by J J CohenRick Godden was kind enough to suggest something that (I am embarrassed to admit) did not occur to me: the upcoming GW MEMSI seminar on Messianic Time and the Untimely will be electronic as well as live. All three presenters have generously agreed to make their papers available here at In the Middle about two weeks before the seminar. Comments made at this blog will become part of the live conversation September 17, and then we will post a summary of responses.
We are open to suggestion as to how to make this seminar as electronically accessible (and useful) as possible. Unfortunately a webcast or podcast is not possible, but we are willing to consider almost anything else. Ideas?
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I was on a couple of panels at an online sf con over spring break (sooo cool -- a real-time con that took place world-wide. There were Aussies and Europeans on the same panels, although some of us were in our jammies).
Anyway, we did lots of the panels in chat rooms, which worked really well. The challenge I see is that you're looking at a hybrid sort of thing, which means that somebody needs to be sort of live-blogging/posting responses in real-time. Which could work, but could be distracting, too...
But why would a podcast not be possible? Not real-time, but something posted to iTunes U later on?
See, that is our sticking point for making some of it live: it means someone has to be designated to type away in a corner to send the text to a chat room or Twitter or what have you.
As to a podcast, I won't rule it out completely, BUT the room in which we will hold the seminar may not have the necessary equipment, and I am not sure I have the time and energy that it would take to turn the event into a podcast. I'm quite ignorant about such things.
I think that the podcast is the easy bit, if you can get a decent mike to feed it into a computer. Then it's a direct conversion into an mp4 or whatever.
Hmmm. some of this depends on the speakers, as well. Theoretically, you could give them all computers for the Q&A, open a chat room, and have a moderator type in the questions (submitted on cards or via the blog), and have the speakers answer and discuss in the chat room (and possibly out loud as well). But that would be sort of ... odd.
Hm. I wonder about having some kind of computer attached to a screen which would allow comments generated online to be displayed.
I know very little about Messianic Time, so if I manage to figure out a way to come (it's a possibility, as I'll be on my way South at that point), I'd be happy to sit in a corner and type up a précis of the conversation as it happens. Though I suppose that would necessitate me joining twitter.
Another option -- set up a live audio feed from the room. Your IT dept should know how to do it. Then folks can type in their responses, which can be moderated/sub-moderated by someone in the room.
I will live-blog twitter it, if you like.
I also plan to blog a recent essay by Kathleen Biddick on sovereignty, the archive, and dead time, "Rethinking History," prior to the seminar.
Thoughts on messianic time:
http://kvond.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/the-unrare-assemblage-and-implicate-power/
Maybe Facebook or Twitter could sponsor the seminar like they did some of the Presidential Debates? Just a thought...
I wonder about having some kind of computer attached to a screen which would allow comments generated online to be displayed.
Wasn't there an MTV video program that used to do that?
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