What does it condition us to see?
February 11, 2021 10:52 AM Subscribe
The Zoom Gaze: Video conferencing offers an illusory sense of unilateral control over conversations (Real Life): Film scholar Laura Mulvey theorized a “male gaze” that was structured and reproduced through cinematography, presuming a male hetero viewer and depicting women primarily as sexual objects rather than subjects. In this interview, Toni Morrison describes how she rejected centering the “white gaze” in her fiction: the presumption of a white audience and the white perspective as neutral. If Foucault used the idea of a “medical gaze” to describe how doctors objectify patients’ bodies to treat them, and the “panoptic” gaze to explore how carceral discipline is internalized, what might we say the Zoom gaze accomplishes? Whose perspective does it seek to naturalize? Whose subjectivity does it center, and in what sorts of forms? What does it condition us to see?
This is interesting! Although I thought in this case it was an odd choice to use "Zoom" as synecdoche for videoconferencing in general, because out of all the platforms I have to use, Zoom is one of the only ones that lets you "hide self-view" (I do remark to myself every time how social-psychological this UI terminology sounds, lol).
posted by dusty potato at 11:19 AM on February 11, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by dusty potato at 11:19 AM on February 11, 2021 [7 favorites]
I know there’s been at least one school district that kept snow days despite being virtual. The public statement was pretty much that they weren’t going to take away the last fun thing.
Trying to think of a parallel in work meetings, failing.
posted by clew at 12:10 PM on February 11, 2021 [12 favorites]
Trying to think of a parallel in work meetings, failing.
posted by clew at 12:10 PM on February 11, 2021 [12 favorites]
"..., it immediately became clear how much more tiring it was to Zoom than to meet."
I'm sure it is different for everyone, but I find the exact opposite to be true.
In person, you have to work much harder to hide your body language, your facial expressions, your general "this could have been an email" vibe.
I'm one of those people with a constant running commentary going on in my head, with a muted microphone, there's no worry about accidentally vocalizing.
Maybe it depends on the kind of meeting you're attending, as mine tend to be presentation-style rather than real-time interactive.
posted by madajb at 12:28 PM on February 11, 2021 [16 favorites]
I'm sure it is different for everyone, but I find the exact opposite to be true.
In person, you have to work much harder to hide your body language, your facial expressions, your general "this could have been an email" vibe.
I'm one of those people with a constant running commentary going on in my head, with a muted microphone, there's no worry about accidentally vocalizing.
Maybe it depends on the kind of meeting you're attending, as mine tend to be presentation-style rather than real-time interactive.
posted by madajb at 12:28 PM on February 11, 2021 [16 favorites]
Trying to think of a parallel in work meetings, failing.
My spouse's company has adopted the policy of "If the office would be closed, then work-from-home is closed."
It seems fair though it doesn't always work that way in practice.
Being a giant multi-national, it's quite possible for it to be a blizzard in Boston where you are but 70 in San Diego outside the meeting host's window.
posted by madajb at 12:35 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
My spouse's company has adopted the policy of "If the office would be closed, then work-from-home is closed."
It seems fair though it doesn't always work that way in practice.
Being a giant multi-national, it's quite possible for it to be a blizzard in Boston where you are but 70 in San Diego outside the meeting host's window.
posted by madajb at 12:35 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
I've been trying (without success) to get my regular friend Zoom call onto Discord. It seems to fix a lot of the Zoom problems caused by Zoom being primarily a business tool.
- People can talk at the same time! When people in Zoom talk simultaneously, Zoom chooses the loudest person and mutes everyone else. So conversation is more stilted than normal because the software chooses a "winner", instead of just mixing everyone's voice together like in real life.
- No passwords, weird meeting links, or waiting rooms. If you're in a server (aka trusted friend group), you can join the call. There's no situation where you'd send an invite to customers/students/general public so it's a completely different and simpler security structure.
- No meetings or meeting organizers. It's just a voice channel on the server. Click on it to join. No one has to be around to "start" it nor can they "end" it. No one takes over the screen or audio by "screen sharing" or has to "grant permission" to others.
posted by meowzilla at 12:56 PM on February 11, 2021 [9 favorites]
- People can talk at the same time! When people in Zoom talk simultaneously, Zoom chooses the loudest person and mutes everyone else. So conversation is more stilted than normal because the software chooses a "winner", instead of just mixing everyone's voice together like in real life.
