Gallaudet's First B/Vlogging Conference - My Input

Over at Chris Leon's blogsite he helped spread the announcement on the first ever "b/vlogging conference" which will take place on February 3rd on a Saturday at Gallaudet University. This conference is organized by the Coalition for Critical Inquiry (check out the new and developing website) put together by Jill Bradbury, assistant professor at Gallaudet University. There will be four panels present under four different topic of discussion.

Panel 1: “Whither Gallaudet?” (9-10:30 am).
Panel 2: “Future Visions of Deaf Identity” (10:45-12:15)
Panel 3: "The Futuristic Classroom” (1:15-2:45 pm)
Panel 4: Keynote Panel - “Vlogging/Blogging and the Future of the Deaf Community” (3-5 pm)

Now, many of you may already know by now that I'll be on Panel #3 but I plan to attend all of the panels to see what people have to say. This unique conference event will also be another opportunity for me to meet more people and meet up with those i met when I attended the NAD conference last year. Technology is an area that will help define true independency among deaf and hard of hearing people in the field of communication.

Other than the upcoming b/vlog conference there has been a lot of grumbling lately by many deaf people who have objected to the list of names (or lack of) seen on the List of Panelists section. Jill Bradbury responded in comment #43 in Chris Leon's blogsite to those grumblings,

I’m happy to see so much interest in this conference. I wanted to clarify a few issues that have been raised about the people invited to attend. First, this conference was not intended to focus primarily on blogging/vlogging. Rather, my original goal was to focus on what Gallaudet needs to do to reorient and thrive after the protests. I asked people to attend whose blogs/vlogs contained insightful, forward-looking, and innovative ideas about this topic. I went with people whose work I was familiar with and also sought input from other vloggers/bloggers. There are hundreds of high quality deaf vloggers/bloggers; it’s not possible to include them all. No slight at all is intended to those who were not invited.

Let me repeat - this conference was originally conceived as not about vlogging/blogging per se, but about Gallaudet’s future. It has, to some extent, evolved to focus on the impact of vlogging/blogging on the deaf community, but the selection of participants still reflects my original conceptualization. It was never my intention to include the most popular/influential vloggers/bloggers. I invited people based on their ideas, not their cyber lifespan, quantity of posts or quantity of hits. This is why some participants would not “technically” be considered bloggers (though to me, this raises the interesting question of definition. What, exactly, qualifies someone to be called a vlogger/blogger?)

Second, this conference associated with the new Coalition for Critical Inquiry. The goals of this organization are two-fold: 1)to provide public forums for objective debate and critical reflection on issues arising from the Unity for Gallaudet protests. 2) to model intellectual dialogue, respect for diverse viewpoints, and commitment to social justice for the Gallaudet and larger deaf community (check out our developing web page at ccigally.info). Vloggers/ bloggers whose work does not adhere to these criteria were not invited. This does not mean that I don’t consider their work to be important to the deaf community. I intend to have a particular kind of dialogue (respectful, thoughtful, and proactive) at the conference, and I make no apologies for that decision.

A third selection criteria was to show a diversity of perspectives in the deaf community. This is why some vloggers/bloggers may be less familiar to the general deaf community. Some were chosen to represent gender/ racial/ cultural/ communication modality diversity within the deaf community.

Finally, this conference is NOT organized by Gallaudet, but by myself under the aegis of an organization I started to encourage public analysis of issues connected to the protest. The CCI has no funds except what we can raise individually. When I first started organizing the conference, I kept it small because I didn’t know where I’d get the money to pay for flights, hotels, interpreters, etc. I’ve been fortunate to have strong interest develop from people inside and outside the university as I make progress, but we are still working with a very small budget. To anyone who feels dissatisfied with the scope of the conference, I strongly encourage you to organize your own show. Thanks for taking the time to read this post and allowing me to clear up some rumors and misconceptions.

Agree. It's not possible to get all bloggers or vloggers on board for this conference based on a limited budget. Jill Bradbury made an important point regarding the goals of the conference is

"to model intellectual dialogue, respect for diverse viewpoints, and commitment to social justice for the Gallaudet and larger deaf community."

And those vloggers or bloggers who did not adhere to those criteria were not invited. It basically boils down to "you are what you write."

Vloggers/ bloggers whose work does not adhere to these criteria were not invited. This does not mean that I don’t consider their work to be important to the deaf community. I intend to have a particular kind of dialogue (respectful, thoughtful, and proactive) at the conference, and I make no apologies for that decision.

Not only me but many other bloggers see that ad hominem attacks do not make an argument. Attacking a person for his/her viewpoint or opinion rather than the argument itself does not make a fruitful debate. It does not allow proper discovery and understanding of the issue at hand that's being debated upon. Lobbing personal insults, hashing conspiracy theories, belittling those to an extreme, making accusations and so forth are not at all conducive in any environment.

What Jill Bradbury is doing is unprecedented This will become the first ever conference that will focus mostly on Gallaudet University's future under various topics to be addressed mostly by bloggers and vloggers. After all, the future of Gallaudet University is in everybody's hands. This is only the beginning.

UPDATE: There seems to be confusion by some people thinking this C2I conference is all about deaf/hh bloggers and vloggers. It is not. It not about who is a blogger and who isn't though the majority of those invited are in fact bloggers/vloggers. Jill Bradbury made it clear what this conference is about and the people she invited to attend.

Let me repeat - this conference was originally conceived as not about vlogging/blogging per se, but about Gallaudet’s future. It has, to some extent, evolved to focus on the impact of vlogging/blogging on the deaf community, but the selection of participants still reflects my original conceptualization. It was never my intention to include the most popular/influential vloggers/bloggers. I invited people based on their ideas, not their cyber lifespan, quantity of posts or quantity of hits. This is why some participants would not “technically” be considered bloggers (though to me, this raises the interesting question of definition. What, exactly, qualifies someone to be called a vlogger/blogger?)

It's true that this one-day conference will take place during the Deaf Olympic week (Feb 1 - 10). And it's true that this conference could have been scheduled before or after the Deaf Olympic week. It is a legitimate question to ask about the February 3rd date at time when DeafOlympic takes place compared to questioning whether a person is a blogger/vlogger or not. Questioning a person whether he or she is a blogger or not is simply not a legitimate question in regards to the C2I conference. Whatever the reason for the February 3rd date, it has already been decided and many of the bloggers/vloggers invited to attend already purchased their tickets and hotel reservations last month. In fact, there were plans to have the conference held in December or January but many of us felt it was too soon after the protest and the wrong time right before or after the holidays. It was critical to have this conference done as soon as possible while many of us still hold fresh to the memory of the protest that basically ended on October 29, 2006.

Regardless of the date, many of those living near D.C. (ie Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvannia, etc) who could not afford (or could not get away) to go to Utah for the Deaf Olympic event will now have another option. They can attend a different event that will tie directly into Gallaudet University history and the expectation that Dr. Davila will be an integral part of this conference just as well.

Now, remember, not everybody could afford or take time off to attend the much talked about NAD conference in Palm Desert, California last year. So, too, will this Coalition for Critical Inquiry be in the same boat. Although it's a one day event. Free to all to attend and seats will be limited. All is required is your sanity, open mind and your ideas.

UPDATE: Take a poll survey and see how many will attend Deaflympics or the B/Vlogger Conference at Gallaudet.