majority, the least popular site for number 1 votes will have their ballots reallocated to number 2 choices, and we’ll see if that gives someone a majority.  This goes on until ballots reallocated give someone more than 50% of the ballots (as with last year, when Spokane won by 35 votes over Helsinki in the third round of voting — prior to that, Helsinki won the first two rounds, but didn’t have a majority yet).  If there’s never a majority, or if “None of the Above” wins more than 50% of the votes, there is mass mayhem and hysteria.  Also possibly recounting and gnashing of teeth.  That’s never happened, though, and the statistical likelihood is infinitesimally small.  Hopefully we will avert disaster and proclaim a winner, instead!

For a video explanation of the instant runoff vote, take a look at the video our team produced last year:

选址投票与雨果奖投票一样，使用了排序复选制，有时也被称为澳洲偏好投票制。这意味着，你要选出你的第一选择，第二选择……填在1,2……边上。当选票汇集到一起时，他们会首先数第一选择。如果这时有多数（超过50％）投票选择相同的话，我们就已经选定了世界科幻大会的会址，然后每个人都可以去晚上的派对啦。如果没有过半数的候选城市，第一选择得票最少的候选城市会被淘汰，然后将其得票依第二选择重新分配给其他候选城市，然后我们将继续看是否有某地占多数。这将一直持续到某地的选票超过50％（去年的时候，斯波坎在第三轮投票中压倒赫尔辛基35票——在此之前，赫尔辛基赢得了前两轮，但并没有过半数）。如果永远没有过半数，或者“以上皆非”赢得的票数超过50％，会造成极大的混乱和恐慌，也会有重新计算和咬牙切齿。这种情况从未发生过，这在统计上的可能性是无穷小。希望我们会能避免灾难，选出赢家！

对于排序复选制的讲解，看看我们的团队去年制作的视频：

So in order to vote for Helsinki’s 2017 Worldcon bid:

为了投票支持2017年赫尔辛基申办世界科幻大会:

1. Get a membership (Supporting is currently USD $40, though they may raise it) to Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon.
2. Set a reminder in your calendar for around July 15, 2015, which is around when there should be a site selection ballot for the 2017 bids.
3. Go to the Sasquan site again to pay the site selection fee.
4. Fill in your choices for Worldcon 2017 locations in order of preference.
5. Send your ballot by snail mail, by attending the convention in person, or possibly by electronic submission — it’s unclear if Sasquan will enable this function for the 2017 site selection.
6. Emailinfo@helsinkiin2017.org to tell us we should make sure your vote has been received, and/or to get further help if you run into difficulty, and/or to hear our gratitude for your participation in this election.  🙂

 

1. 成为Sasquan，2015年世界科幻大会的会员（支持会员的价格目前是40美元，也许他们会涨价）。
2. 在2015年7月15日周围设置日历提醒，在那时应该会有2017年选址投票的选票。
3. 至Sasquan网站，支付选址费。
4. 按偏好顺序填写你对于2017年世界科幻大会会址的选择。
5. 通过邮寄寄出你的选票，或者亲临会展，也可以通过电子方式提交（如果Sasquan启用此功能的话，目前还不清楚是否可以）。
6. 发送电子邮件到info@helsinkiin2017.org来告诉我们，我们会确保已收到你的投票，并提供进一步的帮助，，同时感谢你参与这次选举。🙂

 

Past Worldcon locations continue to have an impact, coloring the conventions for years to come, so I think voting on location is an important thing to do, particularly in such a highly contested race as we’re currently in.

过去的世界科幻大会会址会持续产生影响。使未来几年的大会更加丰富多彩，我想投票选举场地是非常重要的事情，尤其是在目前这样一场激烈的竞争中。

Swedish Voting Instructions for Worldcon

After writing the post “So, You Want to Vote on Worldcon Location? Yay!” I’ve been asking various friends and associates if they can help translate the info into their native languages, to get the word out.  You can find the Finnish translation here, and I hereby present (with huge gratitude) the info in Swedish (which Anna also published on her blog here, but I’m posting on my blog as well to increase visibility).

Det här inlägget är en bearbetad och förkortad översättning av So You Want to Vote on Worldcon Location? Yay! från bloggen ArisiaCrystal. Crystal uppmuntrade mig att översätta den här texten, för att fler ska rösta — och förhoppningsvis rösta på Helsingfors inför 2017! Om du missade det kan du höra mig prata med Crystal Huff (och Eemeli Aro) om grejen med världskongresser och varför det är bra att ha en i Finland (MP3).

Världskongressen (The World SF Convention) äger rum på olika platser varje år, och i princip kan alla som intresserar sig för det vara med och rösta om var det blir. Tyvärr är det ganska snårigt att sätta sig in i hur det går till, och det leder till sånt som att folk kan jobba för ett världskongressbud utan att själva vara på det klara med att de kan rösta. Det är begripligt, om än synd, att en ganska liten del av alla medlemmar engagerar sig i omröstningen. Men de kan vi ändra på!

