[xmca] Ecologies of diversities - thinking back on ISCAR

Dear all,

I also would like to post a few lines on ISCAR. First of all: it was
simply wonderful! A heartfelt thank you and congratulations to Olga
and the local team for the huge effort which made it possible for us
to meet and learn from each other.

I particularly appreciated how much thought was put into the multiple
forms of interaction which will continue even after the conference as
we get a chance to view some of the recorded sessions. I am waiting
for the information on when the recored sessions will be uploaded on
the Moodle, I was told that it will take about a week. This is
extremely valuable and allowed for an extended participation also for
those who could not make to San Diego.

Rethinking the traditional forms of participation in such conferences
is part of the precious work the organizers have done. There were
many new and innovative ways of organizing such as the fire side
chats, Second Life meeting, films etc. which were great. All in all
the conference was, as inteded, a true celebration of the diversity
and richness of the community. This something that does not easily
translate to words without sounding less powerful than what it means.

The richness of the program was simply dazzling. There is one aspect
of how this played out this time that I want to take up, and which
maybe could be thought about in view of the next conference: I heard
from many people that in quite a few of the sessions there had been
one, two or three people in the audience. I was myself the only
member of audience in one very interesting session with 5 speakers. I
don't know how it worked out for the poster presenters - whether
people had audience there. My own experience was the ultimate in this
line: no one turned up. The other 2 presenters had cancelled I was
alone in the room, and so I decided to leave after 15 minutes - just
in time to go and listed to Carol D Lee. (After all, it was the one
chance I had to hear her speak live of her work! And so, with a
little bit of introspection it was possible for me to come up with
the dynamic that propelled people to some sessions and not to
others ;-))

A conventional way to raise a sustained interest (and audience for
also the not so well known speakers) is to organize presentations
into thematic streams. This type of organization was not visible, at
least to me, this time. The various kinds of plenary sessions worked
very fine. From previous conferences I know, and it was the case this
time too, that pre-organized sessions (preferably with a well known
organizer or discussant) are very comfortable for the audience and
the speakers as well. Two of the most inspiring and educating
sessions for me were invited symposia, one by Seth Chaiklin on
putting practice in the center and the other by Carl Ratner on CHAT
and Marx.

One of the most important things for me personally was the explicit
taking up of the vexing concerns we all share presently, in the age
of hyper globalization and hyper capitalism - amidst which we have to
make our work meaningful as persons and researchers. I am thinking
particularly the end bit of Mike's keynote speech in the opening
plenary, and also the session on Chat and ethical action. Yrjö's key
note pointed to some of these challenges as well. There was also a
session on CHAT and activism, which I was unfortunately unable to
attend, but I will search the Moodle site for the papers. Uffe's talk
in the practice symposium ended with thoughts on the sources of hope.
He concluded that we need to move from having the practice in the
center of our research to having our research in the center of practice.

With these thoughts once a again a warm thank you to all, there is a
lot to digest for a long time.

Jonna_______________________________________________
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Received on Mon Sep 15 01:45 PDT 2008