International Conference on Linguistics Communication | Week of April 19-23, 2021 | online
The International Conference on Linguistics Communication (LingComm21) brought together lingcommers from a variety of backgrounds, including linguists communicating with public audiences and communicators with a “beat” related to language.
Taking advantage of a digital-first format to bring together lingcommers from around the world, LingComm21 was a small, highly interactive conference featuring a mix of beginner and advanced panels on specific areas of lingcomm, as well as smaller special sessions emerging from the shared interests of attendees.
Invited speakers:
- Kate Burridge, Monash University
- Ben Zimmer, The Wall Street Journal
- Megan Figueroa and Carrie Gillon, Vocal Fries
- Lane Greene, The Economist
- Mignon Fogarty, Grammar Girl
- Daniel Midgley, Because Language
- Grant Barrett, A Way with Words
- Helen Zaltzman, The Allusionist
- Kory Stamper, Word by Word
- Erin McKean, Wordnik
- Raquel Freitag, Federal University of Sergipe and Abralin
- Naomi Truan, University of Leipzig
Date: For much of the world, the conference ran April 19-22, in a single four-hour block each day beginning at 20:00 UTC. That was 10am in Honolulu, 1pm in Seattle, 4pm in Montreal, 9pm in London, and 10pm in Paris. For those on the leading edge of time zones, the conference ran April 20-23, beginning at 6am in Melbourne and 8am in Auckland.
Platform: The conference was held in a custom space on Gather, a proximity chat platform which lets participants wander around and chat in spontaneous small groups between sessions. The space included a virtual cafe and pub for off-hours and informal meetups.
LingFest: To help foster a community of linguistics enthusiasts in addition to a community of lingcommers, following LingComm21 was LingFest21, a themed period of virtual live shows, premieres, and other linguistics-related online events.
Organising committee: Laura Bailey, Lauren Gawne, Jessi Grieser, and Gretchen McCulloch made up LingComm21’s steering committee. Elizabeth McCullough was the conference manager.
Sponsors:
Thanks also to Andrea West, Casper Grathwohl, Catherine Anderson, Cecile McKee, Daniel Midgley, Grant Barrett, Melissa Baese-Berk, Saunatina Sanchez, Sylvia Sierra, and three anonymous personal sponsors.
LingComm 