- No passwords, weird meeting links, or waiting rooms. If you're in a server (aka trusted friend group), you can join the call. There's no situation where you'd send an invite to customers/students/general public so it's a completely different and simpler security structure.
- No meetings or meeting organizers. It's just a voice channel on the server. Click on it to join. No one has to be around to "start" it nor can they "end" it. No one takes over the screen or audio by "screen sharing" or has to "grant permission" to others.
posted by meowzilla at 12:56 PM on February 11, 2021 [9 favorites]
Discord also lets you change others' audio levels. That person too close to the mic? Just lower them on your end instead of having to call them out and walk them through adjusting their mic levels.
In the same room as a friend or SO for a Zoom call? Too bad. Either use one computer, or get echo as you hear your bud twice. On Discord, just set their audio to 0, easy-peasy.
It's ridiculous how Zoom became the "standard" when it's so awful.
posted by explosion at 1:54 PM on February 11, 2021 [9 favorites]
In the same room as a friend or SO for a Zoom call? Too bad. Either use one computer, or get echo as you hear your bud twice. On Discord, just set their audio to 0, easy-peasy.
It's ridiculous how Zoom became the "standard" when it's so awful.
posted by explosion at 1:54 PM on February 11, 2021 [9 favorites]
Zoom (or in my case, Teams) fatigue is most certainly a thing. I am so sick of looking at people.
To the extent that, despite being able to work 50% of the time at home, I am 100% in the office. It's so much easier to ignore people in real life.
posted by turbid dahlia at 1:55 PM on February 11, 2021 [5 favorites]
To the extent that, despite being able to work 50% of the time at home, I am 100% in the office. It's so much easier to ignore people in real life.
posted by turbid dahlia at 1:55 PM on February 11, 2021 [5 favorites]
I am so sick of looking at people.
My co-workers and I have all turned off our cameras and do audio only. Not only does it save enormously on bandwidth, it makes meetings much more relaxing and easier to focus on shared documents.
posted by CynicalKnight at 2:01 PM on February 11, 2021 [8 favorites]
My co-workers and I have all turned off our cameras and do audio only. Not only does it save enormously on bandwidth, it makes meetings much more relaxing and easier to focus on shared documents.
posted by CynicalKnight at 2:01 PM on February 11, 2021 [8 favorites]
This article feels written by someone comfortable with meeting in person in large groups, who subsequently feels uncomfortable in a new environment where they have to learn a bunch of stuff all over again, and uncomfortable with the technology and making it work without the IT safety net to call on in an instant. In all likelyhood this is a majority view, but like most things, doesn't represent everyone.
I'm sure my experience is even less representative.
That said, video conferencing (I mainly use the web meetings built into 3CX and very occasionally Teams or Zoom) is just another tool in the toolbox. I'm in IT, so remote assistance is already a common thing. That video calls and video conferences have finally been dragged kicking and screaming into the realm of normal, they're great to have available to keep things moving forwards when meeting face to face is impossible. (As an aside; they really did have to become impossible. While face to face meetings were only hard, or expensive, or required some of the participants to lose a whole day flying, they weren't going away. They literally had to become impossible for people to finally acknowledge that video meetings should have been a much more normal thing for years.)
As for the "Zoom Gaze", at least I'm in control of the video feed leaving my house, technical faults aside. I've tried non-chromakey background replacement and it just isn't good enough on my hardware, so I control the real background, from the eBoy poster, to the plasma plate, to the Keepon you can see if you look hard enough. While I'm not doing background replacement, I do have some subtle filters that make me look "better", even if I'm only likely to be seen at the size of a postage stamp in the corner of everyone's screen . At our small team's general staff meetings, maybe I'll wear my (unlicenced) Pikachu headphones, or maybe I'll wear my Sennheiser ones -- Both of which make a statement, if you think about it. I have cam software that lets me switch to displaying information, or portions of my desktop, or a camera pointed at something else, even when I'm not the one sharing the desktop to everyone.
That someone writes an article about agonizing over how other people think they think about how they look, or whatever, means it's not about me or people like me. I don't want to have to re-learn game theory as it applies to group politics in large video conferences just to work out how to subtly manipulate people. I just want to get work done and move on to the next project.
posted by krisjohn at 2:40 PM on February 11, 2021 [6 favorites]
I'm sure my experience is even less representative.
