sonja dolinsekMar 2
Look at the world. Travelling is risky, costly, everything is a mess. How on earth are so many conferences still "in person" only?
#academicchatter #academia
Show threadHendrik Weimer

@sonjdol

The best thing about conferences is the unplanned interactions you have, which arise more naturally during in-person meetings.

I have yet to see the equivalent of a coffee break in an online conference format. There were some attempts during the covid pandemic, but they didn't work so well.

Mar 2 at 11:55amWeb
Show threadSchirikiMar 2
@hweimer @sonjdol that may be, but many people simply cannot travel easily, because they don't have enough travel funds or have difficulties getting visa due to their nationality or because they have children or other people who depend on them. So it's a choice between having a real person coffee break or having a more diverse attendance. I think, conferences should at least be hybrid as much as possible.
Show threadsonja dolinsekMar 2
@hweimer I agree with that, but still, sometimes it's just not feasible to travel
Show threadOmar AntolínMar 2
@hweimer @sonjdol "There were some attempts during the covid pandemic" What was that service where you got a little 8 bit avatar, walked around a cute virtual town, and when close to other people jumped into a small video conference with them? It has "town" in the name, I believe. That one was awful but despite it, was probably the best of those attempts.
Show threadHendrik WeimerMar 2

@oantolin @sonjdol

This one I haven't seen, but I can imagine that this was one of the least worst attempts. The ones I remember involved breakout rooms, often with some form of randomization of the participants.