Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 15, No. 38.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 07:59:01 +0100
From: lachance@chass.utoronto.ca (Francois Lachance)
Subject: Re: 15.034 online learning conference
Willard,
Am I alone in finding it ironic that a conference about online learning
does _not_ meet online? Does not even have a hybrid component?
I ask because of the politics of access. How international is an
international conference when there still exist serious barriers to full
participation in academic conferences, trade fairs, and meetings of
learned societies?
If you check out the "Tracks at a Glance" page of the Seventh Sloan-C
International Conference on Online Learning: Emerging Standards of
Excellence in Asynchronous Learning Networks, you will fail to find the
term "access" in the descriptions of the various emerging standards. Odd,
since the first track listed is "Emerging Standards of Excellence for
Faculty Development and Participation".
This is but a single case of a more general condition. Online components
pre and post conference are important considerations for any meeting of
scholars engaged in Humanities Computing. How many of us, pre post papers
and abstracts to the Web? How many of us report back on panels, papers,
conferences and symposia? Is there a prejudice against prepublication? A
bias against academic journalism? How difficult is it to remember that not
everyone who is interested can be there or that contingencies do not arise
and those that plan to be there cannot attend?
Will any one carry through and report back to Humanist about the
proceedings of the ACH/ALLC in New York City this June? There are some
wonderful papers and discussion that even people attending the meeting
will miss --- parallel sessions make it impossible for a person to be
everywhere at the same time. Of course, steps have been made: the
publication of the abstracts on the Web with contact information does make
it possible to follow up with authors.
I am not making a case against in the flesh encounters. I am making the
case for spreading the joy, enthusiasm and cognitive flashes that those
encounters engender.
-- Francois Lachance, Scholar-at-large http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~lachance 20th : Machine Age :: 21st : Era of Reparation
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