Dear william and others in the list I would like to make a contribution to your request of 'better communication', in an era of shrinkink funds and much needed reduction in CO2 emissions caused by travel. As you say, there is plenty of room to improve our capacity of communication without spending the money in physical travel (that, of course will always be desirable!) Let me share an experience: I have recently been involved in the organisation of a very specific Seminar framed under Art and Science relationships (2007 year of the science). The meeting was about fishes and marine life illustration and painting. A limited number of people was attending the meeting due to its specificity and venue limitations. It was held in spanish or catalan plus simultaneous translation to english. The organizers (General Direction for Research Innovation of the Balearic Islands Local Government) decided to register all the conferences with a dual digital camera video system, picking simultaneously both voice channels and the video channels of speaker and the translator. In fact, in a time of High definition videocameras recording not in tape but in hard disks in compressed mode, today that means 'low cost video edition' After some postproduction, the Seminar has been uploaded in the Internet and can be seen by anyone interested. http://seminaris.balearsfaciencia.org/seminari07/ponencias.htm http://seminaris.balearsfaciencia.org/seminari07/1M2_Kent_Carpenter.htm The site shows two screens with the speaker and the synchronized powerpoint. Advantages? Many people that has been unable to attend the Seminar had the opportunity to comfortably 'attend' on demand speeches Some attendants have revisited interesting passages of the conference of some colleague. (Myself, too involved in the 'kitchen' of the Seminar to be able of attending every speech have been able to revisit missed conferences) Depending on the video compression you can pack up tp 10 hour of video in a single dvd (to be played as divx in a computer or in a specific dvd plauer) and ship it cheaply (or give to the attendants to bring home) Shortages? Of course it is not a bidirectional system, but allows longer lasting of the message and experiences of a meeting... toni font environmental consultant Producciones Organicas Balearic Islands Spain ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Rossiter" <rossiter@csiwhalesalive.org> To: <marmam@lists.uvic.ca> Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2008 4:26 PM Subject: [MARMAM] Science vs Cost
The advancement of your science is being impeded by the increasing cost of attending marine mammal-related conferences, workshops, and meetings. An increasing number of professionals and students are unable to find or justify the funds to attend. This should be of concern whether you are one of the few who can attend or one of the many who cannot. You are all missing out here.
The overall problem facing your profession is perhaps more apparent to Cetacean Society International because we are one of the few sources for travel funds available to scientists, particularly entry-level students. A recent "helpful" post to MARMAM attracted worldwide requests from everywhere between the Ukraine, the Phillipines, and Tierra del Fuego, for at least five worthy events.
The problem is also apparent to CSI because we see the talent in the emerging generation that you need to foster if your science is to prosper...face it, many of you are getting "mature", and you know it makes no sense to limit the next generation to those who can afford to travel.
Does anyone on this list know enough about teleconferencing to work with CSI to develop a way to enable people to participate in your events from anywhere?
Does anyone on this list know of foundations or other primary funders willing to use CSI, or any appropriate medium, to facilitate the application of teleconferencing to future events?
The goal would be to enable organizers to provide significant benefits to distant participants, at little or no cost to either. An additional goal would be to allow events to benefit, for example, from plenary presentations by eminent people who cannot travel, perhaps for health reasons.
Without better communications your science will suffer. Solutions are available, and I hope this stirs the pot enough to get something started.
Thank you, Bill
William W. Rossiter President Cetacean Society International P.O.Box 953, Georgetown, CT 06829 USA ph 203-770-8615, fx 860-561-0187 rossiter@csiwhalesalive.org www.csiwhalesalive.org
_______________________________________________ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam