Somewhere between 15% and 20% of the people whose name badges I read were using fannish names rather than legal names.
At least 10%, probably more, of the members present were cosplaying throughout the entire con.
Given those two facts, plus the fact that I lacked any prior awareness of Chicago-area fandom's fondness for fake program items, what precisely would lead me to conclude that the program about the Higgs Boson was phony?
When I read the description of that panel, I assumed that the panelists would be cosplayers with a lot of science cred to carry off an interesting/amusing imagined discussion between Hawking and Einstein. I mean, after all, it's WorldCon, and they do all sorts of way cool stuff, far more ambitious than a local or regional con - why would I conclude that was someone's lame attempt at humor rather than an actual program item?
The point is that "universal access" means SO much more than just wheelie parking spaces and big-print programs - it means examining every aspect of a con and asking hard questions about whether or not EVERY convention member can and will experience it as intended.
Humor doesn't play the same everywhere; what a Midwesterner finds funny will baffle someone from the east coast, and something that tickles a southerner's funnybone might leave a northerner totally stone-faced. So expecting convention attendees from around the globe to understand local humor is asking an awful lot.
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branchandroot
Re: Stagg Field track
Date: 2012-09-07 04:45 am (UTC)At least 10%, probably more, of the members present were cosplaying throughout the entire con.
Given those two facts, plus the fact that I lacked any prior awareness of Chicago-area fandom's fondness for fake program items, what precisely would lead me to conclude that the program about the Higgs Boson was phony?
When I read the description of that panel, I assumed that the panelists would be cosplayers with a lot of science cred to carry off an interesting/amusing imagined discussion between Hawking and Einstein. I mean, after all, it's WorldCon, and they do all sorts of way cool stuff, far more ambitious than a local or regional con - why would I conclude that was someone's lame attempt at humor rather than an actual program item?
The point is that "universal access" means SO much more than just wheelie parking spaces and big-print programs - it means examining every aspect of a con and asking hard questions about whether or not EVERY convention member can and will experience it as intended.
Humor doesn't play the same everywhere; what a Midwesterner finds funny will baffle someone from the east coast, and something that tickles a southerner's funnybone might leave a northerner totally stone-faced. So expecting convention attendees from around the globe to understand local humor is asking an awful lot.