Hello Everyone,

The deadline for proposals for the joint meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science with the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) is fast approaching. The meeting will be held in Rotterdam from August 20-23. It should be great fun, as 4S is always diverse and lively and the added influx of Europeans from EASST will spice things up further. (Europeans, please feel free to reverse that to avoid hints of Anglo-Saxon imperialism).

The call is on the web at http://www.4sonline.org/meeting.htm.

Recent 4S meetings have suffered from a combination of the democratic impulse to accept as many panels and papers as possible with the physical constraints of conference hotels. This sometimes led to 12 minute papers in curtained off alcoves. I heard that this is being addressed, though I’m not sure whether a higher rejection rate or a bigger hotel is the immediate solution. The CFP this year asks for 20 minute papers, and asks for 2 hour sessions with 5 papers, a discussant, and 10 minutes of questions. Factoring in gaps between presenters and so on I wouldn’t count on getting more than 15 minutes in such a situation. You might get lucky with a panel of 4 papers. However, in the past the organizers have been aggressive in adding extra papers to less packed panels, so I wouldn’t risk submitting one with only 3 as it might be packed with random additions.

My other advice is to leave out dates from your titles. 4S audiences do not always pack history sessions.

SIGCIS has organized panels for the two previous 4S meetings, and also held informal dinners for members. If you have some ideas, please feel free to send them to the list or to me. (However, with our tiny new addition to the family my time is a little less flexible than usual, so I’d need details ASAP).

Best wishes,

Tom