International scientific and technical meetings: why go? who profits?

A growing body of empirical research shows that information which is actually put to use is most often transmitted by personal contact. This article reviews the literature to examine some of the reasons for the importance of personal contact in the transmission of information and then focuses on scientific and technical meetings as an environment designed to facilitate the transmission of information in this way. The review of the literature is included for completeness in Part II of the article. However, it is the foundation on which the empirical research described in Part I is based. Using the author's definition of meeting effectiveness this research shows that the person who is giving the most is also the most effective in gaining and utilizing information.

[1]  Saul Herner,et al.  Information Gathering Habits of Workers in Pure and Applied Science , 1954 .

[2]  G. C. Homans,et al.  Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms. , 1975 .

[3]  W. D. Garvey,et al.  Scientific communication as a social system. The exchange of information on research evolves predictably and can be experimentally modified. , 1967, Science.

[4]  G. C. Homans,et al.  Social Behavior as Exchange , 1958, American Journal of Sociology.

[5]  Victor Rosenberg.  Factors affecting the preferences of industrial personnel for information gathering methods , 1967, Inf. Storage Retr..

[6]  C. Rogers.  Becoming a person , 1956 .

[7]  T J Allen,et al.  Communication patterns in applied technology. , 1966, The American psychologist.

[8]  K. Deutsch,et al.  Conditions favoring major advances in social science. , 1971, Science.

[9]  Calvin W. Taylor,et al.  Scientific creativity: Its recognition and development. , 1963 .

[10]  Kenneth J. Gergen,et al.  The Psychology of Behavior Exchange , 1969 .

[11]  D. Price,et al.  The Scientific Foundations of Science Policy , 1965, Nature.

[12]  W. Hagstrom.  The scientific community , 1966 .

[13]  R. Gagne,et al.  A study of the effects of verbalization on problem solving. , 1962, Journal of experimental psychology.

[14]  Thomas J. Allen,et al.  Communication networks in R & D Laboratories , 1970 .

[15]  H. Leavitt,et al.  Some Effects of Feedback on Communication , 1951 .

[16]  Herbert Menzel,et al.  The Information Needs of Current Scientific Research , 1964, The Library Quarterly.