That said, video conferencing (I mainly use the web meetings built into 3CX and very occasionally Teams or Zoom) is just another tool in the toolbox. I'm in IT, so remote assistance is already a common thing. That video calls and video conferences have finally been dragged kicking and screaming into the realm of normal, they're great to have available to keep things moving forwards when meeting face to face is impossible. (As an aside; they really did have to become impossible. While face to face meetings were only hard, or expensive, or required some of the participants to lose a whole day flying, they weren't going away. They literally had to become impossible for people to finally acknowledge that video meetings should have been a much more normal thing for years.)
As for the "Zoom Gaze", at least I'm in control of the video feed leaving my house, technical faults aside. I've tried non-chromakey background replacement and it just isn't good enough on my hardware, so I control the real background, from the eBoy poster, to the plasma plate, to the Keepon you can see if you look hard enough. While I'm not doing background replacement, I do have some subtle filters that make me look "better", even if I'm only likely to be seen at the size of a postage stamp in the corner of everyone's screen . At our small team's general staff meetings, maybe I'll wear my (unlicenced) Pikachu headphones, or maybe I'll wear my Sennheiser ones -- Both of which make a statement, if you think about it. I have cam software that lets me switch to displaying information, or portions of my desktop, or a camera pointed at something else, even when I'm not the one sharing the desktop to everyone.
That someone writes an article about agonizing over how other people think they think about how they look, or whatever, means it's not about me or people like me. I don't want to have to re-learn game theory as it applies to group politics in large video conferences just to work out how to subtly manipulate people. I just want to get work done and move on to the next project.
posted by krisjohn at 2:40 PM on February 11, 2021 [6 favorites]
My co-workers and I have all turned off our cameras and do audio only.
In my semiconductor industry job (which skews older age-wise and has way less corporate bullshit-fluff than most industries) we lasted maybe 3 meetings before people stopped bothering with the cameras. Management presenters at large meetings will still use their cameras and I have at a few meetings I've hosted, but that's it.
posted by MillMan at 2:48 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
In my semiconductor industry job (which skews older age-wise and has way less corporate bullshit-fluff than most industries) we lasted maybe 3 meetings before people stopped bothering with the cameras. Management presenters at large meetings will still use their cameras and I have at a few meetings I've hosted, but that's it.
posted by MillMan at 2:48 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
"This reflected self persists, accompanying us through our interactions unless we deliberately dismiss it. You watch yourself as you speak, as you move … oops, that piece of hair is out of place. You are self-aware and self-correcting in real time. 'Does my face look funny when I say “core competency'?"
Ha, welcome to what life is like as an autistic person in an NT workplace. No wonder the Zoom era has not felt like much of a shift for many of us.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 2:59 PM on February 11, 2021 [13 favorites]
Ha, welcome to what life is like as an autistic person in an NT workplace. No wonder the Zoom era has not felt like much of a shift for many of us.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 2:59 PM on February 11, 2021 [13 favorites]
"When these settings were called out as problematic, Zoom’s CEO Eric Yuan apologized and promised to make changes. But in the same breath he also pointed out that the product was being used in ways that the company hadn’t imagined, as if this were an excuse. The short-sightedness was a choice: Zoom anticipated only certain use cases and built the product for certain users — “large institutions with full IT support.” With some threat modeling and even a mild consideration of marginalized perspectives, some of the most problematic cases — which included incidents of racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and homophobia — could have been avoided."
Re: Discord, Slack, or whatever the hot corporate bullshit of the day is.
Discord, like Zoom, is still built as a business tool in terms of making money and exists to harvest and sell data as well as games. (which are also used to harvest and sell data.) They also suffer similar problems with moderatio.n (as do most companies of this size.)
I don't understand why the default is to always to turn to private companies and their servers for these tools other than ease of use. I get that people want things to "just work" but that's literally what the article is about, how the privatization of these group spaces defines how they're built and given structure. That structure is very rarely considered outside of the business paradigms it springs from, and there are much more open, secure, and community friendly communication networks available.
They call it Zoom Gaze, but the malaise affects all communications programs designed by private companies. I understand that the whims of open source programmers aren't always better, but at least with open source you have the option to learn it your damn self and make the necessary changes and not need to rely on petitioning a private company hellbent on making money at any cost to "be better."
posted by deadaluspark at 3:05 PM on February 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
Re: Discord, Slack, or whatever the hot corporate bullshit of the day is.
Discord, like Zoom, is still built as a business tool in terms of making money and exists to harvest and sell data as well as games. (which are also used to harvest and sell data.) They also suffer similar problems with moderatio.n (as do most companies of this size.)
