After several marathonical days, we're already halfway through the Sixth World Conference of Science Journalists, right at the heart of London, and the temporary balance is very positive, although as is often the case, good things arrive from unexpected places.
As in all conferences where you have hundreds of participantes, moving in a gregarious but chaotic way through a big building filled with narrow corridors, where there's more content than a reasonably sane brain can digest, the present one has had its own little bumps (heat, food, schedules) but generally speaking the optimism that characterizes our subspecies just puts aside the grievances and concentrates on the positive aspects.
To begin with, it is a kind of small miracle to be able to listen to the concentrated experience of literally hundreds of legendary firms from science journalism who have practiced their craft for decades, who have survived the slaps of the present and many past crisis, and that still have the will to share that experience and their anecdotes to a bunch or avid unknowns that arrived from here to nowhere.
Conferences, just as the Internet, are great levellers, because we all carry with us the same problemas (how to move through a sea of peers while carrying a couple of heavy backpacks) and the same interests: some of the rooms are as packed as a sardin can while others are just filled. The media room has been converted into the emergency venue for what amounts to an extra set of presentations, so it's difficult to make it serve its supposed purpose.
The mood I glimps in attendees is constantly stimulating: questions ask about the crisis, about problems, about bumps in the road, but faces seem optimistic and sure. Voices are articulated, and it is gratifying to find people who read the same, digest the same and produce the same stuff as you. We're not alone!
I've been introduced to tens of colleagues whom I knew only by reference, through their job, their reputation. I've reencountered a few people I already new and are beginning to respect some others after hearing the clarity of their positions.
There's good news. And the conference goes on. Besides, the aftermath includes a couple of sensational trips. A first class dessert for a trip that has been excellent.
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