I was curious of your inclusion of The West Wing as an example of metatelevision at the Borat/Colbert panel: Certainly 30 Rock and Studio 60 fit the bill perfectly. They’re television about the making of television shows. I think your inclusion of The West WIng muddied the waters a bit: voyeuristicly experiencing realities is something (I would argue) that is a component of all fiction.

The panel format isn’t as conducive to actual discussion as I would like, but realize that it’s a consequence of making an event so public. I wouldn’t mind a counter (or concurrent) conference next year made of of selected insightful audience members. A metaconference, I suppose.

Call me Illiterate, but I don’t even understand the Wikipedia entry. For most of us slightly educated people that kind of background reading is not “Mind at Play”.

Sigh…………….. are we masses ruining academics for you?

Interesting idea.

But ..

I have been experiencing realities I otherwise would not get to deal with by reading science fiction, and have been since I was 10. And I mean the literate stuff not the endless novelizations in the Start Trek and Star Wars universes … ow is that different from what you’re talking about?

It is interesting to see how many different ways that Michael can work te topic of conversation around to space elevators.

Brian Dunbar
LiftPort

The CWA seeks out people are experts in at least one area, but who can think creatively about other subjects. Sometimes they are put on panels beyond their areas of expertise, so you just hope they can make some interesting contributions as “creative outsiders.” The best ones can and are usually invited back.

I always liked the audience questions/comments because often they were at least as interesting (sometimes more interesting) than what the panelists had to say. And there is an energy level when the entire room is participating.

In fact, having read some comments about the CWA and its hope to get more students/youth attending, my feeling is that more focus will have to be put on audience interactivity and less on lecture formats. Get the audience members to blog on the spot, send questions via their cellphones, etc. Also, perhaps have ways for students to suggest, via the Web, people they know who would be good panelists in the future. Although everyone is invited to make suggestions to the CWA, generally if you aren’t already actively involved with the conference, you don’t know the process. It might be cool to have an on-going website for suggestions and ways to contact those suggested people.