The standard pre-Covid conference used the limited space of conference venues, the limited time of conference schedules, and the limited pages of resulting publications to restrict participation. A call-for-papers would announce the universal significance of a topic and encourage thoughtful proposals, but most of these would be rejected. As conferences became money-making enterprises, costs were passed on to participants, who in turn passed on this cost to their employers or grant agencies. Rarely were there any who attended simply to listen to presentations and offer questions and comments. Now, the number of proposals rejected are used to enhance the career value of those accepted, with each conference on a CV bearing a note equating the value of the contribution to the number of proposals rejected. This is the true valuation of conference content — not the findings of any research, quality of any presentations, but rather the collective waste of those now converted to statistical proofs of status.
The shadow conference project uses a reverse-order sequence of zoom meetings, allowing entry all who wish to participate. No proposals are required; no presentations are viewed. Instead, the zoom session front-loads debate and discussion. Participants are encouraged to post position papers of any length and publish presentations on YouTube for review before the session.
The zoom conversations benefit the participants’ individual work and offer a platform and network for work to be shared. It is even possible for authors to request the standard academic double-blind review for P&T purposes. But the aim is a return to the standard that once was foundational for all scholarship: the grounding of truth in public argument and free participation. Whoever ‘has something to say’ should be empowered to say it.
The reverse-zoom conference session benefits conferences still held in the traditional space-time restricted way; discussion zooms held independently can be offered to all of the ‘traditional’ participants to lay the ground for richer exchanges in the traditional event. Those managing the restrictive events are invited to play leadership roles in the non-restrictive discussions. However, reverse-zooming is not obliged to subordinate itself to the traditional model, since its advantages are based on its independence. It is an exercise of free speech and free thought, from the efforts of all to the benefit of all. Reverse-zoom projects begin with contacting ‘standard-model’ conference organizers to propose collaborate cooperation based on mutual benefits.
The reverse-zoom idea has already been realized, and a guidebook of ‘best practices’ looks at the advantages and limits. It is an anarchistic idea that requires no centralized organization or coordination. Small groups can coalesce around a set of common interests and open their discussions to wider audiences. The benefits are immediate and personal. Check out a list of past reverse-zooms sponsored by iPSA, the institute for Psychoanalytical Studies in Architecture.
Still not convinced? There is a lingering element of aggressiveness when any medium offers an alternative to the status quo. Organizing ‘shadow conferences’ comes with an implied aggressiveness that, to open the way to cooperative, supplemental use of the Internet to allow on-line discussions that real space-time events restrict the standard conference from fully supporting. Read this position paper on the tricky challenges of navigating between competing and supporting.