Mary and other AIR-ers - I was probably one of the 'strong emoters' in the room (totally agree with the mosh pit atmosphere). First of all some of the presentations were 'tongue in cheek' as I am sure (as a 'good' audience member) I am expected to chortle a bit when I see in a quite academic Roman-styled logo in 50 point letters stating "Bitch Ph.D." I wasn't sure what was funnier - the sentiment or the font. Laughter for me contained a series of emotions, a bit of envy (why didn't I think of that myself) along with a bit of sorrow (is this what we are reduced to in academic life?). Likewise how can I not laugh at blog that includes an entry called "Word count obsession"? Let's note that laughter denotes a number of functions - empathy (been there, done that) - chagrin (again, why didn't I think of that) and the laughter of 'recognition' - (that's me up there), and further laughter when the author cried out, "it's not funny!" (it IS funny, since most phd students HAVE been there). Ok, perhaps not helpful. But laughter as I heard it did not connote hostility as much as shock, recognition, empathy and amusement. My further comments I will send off list. Thoroughly enjoyed the conference. DNR Denise N. Rall, PhD thesis submitted, School of Environ. Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA Tuesdays: Room T2.17, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 or Mobile 0427 245 497 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/ Virtual member, Cybermetrics Group, University of Wolverhampton, UK http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/index.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com