Excitement yesterday. I was going to present my first
lecture by Skype. Having used Skype for a long time, technically there should
not be real surprises, but presenting a lecture is a different game, I guessed.
And yes it was.
So in the framework of the Iwooti2014 workshop at the
University of Applied Sciences in Mittweida (Germany), I was asked to kick off
a series of lectures. I had the freedom of selecting a subject of my liking, so
I chose Archaeology of e-reading. Why? I think that all students of digital
media should follow a module on archaeology of digital media, as there are
lessons to be learned from history.
E-Reading is such a subject. Of course e-books are well
known these day and are used on e-readers and tablets. But few people know that
e-books were started out in the seventies as text files (in ASCII and in
capitals) on mainframes and mini-computers. And in that time Alan Kay worked on
his mock-up of Dynabook, a slate with a screen, keyboard and stylus. Can you
imagine, in a time that mainframes and mini-computers, for which thousands of
dollars were paid, he thought up a mobile, user friendly and payable device. And this mock-up has become the leading design
for e-readers and tablets. If it had been possible to technically produce the
Dynabook at that time, it would have been a destructive technology for computer
giants like IBM and DEC.
It was unbelievable that I could stay at home and did not
have to travel to Mittweida (with a train drivers strike coming up). I could
stay in the intimacy of my study and lecture from there. This has advantages,
but also disadvantages.
I did learn a few things from this experience:
The idea to present by Skype was not at all surprising.
Having been involved in European long distance learning projects like EMIM
(European Masters of Interactive Multimedia), a remote presentation sounds
logical. But EMIM and it successor EVA (European Virtual Academy) register
lectures and make them available to the instructors and students. But
presenting a live presentation was new to me.
I had prepared a lecture with Power Point with many pictures
in it. And in the morning a student from Mittweida contacted me. After solving
some technical problems I could start the presentation. There was only a one
time-out by the network. But I stayed within the time bracket assigned.
a.
Have a technical try-out beforehand, preferably
the day before the presentation.
b.
Ask the host to introduce you to the audience
and the audience to you. In this way you see the people present, but you can also
attempt to exchange salutations with people you know and with audience in
general. Of course, it makes it also easier to solicit remarks and answer questions
from the audience.
c.
Showing artefacts, like books or e-readers, live
is a problem due to the limitations of the camera. I wanted to show my 1993 vintage
Sony Bookman e-reader (see photograph) and the working of it, but I saw that this did not really
work on the screen in Mittweida.
d.
Major problem was the prompting of the Power
point sheets. Before the workshop presenters were asked to upload the Power
Point on a local server. So, I could not steer the Power Point presentation
myself and was dependant on the technical assistance by the host.
All in all, the Skype lecture was an experience for me. I
can only hope that the lecture was a challenge for the workshop participants.
BTW In the lecture I went into future opportunities for the E-book like interactive books. But I forgot the way back opportunity of 3D printing of an E-book!
BTW In the lecture I went into future opportunities for the E-book like interactive books. But I forgot the way back opportunity of 3D printing of an E-book!
