Journey Planet Call for Submissions: “Be The Change”

Paul Weimer joins James Bacon and Christopher J. Garcia in a forthcoming issue of Journey Planet that focuses on the future of the Hugo awards, looking at realistic and achievable solutions to prevent a recurrence of what occurred in 2023.  

Button created by Brad Templeton’s ClariNet the day after a mixup in announcing a 1992 Hugo winner.

Paul is one of a number of people who were treated appallingly by the Chengdu Worldcon, whose valid nomination was arbitrarily made ineligible by Dave McCarty under Ben Yalow, in the disastrous Chengdu Hugo Awards corruption of 2023

This fanzine considers what next, looking forward, looking at solutions, looking to rebuild trust, honesty, respectfulness and democracy.

The editors welcome hearing from fellow fans who are keen to see through changes. To be part of the change, to help see it through. 

This issue will work to bring together ideas, and imaginative but manageable proposals that other fans can galvanise around.  

We know many fans already have thrown themselves into considerable amounts of work, ensuring the Hugo’s are spectacular, transparent and democratic with check points and if they have time, we will see what they too think, as well as seeking input from experienced practitioners, who are like ourselves appalled, but may have views on workloads and feasibility. 

Making the argument now is important, to ensure there is support, as fans will be at Glasgow in person, or have representatives, to speak for and vote on motions.    

There has been much hot air, obfuscation and silence. Figuring things out with the people who will have to work to deliver on any changes is vitally important. Moving notions and ideas forward needs the engagement and the views of those by all stakeholders directly impacted while welcoming all who from the community who wish to be part of the solution.  

While many parts of Fandom have had vast amounts of activity, discussion and engagement, we hope we can create a focus point for distilling these into potential motions and suggestions.  Contributions will have limitations in length, (1,200 words) and also contributors will be asked to state if they will be at Glasgow willing to put forward their argument. 

We will work to connect common ideas, to see if consensus can be formed, while also seeking an understanding of the mechanics required from a parliamentary perspective. We have planned with Mike Glyer to then publish the articles in order on File 770 for broader consideration and looking to galvanise consensus.

Paul wants to focus on  “What is to be Done”, a more productive approach than speculation on the whys and wherefores, and how important it is to “be part of the change” and we welcome that. 

Contributors are welcome to contact [email protected] 

Proposal: that there should be a permanent Hugo Tech Working Group. Guest Post by Doctor Science

Mini Hugo rocket carried into space and photgraphed by astronaut Kjell Lindgren in 2015.

By Doctor Science: This is a first draft. I don’t know all the arcane rituals for submitting something to the WSFS Business Meeting, but I hope to get to that in due course.


Proposal: that there should be a permanent Hugo Tech Working Group

This Working Group shall be answerable to the WSFS, either in the form of the Business Meeting, or in the form of some other committee or group.

The Hugo Tech Working Group (HTWG) doesn’t set rules for the Hugo Awards software, it actually does the work (hence the name). The HTWG is not a directly elected group, but it must report and be answerable to elected groups. The HTWG will include:

  • one or more “Gurus”: people who had a major role in writing the open-source software currently being used (hi Chris!)
  • one or more “Scribes”: responsible for documentation, manuals, and reports
  • 1 person from Worldcon N-1
  • at least 3 people from Worldcon N
  • 2 people from Worldcon N+1

where N is the current Worldcon.

The “Hugo Awards software” is whatever performs the following functions:

  1. validates that a given person has the right to nominate or vote. This is a function of the registration system, which is handled by Worldcon N
  2. accepts nominations
  3. canonicalizes nominations, i.e. makes names uniform
  4. calculates finalists
  5. accepts final ballots
  6. calculates winners

What problems am I trying to solve with this proposal?

One of the (many) shocking revelations in Chris Barkley’s interview with Dave McCarty was that the software McCarty wrote to determine the final ballot was erroneous, and he knew it: “The SQL query from from the data for the ballot counts in each category actually has a fucking flaw and it’s and it’s mistaken.”

