ICV 24 - International Congress of Vexillology General Assembly

The International Congress of Vexillology formally met today in the north lodge room at the George Washington Masonic Memorial.

It was my first time to attend as an official delegate representing the hosting group of the Chesapeake Bay Flag Association.

ICV 24 Voting Card

1. A vexillological association was the nation of Georgia was formally admitted.
2. The 2013, 25th ICV Congress in the Netherlands was further confirmed.
3. The 2015, 26th ICV Congress in Australia was further confirmed.
4. The 2017, 27th ICV Congress was up for debate. The Untied Kingdom was offered up as a venue but the matter. But the matter was not settled and to be decided at a later date.

ICV 24 - International Congress of Vexillology, Day 2 - 17th Presentation by Suzanne Thomassen-Kraussg, USA

Day 2 - Speaker #18
USA - Columbia, the Washington District


The seventeenth presentation was given by Suzanne Thomassen-Krauss and was entitled Discoveries Made while Preserving the Star-Spangled Banner. Thomassen-Kraus works at the Smithsonian and works to conserve textiles of all sorts - including flags. She gave us general picture on the conservation on the conservation of the Star Spangled Banner.

ICV 24 - International Congress of Vexillology, Day 2 - 16th Presentation by Anne M. Platoff, USA

Day 2 - Speaker #8 & #18
second time speaking
USA - Kansas

The sixteenth presentation was also the second presentation given by Anne M. Platoff and was entitled Six Flags over Luna: The Role of Flags in Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories.

Platoff a former employee of NASA refuted the claims of groups that believe that the US faked the US moon landing, with special focus on flag pictures.

For her wonderful presentation Platoff would win the award for best American Presentation by the ICV Congress Board.

ICV 24 - International Congress of Vexillology, Day 2 - 15th Presentation by Ales Brozek, Czech

Day 2 - Speaker #17
Czech

The fifteenth presentation was given by Ales Brozek and was entitled Did the United States Influence the Czechoslovak National Flag?

ICV 24 - International Congress of Vexillology, Day 2 - 14th Presentation by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, Netherlands

Day 2 - Speaker #16
NETHERLANDS

The fourteenth presentation was given be Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg and was entitled On a Scale of 1 to 10.

Muijzenberg from Friesland gave us a splendid presentation about the methodology of judging a flag for its effectiveness on a scale of 1 to 10. Ten being judged and excellent flag and one being a judged a horrible flag.


The K Scale was shows where a flag receives points from 0-2 on five aspects.
1. Simple
2.Meaning
3. 2-3 Colours
4. No letters, no seals
5. Distinctive or related

Huijzenberg notes that some criteria are subjective, does not address meaning, and is limited by its base list. There is need to globally validate the criteria.

ICV 24 - International Congress of Vexillology, Day 2 - 13th Presentation by Lee L. Harold, USA

Day 2 - Speaker #15
USA - Minnesota

The thirteenth presentation was given by Lee L. Herold and was entitled Why Flags? Searching for an Essence of Flag.

Herold began his presentation with thoughtful quote from Tolstoy about political dissent. He went on in a deliciously poetic and cerebral prose on the deeper meaning of flags and what they have to offer.

ICV 24 - International Congress of Vexillology, Day 2 - 12th Presentation by Scot Guenter, USA

Day 2 - Speaker #14
USA - California

The twelfth presentation was given by Scot Guenter and was entitled The Rise and Fall of Worldface: Social Networking, Stereotyping, and the Power of Flags.

Dr. Guenter gave a humorous belly aching presentation of the short history of World Face and its use of flags. World Face was parody site in a similar manner to Unencyclopedia is to Wikipedia. In this case World Face is only open to specific nation states. The humor stems from the classical formula of the juxtaposition of tweets and posts that mimic the international tensions between nations. This personalization of nations as virtual face book people has resulted in political bickers.

Basically it face book became an online virtual computer doll program where nations were mocked rather acutely and successful in a Face Book format. The playful use of a copy cat face book modeled the trappings of a website.