Projectors at SBL

Anyone who has dealt with technical issues related to projection and other mediation equipment at their educational institution will probably be aware that a certain infrastructure of maintenance and technical support is needed to keep projectors and other equipment running smoothly. I can perfectly understand why hotels might not have a natural interest in adding that to their list of services and take on the associated responsibilities.

Nevertheless, societies like SBL, when they hold conferences, will really need to identify conference venues that provide such equipment and will make it available as part of the overall conference cost. Either that, or simply warn people that they need to bring their own equipment. A powerful projector the size of your fist costs less to buy nowadays than a hotel in Atlanta would charge to rent a standard projector for a day (as Scott Bailey recently uncovered).

But there is a certain irony in our complaining about the cost of technology at a conference, when there is a reasonable likelihood that conferences of this sort will themselves be rendered obsolete by technological advances – a theme I’ll be exploring in my paper on blogging at SBL.

And for what it’s worth, I hope to be able to project something on a wall or screen when I deliver it…