I don't understand why the default is to always to turn to private companies and their servers for these tools other than ease of use. I get that people want things to "just work" but that's literally what the article is about, how the privatization of these group spaces defines how they're built and given structure. That structure is very rarely considered outside of the business paradigms it springs from, and there are much more open, secure, and community friendly communication networks available.
They call it Zoom Gaze, but the malaise affects all communications programs designed by private companies. I understand that the whims of open source programmers aren't always better, but at least with open source you have the option to learn it your damn self and make the necessary changes and not need to rely on petitioning a private company hellbent on making money at any cost to "be better."
posted by deadaluspark at 3:05 PM on February 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
I dropped out of therapy last month because doing it over Zoom was just terrible. You’re at a remove from the therapist, and seated at the most powerful attention-sucker ever devised, an internet-connected computer. It’s just too easy to lose focus.
Plus, there’s all the little things that go along with a video call that add to the anxiety...Is the lighting okay? Am I framed right? Is there crap in the background? Is someone else in the house making noise? Etc. etc. And, heaven help you if there are connection problems or drop outs. It’s just a wildly bad environment for productive therapy.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:46 PM on February 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
Plus, there’s all the little things that go along with a video call that add to the anxiety...Is the lighting okay? Am I framed right? Is there crap in the background? Is someone else in the house making noise? Etc. etc. And, heaven help you if there are connection problems or drop outs. It’s just a wildly bad environment for productive therapy.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:46 PM on February 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
For work I'm happy even more meetings have moved to video, since I find it a less social-anxiety-inducing format than live meetings (mostly because I have far more control over my environment and self).
The only person I've ever done video chat with outside of work was my wife, and since we live together now and are not traveling due to pandemic, I've had basically no non-work video chats [to the extent I've talked to friends at all its been phone or audio chat].
It’s just a wildly bad environment for productive therapy.
Interesting, I've been doing therapy via video since long before COVID and thought it worked really well, but of course therapy is something where everyone's needs are very different.
posted by thefoxgod at 4:04 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
The only person I've ever done video chat with outside of work was my wife, and since we live together now and are not traveling due to pandemic, I've had basically no non-work video chats [to the extent I've talked to friends at all its been phone or audio chat].
It’s just a wildly bad environment for productive therapy.
Interesting, I've been doing therapy via video since long before COVID and thought it worked really well, but of course therapy is something where everyone's needs are very different.
posted by thefoxgod at 4:04 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
In my semiconductor industry job (which skews older age-wise and has way less corporate bullshit-fluff than most industries) we lasted maybe 3 meetings before people stopped bothering with the cameras. Management presenters at large meetings will still use their cameras and I have at a few meetings I've hosted, but that's it.
We use teams and if we have our video on, by the time a 30 minute meeting is done, my laptop has slowed to a crawl. Turn off my video and it's fast as can be. So we only do on cam once a week.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:06 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
We use teams and if we have our video on, by the time a 30 minute meeting is done, my laptop has slowed to a crawl. Turn off my video and it's fast as can be. So we only do on cam once a week.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:06 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
Here in California we still get fire days, and power outage days. So that’s fun.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 4:39 PM on February 11, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 4:39 PM on February 11, 2021 [2 favorites]
The author is also one of the leaders of Virtually Connecting, a fine project during the pre-COVID days to connect remote folks to conferences.
posted by doctornemo at 4:44 PM on February 11, 2021
posted by doctornemo at 4:44 PM on February 11, 2021
My co-workers and I have all turned off our cameras and do audio only.
Same, but I also find that I end up in meetings with a lot of doddering old nuffies who a) don't know how to turn their cameras OFF and yet b) always manage to forget how to turn their microphones ON.
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:05 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
Same, but I also find that I end up in meetings with a lot of doddering old nuffies who a) don't know how to turn their cameras OFF and yet b) always manage to forget how to turn their microphones ON.
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:05 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
I started a job in May and 95% of our meetings are cameras-off. Today most of my team gave an internal presentation for the company that they put on nice shirts and turned their cameras on for. It was my first time seeing at least half of their faces. For some people whose Slack icons are a portrait I sort of knew what they looked like. For the others it was like seeing a video of someone you know from the radio.
posted by little onion at 5:52 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by little onion at 5:52 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
I really liked the thought and care that went into this, and some of the possible potential abuses I hadn't thought of - AI's creating meeting highlight reels that selectively edit what you say was something I found particularly creepy.
