Video conferencing

5
(1)

Post photo: conference room | © Pixabay

One of the consequences, which I used to like to call house arrest as a result of the exit restrictions imposed by COVID-19, is a positive one, namely that after a good thirty years I am busy with my old record collection again, a record player to the hooked up the stereo and, to the chagrin of my better half, also bought records again.

Another, rather less pleasant consequence is that in the last few weeks I have been experiencing and surviving more video conferences both as a participant and as a spectator or listener. This in turn is due to the fortunate situation that I don't have to live my life as a single person.

Unfortunately, the local telecommunications companies are still completely ignorant of the fact that more than one person can live in a household or that several households in one and the same city want to watch television at the same time, and so my better half and I have to despite " of the best Internet” maintain their own bandwidth management; we had already outsourced half of the family in advance.

And this management of deficiencies, which is completely through no fault of my own and which should not exist in the 21st century, brings back memories in me that I had suppressed for a long time.

At the end of the 1980s, I was allowed to take part in an exercise in the Midwest of the USA for the first time, which took place virtually on site, but at the same time in real life in Germany, South Korea and somewhere at sea. For me, the high point of the exercise was when the first videos came out, documenting what was happening on the other side of the world and helping us make decisions.

In the 1990s, video conferences were state of the art, although at that time we still had to pay attention to the bandwidths of satellite or radio link connections due to the technology.

Since these video conferences were used for decision-making and regularly had serious consequences as a result, it was still common, at least at that time, for the conferences to focus on the communication and transmission of content.

And even then these conferences had to be prepared. To make matters worse, the "briefers" had to ensure that the respective presentations were also available at all participating conference locations, no matter where in the world, before the video conference began. This data transfer could take several hours and until the end you were never sure whether everyone had one and the latest version. Since there were usually several "letters" that were also connected from a wide variety of places, one can now well imagine what a scramble there was each time for the last possible transmission times. And since the world kept turning tirelessly, the news tickers never stood still and the different news channels were happy to follow along, you had to hope every time that at least at the beginning of your own briefing the transmitted presentation content still matched the briefing content. With up to three briefings a day, every day and for months, it teaches those affected one thing that there can never be enough bandwidth.

In the 2010s, this technology was finally completely under control and even low-budget ventures in the "ass of the world" - in the case I experienced, to put it more politely, at the origin of mankind - could take place with video support. I would like to point out that the bandwidths that were available there at the time and are constantly available here in Germany can now be reached between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. in the best case scenario.

However, I was able to notice a fundamental change in the purpose of video conferences, at least for me. While the originally intended purpose was to convey and transmit content, something new came along for me, self-portrayal. Conference backgrounds and equipment as well as the lighting of individual people were now the focus of at least all preparations.

This change also shaped the last video conferences that I was allowed to attend until my retirement, and aroused my interest in viable alternatives.

As far as I know, these came from the games industry, which enabled virtual communication using avatars; Avatars are characters that are assigned to individual users. Based on my previous experience, this was the ideal solution to the problem for me, as it meets the bandwidth problem on the one hand and the need for self-presentation or, on the other hand, the fear of having to present oneself, on the other hand, and thus gives more room to transport content again .

Unfortunately, in the last two years I have tried in vain to make this form of communication acceptable in a voluntary association. I had believed in the software from virBELA, which is now being used successfully by universities and companies, to have found a passable and attractive, because playful, solution.

There was simply no willingness to meet in a virtual environment in order to save travel time and costs for everyone and to simplify administrative and organizational tasks; Personal interaction is far too important for everyone involved.

At the beginning of COVID-19, I tried a second attempt because I am convinced that the bandwidth problem here in Germany, which has been known since the 1970s, will only be solved in the coming decades.

By eliminating video transmission and installing the necessary software beforehand, almost the entire available bandwidth can be used to provide up-to-date information, presentations and other content not only to everyone, but also to each other bilaterally and in subgroups exchange.

Obviously due to the spirit of the times, however, video conferences have prevailed in most meetings in recent weeks, and it is now more a question of who is using the "smarter" or even the most data protection-protected software.

I am happy to admit that real-time image transmission, especially of the people speaking, also transports content and can also support mutual understanding, but I also point out that the added value compared to normal telephone conferences is manageable and, in contrast to video calls between two people, there are risks entails, since video and audio recordings as well as the popular screenshots can be taken by any participant and at any time by anyone else.

But as the saying goes, "don't fight the system" and try to make the best of it.

Since most people will probably get back to their old routine once the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, it must be assumed that video conferences will again become the exception and will probably continue to be used by more powerful companies and institutions for cost reasons alone .

The use of video conferencing software that offers more than video telephony and a rudimentary chat function, as well as data protection and copyright protection, will not be technically or financially feasible for most users.

And should such a "people's" software come onto the market after all, it still has to assert itself there.

That's why I'm now trying to establish a hybrid solution in my area. On the one hand, we now use video conferencing software that is less questionable in terms of data protection law and is also simpler and cheaper, and on the other hand, we use tried-and-tested forum software, which we would like to use both in combination with one another.

This allows us to combine the advantage of video conferencing with the easy sharing of content in forums for everyone, and thus ensure communication among each other in our area.

But if you now want more advanced “features” such as e.g. B. would like to have coordination and planning tools integrated, for the third time I recommend the avatar solution mentioned at the beginning, because it is already available and has now also proven itself and conserves resources - an advantage that you can see in view of our environmental and raw material problems should definitely be considered!

In addition, it offers the advantage that it is easy to understand and "play" for most users.


“Reading makesth a full man; conference a ready man; and writing to exact man."

Francis Bacon, Of Studies-Essays (1625)

How helpful was this post?

Click on the stars to rate the post!

Average rating 5 / 5. Number of reviews: 1

No reviews yet.

I'm sorry the post wasn't helpful to you!

Let me improve this post!

How can I improve this post?

Page views: 1 | Today: 1 | Counting since October 22.10.2023, XNUMX

Share: