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[snape]

I was at a conference last week. A handful of delegates were sitting in the bar checking e-mail etc. on their laptops. I don’t think it is much of a problem at present, but I fear that in the not-too-distant future there will be less discussion and networking at conferences, as delegates revert to dealing with email etc. when not in sessions –presumably doing the sort of work that conferences once provided an escape from.

I wondered if anyone else had observed this? Is this likely to change the whole nature of future conferences? 

[larryc]

I wonder if those same people would not have had their nose in a book ten years ago and isolated themselves that way? And perhaps discussions and networking is exactly what they are doing online. 

(At a big history conference recently, I used my laptop to take notes.  When a presentation proved lousy (and I am always shocked how many terrible sessions there are!) I discreetly checked my email.  Win/win.)

[snape]

Thanks for the reply larryc. I thought no-one was going to respond! I think that conferences used to be an opportunity to liberate oneself from the office.

My colleague from the college hosting the conference missed most of the sessions resolving local issues. I fear that soon everyone will be spending their conferences chasing students, colleagues etc.

[larryc]

There is no escape from the digital Panopticon. Submit!

[notaprof]

I went to a conference held in Canada earlier in the summer (normally held in the US).  Prior to the conference, a colleague sent an email warning everyone about the high roaming charges on most cell phone plans.  Apparently the warning was heeded because almost no one interrupted a session with a cellphone call and no one was whipping out their cell phones immediately as the session ended.  It was refreshing.  I won a few bets by telling people that I could identify a Canadian by sight.  All I had to do was to look for someone speaking on a cell phone!