I said, “Why is Dave talking about SQL? Is each Worldcon re-inventing the vote-counting wheel?”

Chris Rose/Chris_R/offby1, who’s worked on the software for numerous Worldcons, replied:

in my observation, convention committees all seem to have at least one person on them, in a position of authority, who wants to be the one to invent the software suite to rule them all that will solve all future fannish endeavours henceforth. I’ve seen it result in thousands of hours of volunteer software development in the short time I’ve been in this community, and I don’t foresee it [stopping].

Then Mary Robinette Kowal said she’d learned that McCarty had not only written his own Hugo Awards software, but it’s proprietary, he won’t show anyone else the code.

Unlike what we’ve had so far, the Hugo Awards software (HAS, hereafter) needs to have these characteristics:

transparency: HAS cannot be a black box. It has to be clear to qualified nerds (of which SFF fandom has a plethora) how the results are generated, at each step. This almost certainly means it has to be an open-source project. I understand that many major tech companies have vampiric employment contracts that make it impossible for their workers to contribute to open-source projects on their own time, but this shouldn’t be a limiting problem for the WSFS. We are literally Nerd Central, we can cast a net a little wider than the Usual Suspects and find people who aren’t hamstrung by their employers.

checkability: it must be possible for each step to be audited. It must be possible for a recount to take place, if necessary. This would mean coming up with some way to break the connection between a particular ballot and the person who cast it, something comparable to the separation of a mail-in paper ballot from its identifying envelope.

dependability: if HAS worked in year N, it should work in year N+1. Voters and conrunners should be able to treat HAS as a reliable utility, not a box of surprises.

flexability: it should be possible to make small modifications and extensions to HAS without starting over. This is another reason it probably has to be some variety of open-source project.
Every decade or two technical debt and technological change will probably mean that HAS will need to be re-done, but since the Working Group has a lifespan longer than that of a single Worldcon, the project will have a chance to be done rationally.


I’m making this proposal because I don’t have a horse in this race. I don’t have the technical experience to work on HAS, but I’ve been married to a guru-level database and software consultant for 35 years, I used to develop websites, I understand the desire to be the Mighty Wizard of HAS. But I can see that this desire to be perfect has been the enemy of the good, and at times even the functional.

So one big purpose of a Hugo Tech Working Group is to make HAS boring, to discourage people who have a Grand Vision while encouraging those who just like to do work that gets done. It makes it lower-stakes, maybe even reducing the load on the Worldcon tech team, so they can do a better job and yet still have time for fun, without massive burnout (a gal can dream).

Structurally, people have been talking about splitting WSFS Worldcon functions from Hugo Awards functions. The HTWG would be part of the Hugo Awards half, but mostly staffed by people from Worldcons.

My idea is that most of the HTWG staff are the tech people from current Worldcon N, the ones who set up the software, run it, do the hand-checking for canonicalization, and so forth. There’s one person from Worldcon N-1, whose job is to say “this is what we did last time that worked, this is what we tried that didn’t work.” There are also 2 people from Worldcon N+1, who are there to learn the ropes and to start setting up their instance of HAS.

The real working group part of the HTWG comes when HAS has to be modified. The Gurus are there to know the details of the code, what’s actually easy or difficult to do with this software, Worldcon N-1 person to talk about what changes would have helped most, Worldcon N+2 people to talk about problems they see on the horizon.

Mr Dr Science advises me that this is the sort of situation where holy wars can start, which I’m sure is part of why HAS has kept being changed in the past. I’m eager for advice on how to structure the HTWG to avoid holy wars and other purity contests, so that it keeps focused on: Does this work? Is it transparent, checkable, dependable? Does the HTWG need non-technical members or overseers, for instance?

I eagerly invite comments and suggestions, especially on how to structure this proposal for presentation at the Business Meeting in Glasgow. For instance: can it be presented as a stand-alone, or does it go as a subset of some larger Splitting-the-WSFS proposal? Is the position of Scribe necessary, to do the documentation, put together reports, etc?