Här följer alltså lite instruktioner och förklaringar av hur omröstningen fungerar.

Det första kravet: medlemskap i en världskongress

Det första du behöver för att rösta om var världskongressen ska äga rum är ett medlemskap i världskongressen två år före det år du vill rösta för. Det kan vara ett stöjande medlemskap (”Supporting membership”, som alltså inte räcker för att delta i kongressen) eller ett fullständigt medlemskap. Det viktiga är att du får rösta om världskongressen två år framåt i tiden från den kongress du är medlem i.

Om du skulle vilja rösta på Helsingforsbudet, Helsinki in 2017 behöver du alltså vara medlem i Sasquan, Worldcon 2015.

Du kan skaffa ditt medlemskap på flera sätt, men det enklaste är troligen att köpa det online. Kostnaden stiger med tiden, så det är bra att skaffa det så tidigt som möjligt om du ändå har bestämt dig för att du vill ha ett.

Kan du inte delta i kongressen personligen finns det ändå trevliga saker som hör till ett medlemskap. Utöver rätten att rösta om framtida världskongresser får du också både nominera och rösta för Hugo-priserna!

Behövs också: röstningsavgift och röstsedel

Någon gång kring 15 juli kommer den förestående världskongressen (”the seated Worldcon”) att publicera en röstsedel (”ballot”) för de olika alternativen som kommer att vara med i omröstningen på kongressen. Samtidigt kommer kongressen att berätta hur de som vill rösta ska göra för att betala sin röstningsavgift (”site selection fee”).

Storleken på den här avgiften är frustrerande olika från år till år, men av något begripliga anledningar. Den här avgiften omvandlas till betalning för stödjande medlemskap i det vinnande budet och därför måste de bud som ställer upp i omröstningen komma överens om hur stor avgiften ska vara. Om de inte kan komma överens finns det instruktioner i världskongressens stadgar som säger att avgiften ska ligga på medianvärdet för de föregående tre omröstningarna.

Omröstningsavgiften omvandlas alltså till medlemskap i den kongress som vinner och äger rum två år senare. Det här är normalt det billigaste sättet att bli medlem!

Att fylla i röstsedeln

Ännu har ingen av världskongressomröstningarna tillåtit elektronisk röstning, men när du nu har blivit medlem och betalat röstningsavgiften bör du i vilket fall som helst kunna ladda ner en röstsedel att skriva ut på papper. Den kan sedan skickas med posten, eller med någon som ska till kongressen, om du inte har möjlighet att närvara själv. Var noga med att kolla upp vilket datum som är sista dagen din röst måste komma in för att räknas. Det brukar vara ett par veckor före själva kongressen. Om du närvarar personligen på kongressen ska du titta efter informationen om vilken dag och tid omröstningen stänger — det brukar ofta vara ungefär klockan 18 samma kväll som maskeraden.

Precis som i Hugo-omröstningen sker rösträkningen enligt preferensrankning, så som det går till i det australiensiska valsystemet. Du ska alltså sätta ditt förstahandsval som nummer 1, ditt andrahandsval som nummer två, och så vidare. När rösterna samlats in räknas först alla förstahandsval. Om något alternativ då får egen majoritet (över 50% av rösterna) har det vunnit. Annars tas alla röstsedlar som hade det minst populära alternativet som förstahandsval till omräkning, och fördelas på det angivna andrahandsvalet, och då finns det förhoppningsvis en vinnare. Om inte fortsätter omfördelningen ända tills mer än 50% av valsedlarna har hamnat på något av alternativen.

Här är en video som demonstrerar rösträkningsförfarandet, och som kanske gör det hela lite klarare. (Filmen kommer från förra gången Helsingfors försökte få världskongressen. Observera att budet på 2017 blir det sista, så om Helsingfors inte vinner då blir det ingen Worldcon i Finland inom överskådlig framtid.)

 

Sammanfattning. Det här behöver du göra för att kunna rösta på Helsingforsbudet för världskongressen 2015:

1. Skaffa ett medlemskap i Sasquan, världskongressen 2015.
2. Lägg in en påminnelse i din kalender kring 15 juli 2015, för kring den tiden bör det finnas ett omröstningsformulär för att rösta på buden för 2017.
3. Gå in på Sasquans webbplats för att betala omröstningsavgiften (”site selection fee”).
4. Fyll i dina val av plats för världskongressen 2017, rangordnade med ditt favoritbud först.
5. Skicka in din röstsedel med snigelpost, eller ta med dig den dit om du tänker närvara personligen, eller skicka den med någon som ska dit. Det är oklart om Sasquan tänker erbjuda möjligheten att rösta elektroniskt.
6. Skicka ett meddelande till info@helsinkiin2017 och säg till om att de som arbetar för budet ska kontrollera att din röst blir mottagen. Det går också bra att höra av dig och be om hjälp om du stöter på svårigheter.