Day: November 4, 2021

When it’s not magical

by dougpete, posted in voicEd Radio

One of my favourite technology quote is attributed to Arthur C. Clarke

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

When things go well, it really does seem like that at times. I just finished the This Week in Ontario Edublogs show on voicEd Radio. It’s a leap of faith that happens every Wednesday morning. I sit at my desk, talking into a microphone, listen to Stephen Hurley and we chat about five wonderful blog posts from Ontario Educators.

We have faith that there might be people listening to us live on air or, if they aren’t available, the show is available as a podcast later in the day to be downloaded and listened that way.

It really is faith when you think about it. I just have faith that it works; I have faith that Stephen is able to make things happen in the background; I have faith that my technology will work; I have faith that my internet access and his will provide continuous strong connections. I do hedge my bets by having the blog posts that inspire out conversations open in separate tabs and our collaborative document open.

We typically log into the conversation room 15 minutes in advance of the show for a sound check and a quick chat. When the clock hits 8:45, we go live.

Live is something that Stephen suggested we do when we put the show together. Unlike a podcast recording that can be done offline and edited before it’s available to others, we are open with our comments and ever slip of the tongue is caught. It makes for a blooper connection like the time I was singing/humming along to a Strawbs song.

Yesterday, this happened…

As it turns out, the ball had been dropped somewhere along the line! I was sitting there, still talking, but as Peter notes “until Doug left!”

The reality is that I hadn’t left; I was just talking to myself. I happened to glance over at the Zencastr display and noticed that Stephen had flat lined and I continued to talk. As every high school teacher will have heard a million times from students…

“I didn’t do nothing”

Remotely, Stephen then kicked me out of the room and I had to log back in and the conversation continued and we finished the show. Apparently, Stephen will be able to edit the two pieces together for those that download and listen to it later. It will be on the voicEd Radio websitel here. https://voiced.ca/project/this-week-in-ontario-edublogs/

The magic failed us.

My apologies to Amy Bowker whose blog we were talking about at the time.

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OTR Links 11/04/2021

by dougpete, posted in Links

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.