After all, this blog was never an attempt to document the conference, nor, I believe, even just those presentations that I attended. This was always going to be my re-presentation of these presentations. Uppermost in this interpretation is my joy at having heard all of the speakers I was fortunate to enough to listen to. Sadly, half of todays' speakers aren't featured on these pages, and my apologies to anyone who feels excluded. I can only offer some poststructurally oriented solace in that we can only ever filter, exclude and marginalise what we receive, or what there is to receive. This is differance, in a Saussurian and Derridian sense: to differ and to defer are the bases of linguistic meaning - a part of what 'flipchart' means is not chair nor computer. Whilst it seems rather far fetched to say that my exclusion of other speakers has in some way defined those absent speakers, I would say that shared the discourse of the non-spectral speakers I, in some way, beckon the others. Then perhaps I'm just trying to philosophise my way into relevance.
I look forward to the second day of the conference. If you're taken by the urge to comment on this blog, please go ahead and click on the 'comment' link under the post that takes your fancy.
2 comments:
I'm 'watching' this conference from afar. I've found your comments facinating on how you are experiencing the process. I think I find that more interesting even than the themes! Academic conferences have rules and norms which are daunting to the practitioner and people like me. The huge number of slides, the confusing terminology and dense papers are off-putting. Which is why the second aspect got me hooked, too -putting over and musing about a single idea. Great stuff - makes me feel I can safely contribute without being swallowed up by the crowd. Just hit a snag -no google account. Technology puts a block in the way, but I've overcome that now. I get scared by technology, but when you get over that it's great -just like
My commenting from the outside allows me to input a perspective much more in touch with today's events. For example, on politics there is news of questions to Tony Blair on loans from business people for peerages; BAE systems is let off the hook for paying bribes"in the national interest". Politics or what?
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