As I explained in my post evaluation and data visualisation, Chris Lysy is a huge and passionate artist and evaluator…

Results logic chain by Chris Lysy

Self description by Chris Lysy

Chris Lysy gave us EvalCentral and at one point he decided to take it away. He has his reasons, which can be read in his post turning off of the EvalCentral auto pilot. My admiration for Chris implies that I wonder what is being Chris Lysy…

But my point is that EvalCentral had become a kind of «public good» and had its own life, so I missed a period of reflection on the different alternatives for EvalCentral (including a the hand over to another person / institution that could manage the EvalCentral platform)

Maybe there is something I do not understand about it, so I asked my colleague Sara Vaca, Spanish evaluator, dataviz nerd and friend, to talk on my behalf to Chris during the coming Congress of the American Evaluation Association and to discuss on it…

Even if I am not convinced, Chris says the following in his post turning off of the EvalCentral auto pilot :

I launched Eval Central just about 6 years ago. At that time there were only so many evaluators actively engaged in writing for the web.

For those interested in evaluation, it was hard to find evaluation bloggers. And then when you found one it was possible they had already quit blogging.

For new evaluation bloggers, it was hard to connect and build an audience.

I created Eval Central as a sort of automated matchmaker. It gave an audience to new bloggers, and gave those interested in evaluation an automated discovery tool that delivered relevant evaluation stories right to their inbox each day.

But times have changed.

Now it’s even easier to add your voice to the world. You can still do it with your own WordPress blog, but you could also write a post directly on LinkedIN, Medium, or any number of other publications. In just a couple of clicks from an account you already possess.

Subsequently, the original design of Eval Central just isn’t working the way I would like it to work. So, after a lot of thought, I decided to break it.

Starting soon, Eval Central will be a Medium Publication. And instead of bringing together blogs, I’ll be bringing together evaluators interested in writing and curating evaluating content.

There will be no more auto-pilot. Every post that appears on this site will be the result of a writer or curator deciding it should be here. I will need help.

If you’re interested in writing or curating for Eval Central, send me an email > chris@freshspectrum.com.

Dear Chris, many thanks for all your creativity and associative work, I wonder what means «after a lot of thought«…does it imply evaluative thinking or evaluative tools?…as a (former) member of the deceased EvalCentral I can say that nobody consulted me anything…

I am a romantic developmental evaluator, I would have liked a bit of contact and discussion between the Evalcentral participants…because in my perception EvalCentral was a living being that existed beyond Chris Lysy…

Could we think in reviving something similar to Evalcentral? Could it make sense and be still relevant something like Evalcentral? I think so…I do not know if other evaluation colleagues think like me…

I use to end my posts with a song, I selected this one. From the other side of the Atlantic I want to invite to start a period of reflection (to my American evaluation colleagues -including ALL the Americans not only these of the northern part),  (as I said I am a romantic): is it worth EvalCentral as we knew it?…

…long life to Eval Central…