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1. Broadening Participation in Scientific Conferences during the Era of Social Distancing

   https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2020.08.004  

   Fulcher, Michael R. (October 2020, Trends in microbiology)

   null (Ed.)

   Virtual conferences can offer significant benefits but require considerable planning and creativity to be successful. Here we describe the successes and failures of a hybrid in-person/virtual conference model. The COVID-19 epidemic presents the scientific community with an opportunity to pioneer novel models that effectively engage virtual participants to advance conference goals. 

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2. Expanding Accessibility in Immersive Virtual Spaces: A Comprehensive Approach for All Disabilities

   Aragon, C; Callens, M V; Branham, S M; Anicha, C; Blaser, B; Bilen-Green, C (April 2024, arXiv)

   In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, many events and conferences hastily converted to a virtual format, and many commercial ventures promptly developed tools promising seamless transitions to virtual spaces. In particular, efforts to expand and monetize augmented and virtual reality environments increased. While these spaces increased accessibility for some, others were left behind. In 2024, many events returned to on-site venues, yet virtual spaces remain central in academic and research communities, particularly for disabled scholars. As such, in this paper, we advocate for continued virtual access and improved virtual spaces; we also identify some potentially overlooked harms in immersive and embodied virtual spaces. 

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3. Expanding Accessibility in Immersive Virtual Spaces: A Comprehensive Approach for All Disabilities

   Aragon, C; Callens, M V; Branham, S M; Anicha, C; Blaser, B; Bilen-Green, C (April 2024, arXiv)

   In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, many events and conferences hastily converted to a virtual format, and many commercial ventures promptly developed tools promising seamless transitions to virtual spaces. In particular, efforts to expand and monetize augmented and virtual reality environments increased. While these spaces increased accessibility for some, others were left behind. In 2024, many events returned to on-site venues, yet virtual spaces remain central in academic and research communities, particularly for disabled scholars. As such, in this paper, we advocate for continued virtual access and improved virtual spaces; we also identify some potentially overlooked harms in immersive and embodied virtual spaces. 

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4. COVID-19: Social Media Sources of Authority During a Global Pandemic

   https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77685-5_23  

   Alsoubai, A. (July 2021, the Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII 2021))

   null (Ed.)

   Since the start of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, social media platforms have been filled with discussions about the global health crisis. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted the importance of seeking credible sources of information on social media regarding COVID-19. In this study, we conducted an in-depth analysis of Twitter posts about COVID-19 during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to identify influential sources of COVID-19 information and understand the characteristics of these sources. We identified influential accounts based on an information diffusion network representing the interactions of Twitter users who discussed COVID-19 in the United States over a 24-h period. The network analysis revealed 11 influential accounts that we categorized as: 1) political authorities (elected government officials), 2) news organizations, and 3) personal accounts. Our findings showed that while verified accounts with a large following tended to be the most influential users, smaller personal accounts also emerged as influencers. Our analysis revealed that other users often interacted with influential accounts in response to news about COVID-19 cases and strongly contested political arguments received the most interactions overall. These findings suggest that political polarization was a major factor in COVID-19 information diffusion. We discussed the implications of political polarization on social media for COVID-19 communication. 

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5. Improving on legacy conferences by moving online

   https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.57892  

   Achakulvisut, Titipat; Ruangrong, Tulakan; Bilgin, Isil; Van Den Bossche, Sofie; Wyble, Brad; Goodman, Dan FM; Kording, Konrad P (April 2020, eLife)

   Scientific conferences and meetings have an important role in research, but they also suffer from a number of disadvantages: in particular, they can have a massive carbon footprint, they are time-consuming, and the high costs involved in attending can exclude many potential participants. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the cancellation of many conferences, forcing the scientific community to explore online alternatives. Here, we report on our experiences of organizing an online neuroscience conference, neuromatch, that attracted some 3000 participants and featured two days of talks, debates, panel discussions, and one-on-one meetings facilitated by a matching algorithm. By offering most of the benefits of traditional conferences, several clear advantages, and with fewer of the downsides, we feel that online conferences have the potential to replace many legacy conferences. 

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