Well, what a strange/interesting experience. It just so happens that I have taken the day off work to keep an eye on my wife who yesterday had knee surgery. Now, what I was supposed to be doing today was attending an away-day of the Science Faculty Executive, to discuss the curriculum, employer engagement, and other weighty matters like the colour of the paint in one of the new seminar rooms. Assuming this had been a normal day, what I would like to have done instead was attend ReLive08 (Researching Learning in Virtual Environments), which is taking place at my institution – see the offical conference website

But, in fact, the enforced day off has allowed me to experience the conference through the media of the Facebook Group, the live Twitter feed, the transmission of some of the talks via live web-casting, recollections in the official conference blog, and through Second Life. Some of the real world attendees made appearances in SL, which gave all those people who couldn’t attend in person the opportunity to engage in a more Web 2.0 kind of way.

I’m not sure I have learned anything today (in a strict pedagogic sense), but I surely had a glimpse of how scientific conferences may be run in the future (and maybe, the very near future). It almost seems inevitable as the planet heads (allegedly) towards ecological disaster, the era of cheap airline travel comes to an end, the global economic recession begins to bite, and our desire to connect and interact in more multidimensional ways increases.

Of course, I’m going to miss the Gala Dinner, but this disappointment will be countered by the hearty meal of corned beef hash that I shall prepare shortly (wife is not allowed to do any cooking for several months, apparently; she’s also not allowed to do something called ironing, but neither of us are terribly sure what that is).