The Good in Oral Culture, or How Could Conferences be Cool? by risa
According to communication theorist Harold Innis, it is open, oral mechanisms embedded in cultural institutions like the University, (and the Common Law,) that preserve a space in society for flexibility and cultivation. Conferences, for example, like the annual Congress of the Social Sciences and the Humanities, are zones for the real life interaction, and the tacit communications which fuel independent innovations, and distributed collaboration.
But even conferences can get stagnant. The idea of the Congress of the Social Sciences and the Humanities (CSSH, or ‘The Learneds’ as they used to be known) is pretty great. It draws together all kinds of different academic domains and associations, and features papers by graduate students and prof’s. The thing to do, as Dr. Kim Sawchuk put it to her students (myself included) last year, is to be a good conference citizen. Go to as much as you can, think and participate as much as you can. Take this mad act of organization that’s been offered to you (for the low low price of entrance fee, plus membership fee, plus travel, plus housing- all of which your department, or the prof you worked with, or your grants might pay for, if you’re lucky) and to make the most of all the muchness. But there are definitely some snags.
It’s impossible to see all the papers being presented by your own group (the Canadian Communication Association, or CCA, in my case) because there are hundreds of you; and so the fact of all the dozens of other subsets of conferences going on, addressing diverse topics in Psychology or Geography or Literature or History, though cool in theory, just makes a buzzing background noise, and a sense of choas, and even of futility. There seems to be so little chance of crossing over.
There’s also an invisible, permeable, but decidedly present boundary between grad student panels and the professorial ones. And to come from across Canada and pay out of your own pocket to present to a room of three other students who you already know from back home just sucks, and it can make you wonder if the prof’s consider you worth their good citizenship.
There is also something lovely about it all though, I have to admit. This year I went with a paper I’d coauthored with my thesis advisor (but without my thesis advisor, he had to stay home.) And so I was fortunate enough to present with a panel of pro’s to a full room of good citizens and to take part in the remarkable dialogue which followed. If this chemistry were a standard feature of the oft stale, or under-attended academic conference I think I might be thinking differently about my own future in the academy.
There are ways that this organism “conference” can be different, aren’t there? There are ways that this oral medium can shake off its accumulated rigidities to be the awesome, flexible, inspiring, hybridizing thing it could be. If you know of conferences that are differently organized, or that are somehow successfully accessing their inherent potential to be cool, maybe you could post a little comment here to let me know?
(this post is dedicated to Christian- our friendly correspondant in Yellowknife)
September 24th, 2005 at 3:42 pm
This conference asked attendees to draw their thought on a sketchbook while the talks were going on, and then tape their pictures up on a communal wall for everyone to observe.
you can see a few of these conference sketches on kottke.org
October 22nd, 2005 at 1:25 am
true dat. conferences, such as the CSSH, are epitomized by their highs and lows. i have concluded that i won’t be returning to the learneds unless i am on panel with academics or am on an incredibly apposite panel designed with colleagues. you see, the sad fact of the matter is that academia is hierarchically striated and either you find a way to pierce into those collectivities or you’ll have to be comfortable remaining on the margins. however, if you do pierce into those collectivities… if you engage with a sawchuk or the like, you can hit some really incredible intellectual highs. be sharp-ended.
on the topic of conference citizenship… i believe it really important to offer the following advice. when presenting at a conference, be pragmatic. which is to say, heed the context. first, if you are on panel of political economy analyses, it is probably not the right context within which to give full-blown exegesis on heidegger’s concept of ’stimmung’. trust me, i have seen this. i am not saying avoid heidegger if he suits your fancy, but what i am saying is find a more appropriate context. because otherwise, you are, in some sense, speaking into the air. second, do not condescend or make excuses for yourself. if you are giving a talk on gregory bateson and his ‘ultra’ complicated theories of Cybernetics–do not preface or digress with comments like “he is so incredibly complicated that i don’t think there is anyway for me to explain his thought in the next 15 minutes.” first off, buddy, one will always get lost in a field. pick a concept and an object of inquiry and apply, challenge or create. don’t waste 30 seconds telling how you are bound to fail. next, it is important to consider how condescending such phrases can be.
i know this sounds like a rant, but i think that these are considerations that could make your fifteen (i am not big fan of anything under 20) minutes of fame more enjoyable for you and everyone involved.
(dedicated to ‘r’ the person i was supposed to do recombinant theory with… this is kinda along those lines.
October 22nd, 2005 at 10:07 pm
confrences should also include talent shows. there should be a large central cozy place with a semi organized open mic every night. i picture a place with levels and couches. this is a rant about public, communal space and how awesome it is, I guess.
February 21st, 2006 at 10:33 am
here’s a great great story about a freewheeling conference style: http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-6041377.html?part=rss&tag=6041377&subj=news