Are online video meetings losing sheen?

                                    Are online video meetings losing sheen?

I have been hosting a good number of Online Video Conferences and meetings as well as participating in many such events. Covid situation during the last one year or so has given a great fillip to this change. Senior Citizens Associations like Senior Citizens Forum, Secunderabad; Association of Senior Citizens of Hyderabad (Lions Bhavan); Indian Society of U3s, Udaipur; are some for whom I host meetings. Events that I participate are courses, meetings, lectures, demos, recreational, participative and interactive opportunities. The benefits that accrue are immeasurable. In fact, there are so many events organised at the same time that choosing the one to attend and the ones to sacrifice is indeed very difficult.

Having said that, however, I tend to believe that the interest in participating in video conferences and webinars is facing a downward trend.  Both Zoom and Google Meeting allow up to a hundred participants even in free version. But the organisers are unable to enjoy decent participation. Hardly about twenty attend such meetings even though the topics are very vital to the target audience, organisers are top institutions of great reputation, the timing is not inconvenient to most etc.  In a recent meeting on dementia there were just seven attendees including the speaker and host & his colleagues.

What could be the reasons for this appalling diminishing trend in attendance? Far too many events being organised? It is easy to organise at no / least cost? Speakers and lecturers are aplenty as they can participate without travel? Necessity of showing activity under abnormal situations - one more event to include in monthly report? 

Lack of certain minimum standard / quality of the show, maximising the use of appropriate technological facilities of the meeting platform (Zoom / Google Meet Cisco), poor quality of internet connection etc may also be seen. In some events the audio is awful making people strain their ears. I have not seen people using emoticons to register their reactions, or use chat effectively. Lot of background info can be shared as attachments – never seen this being done. Have you seen the use of white board effectively? Or effective use of Polls?

Organisers should strive to make events interesting, participative and fun. Incentives for people stay from beginning to end, to those who ask meaningful questions or to those who supplement the speaker’s presentation etc may be offered. Offering video recording of most interesting portions will also help. Encouraging people to joke occasionally will help. When I take a screen shot, I end up mostly with glum, sleepy or tired faces – how to get a group of cheerful, happy, smiling attendees?

How about sharing your views whatever that could be?

  

 

 

 

 

How to get best results from Videoconferencing?

                       How to get best results from Videoconferencing?

Most of us would have participated in videoconferences on Zoom, Google Meet, Cisco etc, especially in recent months. Many are new these platforms and do not know how to get best experience out of such events. I want to suggest a few workarounds when you may face difficulties.

You may not be able to get connected to the meeting. Reasons could be poor internet connection. In your mobile there may be space clogging due to unwanted stuff not deleted. Just by making space by deleting large files you can make enough space. The meeting ID could be wrong. Emptying cache might help.  Unable to see shared screen may be tackled by changing internet connection from one Wi-Fi to another, as nowadays many households have multiple access to Internet.

It is possible for the host to connect two monitors – this will ensure checking if screen share is working properly. Some users from mobile won’t hear properly as sound volume is low from mobile phones. You may try connecting a USB or Bluetooth based external speaker.

Some participants find it difficult to focus themselves in the centre of the screen when they use mobile. You can place the mobile in a mobile- holder to keep it stationary for capturing via camera. One has to ensure that the background is dark and the face is lighted.

The host can choose not to show on screen those who have not switched on their cameras. This will accommodate more people with video on. Participants can use icons, reaction emoticons, raise hand facility to communicate during the meeting.

There are free screen capturing video recording applications available. They may be downloaded and started before joining the videoconference. You can have complete record of the proceedings that you may run later, in case you happen to miss some parts. If you want to share the URL of a video recording and indicate only the portion relevant to the recipient, this also can be done by adding start and end parameters to the link you send. 

I hope you get enhanced user participation and enjoy full powers of videoconferencing by adopting relevant suggestions mentioned herein.

  

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Washing your own underwear

                                                 Washing your own underwear

(from a man’s point of view)

Undergarments need to be washed daily at home.  Men’s undergarments include the banian and underwear. While banians are okay to be washed by others – family members or servants – in many houses, servants refuse to touch the brief. Most male adults have to wash it themselves. I will dwell upon this aspect in detail.

 The reasons why others are wary of handling the underwear are easy to see. They may contain a host of unwelcome stuff like: traces of shit, semen, scales, hair, urine, sweat, bacteria and what not.  Obviously, they smell awful.  Who would like to touch it?