I'm working freelance right now, and every job with a new company means re-learning what the appropriate zoom behavior is - most places I work are default cameras off unless you're leading the meeting, or a mix of some on and some off. I just started a new project today with an agency in the midwest (not sure if that's relevant), and everyone kept their cameras on, with at least half the people using virtual backgrounds - something that I haven't seen in months with NYC people. And I found myself wondering whether I should switch to a virtual background, too, since that's what the higher-level people seemingly were all doing. There's definitely a hidden hierarchy at work there.
Thanks for posting this - there's a lot here to think about, and it's not what I thought it would be from the pull quote.
posted by Mchelly at 6:38 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
I'm working freelance right now, and every job with a new company means re-learning what the appropriate zoom behavior is - most places I work are default cameras off unless you're leading the meeting, or a mix of some on and some off. I just started a new project today with an agency in the midwest (not sure if that's relevant), and everyone kept their cameras on, with at least half the people using virtual backgrounds - something that I haven't seen in months with NYC people. And I found myself wondering whether I should switch to a virtual background, too, since that's what the higher-level people seemingly were all doing. There's definitely a hidden hierarchy at work there.
Thanks for posting this - there's a lot here to think about, and it's not what I thought it would be from the pull quote.
posted by Mchelly at 6:38 PM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
I work in a male-dominated industry, and one thing that's really great about Zoom?
NO ONE CAN STARE AT MY BOOBS
posted by boomdelala at 6:56 PM on February 11, 2021 [20 favorites]
NO ONE CAN STARE AT MY BOOBS
posted by boomdelala at 6:56 PM on February 11, 2021 [20 favorites]
I use a different name socially and with my therapist etc. than I use at work, and having it all collapsed on zoom sucks. I absolutely do not trust the system or myself to remember which name I'm using where, and I don't have the capacity to remember to change it each time or to deal with that, so I just have to use my work name everywhere now. This is kind of a major bummer.
posted by k8lin at 7:56 PM on February 11, 2021
posted by k8lin at 7:56 PM on February 11, 2021
I have a daily meeting with a group of people I've worked closely with for years, in some cases more than two decades. We all like each other and have a very supportive environment. We've been on 3-week missions together, 48hr car rides, that sort of thing.
Within the first week, we have all mostly come to the conclusion that our now daily call is to be done with the video off. We don't need the pressure of looking at each other's faces all the time; we got stuff to get done.
We're a mix of ages and genders, and generally a pretty tech-able bunch. In my experience we only turn the cameras on when were being "official" and someone from corporate is watching.
posted by bonehead at 8:35 PM on February 11, 2021
Within the first week, we have all mostly come to the conclusion that our now daily call is to be done with the video off. We don't need the pressure of looking at each other's faces all the time; we got stuff to get done.
We're a mix of ages and genders, and generally a pretty tech-able bunch. In my experience we only turn the cameras on when were being "official" and someone from corporate is watching.
posted by bonehead at 8:35 PM on February 11, 2021
I’d be happy if I never have another work meeting in person. The disruption of getting to and from meetings in separate buildings adds at least an hour onto every session, and I find they are faster and more effective. Also, since I have a long bus commute, late afternoon on-site meetings tend to erase my entire day, while zoom meetings work for me. Friends and family I like to see in person, co-workers not so much.
On top of this, distance meetings are way easier on people with mobility issues, immune problems, etc.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:21 AM on February 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
On top of this, distance meetings are way easier on people with mobility issues, immune problems, etc.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:21 AM on February 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
I dropped out of therapy last month because doing it over Zoom was just terrible.
I was doing conference calls for ages before the Zoom era and I don't miss in-person offices or in-person meetings AT ALL, but yeah, zoom therapy has turned out to be a bridge too far for me.
I haven't dropped out yet because I'm not safe to do so, but I have pretty much written it off for any benefit beyond having the "still alive over here" check-in. I just can't hang whatsoever with it, even though I have the luxury of living alone and not having to worry about the immediate privacy factor (too much -- this building's walls are pretty thin, and I'm pretty sure my neighbors know a lot more about my recent breakup than they ever wanted to).