Some objections that have already been raised:

When I first made this suggestion on File770, Nicholas Whyte said:

It is my firm belief that institutionalising tech solutions for WorldCons in a standing committee, as proposed above, will be disastrous. It will blur accountability and demotivate volunteers. … The “permanent Tech Team” already exists informally. The pool of knowledge is not wide but it is deep.

I’m not sure what about the HTWG he was objecting to, or if he was talking about something in the discussion more generally.

As proposed, the core of the HTWG is the tech subcommittee from Worldcon N. Yes, it constrains them, by saying “this is the software suite we’ve been using and that you’re going to have to use”, but it also helps them, bringing them in as soon as they win the bid, listening to their needs and suggestions, training them, and making them part of the Tech Team in a way that’s *not* informal and based on friendship networks. Informal networks are great if you’re not being covered by major news outlets, but we’ve passed that point.

Chengdu SF Museum Statement About Proposed “Panda Study Trip to Glasgow”

By Ersatz Culture: [Via SF Light Year’s Weibo post, which is where the images accompanying this item are sourced from, although some in turn seem to have originated at the dyy822izv0vq Douyin account]

On March 2, the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum issued a strongly worded statement on Weixin/WeChat regarding the proposed Panda Study Trip to the Glasgow Worldcon – previously covered on File 770 on February 20 — stating that they have no involvement with this project.

A machine translation, via Google Translate with minor manual cleanups of the text, follows; thanks to yjtc for help with understanding some of the more official/legalese language:

Chengdu Science Fiction Museum

Formal Official Statement

Recently, rumors have appeared on the Internet about Chengdu Science Fiction Museum cooperating with a travel agency to organize overseas science fiction study activities, arousing public attention. Chengdu Science Fiction Museum attaches great importance to this, and makes the following official statement:

Chengdu Science Fiction Museum has never authorized or entrusted any organization to carry out overseas science fiction study activities, nor has it participated in related activities in any form.  We would like to appeal to the public not to believe false rumors appearing on the Internet.  The museum firmly opposes any untrue remarks that damage the reputation of Chengdu Science Fiction Museum, and reserves the right to pursue legal liability from the relevant persons.

Thank you for your attention and support. Please work together to maintain the health of the online environment, and to promote the exchange and development of science fiction culture.

Hereby stated [for clarification].

Chengdu Science Fiction Museum

March 1, 2024

This is the first time I’ve seen any online posts directly from the museum; it doesn’t seem to have a website or Weibo account. (I don’t have access to the core WeChat/Weixin functionality; quite possibly they have been active on there before now.)

Los Angeles Is Sole Bid for 2026 Worldcon to File By Deadline for Printed Ballot

Glasgow 2024 has announced that Los Angeles (LA) in 2026 is the only bid to have been formally submitted by the filing deadline of February 18, 2024 as required by the WSFS Constitution in order to appear on the printed ballot. The required documentation was submitted to Glasgow’s Site Selection Administrator on February 2, 2024 by the LA in 2026 Bid Committee. Their website link is LA in 2026.

To be on the ballot, the WSFS Constitution requires a bidding committee to file the specified documents no later than 180 days prior to the official opening of the administering convention. Write-ins are still eligible provided the bidding committee files the required documents by the close of the voting.

The election to select the site of the 2026 WorldCon will be administered by Glasgow 2024, the 2024 WorldCon. The documents filed by LA in 2026 can be found on the Glasgow 2024 website here. The proposed dates are August 27 to August 31, at the Anaheim Convention Centre and Anaheim Hilton. The Bid Chair and proposed Convention Chair is Joyce Lloyd.

About Site Selection: Worldcon sites are selected two years in advance, by a secret ballot of WSFS members. For this year this includes all full Adult and Young Adult Attending members, Online Members with bundled WSFS Memberships, and WSFS Members of Glasgow 2024.

