Hello all,
OSCON was permanently cancelled today and there is a very good chance
that the face-to-face PLUG meetings will be cancelled for the coming months.
What are your thoughts on virtual or substitute activities?
On one hand, doing nothing is always easiest and I am a skeptic against
"virtualized" conferences, especially if an organizer were to think they
can charge their traditional rates to stream presenters in their pajamas
in their kitchens.
On the other hand, I have worked from home for 20+ years and think that
everyone needs to expand their remote working/learning/teaching capacity
to the point that schools have regular "learn from home" drills to go
with the active shooter drills, leaving us all semi-prepared for
pandemics and the like.
I have reached out to a school district tech (I can think of another
too!) to give a remote talk about the scramble to deliver remote learning.
BUT: What does this mean to you as the audience? What elements such as
Q&A do you need to have to make a live stream any different from a
random YouTube video?
When it comes down to the essentials, the undivided attention aspect of
a face to face event is the key value. I have not once had to change a
diaper or let the dog out during a PLUG talk. I've wandered as far as
checking Twitter and occasionally go to the restroom but 95%+ of my
attention is there. That has not been the case with recent virtualized
events I have "attended".
What say you?
Stay safe,
Michael Dexter
PLUG Volunteer
P.S. Wow. PLUG outlasted OSCON.
_______________________________________________
PLUG mailing list
PLUG@pdxlinux.org
http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
