Karen Hunter-Jones
…is rumoured to be a pseudonym for 'Eliza'…
…because most of you encounter her for the first time via electronic means from a variety of Con addresses, as you wonder whether or not to come to a DWCon, how to get to a DWCon, where to meet fellow Pratchett fans before the event on line or in real life, who might you know at the event, what sort of volunteering you might enjoy, trying to join mail lists, what to see in the UK whilst over, where you can book a balloon trip after the Con… or you might meet her on Usenet groups, web forums, mail lists, organising the volunteer effort for the Con, or by contributing to the Chronicle Live…
Rumoured to be working toward the Guinness book of records entry for the largest individual mail and news archive, she pops into real life for the duration of the Con itself when her alter ego runs Registration and then moves into general 'stuff'. Last time, along with Mel Pedley, she launched a whole new blog style format for the 2006 Chronicle Live.
Do say 'Hello' to her before she returns to virtuality for another two years. :-)
After three Convention Committees, she said she was stepping down so that she would no longer have to answer the question "what exactly does Comms do?
" (ans: "How much time do you have?
"). Instead she intended to look forward to the next Con as a regular volunteer (so yes, probably Registration again).
However, it looks like old habits are hard to break …
Her last and most important 2006 task was to give a loud round of personal applause and thanks to Mel Pedley for her work on the website and Karen Martin for her work on the Chronicle and Programme Book. Without these two women, her last vestiges of sanity would have dribbled away very early on. If you value the fact that you were not scared to death by a lunatic at the 2006 Registration desk, then buy them both a drink. :-)