AIS ballot
- To: i*@Rt66.com
- Subject: AIS ballot
- From: t*@Lanl.GOV (Tom Tadfor Little)
- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 11:46:27 -0700
Lowell is quite right in that the new system of Dykes eligibility
virtually ensures that a TB will win each year. The current system
has the advantage of being uniform across classes: i.e., each class
has HM, AM, and medal award. A runoff would be a good solution,
but ultimately the problem is that many very, very popular TBs cannot
compete for the Dykes if they miss their shot at the Wister medal.
Perhaps Dykes eligibility could be expanded to include not only medal
winners, but AM winners receiving a certain number of votes (a fixed
percentage of the total AIS judges, perhaps). These "extra eligibles"
would usually, but not necessarily, be TBs, since TBs tend to receive
lots of AM votes.
Although I appreciate the symmetry of the new system, I think it is
unrealistic in some respects. In the old system, there was some recognition
of the fact that a class with hundreds and hundreds of introductions
each year needs more "winnowing out" than a class that only sees a
couple dozen introductions per year. I think of the C.G.White-type arilbreds,
with maybe 10-20 introductions per year, going through the levels of HM,
AM, and medal. The odds of a particular arilbred winning the medal are thus
maybe 5%-10%, whereas the odds of a particular TB winning the Wister medal
are on the order of one-tenth of 1%! Obviously, the two awards do not
signify the same sort of selection process.
Under the current system, more lower awards are bestowed on irises in the
"other" classes, but they are virtually shut out from winning the Dykes.
The AIS is trying to balance two different interests: making sure only the
"best" irises receive awards, and promoting hybridizing in the non-TB classes.
There is no perfect solution to the conundrum. But I do think the Dykes
eligibility should somehow be expanded to encompass all the best TBs, not
just the Wister medal winner.
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Tom Tadfor Little tlittle@lanl.gov -or- telp@Rt66.com
technical writer/editor Los Alamos National Laboratory
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Telperion Productions http://www.rt66.com/~telp/
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