 Washing with soap and water - preferably hot water - is easy. Rinsing with copious amounts of water is necessary. Nasal inspection to see if all the smell is gone is a must. After rinsing, it must be squeezed and dried fully before use. In summer six hours of drying in the sun is enough. In the winter even leaving it overnight may not help. The task per se is nothing big.

 There is something religious about washing your own underwear. God can see you all fully – body, mind, soul and all and nothing can escape. So also, the underwear is closest to your nakedness. If you keep it clean by washing it with religious fervour, you can be sure of healthy living, avoiding many infections.

   

   

Cut Cables Cause Concern on Roadsides

                                                        Cut Cables Cause concern on Roadsides

All along the roads, along the footpaths, we find overhead cables of all sorts. These are laid by Electricity Board, Telephone Department, Cable TV operators, Internet Service Providers etc. As the demand for such services has increased many folds and a number of competitors have emerged, each company lays its own cables; even private colony streets and by lanes are not spared.  Even in a new colony that is just few months old, the ugly scenes of tangled overhead cables may be seen. Service Providers’ greed to reach each and every house has become a menace and a concern, why, I shall tell you shortly.

The cables are laid without any concern for standards, safety or regulations. All poles, originally meant for Electrical distribution or only Telephone are abused without any permission or approval. When an ISP lays these cables, he keeps future expansion in mind and leaves a large bundle of extra cable at each pole. The clutter and chaotic condition of these dozens of cables close together must be seen to be believed.

Here is the real problem: These cables, as they are not securely laid, get snapped often. A lorry carrying goods stacked beyond reasonable heights will easily cut these cables. Even simple rains or a strong wind plays havoc. ISPs compete among themselves by resorting to unfair practice of deliberately cutting away the Internet cables of competitors every now and then. They do it in the night.  This causes disruption of service for a couple of days, every time the cables are snipped. In my area, within a radius of one kilometer I have Reliance, Tata, Beam, BSNL, Drishti and many more.  They live preying upon each other and poaching other’s customers. I was a victim of unreliable Internet Connection, not because my ISP, but because of nefarious activities of his competitors. The problem became so acute that I had to switch over to another ISP who runs underground cables for Internet. The net result is that we see overhead cables cut everywhere and they hang out in the most disgusting manner everywhere.

Another major concern is that the cut cables of varying lengths overflow from footpaths onto streets, lying haphazardly. Such wires get entangled by bicycles, walkers and others. Road users may trip and fall and get injured.

Whenever I walk and observe this clutter, I take pains to pull and put back such lose cables back to poles, or otherwise secure them in such a way they won’t cause any harm. Scout and NCC volunteers should be trained to tackle this menace in their locality.

How can we solve this menace? No one would remove (steal) these cut wires as it does not merit re-sale to Raddi-wala. Public are afraid and do not know whether they are energized cables that may give some shock. ISPs and others simply lay another pair of cables and leave the broken ones as it is. They do not collect it back.  Some kind of a firm action from Municipal authorities is required. Those who own the poles (APCPDCL, BSNL and others) may interfere and prohibit ISPs from using their poles or lay down rules for proper usage.

Solution to this problem is not easy. But if affected persons raise their voice often someone might be listening.

 

 

 

Resources to Check fake news, rumors, facts and the like

Resources to Check fake news, rumors, facts and the like

WhatsApp is a source of unverified stories, rumors and fake news. People forward posts without any verification, compunction, conscience or responsibility, just for the fun of it. And there are millions who gobble it up without a second thought. Both groups are wrong.

Following are sites you can visit and check what you have read is correct or factual.

 1.https://snopes.com

 By far the most consulted and popular is snopes. Your first try must start here. Mostly US and west oriented. Not good so much for India based info

 2  www.factchecker.in

 Good source for Indian politics and general news

 3. www.truthorfiction.com

 Provides reality checks and information about warnings, offers, requests for help, and humorous or inspirational stories which are circulated by email.

 4. http://factcheck.pib.gov.in

 This is GOI Press Info Bureau official site for checking news / rumour and stories

 5. https://www.indiatoday.in/fact-check

 This is another reliable fact check site appreciated by public for reliability of news

6. https://newsmeter.in/fact-check 

This is a good source India based. They do a thorough job!

  I will give more examples when I have time. Anything you are interested in checking specifically you may try sending that to me, if you fail in your attempts!!