Garth,
It’s good to hear from you. We go back a ways to when I was a beta-tester for the earliest iterations of Xenodream. I do appreciate you coming forward to address the conflict of interest issue. To date, you are the only BMFAC judge to do so since the competition began in 2006.
Your main points seem to be that you and Frederik are qualified to be judges because “we know the software’s weaknesses inside out,” any money made from selling software will be insignificant, and that including vendors as judges “will have a minor influence.” In short, although you admit that you might benefit financially, even if minimally, your claim is that your presence as a judge will have little overall effect, and that I should just trust you.
The way any competition earns trust is by being proactive and showing that it is aware of potential abuses by putting visible policies in place to keep any potential improprieties from occurring. These steps have become standard practice in art competitions. Any competition that deliberately foregoes such policies immediately arouses suspicion and appears less trustworthy.
Obviously, I feel you are qualified to be a judge. But you and Frederik clearly do have conflicts of interest in that both of you could receive financial gain as a direct result of the competition. It is irrelevant whether you two make a pittance or a fortune because the principle is what matters here. Even if you both make nothing, conflicts of interests are often about the appearance of impropriety.
You don’t have to take my word for it. Here is what the International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies had to say in a comprehensive 2002 report entitled “Conflict of Interest Policies in Arts and Culture Funding Agencies”:
“Conflicts of interest arise when a person making a decision is faced with more than one interest against which to judge their best course of action. The conflict typically of most concern is that between a person’s personal interests and their professional interests.”[...]
“Indeed, as many of the policies cited later in this report recognise, the mere perception that a conflict of interest might exist is enough to make such a conflict an issue for concern -- whether or not it is ‘real’, or whether or not it tempts an individual to act inappropriately.”In short, it does not matter whether I think you are honest and would never act inappropriately. What matters is the recognition that a conflict of interest exists. That perception alone is enough to contaminate the competition’s integrity and to erode public trust.
The survey goes on to point out that conflicts of interest become a concern when “people in the arts who are appointed to decision-making bodies” (like judges of an art contest) might gain financially or personally from rendering services and notes that
“An obvious type of gain is financial, but other types of gain are equally relevant, such as the ability to gain prestige, wield power or advance a career.”Both you and Frederik, as authors of commercial software, have self-evident opportunities for financial gain by serving as BMFAC judges. It is inevitable that the competition will have entries made using both Xenodream and Ultra Fractal. A reasonable person might further conclude that chances to procure personal gain for both of you are also substantial. Therefore, I repeat the charge I made on Orbit Trap last week that both you and Frederik should resign from the selection panel immediately.
For more information, you can read the IFACCA survey I reference here in a .pdf file:
http://www.ifacca.org/media/files/conflictofinterestanalysis4.pdf~/~
I would like to take this opportunity to address several other remarks you make.
“I can confirm there is no form of remuneration for judging.”I personally believe contest judges should be paid for their time and effort. One reason BMFAC is fishy is that it has no entry fee. Many artists, including me, generally despise such fees, but they are a necessary evil. Such fees are used to pay judges and screeners and to cover the administrative costs of running a contest (like publicity and printing images, for example.) Most significantly, entry fees do not create conflicts of interest; in fact, their presence makes abuses and inappropriate behavior less likely.
I do have a question, though. Could you clarify what you mean by “remuneration?” Are you saying BMFAC’s judges will receive no money? Or are you saying all of the judges receive no compensation at all -- compensation like having their own art work included in the 2009 exhibition? I’ve already said on OT that I’m taking on good faith that no BMFAC judges will have work hanging in this year’s show. But some of OT’s more paranoid readers have written to me pointing out that the 2009 rules only say the judges are excluded from participating in “the contest.” Nothing whatsoever is said about the judges not being a part of this year’s exhibition.
Moreover, one of those nervous emailers wonders why Rick Spix is on the UF Mailing List saying things like
“As to having work in the shows, it seems like a good way to pay those folks for a good many hours spent doing the judging thing.”when the issue is presumably dead and the general assumption from the posted rules is that the BMFAC judges will not be recompensed by displaying their own art in this year’s exhibition?
You could quell these rumors by stating categorically that no art by a BMFAC judge will be displayed this go around. Better yet, to be more convincing, the director should come forward and make a public statement clarifying this matter.
“Do you really think it's in a vendor's interest to give undue weight to art that is comparatively weak in technical, artistic or novelty aspects, to promote their software?”You should never have been put into a situation where you had to make this decision in the first place -- either by the contest director or by yourself. The reason should be obvious. There is a clear conflict of interest at stake.
“I do understand the principle, and if the sponsors or conference organizers were persuaded from a careful consideration of the facts that it was an unacceptable conflict of interest, of course I would resign as a judge.”If you understand the principle, then, once you have considered the facts, the decision is yours to make and yours alone. I think, especially after how all three competitions have been run so far, we can assume it is highly unlikely the BMFAC sponsors and organizers will be persuaded to keep conflicts of interest in check.
I always enjoy talking with you.
Best,
Terry
P.S. Parts of this response are taken directly from a more comprehensive post on Orbit Trap specifically addressing the issue of conflicts of interest. It can be read here:
http://orbittrap.blogspot.com/2009/08/conflicts-of-interest-in-benoit.htmlMods: Although I understand how to use the quoting feature, I have not done so because the type is rendered small enough to strain my getting-older-by-the-minute eyes.