Its been sometime since I wrote – almost a month. It has been a busy April. I went to Vancouver on the 11th and came back to Strasbourg on the 20th. I had a couple of days to finish our paper for web accessibility in China for STC special edition (for which they kindly extended the deadline for a week). I edited and wrote the conclusion under jet lag. Timing is everything! It is a collaborative effort and what with Yuyu and Sean both starting their new jobs and Min dropping out – it was quite an effort to get the paper out. Even if STC turns it down – it was written on the hoof so to speak – I am quite proud of us. We were communicating between UK, France and Beijing –with our busy schedules and time differences and erratic internet access, I think it was quite a feat. We will see what happens. We posted it on Friday 22nd and I was off the the Cote d’Azur the next day for the weekend – that was a complete break. I am so grateful to Gianfranco for offering it to me and for taking such good care of me. Then I start on my rehab at the Clinique Clemeceau twice a week, every Wednesday and Friday. Physiotherapy, swimming and occupational therapy. It is about time I take heed and pay some attention to my health if I want to continue being able to work and stay independent.

Vancouver

I went to Vancouver for Museums and the Web conference where I was to help Jonathan Bowen with his Making Museum Websites Accessible workshop. It was a good experience – I was not quite sure what to put in my slides since it was my first time. Jonathan is a good mentor. Thanks to him, I am also part of the Gender Issues and Museum Websites forum. I enjoyed doing that and using my research skills and experience from being part of the team on the Austin Women Commemoration Project with Martha Norkunas at UT-Austin. I hope she gets the funding to continue the project. I enjoyed meeting old friends at the conference as well as meeting new people. Sue Black and I have been meaning to meet for some time – and I got to meet her lovely daughters, Emma and Leah too. Poor Leah was not well and not her bubbly self it seems. Silvia Filippini-Fantoni was also part of the forum ‘team’ – she presented for some of the people who couldn’t make it to the conference. It was good to spend time with her too.

Apart from the conference program itself; we had several receptions in the evenings as well. We went to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia the first evening. David Bearman had to fork out taxi fare for me again – very often chartered buses are not accessible – not unless they are specially requested. Maybe I should for the next conference remind them to get accessible buses. I do not mind taking taxis but David, Jennifer (Trant) and Sonya had to wait with me for nearly 45 minutes for a taxi to come and bring me back after the reception. The museum was great. Huge totem poles. At the reception, we met up with Jim Devine (from Glasgow) again. I haven’t seen him since Berlin last August at ICHIM conference. This time, he was wearing a kilt. As usual he had his audienceJ The food at the receptions here was great. I love seafood and we were offered oysters at the exhibitors’ reception. I think Vancouver is good for seafood but shrimp here is very bland. I think that they must be freshwater shrimp/prawns. Great dim sum – I went a few times to the Victoria Chinese Restaurant next to the Hyatt and Dennis and Fenella Sung took me for a dim sum lunch – according to Fenella, Vancouver has some of the best Cantonese food in the world – for the ordinary punter. The food there is consistently good. Richmond, apparently, is the place in Vancouver for Chinese food but unfortunately; we didn’t make it there. We did go to Victoria Restaurant for dinner one evening – after the exhibitor’s reception so I was not too hungry. But Nancy Proctor and her Antenna Audio team were (they didn’t get a chance to eat because they were exhibiting!). There was Roland Topalian (Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, La Villette), Norbert Kanter (zetcom, Berlin), and Xavier Perrot. Xavier treated me. He said it was the first time he was at a Chinese restaurant where the food was actually ordered in Chinese! He’s been invited to go to Beijing on behalf of ICHIM which is great news!

One of the evenings we went on a river cruise for dinner. It was fun and I met a few interesting folks. Nancy. Titus and I had a great chat with Martijn Arts (ZaPPWeRK Creative Web Development,) about their Culture around the Corner, via this location-based service, information about the nearest place of interest is sent to users and received by mobile phone, PDA or Laptop. We missed his presentation. I also had a great chat with Peter de Jong of Connected Culture in Paris. Hope to meet up with him for ICHIM, Paris in September. It was rainy and cold that night. But Sonya, the wonderful woman, had managed to get an accessible bus. I was happy not to have to wait for a taxi. Also back at the Hyatt, we went to the bar for drinks with Jim, Sue and Jonathan. I was feeling a bit chilled so I had a hot tea instead of a cold drink. That was good – Jonathan took a photo and I didn’t appear to be boozingJ. Last time I had a swig of Jim’s whisky from his hip flask.

The last night of the conference, we went to a Thai restaurant for dinner, after an afternoon drink with Marjo Mäenpää (University of Art and Design, Helsinki), Jonathan and Silvie. We were watching – what I can only call a bevy of red-garbed clergy – from the Anglican Cathedral across the road from the Hyatt. They looked very Christmassy but its not the yuletide season. It must have been Saturday evensong. Slavko Milekic (University of the Arts, Philadelphia), Maria, Marjo, Norman Arnold and his Nigerian friend, Silvie, Jonathan and I went for a Thai meal. It came out quite expensive- I think it must be the wine that made it so. Marjo told me about their program in Helsinki – it sounds great, I wish I can continue studying.

to be cont.