Mike Palij wrote: > On Tue, 20 May 2008 06:29:11 -0700, Christopher D. Green wrote: > >> Interesting item in today's /Inside Higher Ed/ about giving the same >> presentation at more than one conference. >> http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/05/20/double >> > > One issue that this article raises is what is the purpose of making > a presentation? > > One answer is that it serves the same purpose as publication, > that is, to establish priority in producing a research finding. > If one is presenting the same research results, even somewhat > modified, what is the scientific justification? There are other, broader ways of looking at conference presentations, I think. I have occasionally presented substantially similar papers to conferences that have quite different audiences. The "justification" is simply to have the work known in these two different scholarly communities. (For instance, I gave a paper on a psychologist who worked with the 1938 Chicago Cubs at both a history of psychology conference and at a history of baseball conference. The paper was reworked in order to address the knowledge-bases and expectations of each audience, but the underlying research was basically the same.) Conference papers (and publications for that matter) aren't simply about "presentation" (to the world at large) but about *communication* to particular communities of scholars. > But we're now dealing with the sociology of science (perhaps > the philosophy of science) instead of science per se. > > You say that as though it doesn't matter. :-)
When our scholarly identities were fairly simple (because there weren't that many associations and journals to go around), the idea of presenting once and only once made a certain amount of sense. In recent decades the scholarly scene has become much more complicated, and (many of) our scholarly identities have become more complex and multidisciplinary as well. Regards, -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ "Part of respecting another person is taking the time to criticise his or her views." - Melissa Lane, in a /Guardian/ obituary for philosopher Peter Lipton ================================= --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