Part of the problem is that when I spend all day in Zoom calls for work, the therapy Zoom call is just another meeting, and I haven't been able to pull myself out of "formal, productive, everyone pretend everything is Good and Fine, No Emotions Over Here!" meeting mode, which obviously is terrible for therapeutic purposes.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:15 PM on February 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
I was doing conference calls for ages before the Zoom era and I don't miss in-person offices or in-person meetings AT ALL, but yeah, zoom therapy has turned out to be a bridge too far for me.
I haven't dropped out yet because I'm not safe to do so, but I have pretty much written it off for any benefit beyond having the "still alive over here" check-in. I just can't hang whatsoever with it, even though I have the luxury of living alone and not having to worry about the immediate privacy factor (too much -- this building's walls are pretty thin, and I'm pretty sure my neighbors know a lot more about my recent breakup than they ever wanted to).
Part of the problem is that when I spend all day in Zoom calls for work, the therapy Zoom call is just another meeting, and I haven't been able to pull myself out of "formal, productive, everyone pretend everything is Good and Fine, No Emotions Over Here!" meeting mode, which obviously is terrible for therapeutic purposes.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:15 PM on February 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
The filters that "correct" your eye contact towards the camera miss what I feel is a bigger issue, which is that you can't direct your attention towards a specific person.
I was on a call recently where someone had the exact same name as me. In-person it's quite natural to address who you're speaking to by looking or gesturing, but over video you have to keep resorting to names.
Also that exhaustion or self-consciousness, I think is partly because you don't get an ebb and flow of attention cues. You end up with a constant Schrodinger's attention; a bunch of tiny faces that might or might not be paying attention to you. Maybe you can assume everyone's paying attention to whoever is in the green box, but you don't get the direct reassurance that you would get in-person.
posted by RobotHero at 2:22 PM on February 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
I was on a call recently where someone had the exact same name as me. In-person it's quite natural to address who you're speaking to by looking or gesturing, but over video you have to keep resorting to names.
Also that exhaustion or self-consciousness, I think is partly because you don't get an ebb and flow of attention cues. You end up with a constant Schrodinger's attention; a bunch of tiny faces that might or might not be paying attention to you. Maybe you can assume everyone's paying attention to whoever is in the green box, but you don't get the direct reassurance that you would get in-person.
posted by RobotHero at 2:22 PM on February 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
This is SO GOOD. I was just saying the other day, I want to read the linguistics or sociology paper on how Zoom privileges turn-taker speaking styles (common among WASPs) and disallows interrupting speaking styles (more acceptable in Jewish and Black cultures for two examples.
Great piece! Thank you
posted by latkes at 10:29 PM on February 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
Great piece! Thank you
posted by latkes at 10:29 PM on February 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
StackOverflow just gave me a useful little essay on turn-taking, interrupting, and online meetings.
posted by clew at 12:58 AM on February 13, 2021
posted by clew at 12:58 AM on February 13, 2021
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Snow days. Snow days are dead.
I can see it now. Real bad snow has snowed in a teacher, but they still have power and internet. Instead of making families risk trying to go to school in bad weather, they just tell everyone "Today class is meeting on Zoom, and will return to class when the weather has cleared."
I realized this when we were about to have a snow storm and my friend mentioned that classes wouldn't be cancelled for his children, because all the classes are online already due to COVID.
I know this isn't exactly the kind of stuff the article is alluding to, but it was the first thing that came to my mind, about all the things we're losing in this medium. It's taking away those quiet moments. The day when you were a child where you mostly just played in the snow all day, because the city just sort of shut down.
We're now all used to working in and making things happen in a world that is perpetually shut down. I really doubt the folks in charge will let us go back to that world.
"It is the student sobbing after taking a video-proctored exam where the built-in artificial intelligence falsely flagged them for cheating"
Literally the reason I haven't taken any certifications that I'm ready to take, currently they're insanely invasive. I genuinely feel like I have to wait until I'm vaccinated before I can go take new industry certifications. I'm fine with sitting in a room being monitored by humans, I'm not okay with installing spyware on my PC and having an algorithm decide if I'm cheating or not. I have far too many nervous ticks.
I certainly hope I can go back to sitting in a classroom for certification testing. If they don't go back to it, I'm either flat out fucked or I have to build a PC to use just for test taking and then practice... stop being human and stop doing all those nervous ticks that will make them think I'm cheating. Ugh.
---
So, could the Zoom Gaze just be the newest iteration of the capitalist panopticon and it's effects on individuals?
posted by deadaluspark at 11:09 AM on February 11, 2021 [23 favorites]