Re: latest in event cancellation

[Thomas Lord]

As a bit of a follow-up:  Suddenly, many institutions are
scrambling to "virtualize" their gatherings.

It is nice to see libreplanet using low, usually robust tech
like IRC.

It is nice to see that there is a streaming option libre enough
that libreplanet will use it.

I am thinking that this event will heavily (and probably not happily)
stress test non-libre communications software widely used in
academia and government to handle meetings.  To point at the categories
I'm thinking of, and not to pick on either of these two companies in
particular, I mean firms like Granicus and Zoom (meeting streaming,
captioning, and archiving;  teleconferencing;  respectively).

My personal guess, based on reading lots of climate science and some
about this virus and pandemics generally: Situations on which social
distancing is extrinsically imposed will tend to become more frequent.
Not all of these will be social distancing for medical purpose.  Some
will be because of breakdowns of other communications systems and
travel systems.

The Libre / Free Software Movement is enriched with a legacy of "low 
tech"
communications tools that are tried and true, well developed under real
world use.   IRC is an example.  Various mailing list software.  So on.
Making more that is also robust is also a practical task for modest 
amounts
of "programming labor" to take on.   Perhaps one beneficial path is for 
some
of us to focus in these areas - not only on development but on 
packaging,
distribution, support and documentation, and promoting its wider 
deployment.

Real-time, high-bandwidth, computationally intensive systems (such as
libre streaming) also seem suddenly invaluable and arguably merit a real
push right now, in the face of present and foreseeable emergencies.

Happy Hacking, ;-)
-t




On 2020-03-08 18:40, Thomas Lord wrote:
> MIT has temporarily required that all campus events with 150 or more in
>    attendance be cancelled, postponed, or "virtualized".
>
>    If I were among the libreplanet organizers, I would be trying to
>    persuade my fellow organizers that they should not proceed as 
> currently
>    planned.
>
>    Related:  Stanford has ordered that in-person classes not be held
>    through the rest of the academic quarter.   Columbia has canceled
>    classes for a week and then will resume them in virtual form.
>
>    San Francisco has ordered that no "inessential" events with more 
> than
>    50 in attendance be held in any city-owned property and expressed 
> that
>    this is meant to be a model for all private venue operators in the
>    city.  This is a very serious step that implies, for example, movie
>    theaters and nightclubs ought to shut down if they want to 
> voluntarily
>    comply.    Emergency legislation is being pushed through to, among
>    other things, put a moratorium on evictions for tenants directly and
>    indirectly impacted by the virus.  So for example, with hotel
>    attendance far down, many workers will struggle to pay rent and 
> bills
>    and thus risk eviction.
>
>    Epidemiologists are projecting that on our current trajectory, the
>    capacity of acute care medical facilities will be overwhelmed within
>    the next few months.  In San Francisco, for example, one major 
> hospital
>    has been rehearsing how to put up acute care medical quonset-style
>    tents in its parking lots.
>    The way we can lesson the society wide impacts of the epidemic 
> include
>    a period of social distancing in addition to all the handwashing and 
> so
>    on.
>
>    -t
>
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