Help Watson go present research at a conference
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I'm going to be presenting a paper at the International Communications Association (ICA) annual conference in Paris at the end of May. (If I can afford to go.)
As a part of my work with The Online Creators' Association (TOCA)¹ I'm an author on a proposed paper on research strategies for creators on new media platforms like TikTok. We've applied for funding to do the research that paper would entail, and we also submitted it to the ICA to present at their annual conference. We haven't heard back yet about the grant money, but the ICA accepted our proposal!
Unfortunately they've decided to hold their annual conference in the fifth most expensive city to visit in the world.²
The conference is an opportunity to get feedback on our planned research strategy from other experts in the field, and may even be an avenue through which we could find other funding options for the project. It'd be a great line on my resume as I apply to Ph.D. programs in the coming year, and the conference would be a chance to talk to people in the programs I'm considering applying to. And it'd also, and this is important, be really cool and I really want to go.
However, I barely make enough money to pay my rent and buy food most months. I have no savings, no active lines of credit, and nobody who can just give me thousands of dollars to help me take opportunities like this when they come up.
I do have a large audience online, though, and if like two tenths of a percent of y'all give me $20 I can make this happen.
GOAL BREAKDOWN
Hotel: $1900³
The room's listed price is €1507, which is $1656–1773 US.⁴ This goal also builds in a margin of about $125–240 for currency exchange fees and unexpected taxes or expenses that might come with the bill at checkout.
Flight: $700
The exact number is $679.87, rounded up to account for the possibility of unexpected fees.
Food: $350
$50 food budget per day.
1. This is not a TOCA fundraiser. All funds raised will go to T.X. Watson. (If there are any excess funds after the conference, it's probably going to go towards paying rent, or Watson's almost-always-overdue electric bill.)
2. "The Ten Most Expensive Travel Destinations in the World." Hopper Media, 26 Oct. 2017. <source> Accessed 3 April 2022. Honestly this is a kind of garbage source for this, Hopper Media looks like it's just a content mill and they don't cite any of their claims. But they've got those things in common with every other article I could find on how expensive it is to visit various places around the world. The specific metric changed (most expensive hotel rooms, most expensive to visit, most expensive to be a tourist) but Paris made all the lists.
3. It's possible the hotel room might be entirely covered by the conference budget of the university that TOCA's collaborating with to put this research together. It's also possible that it won't be. Once I know one way or the other, I'll update this fundraiser to accurately reflect the goal.
4. Assuming an exchange rate of 0.91 to 0.85 EUR to USD. 0.91 is the current rate as I write this, on 3 Apr 2022, and even if there's a catastrophic event in the next two months (which, given the frequency of catastrophic events in the last two years, seems likely) and it impacts the value of the dollar, it's unlikely to drop more than six cents by the end of May.
As a part of my work with The Online Creators' Association (TOCA)¹ I'm an author on a proposed paper on research strategies for creators on new media platforms like TikTok. We've applied for funding to do the research that paper would entail, and we also submitted it to the ICA to present at their annual conference. We haven't heard back yet about the grant money, but the ICA accepted our proposal!
Unfortunately they've decided to hold their annual conference in the fifth most expensive city to visit in the world.²
The conference is an opportunity to get feedback on our planned research strategy from other experts in the field, and may even be an avenue through which we could find other funding options for the project. It'd be a great line on my resume as I apply to Ph.D. programs in the coming year, and the conference would be a chance to talk to people in the programs I'm considering applying to. And it'd also, and this is important, be really cool and I really want to go.
However, I barely make enough money to pay my rent and buy food most months. I have no savings, no active lines of credit, and nobody who can just give me thousands of dollars to help me take opportunities like this when they come up.
I do have a large audience online, though, and if like two tenths of a percent of y'all give me $20 I can make this happen.
GOAL BREAKDOWN
Hotel: $1900³
The room's listed price is €1507, which is $1656–1773 US.⁴ This goal also builds in a margin of about $125–240 for currency exchange fees and unexpected taxes or expenses that might come with the bill at checkout.
Flight: $700
The exact number is $679.87, rounded up to account for the possibility of unexpected fees.
Food: $350
$50 food budget per day.
1. This is not a TOCA fundraiser. All funds raised will go to T.X. Watson. (If there are any excess funds after the conference, it's probably going to go towards paying rent, or Watson's almost-always-overdue electric bill.)
2. "The Ten Most Expensive Travel Destinations in the World." Hopper Media, 26 Oct. 2017. <source> Accessed 3 April 2022. Honestly this is a kind of garbage source for this, Hopper Media looks like it's just a content mill and they don't cite any of their claims. But they've got those things in common with every other article I could find on how expensive it is to visit various places around the world. The specific metric changed (most expensive hotel rooms, most expensive to visit, most expensive to be a tourist) but Paris made all the lists.
3. It's possible the hotel room might be entirely covered by the conference budget of the university that TOCA's collaborating with to put this research together. It's also possible that it won't be. Once I know one way or the other, I'll update this fundraiser to accurately reflect the goal.
4. Assuming an exchange rate of 0.91 to 0.85 EUR to USD. 0.91 is the current rate as I write this, on 3 Apr 2022, and even if there's a catastrophic event in the next two months (which, given the frequency of catastrophic events in the last two years, seems likely) and it impacts the value of the dollar, it's unlikely to drop more than six cents by the end of May.
Organizer
T.X. Watson
Organizer
Amherst, MA