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My Doctor Who download hasn't finished yet, so...

I found this erm.. column? It's so hard to tell what to call things these days when they're 'news' according to Google and show up on newspaper sites. They could be news articles, or columns, or letters to the editor, or something else entirely. And how can you tell?

Anyway.. Science-fiction fans a breed unto themselves by Ben Bova in the Naples Daily News

Science-fiction conventions are unlike any professional, business, scientific or political conventions that I've ever seen. They are fun. They are educational. And, more often than not, they're not terribly well organized.

I think that does conventions and the fans that run them a disservice. Very often what seems like chaos is order and what seems like order is chaos behind the scenes.

Consider that a typical convention is run by volunteers who get together in person rarely, if at all during the year. A good majority of pre-con organization is run these days online, through forums and mailing lists. The con chair or chairs probably have never been a con chair before, though they may have been vice con chair the year before.

They have to organize the volunteer staff, the gophers, the dealers, the guests, the industry reps, the press, the hotel, and sometimes outside companies such as security, medical staff, or caterers. For two or three or four or more days, there are at least half a dozen events going on simultaneously, and more likely a dozen or two dozen. Some of these events, such as video rooms, could be running around the clock.

And with WorldCons, as specifically referenced by Bova, each con is run by an entirely new organization and staff in an entirely new city or even country every year.

It's a monumental task and even the greatest organizer in the world would have a hard time running their first con. And probably even their second or third.

Why are science-fiction conventions so popular among the fans? I think it’s because science-fiction fans often find themselves regarded by the "mundane" world as oddballs, nerds, weirdos. At a convention, though, all these ugly ducklings can come together for a weekend and be swans.

This last sentence I take objection to. I am not an ugly duckling wanting to be a swan. I'd more happily claim the designation 'oddball', 'nerd', or 'weirdo' (though I prefer 'geek'). What's the 'swan' in this metaphor? A normal person? A 'mundane'?

Who wants to be that?

(no subject)

Date: 2008-04-13 02:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] birdhousefrog.livejournal.com
One can also take that quote in the context of the original story, where the duckling was "ugly" because it didn't fit with the other ducks. It didn't know it was a swan until it was with other swans. I think it's like that. ONe doesn't know where one fits until one meet others like oneself and then, voila, a place where one is "normal," even special in one's difference from the plethora of ducks in the world.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-04-13 09:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] julieandrews.livejournal.com
Your take on it makes sense. I may have been a little over-reactive to the metaphor. There's something about that ugly duckling story that I really don't like. I'll have to ponder it and figure out what my issues is with it and how then to articulate it.

Maybe there's a story in there somewhere.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-04-13 10:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tomomi.livejournal.com
I don't know. I haven't time to go read the article this second, but I will say that while I'm not an expert by any means on cons, the sci-fi cons I have been to would rank as the least organized I have attended as compared to other volunteer-run cons in other genres. The schedule was more fluid, signage was poorer, programming was sparser and the staff not very visible.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-04-13 09:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] julieandrews.livejournal.com
I'm not sure which conventions you're talking about, but I'd definitely make a huge exception for student-run conventions. Not that individual students can't be great at staffing cons, but I've found a disorganization in student-run activities of all types. It's probably due to a number of factors, not least of which is that they're students first and everything else at times gets dropped in favor of studying or sleeping.

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