Balisage Paper: Discussions Fuel a Conference; Questions Fuel Discussion
B. Tommie Usdin
President
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.
B. Tommie Usdin is President of Mulberry Technologies, Inc., a consultancy specializing in XML for textual documents. Ms. Usdin has been working with SGML since 1985 and has been a supporter of XML since 1996. She chairs the Balisage conference. Ms. Usdin has developed DTDs, Schemas, and XML/SGML application frameworks for applications in government and industry. Projects include reference materials in medicine, science, engineering, and law; semiconductor documentation; historical and archival materials. Distribution formats have included print books, magazines, and journals, and both web- and media-based electronic publications. She is co-chair of the NISO Z39-96, JATS: Journal Article Tag Suite Working Group and a member of the BITS Working Group and the NISO STS Standing Committee. You can read more about her at http://www.mulberrytech.com/people/usdin/index.html and see some of her photos on: flickr.
Abstract
Conferences are events at which people converse. That is, people talk with each other, learn from each other, enjoy interacting with each other. Performances are events at which the audience watches the performers. Balisage is a conference, not a series of performances. At Balisage, like at most conferences, speakers give presentations. Those presentations are interesting and valuable in and of themselves. But the active discussion after the presentations is the real point. That discussion, based on the content of the presentation, is fueled and shaped by questions and comments. This is why it is important that at Balisage we think carefully about the questions we ask. Good questions prompt the speaker(s) to expand on interesting points, allow the speaker to clarify, to extend, and to explain. Good comments support the speaker. It is important that we refrain from asking questions that demean the speaker, minimize the content of the presentation, or that are designed to show off the questioner’s knowledge at the expense of the speaker. At Balisage we allow substantial time for questions and discussion after each talk and at the beginning and end of each day. Please help us make Balisage lively, interesting, and interactive by crafting questions that lead to lively and interesting interactions.