Conrad,
While someday in the future, there may be a communication technology that will allow 5,000 or 6,000 people to seamlessly interact in a virtual environment, that is not today. Free programs (Skype) and costly programs (Adobe Connect Pro) are not able to handle that many people. And it is important to understand that technology does not provide "free" communication. Someone is paying for the high-speed web connection at your home or office, someone is paying for the bandwidth of the data transmission, someone is paying for the computer hardware you are using, your headphones, microphone, software, tech support, and so on. Just moving to a digital environment will not usher in a utopian community. There will still be winners and losers, such as age discrimination or technological literacy, and someone somewhere will pay for it all to happen. Many of us can't get our laptop to connect to a projector without calling for help from the audience. The tech support required to bring off a virtual live conference of 5,000 people as an MMORPG (Massive Multi-Player Online Role Playing Game) would be formidable.
Maybe someday, but not today.
One could build it with short videos and online commentary and discussion, in the style of the TED conference. But that communication would lack all the additional social connectivity of real conference events. Maybe that's ok, but it is not a replacement for the conference experience. Why not organize an event like the one you imagine? See how it will work. Try to transform the archaeological world by organized and collective action. Publish your work in open access journals, then promote those in places like HISTARCH. Help make those journals high-quality publications where people want to publish. In teacher's terms, "Show, don't tell."
I believe that archaeology is a profession, not a job. We go to conferences because that is where we sit down together as a community. Few of us are paid to attend conferences, we are a poorly paid profession, and there has been a proliferation of conferences and events. The majority of us must pick and choose which events to attend. That's life. I live in a very rural area with only one airline providing two flights a day to the nearby airport with a six or eight hour, one-way drive to the nearest city. Attending my "local" state archaeology conference usually would require either a 10 or 12 hour drive or a plane ticket and car rental, essentially costing me the same as attending a national meeting. That's the breaks of living where I live-which I love, by the way.
I also don't understand your critique of time and resources away from research. The Quebec meeting is in January and is mostly on the weekend. The vast majority of archaeologists are not doing fieldwork in January (at least in the global north). It requires a person to be away from their job for two or thee work days at most, which most people take as vacation time or sick-leave, so the unpaid trip has no bearing on the "cost to the client" anyway. Public tax resources don't pay for those meetings, attendees do. Traveling to present our research findings to our peers is a professional obligation, not a part of each individual job.
I have been an outspoken critic of inflated expenses at the SHA or other conferences, but I also cannot overstate the value of conference attendance for those trying to build their careers. My advice has always been to attend and be frugal: share a room among eight people, eat peanut butter sandwiches instead of going out to breakfast, don't drink beer or wine at the hotel bar, get with other parents to form a hotel child-care cooperative, and so on. Building networks with people to help share costs as a student creates networks that last over your professional lifetime.
I might add that social media has made the process of finding roommates or ride shares much, much easier. When we suggested facilitating this at the SHA during the 1990s, when we were students, the SHA board was horrified at the potential legal liabilities such a service would cause. Social Media has made that concern evaporate. The UK meeting was an excellent example, where they were aggressively using social media to help link up needy travelers with each other and with local hosts.
My thoughts.
Cheers,
Tim Scarlett
On May 15, 2013, at 4:56 PM, sent wrote:
> Again sacrificing jobs and research for the feel good of human contact
> I cant see why this justifies such sacrifice.
> As you point out the job can be done with electronic communication
>
> We owe the public the most inexpensive solution and it has been demonstrated that traditional
> conferencing is the most expensive solution for doing the same thing- communicating and discussing.
>
> If you want face to face discover free good and easy skype
>
> If you want to exhange papers and even co author them use google docs
>
> for recreation and travel- well use your own money- or volunteer to do archeology in a nice setting
>
> Easy
>
> Conrad Bladey
> Archeologist
> Peasant
>
> -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 4:50 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Why YOU should come to SHA Quebec 2014
>
> I really have to weigh in here. I know what it was like to attend
> virtually no conferences early in my career and what it is like to do at least two
> per year now (ACRA and SHA, sometimes SAA). Both my business and my
> company's work has improved dramatically, with a lot of that due to face to face
> interaction with people in the field. I have picked up many innovative
> ideas, made many changes in the way that I do work and just became more
> enthused with archaeology on a regular basis by attending and participating (an
> important component - giving papers, participating in symposia, doing
> posters, serving the organizations on committees and as officers, etc. - I was
> chair of the 1999 SHA Conference in Salt Lake City).
