Questionnaire – The Scientific Conference: a Social, Cultural, and Political History

Questionnaire on-line conferencing experiences

We are a group of historians working on the history of scientific conferences within the HERA Joint Research Project “The Scientific Conference: A Social, Cultural, and Political History”. We are interested in their dynamics and the functions of physical gatherings. Now that the pandemic has caused many scientists to switch from physical meetings to online alternatives, we are interested in how this changes the experience and outcome of conferences. The questions below all pertain to the physical-to-online switch. Please note that they refer to scientific conferences in your wider research community, not meetings within your own institution.

The questions are designed to let you comment on one online conference you have participated in as alternatives for physical meetings. If you want to share experiences about more than one conference, please mark them a, b, c, etc.

Many thanks for taking the time to answer the questions! It should take about 10 minutes.

Questionnaire

1. What is your field or discipline?

2. Which conference was this?

3. What software platform was used for the conference?

4. How many people do you estimate attended?

5. How did the lectures work out?

6. How did the Q&As work out?

7. How did discussions work out?

8. If you had poster sessions, how did they work out?

9. How did the social program work out?

10. What worked better online than in-person?

11. What was not so good?

12. What did you miss most?

13. Are there any online conferences you would attend now that would not have attended physically?

14. Are there any online conferences you would skip now that would have attended physically?

15. Based on your experience this year, do you feel online conferences are more or less inclusive than physical gatherings?

16. How do online conferences compare to physical meetings in how they allow for the exchange of ideas and other research-related purposes? Are they better or worse than physical conferences in this regard?

17. How helpful did you find the online format for building and maintaining professional relationships? Did you meet new colleagues and maintain contact meeting them online?

18. Do online conferences in your field attract participants from different countries? In your estimation, is the composition of delegates different for online conferences compared to the physical conferences you have attended in the past?

19. How do you and how do the conference organisers document conferences – e.g. are any notes or proceedings published, or recordings made available as podcasts?

20. Finally, looking back: If you had a choice, would you prefer to attend conferences physically or online?