ideas @ iDMAa (11/6 – 11/8, Savannah)

Most of them bite. Conferences. Someone stands at a lectern on a stop-watch leash attempting to cram into 10 minutes everything about their latest gambit to get tenure. Most of the presenters stopped really caring about what they are talking about 6 months ago -- right after the paper got accepted. It all feels so pro forma and last semester! Heck some of them even read to me! Most conferences bore the heck out of me.
That is why I love iDMAa – the International Digital Media and Arts Association. No reading. No posturing. iDMAa is one of the only conferences I attend where people truly share ideas. When I travel home from iDMAa I have at least five great ideas I can’t wait to start work on. And I have at least 5 new friends to work with.
On November 6 – 8 in Savannah, GA, we are going to be holding our coolest conference yet.
The theme is “Ideas for the Future” and we are opening up all new ways of sharing your ideas. We are putting out a call for “Thought Pieces” where you share your ideas about the future – in whatever format you choose. If it is a paper keep it under 3000 words. If it is a video make it less than 5 minutes. If it is a performance, make sure we don’t need too many props. Get creative! Go crazy! Stimulate some ideas.
You can send your thought pieces to me at sshamp@uga.edu. And we need to have them by 9/19.
And you can still do traditional papers or propose panels as well. You can read about all the ways of participating at http://www.idmaa.org/idmaa2008/.
I swear it is going to be a blast. Plus Savannah is a very cool place – in November. I hope I will see you there.