>
> While I have not expected to generate new work from these attendances, it
> has happened over the years. I also have, no doubt, that there have been
> projects we have done that have been the result of farther flung connections
> made at conferences that I have no idea came from there.
>
> Electronic communication is wonderful and a great way to share specific
> information and keep in touch, but humans are humans. There is no substitute
> for person to person interaction, body language, interacting with multiple
> people at once, experiencing the book room, personally interacting with
> people who create posters, the venue and city in which the conference is
> held. Getting to know archaeologists, historians, architectural historians and
> others over the years has enhanced my understanding of and joy in the
> profession, made my work better, and generated friendships for my wife (also an
> archaeologist) and myself that I would not trade for all of the electronic
> communications available, hands down.
>
> Mike Polk
> Sagebrush Consultants, L.L.C.
> Ogden, Utah
>
>
> In a message dated 5/15/2013 2:05:07 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> Exactly it is black and white that is why it is so important. We have more
> ways to promote interaction other than conferencing than ever in
> history-why
> are we using this
> expensive method which takes jobs and detracts from our ability to address
> the research?
>
> Communication is communication- all the things you mention can be
> generated
> by electronic communication-its easy-
>
> It is like people are insisting that we put our postal mail back on horses
> and stage coaches because it feels better- terrible foundation for the
> argument for communication!
>
>
> Conrad Bladey
> Archeologist
> Peasant
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Kimberly Wooten
> Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 2:36 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Why YOU should come to SHA Quebec 2014
>
> That's your black and white argument. I think the flip side being that
> attendance at conferences generates new ideas, enthusiasm, and
> professional
> contacts, all of which lead to funding and preservation opportunities, and
> if I enjoy myself, regardless of the personal finical decisions I make to
> attend a conference (locally or internationally), so much the better. VTCs
> are another option, happen frequently where I work, and are often employed
> in conjunction with professional meetings. The point of my message was to
> be
> supportive of a peer charged with the task of promoting an important
> conference. Kimberly
>
>
>
>> Date: Wed, 15 May 2013 14:10:36 -0400
>> From: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Why YOU should come to SHA Quebec 2014
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>
>> So the fun and travel is worth limiting funding, employment and
> necessary
>> conservation and fieldwork?
>>
>> Look into the many ways you can do really clear visual and audio
>> conferencing-free
>>
>> Conrad
>>
>> Thank you in advance for your prompt response!
>>
>>
>> On May 15, 2013, at 1:48 PM, Kimberly Wooten <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Let me try this again... As archaeologists, it is almost a given that
>> > most of us are not living the high life. I admit it can be a financial
>
>> > strain on my family to attend a conference, but we choose to do this;
> we
>> > can't always attend annually and are careful with those meetings we do
>> > attend. The SHA meetings in York, England, several years ago were
>> > wonderful and nothing can compare to meeting people face-to-face,
> having
>> > my enthusiasm for my chosen field renewed by this contact and some
>> > excellent presentations, all wrapped in the bonus visiting beautiful
>> > places. Technology has its important uses, but its limits as well. I
> for
>> > one, will be happy to attend the meetings in Quebec City. Kimberly
>> >
>> >
>> >> Date: Wed, 15 May 2013 01:17:50 +0000
>> >> From: [log in to unmask]
>> >> Subject: Why YOU should come to SHA Quebec 2014
>> >> To: [log in to unmask]
>> >>
>> >> See the Society for Historical Archaeology’s latest blog, “Why YOU
>> >> should come to Quebec in 2014”
>> >>
> http://www.sha.org/blog/index.php/2013/05/why-you-should-come-to-quebec-in-2014/
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> William Moss
>> >> Conference Chair / 47th Conference on Historic and Underwater
>> >> Archaeology
>> >> Président du Comité organisateur / 47e Colloque sur l'archéologie
>> >> historique et subaquatique
>> >> www.sha2014.com<http://www.sha2014.com/>
>> >
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