The Tree of Life: Garage science: why skyping in to a meeting at 2:30 AM can be, well, interesting #SOLO11

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Garage science: why skyping in to a meeting at 2:30 AM can be, well, interesting #SOLO11

Well, that was in a way fun. I was a part of a discussion panel for the Science Online London 2011 meeting. However, I did not go to London ... I did it from my garage. More about this below:

I got an email many months ago inviting me to participate in a panel discussion for a Science Online Meeting in London. The discussion was to focus on the NASA arsenic life story and how this related to open science issues. Now even though the one and only Kaitlin Thaney invited me, I alas said "it's going to be hard for me to get to London at that time" and eventually we settled on the idea of me skyping in for the panel.

And I sort of forgot about this for a bit.

And then Joerg Heber emailed me with some comments about the panel and there was an email discussion among the panelists about details. And in the midst of all of this Joerg pointed out that the panel was at 10:15 AM London time. All along I had thought it was going to be in the evening in London. 10:15 AM London time is 2:15 AM California time. And thus I started to freak out a little bit. How was I going to pull this off? I have two young kids. And my house is very open in design so there is nowhere to go where people can't hear you. I would wake up everyone if I talked on a panel from inside my house ... hmmm

Anyway - here are some twitter posts that will give you a feel for how things played out from a mechanical point of view:

silentypewriter Ed Gerstner
Getting psyched for panel discussion with @ivanoransky @rosieredfield @phylogenomics @joergheber at #solo11 bit.ly/rtSwpY 2 Sep

phylogenomics Jonathan Eisen
Perils of an open house design; am skyping in to #scio11 panel from home at 2:15 AM but have to do it from garage to avoid waking up kids
2 Sep

kristiholmes Kristi Holmes
@phylogenomics I gave an online talk last year @ ORCID participants meeting in almost the same manner (3am local time) #coffeeisessential 2 Sep

phylogenomics Jonathan Eisen
@kristiholmes the cricket in the background will be fun
2 Sep

phylogenomics Jonathan Eisen
Perils of an open house design; am skyping in to #solo11 panel from home at 2:15 AM but have to do it from garage to avoid waking up kids
2 Sep

ryneches Russell Neches
@phylogenomics You have a hot tub now. You should phone it in from there, like a movie villain.
2 Sep

sjcockell Simon Cockell
Skyping in @phylogenomics for the panel session now...twitpic.com/6eswaa 2 Sep

lualnu10 Marisa Alonso Nuñez
3 present speakers and the 4th one on skype (it's 2:30 am for him) lol #solo11 2 Sep

LouWoodley Lou Woodley
"I don't think you want my video" - big star @phylogenomicsskype-ing in for panel discussion on linking with the literature #solo11 2 Sep

rmounce Ross Mounce
"I dont think you want my video" @phylogenomics LOL! (skyping in to #solo11 at 2am from the garage)
2 Sep

vibjpatel Vibhuti J. Patel
Truly online conferencing at #solo11 - Skyping in a panellist from California for the discussion on Linking with the Literature #arseniclife 2 Sep

@ryneches Russell Neches
@phylogenomics Right. VILLAIN. Get yourself a chunky cordless phone and some dudes in sunglasses who stand around looking menacing.
2 Sep via web

phylogenomics Jonathan Eisen
This is what skyping from your garage at 2:30 AM in California looks like for all you #solo11 folks post.ly/33cSm 2 Sep

kaythaney Kaitlin Thaney
Dedication :) RT @phylogenomics: This is what skyping from your garage at 2:30 AM in California looks like #solo11 post.ly/33cSm 2 Sep

That's right ... I skyped in from my garage. In my pajamas. And thus I refused the video connection. But other than being exhausted the rest of the day, I think things worked out well. I will post later with details of the panel and the SOLO meeting since there are some good reports out there. And I hope audio/video will be posted some time too.

Some links about the meeting: