It's probably just me but I find the idea that a person is "tweeting" and sending images/video of, say, a paper presentation that I am making (especially if it is done without first asking my permission) creepy.
I made my first EPA presentation in 1980 (a copy of the paper I presented is available on ERIC) and I have made a number of paper and poster presentations since then as well as having chaired a few sessions, so I have some familiarity with what can happen during a session. Perhaps one of the biggest screw-ups I had experienced was as a session chair for a two hour paper session that started at 8am (IIRC) on Sunday morning. One problem that wasn't anticipated but should have been was that this was the weekend that Daylight Saving change took place, meaning that clocks should have been put ahead one hour. Needless to say, about half of the people scheduled showed up late (some forgot completely about the time shift, some realized too late). As a session chair, my skills at ad libbing, especially early on a Sunday morning, were severely tested. But one doesn't have to have something like the daylight saving change occur to have session participants not show up. There have been other times when the paper presenter did not show up and, because I had a copy of the long abstract, wound up giving an abbreviated version of what the presenter was expected to say as well as directing people to contact the presenter directly for more info. Bathroom breaks were encouraged. In the cases above, I'm not sure how many people outside of the attendees to the session I would want to know about what happened. EPA has stopped meeting over the daylight saving change and I believe has reduced/eliminated Sunday morning session, so what I experienced is unlikely to occur again. I think that the problem of "no show" presenters may have grown over the years but it has been about a decade since I was involved with EPA or even attended a conference so I can't say for sure (however, I believe that in their call for submissions EPA has become more strident in emphasizing that if a paper/poster is accepted, the presenter *HAS TO ATTEND*). There are other situations that may have to be dealt with delicately and without too much publicity, such as when the presenter is clearly unprepared (or perhaps impaired in some manner) or when the presenter presents something different from what is listed in the program. Back in grad school one of my professors told the story of how he had submitted paper (not sure if it was EPA) before he had collected his data. He was *soo* sure that he knew how it would turn out and wrote up his submission with these results in mind. The paper was accepted but the results turned out to be different from what he had anticipated. He said that he began his talk with "I know that you probably came here because of what you read in the program but I'd like to tell you that you should forget about that because I've got even more exciting results to present!" And then there was the episode when an animal researcher was being honored and was making a presentation when animal rights protesters tried to disrupt the presentation. The disruption had been anticipated and various people including security were prepared. The disruption lasted only a couple of minutes and the audience applauded as the protesters were led away. I suspect that the last situation is what we really have to be concerned about, that is, when people who for whatever reason disagree with what is being presented will stage a protest which will be "tweeted" and "YouTubed" as it occurs. I don't know whether EPA or other professional groups have taken this into account nor whether they are prepared to deal with it. The most extreme measure would be to ban all cell phone or PDA usage during a presentation or requiring written permission from the presenter to have any part of their presentation recorded or transmitted. I am sure that some presenters would have no problem about having their presentation tweeted about or videoed for YouTube. I am also sure that some presenters will also decline such an honor. I assume that Michael Britt has EPA's permission to tweet and record as well as the written consent of the presenters that he intends to tweet and record. I'm sure that most presenters will have no objections but there will always be a few that will have objections. Incidentally, although I remain a member of EPA and it is being held in NYC, I have not decided whether I would attend it. Because of prior commitments, I can't attend on Friday. Frankly, I have not looked over the program and so, apologies to any Tipsters who attend/present at EPA -- my lack of appearance should not be taken as a personal slight. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] ---------- Original Message ------------------------- On Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:48:26 -0800, Michael Britt wrote: Hi everyone, I'll be attending the EPA conference in NYC Friday and Saturday and I'll be doing what they call "live tweeting" the event, which simply means that I'll have my laptop and iPhone with me and will be regularly sending tweets to my twitter account. I'll be tweeting things like a) great quotes from the presenters, b) brief descriptions of interesting events while they happen, c) links to presenter websites, d) pictures, etc. I've been in contact with the conference organizers and we'll have an official hashtag that other twitterers can attach to their posts so you can follow other people's tweets as well. More on that to come. Hopefully this will be useful and interesting. You might tell students about it as well - might be a neat way to "virtually attend" the conference. If you or your students are new to twitter, here's a brief YouTube video that explains how to get started and how to use it in the classroom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZl5GQfY6kk In case YouTube is blocked, here are a few resources from www.scribed.com : http://www.scribd.com/doc/4135029/How-to-Get-Started-With-Twitter http://www.scribd.com/doc/18231766/Getting-Started-on-Twitter-Presentation1 http://www.scribd.com/doc/11401074/Twitter-for-Teachers http://www.scribd.com/full/20025500?access_key=key-1ey586rczvv0oqifn2f9 I'll send out another email as soon as I know what the official twitter hastag will be (I think it will be: #epaconf). My twitter username is mbritt in case you or your students want to follow along! --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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