On 7 Apr 2008, at 9:24 pm, Chris Rust wrote:
> I guess this announcement from Audrey answers quite a few of the
> questions that we have been wrestling with on this list in the last
> week.
Yes, it's intriguing that this announcement should be posted now!
It prompted me to look up a pioneering cyberspace conference in which
I was a presenter many years ago. It was an ergonomics conference
hosted by Curtin University in Perth WA. The only trace I can find is
this:
CYBERG
The first international Cyberspace conference in Ergonomics (1996).
The conference ran from 1/9/96 until 30/9/96 and has all the features
of an international flesh conference, but it is in Cyberspace,
therefore easy to access and FREE!
It was an interesting experiment. There were chat areas, I seem to
remember a bar, and papers came online sequentially as though they
were being released in real time. However, I had no idea if a
significant number of people were in 'my audience'. I only got one
question. And I didn't meet anyone, have discussions, eat and drink
too much, flirt (often a product of the drink), or any of the other
things I am prone to do at conferences.
Later, I went to Curtin a couple of times (remember the RIDE
conference anyone?), and that was a lot more enjoyable than cyberspace.
I always leave conferences more charged up with the discussions I have
had and contacts I have made, than the formal presentations. I even
met my partner at a DRS conference...
I hope we don't lose all this, though I fear that there are big
changes coming in the way that we will view sustainable travel in the
future. Indeed, as a conference organiser I am left wondering whether
I should be organising more flesh conferences, or seek better ways of
communicating online. Must be a good research project here for
someone...
David
(who uses iChat conferencing from home nearly every day. Are there
other iChatters out there? I would be interested in setting up a
seminar, or something similar, using this technology)
_______________________________________________
David Durling PhD FDRS | Professor of Design
School of Arts & Education, Middlesex University
Cat Hill, Barnet, Hertfordshire, EN4 8HT, UK
tel: 020 8411 5108 | international: + 44 20 8411 5108
email: [log in to unmask] | [log in to unmask]
web: http://www.adri.org.uk | http://www.durling.info
http://www.dartevents.net
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