Fechner Day 2020
Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the International society for Psychophysics
Abstract
PrefaceWelcome to the 36th Annual Conference of the International Society for Psychophysics, Fechner Day 2020!
As a member of the Executive Committee, I am pleased to welcome you to Fechner Day 2020. Normally, we meet every year across the globe, catch-up over food and drink, and discuss research. Fechner Day represent a unique experience where old friends can meet, debate the theories and methods that consume our daily lives, and engage with new members who bring new insights and perspectives to our research.
As you will recall, it was originally our intention to hold Fechner Day in Ottawa, Canada. The organization consisting of Caroline Blais, Charles Collin, Craig Leth-Steensen and myself were ready to welcome you to the Lord Elgin in downtown Ottawa. Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic, the Executive Committee and myself thought it best to move the conference to an online venue, in order to reassure membership that Fechner Day would continue in some form and that we would be able to safeguard the health of our membership.
Of course, as the primary organizer, I have many people to thank. First and foremost, Natalia Postnova, who has helped me organize this online conference as ISP’s Scientific Communications Officer. Her efforts, ideas, and insight have been greatly appreciated throughout this ... unconventional process. Of course, I would also like to thank the Organizing Committee from the Ottawa conference and others such as Tim Hubbard and Bill Stine for forming the Program Committee for this online conference. As was evidence from many conversations I had leading up to the conference, the pandemic placed considerable stress on our academic community as we adapted to the new demands of online teaching. Their time and efforts were greatly appreciated.
Of course, I also need to thank the omnipresent, often silent partner of the Executive, Zhuanghua Shi, as he was instrumental in setting up the webpage and posting on the ISP main page as well as Rosanna Tristao and Mark Elliot for early offers of assistance and suggestions.
Finally, as members of the Organizing Committee, I cannot forget to thank our President, Kazuo Ueda for his guidance during this time. As well as the efforts of Leah Fostick, and Wolfgang Ellermeier for this assistance with organizing and establishing the registration process, respectively.
I hope that the conference proves to be a sufficient stopgap until we meet again.
I wish you and your families health and happiness in 2020! See you in Ottawa in 2021!
Jordan Richard Schoenherr, PhD, Conference Chair
Department of Psychology / Institute for Data Science, Carleton University
