A First Retrospective about the U. R. on Line Colloquium!
In spite of a few technical difficulties and the experimental nature of the on-line conferencing environment, conference participants enormously appreciated not only the quality of the 121 presentations but the environment of the Via comunication platform. Presenters and discussion leaders were also exposed to the pleasures of this new form of communication. The excitement of putting on headsets and communicating simultaneously with so many participants in so many different places was heady. One could picture the multitude and variety of physical and organizational environments linked over vast distances. One was in awe of the immediacy and quality of the interactions stemming from such rich sources.
Looking at the sessions in the playback section of the APOP site, lets one witness the interest of the participants and the pertinence and high quality of the interaction. Participant contributions were nearly as informative as those of the presenters. The collaboration possible through the Via platform was evident in all of the different types of activities that occurred at the colloquium. The enthusiasm that the new communication context engendered fueled participation in debates and, in general, reconfigured traditional on-line personal relationships using pictures as well as words. This new platform largely compensated for the sensory value of personal contact by its ease of establishment as well as its on-line tools. Sharing and exchanging information through text files, on-line presentations and other web resources were done with ease. We can even have the satisfaction of having been energy efficient as well as having effectively managed human resources.
We will all remember the eloquent image of a participant, her home in the background, listening to a presentation with her young baby at her side. Who can forget the representatives of the It Partners greeting visitors in their virtual stands? At the convivial “5@7″? about one hundred guests joyously toasted APOP’s 25th birthday bash. Each participant will surely carry away from the Colloque enough of their own images and impressions to last until the next U.R. on Line Colloquium on January 9 and 10, 2008.
You can be sure that we will profit from what we have learned at the first event to improve our methods, enrich our orientations and activities and widen the range of operations of our It partners. Don’t hesitate to contact APOP at direction@apop.qc.ca to tell us your suggestions. In a true spirit of cooperation, we will tailor this second edition of the colloquium to even more meet your needs.
