FAQ

Format and schedule

Where is LingComm21 happening?
On the internet, using a platform called Gather. Gather allows for proximity-based chat (in text, audio, and video) with people “near” you, thus facilitating breakout groups, poster sessions, and interstitial networking moments.

Why did you schedule simultaneous sessions about the same topic?
Several panels have parallel “101” and “201” sessions to accommodate attendees with different levels of experience. If you’re looking for foundational information about the topic, please attend the “101” session. If you have experience with the topic and want to discuss it in more detail, we recommend attending the “201” session instead.

How does a poster session work in Gather?
Much like a traditional in-person poster session! As a poster presenter, you’ll “stand” near your poster and others will approach it, and you, to engage via voice chat and/or text chat. Attendees may move freely around the poster room at any time, so you will likely have both brief and more lengthy interactions. There is space for 9 people, including the presenter(s), at each poster.

What is the fishbowl all about?
A “fishbowl” is a way of structuring a conversation on a single topic with a larger group than would typically be possible. The “fishbowl” room will contain five chairs in the center and a second, larger circle of chairs around them. When the fishbowl panel begins, four chairs will be occupied by the panelists and the moderator, and one chair will be empty. The audience will be “seated” in the outer circle of chairs. At any point, an audience member who has something to add to the conversation can indicate this by moving to the empty chair in the center. There must be an empty chair in the center at all times, so when the fifth chair becomes occupied, one of the people seated in the center will get up and move to the outer circle instead, leaving an empty chair that someone else will eventually occupy.

Inclusivity and accessibility

Do I belong at LingComm21 even if I’m not a linguist? Does it count if I’m communicating in areas that aren’t online? Does it make sense for me to be on programming?
Yes! We believe strongly that both linguists and communicators have things to learn from each other. Knowledge of a topic doesn’t always translate into communicating effectively about that topic. We’ve been inspired by scicomm (science communication) conferences, which contain a mix of media/policy folks who specialize in science-related topics as well as scientists from a wide variety of subfields who communicate beyond technical audiences.

You might be more of a linguistics enthusiast than a lingcommer–that is, more interested in consuming the interesting things that other people make related to linguistics than in creating them yourself–and that’s also a wonderful thing to be! In that case, you might be more interested in the public-facing events of LingFest.

What is the conference language for LingComm21?
English is the default language for LingComm21; no additional languages attracted sufficient interest to run programming in them. During breaks, we encourage you to communicate with other conference participants in whatever language(s) you share, and you’re welcome to suggest language-specific meetups for Day 4.

What accessibility is being provided?
Many sessions will be live-captioned in English by a trained captioner. Text chat options in English will be available for breakout and networking sessions, and we’re also happy to arrange complimentary registration/tech demos for any interpreters you might want to bring.

Have other accessibility needs or questions?
Let us know via social media, or by emailing linguistics.communication@gmail.com.

Everything else

I have another question that’s not answered by this FAQ!
We’re happy to answer it for you. Email linguistics.communication@gmail.com.