We live in the future
Nov. 10th, 2012 07:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbySo here's what I did this morning:
Got on Elluminate and joined a web conference with teachers, social workers, and students from Bonaire, Uruguay, Kenya, Egypt, Uganda, Brazil, and the U.S. Teams of students in the first four countries are collaborating on a film about domestic violence, and were pitching the idea to the rest of us. They wrote a story about a girl whose boyfriend is abusing her, repeating the pattern set by her parents' abusive marriage. Their concept is that they'll film the whole story, using the same storyboard, in each country (obviously with different actors playing the same characters) and put it together in editing so that it switches between the different settings.
It was very cool. The Bonaire team ran into difficulties with their internet connection and had to go to a friend's house to get into the conference, and we could barely hear the Kenya team (and they had a hard time understanding the woman from Uruguay who only spoke Spanish), but the kids did an awesome job of getting their ideas across and everyone was very excited and enthusiastic about the project. I think we gave them some good critique as well.
What is really staggering to me, because I'm old, is that I can instantaneously, and for free, get on the computer and speak to someone in Africa. I remember the days of land lines and long distance calls and being jealous that, one town south of me, you could call Toronto for free but our town couldn't. Here I am, now able to have a conference call (it could have been video if not for the lag and confusion), toss scripts around, and dick around on paint-chat with people on the other side of the world.
This is what the interface looks like, with kid-doodles. At least I think these are kid-doodles. They may be adult-doodles, come to think of it.
Not to be all "golly gee, isn't technology awesome?" but this is seriously some Star Trek shit right here. Sometimes my job is really cool.
Got on Elluminate and joined a web conference with teachers, social workers, and students from Bonaire, Uruguay, Kenya, Egypt, Uganda, Brazil, and the U.S. Teams of students in the first four countries are collaborating on a film about domestic violence, and were pitching the idea to the rest of us. They wrote a story about a girl whose boyfriend is abusing her, repeating the pattern set by her parents' abusive marriage. Their concept is that they'll film the whole story, using the same storyboard, in each country (obviously with different actors playing the same characters) and put it together in editing so that it switches between the different settings.
It was very cool. The Bonaire team ran into difficulties with their internet connection and had to go to a friend's house to get into the conference, and we could barely hear the Kenya team (and they had a hard time understanding the woman from Uruguay who only spoke Spanish), but the kids did an awesome job of getting their ideas across and everyone was very excited and enthusiastic about the project. I think we gave them some good critique as well.
What is really staggering to me, because I'm old, is that I can instantaneously, and for free, get on the computer and speak to someone in Africa. I remember the days of land lines and long distance calls and being jealous that, one town south of me, you could call Toronto for free but our town couldn't. Here I am, now able to have a conference call (it could have been video if not for the lag and confusion), toss scripts around, and dick around on paint-chat with people on the other side of the world.
This is what the interface looks like, with kid-doodles. At least I think these are kid-doodles. They may be adult-doodles, come to think of it.
Not to be all "golly gee, isn't technology awesome?" but this is seriously some Star Trek shit right here. Sometimes my job is really cool.
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no subject
Date: 2012-11-11 12:40 am (UTC)I have spent an hour on Skype this evening and it still amazes me that it is possible. My Shinto-godson in Japan was showing me his toy cars and my friend was showing me how they have to tie the shelves to the walls in case of earthquakes. And some satellite bounces it all somehow? Star Trek supreme.
Not as cool as a real life worldwide conference, though!
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Date: 2012-11-11 10:59 pm (UTC)Ask me how I know. XD
Dayum, I remember international calls to my grandmother in England when I was a kid, with the old copper Trans-Atlantic lines that were laid around the turn of the last century. It would take Mum a good five minutes to get the connection made, was HORRIBLY expensive (I'm talking like $5/minute expensive), and involved a lot of shouting, because the lines were crap and she was a bit deaf. So you'd be sitting there with the phone pressed to your ear, feeling horribly awkward, making the twice-annual (Christmas and her birthday) phone call to someone who was basically a complete stranger, having nothing to talk about (once you'd said "Happy Birthday!" or "Merry Christmas! Thank you very much for the __!"), and being under a tremendous amount of pressure to hurry up and say something meaningful to her, because this was costing a lot of money--and neither of you had anything to say to each other. XD
And then you contrast that with Skype, where Karl's last birthday, my Dad joined us via a video call, and got to see Karl opening his presents and playing with them.
Free international video calls between just ordinary people! It's pretty wild.
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Date: 2012-11-12 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-12 12:50 am (UTC)But then Paul made a bunch of edits. Which made it better. The version I have is the unedited version, which is not as good.
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Date: 2012-11-12 12:53 am (UTC)