I love that the theme of the next @NIME conference is 'communities' but the description kind of hurts. https://nime2026.org/
Who is the 'we'? It assumes that all nime researchers and practitioners are academics (i.e. employed by a university, a strict definition being on a permanent contract), and that related communities are housed by them. What about all the support of studios like CMMAS and STEIM (rip)? What about all the researchers and open source software/hardware contributors who for whatever reason work outside of institutions?
A stark example, but I really don't want to pick on NIME in particular as it's a lovely event put on as a labour of love with great ethics policies etc. This kind of strange academic land grab is endemic..
Completely banning the word 'academic' as exclusionary, in favour of 'scholar' or 'researcher' would be a great start at changing how we think and talk about our communities.
I have been a salaried researcher doing fundamental research while barely stepping into a university, let alone working for one, for nearly 10 years..