Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Transforming Objects

So I am home from my adventure in conferencing, this one being far less stressful than the last, probably for a number of reasons that include the lack of travel stress, good friends being in and around the conference, and a very congenial bunch of delegates.

My paper was on one of the first panels, so I got it out of the way early on, and then I chaired a panel the next day, which was entirely new to me but very fun. My own paper went well, I think, though I tripped over the words a bit because I hadn't read the whole thing aloud end-to-end before, just in bits and pieces, but on the whole people seemed to like it. I had a great discussion with one of the other panelists who is working on a different aspect of the same general subject, so in that regard it was very fruitful. Chairing was good also, all on the life of paper and the physical engagement with it from a processing point of view, and in the market place. I was very pleased to come across someone else who liked the magical way in which Marx wrote about the economy as much as I do!

On the whole, while I wasn't very familiar with a lot of object research that's happening at present, the perspective on it which was presented at the conference on the whole was really fascinating, and a good alternative look at the era I'm researching. Also, I'm now convinced that I need to learn how to give papers without a full script, because one of the keynote speakers did his full hour with nothing but a powerpoint (which didn't include any prompts or bullet points) to help him along, and it was very impressive and engaging. So that'll be my next project. I'm probably going to try it with NENC, since we're doing a speaker series this summer and I'm presenting something in the August session. It'll be an adventure in not being frazzled!

To look at the schedule of the other papers, and the general gist of the conference at large, go here.

Now, I must get back to Shelley and write up my chapter this month, eek!

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