Conference configuration

Transdisciplinarity-3 as the Emergence of Patterned Experience (Part II) (Part #7)

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Conferences are one of the principal arenas through which social policies are explored and articulated in the light of emerging problems and conceptual advances. There has been remarkably little innovation in conferences and they are notable for the low level of expectations which they raise in those with any experience of them. No attention has been given to the design of transdisciplinary conferences (Judge, 1994)

There is a dilemma in conference organization. On the one hand, consistent with the systemic insights associated with Transdisciplinarity-1, considerable respect is accorded to the disciplinary and logistical constraints that make the event an objective success. But few mechanisms have been found to circumvent them in order to enrich the transdisciplinary dimension through which genuine cross-fertilization of ideas and insights occurs. And on the other hand, conferences devote considerable resources to entertainment, giving participants a good time through extra-mural activities, in order that the event should be experienced asa qualitative success -- somewhat consistent with the modalities of Transdisciplinarity-2. It is widely accepted that the most useful features of a conference are outside the formal sessions -- often around a coffee table or in the bar.

The question is whether there is a case for exploring patterned experience to increase the value of conferences -- using frameworks consistent with Transdisciplinarity-3. The challenge can be seen in the design of conference programmes. In the majority of cases these have the structure of nested list of agenda points lacking any explicit systemic relationship. Parallel agendas may be organized through parallel sessions with a primitive technique of reporting back to the plenary. Major conferences may be designed as multi-track events with little attempt at integrating the specialized sessions. The programme matrix is then the only integrative conceptual framework. Although this is consistent with administrative and faculty organization, there is very little chance that integrative dimensions can successfully emerge from such crude formal structures. And with the best will in the world, conference organizers are often a victim of architectural constraints over which they have little control. Seats bolted to the floor of a conference room are highly indicative of the limited integrative potential of any gathering therein, especially when participants aspire to some form of collective self-transformation.

The special challenge for conferences of any social significance is how to configure the event so that there is some possibility of responding creatively and transformatively to a set of polarized issues. This can be seen as a design problem of conceptual geometry with implications for the social organization of the event. Given the practical architectural constraints, the main hope for innovative reconfiguration of the emerging insights lies through the use of information systems with appropriate forms of audio-visual support. Unfortunately almost no attention has been given to visually tracking a debate so that participants can respond to an integrative representation of the range of points made. This is a software challenge for the immediate future.

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