Some very kind colleagues let me use their conference room to set up my webcam for the conference. We all hooked into a shared videolink. Sadly, my connection was very imperfect. Unlike the mild delay of a Skype call, the audio I got from Norway was filled with echo, while my own audio output required a bit of tinkering to deal with sound level distortion and with the flight-attendant-oddity of hearing my words moments after I spoke them.
The symposium was nonetheless grand. What is the impact of the sharing of media? What becomes of the curator?
What are the economics? What will it mean to academia? The questions hung in mid-air, glowing with promise.
I enjoyed the seminar thoroughly--and wished only that I could hear and communicate better. I do not complain, though--sadly, Emily Richards, who hoped to join, could only see and hear but not fully participate.
I will figure out how to better use a webcam in the future---and yet I'm pleased to have had such a cool experience in the past. I flew home tonight energized.
In other news, I am very fond of the guitar play of Brazil's Nonato Luiz, whose melodies are gentle and yet always intriguing. Tonight I am in a more experimental mood--Conlon Nancarrow and C. Reider's Druser Presid.
I am also puzzling whether my English would be better if I had grown up in Scandinavia.