Any group that meets the technical requirements in the WSFS Constitution and files the necessary documents with the administering Worldcon may bid for the right to host a Worldcon.

Glasgow 2024 WSFS Members who wish to vote in Site Selection will need to buy an Advance WSFS Membership in the 2026 Worldcon, at a cost of £45.00. All members who pay this fee will automatically become WSFS Members of the 2026 Worldcon, regardless of who they vote for (or indeed if they vote at all).

Details on how to vote in site selection will be announced early in April 2024. All Advance WSFS Membership fees received by Glasgow for the 2026 Worldcon will be passed on to the successful candidate.

[Based on a press release.]                                                

Recent Actions of WSFS Mark Protection Committee

Gavel of WSFS

The WSFS Mark Protection Committee, chaired by Donald E. Eastlake III, issued the following press release on February 25.


The World Science Fiction Society (www.wsfs.org, WSFS) is an unincorporated non-profit association whose activities include the annual awarding of the Hugo Awards via the selected World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) each year. WSFS, through its Mark Protection Committee (MPC), manages Worldcon Intellectual Property (WIP), a non-profit corporation that holds intellectual property on behalf of WSFS, which previously issued a Press Release on January 30 addressing some of these issues.

The WSFS MPC takes very seriously the recent complaints about the 2023 Hugo Award process and comments made by persons holding official positions in the MPC. In connection with these concerns, the MPC notes the following. There may be actions taken or to be taken that are not in this announcement. 

  • Dave McCarty has resigned as a Member of the WSFS MPC. The MPC has elected Bruce Farr to fill the remainder of Dave McCarty’s term until the 2024 WSFS Business Meeting. Thereby Mr.  Farr automatically became a voting member of the WIP Board of Directors (BoD).
  • Kevin Standlee has resigned as Chair of the WSFS MPC and Donald Eastlake has been elected Chair of the WSFS MPC. Notwithstanding his resignation as Chair of both the WSFS MPC and the WIP BoD, Mr. Standlee remains a WSFS MPC Member and WIP BoD Director.
  • The Hugo Award Marketing Committee (HAMC) of the WSFS MPC has been dissolved and its activities transferred to the WSFS Marketing Committee, an advisory board to the WIP BoD. At this time those activities include the management of the WSFS.org, Worldcon.org, TheHugoAwards.org, and NASFiC.org web sites.
  • To avoid any possibility of confusion, note that the “Tianwen Program” is not a part of WSFS and has not been approved or endorsed by the WSFS MPC or WIP.
  • Minutes of the special meetings of the WIP BoD held on January 28 and 30 and minutes of the meeting of the WSFS MPC on January 30 are posted here.

Please note that each year’s Worldcon is run by a separate organization which administers the Hugo Awards for that year. The Chengdu 2023 Worldcon has asked that any specific questions about the administration of the 2023 Hugo Awards be sent to [email protected]. The Glasgow 2024 Worldcon will be administering the 2024 Hugo Awards and can be contacted at [email protected]. For media enquiries on other topics related to MPC or WIP, you may contact [email protected].


“World Science Fiction Society”, “WSFS”, “World Science Fiction Convention”, “Worldcon”, “NASFiC”, “Lodestar Award”, “The Hugo Award”, the Hugo Award Logo, and the distinctive design of the Hugo Award Rocket are service marks of Worldcon Intellectual Property, a California non-profit corporation managed by the Mark Protection Committee of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society. You can contact the WSFS Mark Protection Committee at [email protected].


Charting the Cliff: An Investigation Into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics by Camestros Felapton and Heather Rose Jones

Introduction by Camestros Felapton: Since the release of the 2023 Hugo Award nomination statistics on January 20, there have been a plethora of questions about the awards and the process followed. One of the earliest insights into the data was made in a series of graphs drawn by Heather Rose Jones on her Alpennia (“A Comparison of Hugo Nomination Distribution Statistics”.)  The graphs revealed several categories with highly unusual “cliffs” in the number of nominations.

This new report [available here] builds upon that initial analysis and delves further into the unusual features of the 2023 data. By collating data from all of the Hugo nominations from 2017 onward, the report looks at unusual features in the nomination statistics, compares 2023 with previous years in multiple dimensions and looks at additional data such as the recently leaked validation lists.

This report contends that the nomination statistics provided cannot be treated as a reliable presentation of the actual nomination votes by members. The report shows that there are known errors in the listed names of nominees, inconsistencies in the vote totals, inaccuracies in the manner points were calculated in elimination rounds and highly atypical patterns of voting. In particular, there is evidence in the categories of Best Novel and Best Series of a very large number of highly similar votes for the main finalists in these categories, that these votes advantaged English-language works over Chinese-language works and that these votes do not resemble organic voting by members.


The 51-page report can be downloaded from two locations:

File 770: “Charting the Cliff: An Investigation Into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics”

Google Docs: ChartingTheCliff-Hugo2023

Adrian Tchaikovsky Will No Longer Cite His 2023 Hugo

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Tchaikovsky has announced on his website that due to the revelation of major problems with 2023 Hugo administration he will no longer acknowledge the Best Series Hugo presented to Children of Time.


A Statement on the 2023 Hugo Awards

When the Children of Time books won the 2023 Hugo for best series I was overjoyed. The Hugos have been a major feature of the genre fiction landscape for decades. It should be a signal honour to be shortlisted for one, let alone to win.

Over the last month or so, a cascade of information has been released or uncovered demonstrating that those responsible for administering the award for the 2023 Worldcon (held at Chengdu, China) took a variety of actions that significantly distorted the result.

For details, I’ll direct you to Abigail Nussbaum’s writing here  which is up to date as at the time of this statement. However the TLDR is:

      1. Several works receiving large numbers of votes were ruled ineligible for unstated reasons, which from leaked emails appears to be the US-based administrators unilaterally deciding that they might cause political offence.
      2. A number of Chinese-language nominations appear to have been entirely disallowed.

The second, in what seems to be a mass disenfranchisement of Chinese voters, means that the composition of the shortlists, as they were presented to be voted on, was entirely unreliable, with an unknown number of Chinese nominees denied their chance at contending.

Based on this information, I cannot consider myself a Hugo winner and will not be citing the 2023 award result in my biographical details, or on this site.

The Hugo awards have the potential to be a respected pillar of the international fan community. I would be delighted to be considered, honestly and on my own merits, for such an award in the future. I look forward to systemic changes so that future awards can be administered with an eye to clarity, equity and accountability. 


[Thanks to JJ for the story.]

Glasgow 2024 Membership Rate Changes as of March 1

Glasgow 2024 has announced changes to its membership rates to take effect from March 1, 2024. These changes include increases in all Attending rates, closure of the Membership Installment plan to new participants, and the release for sale of Day and Weekend tickets.
 
ATTENDING MEMBERSHIP RATES. The in-person Attending Membership rates from March 1, 2024 will be as follows. All these memberships include the right to attend the convention, WSFS rights to participate in the Hugo Awards and Site Selection, and for those over 15 years old, full access to the Online Convention, both during and after the convention.
 
Full Adult (26 and over) – £230 (previously £210)
First Worldcon Adult – £165 (previously £150)
Historically Under-represented Adult – £165 (previously £150)
Scottish / Local Adult – £150 (previously £140)
Full Young Adult (16-25) – £135 (previously £125)
Scottish / Local Young Adult – £95 (previously £90)
Teenage (11-15) – £90 (previously £85)
 
The following rates will also change:
 
Online Bundled (Includes WSFS rights) – £80 (previously £75)
Online Unbundled (no WSFS rights) – £40 (previously £35)
Child Tickets (In-Person Only, 6-10 years old) – £55 (previously £50)
 
Infant tickets will remain at £5 (excluding child care) and WSFS Only (Supporting) Memberships will remain at £45.
 
