Conference ConundrumsJerz’s Literacy Weblog)
Hooray… I just heard that I got near-full funding for both Princeton videogame conference (where I’ll be presenting a paper on Will Crowther’s original “Adventure”) and the San Antonio 4C-s (where my paper topic is “Forced Blogging: Students’ Emotional Investment in their Academic Weblogs”). Because the 4C’s is a long conference in an expensive city, I might not be able to afford to go to the whole thing, but I present early and there’s that blasted “stay overnight on a Saturday and get a cheaper airfare,” so I’m going to have to wrestle with this one a bit. I’m hoping to share a room with a former colleague from the University of Toronto, but he may have had to book already… we’ll see what happens. I’ve got the next six hours of my day booked absolutely solid…
Yes, a lot of early scholars on interactive fiction spent more than half of their article introducing what was to many readers an unfamiliar genre. By the time all the introductions are done, there is precious little room for new material. Footnotes and brief parenthetical glossings are good for explaining unfamiliar terms. Or, you could take a page from the comic books themselves… just as every X-Men issue starts with an early page where the characters demonstrate their mutant powers (so that the first-time reader won’t be suddenly surprised by a character teleporting or walking through a wall), you might first introduce your terms while writiting aobut some introductory example that knowledgeable readers would tend to skip. That way, when you get to your best stuff, you won’t have to pause to explian yourself all the time. Just a thought.
Dennis,
Yes, I know the feeling of getting papers done for conferences or publication. For my Green Lantern article in Prism (UW-Eau Claire’s Philosophy and Religious Studies journal), I revised a text description of a comic panel sequence that is maybe three panels long but amazingly baffles readers, for the fifth time! I also get frustrated every time I have to explain what a “story arc” and “crossover” is when I write about comics…and the beat goes on.
It’s not really anger, Bobby, just the feeling of being nibbled to death by ducks. I’ve come to the conclusion that I simply don’t travel well. I get anxious the night before I travel, so I tend to stay up all night fooling around (organizing my bookshelves or upgrading software files, that sort of thing), which makes me tired on the trip.
Making all the travel arrangements while also trying to grade papers, get a decent amount of sleep each night, and be a husband and daddy is stressful.
I guess I was just using my blog to vent a little…
As it happens, I just heard from a friend who will be able to split the cost of a room with me in San Antonio, and yesterday while I was at work, my wife found a really good ticket deal — so that will stretch the funds considerably. So things are looking better. Now, of course, I have to finish writing the darn papers…
Dennis,
Congratulations on your conference acceptances! Both topics sound excellent, but I am not sure why you are frustrated with travel arrangements. Granted, this April will be my second academic conference (and another one for McNair next year), but I never experience anger toward those situations.