On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 07:54:25PM -0400, Ted Lemon wrote:
If we were to attempt such a thing, how do you think it would work?
Let me preface this by saying that I think attempts to completely
mimic the current in-person meeting experience as it exists probably
won't work. They might: but they probably won't. But then again,
I don't think that's entirely necessary: processes and procedures
change (compare boarding a steamship in 1930 with an aircraft in 2005)
and evolve in order to work with technology.
So if I were to envision this, things I'd want to experiment with
would include:
- passive view-only, listen-only read-only access to anyone, anonymously.
(That is: no registration required.)
- levels of read-write access, perhaps (roughly speaking) distinguished
as text, audio, and video. Participants could select based on their
available bandwidth and on the level they're comfortable with. I think
it's reasonable to require registration for write access.
- a channel for presentation content only. Again, this is an option for
those with limited bandwidth or limited time.
- ability to delay/time-shift.
- perhaps restructuring long sessions into smaller time slots. If people
have all travelled to the same place, then it makes sense to get a lot
done in a short time, and so a four hour session (for example) makes
sense. But if people are in disparate locations, then maybe four one-hour
sessions make more sense. This also better accomodate people who have
trouble carving out four hours in the middle of their day. Or night.
- integrated storage of sessions, so that someone can watch, listen,
read, and absorb the entire experience. Useful for someone half a
planet away who won't be (or can't be) awake for real-time participation.
- translations and/or text captioning and/or some kind of assistance
for non-native speakers and the hearing impaired.
- emphasis on the inclusion of participants who can't make it to meetings
today, either because of time, money, politics, distance, family, job, etc.
Over and above all of this: a willingness to experiment and to have
some of those expirements fail -- which they will.
---rsk