MEMBERSHIP INSTALLMENT PLAN:  They will be closing the Membership Installment Plan to new applications as of March 1, 2024. The Installment Plan enables you to pay for an Attending Membership Supplement in a series of convenient monthly installments. Contact them at [email protected] if you wish to sign up for the plan before it closes.
 
DAY AND WEEKEND TICKETS: Glasgow’s Day and Weekend Tickets will go on sale from March 1 at a significantly discounted price to those that will be charged on the day. These tickets are available in two forms: one for those aged 16 and over including access to our online convention, and one for younger fans covering physical attendance only.
 
Day and Weekend Tickets do not include WSFS rights; a separate WSFS Only Membership will be required for individuals who wish to participate in the Hugo Awards, Site Selection and Business Meeting.
 
Our advance Day / Weekend ticket rates will be as follows:
 

DayAdult (over 16)Under 16
Thursday 8 Aug£50£20
Friday 9 Aug£75£25
Saturday 10 Aug£75£25
Sunday 11 Aug£75£25
Monday 12 Aug£45£15
Weekend 10 and 11 Aug£140£45

 
People planning to attend on two or more days should check these rates against the Full Attending In-Person rates, particularly if they are eligible for a concessionary rate (First Worldcon, Scottish / Local etc) or also plan to buy a WSFS Membership, as the Full Attending Rate may offer a cheaper option.

[Based on a press release.]

Panda Study Trip Bringing Children to Glasgow 2024?

Update 02/20/2024: Joe Yao of the Chengdu Worldcon committee has provided new information: “The Panda Study Trip has NOTHING to do with Chengdu Business Daily, it is a local travel agency who generated this product. There is NO leader from CBD who posted this information on their social media platforms.”


Zimozi Natsuco reports they received an ad about a commercial study trip from China to the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon, which features these graphics:

(The H Book Club blog has pointed out on X.com that the cityscape in the second panel is of London.)

Natsuco sent an inquiry to Glasgow 2024 chair Esther MacCallum-Stewart asking whether the company organizing the trip has contacted the convention.

Honorable chairman,

Today, I received an advertisement for a commercial study trip. The trip will be organized by Panda Study Trip, a related company of Chengdu Business Daily (CBD). The leader of CBD posted the advertisement in his WeChat Moments.

In this advertisement, the company claims that it will bring children to join the Glasgow Worldcon. Children will work as volunteers during the conference. They will join several panels held by the company and hold personal sci-fi art exhibitions during the Worldcon. They will also join the Hugo Award ceremony. Before the trip to Glasgow, the children will receive professional training in science fiction under the guidance of a Cambridge Ph.D. The cost for the whole summer camp is over 68888CNY, about 7500 pounds, which is much higher than a regular trip from China to Glasgow.

I wonder if the company has set up connections with the Glasgow committee and if there is any fund support. Also, I wonder if it is possible under the law of WSFS to organize this kind of business trip. Also, I’m looking forward to an official announcement from Glasgow.

Glasgow 2024 chair Esther MacCallum-Stewart replied in File 770 comments:

This is not affiliated with us in any way. We have had no correspondence on this matter with anyone from Chengdu. Children are not permitted to volunteer at our convention for multiple reasons including health and safety and child protection. There are no panels of this nature being organised by Glasgow 2024 and there is no other way to host panels at Glasgow 2024 other than through our own programme team.

Natsuco followed up:

Though the advertisement came from WeChat Moments of a leader of Chengdu Business Daily, I believe this plan will be officially announced. And I am willing to share the details in my email, which has been sent to your committee.

Also, maybe this is an experiment to test the reaction from the fandom. But I think as a huge commercial plan, it is difficult to be cancelled. It showed the ignorance and disregard of the WSFS constitution in CBD.

This plan is set up for those parents who do not have enough knowledge of science fiction and Worldcon. It describes Worldcon as a chance to fulfill the children’s experience and education. It takes advantage of poor information and the lack of promotion of Worldcon in China.


Arthur Liu / Heaven Duke offered this comparison point about the price of the trip.