This is the weekend edition of TheMarioBlog and will be updated as needed.
Of course, I was warned.
I read the wise piece in The New York Times about the importance of making sure the platform we use to hold classes, meetings and, in my case, Mario Garcia: The Zoom Quarantine Chats, provided us with enough safety features to avoid what happened to me Friday, April 10, as I conducted Episode 2 of my Chat. I just never imagined that the dark side of Zoom would show its ugly face during my own Chat.
Suddenly, however, there it was! I was quick on the brakes and was able to end the meeting, turn to a friend and colleague, Bryan Monroe, of Temple University, for immediate support, and, after checking off a few items on my Zoom settings, reconvened the meeting and followed the content of Episode 2: Linear Storytelling. By then , I had lost some of the participants and also evaporated with a zoom was the enthusiasm that usually prevails when a group of colleagues with similar professional interests gather to discuss their craft. Like so many other parts of our lives in this Covid-19 era, we managed. The participants were great and remained engaged, albeit a bit ruffled by the experience.
My feelings immediately following this sour incident ran from anger and embarrassment to bewilderment: how can there be people out there willing to do this type of terrorizing at a time when we are so anxious with the uncertainty of the Covid-19 epidemic? I was horrified by the thought that the Zoom classes that my own grandchildren– as well as children all over the country– take daily might experience a similar situation.
Yet, it was not so difficult to reset my default settings, with my smart friend Bryan’s efficient assistance, for which I am ever so grateful. We are probably in great need of more information from Zoom, explained in simple terms. I agree that Zoom has made its application extremely easy to use. With that ease of the user experience come the other risks. As the Times’ Tech columnist Shira Ovide (@ShiraOvide) writes:
“….as the security concerns swirling around Zoom show, there’s a dark side to making it easy to buy, share and use.
The same qualities that let musicians go live on Facebook to entertain us also let a terrorist in New Zealand broadcast mass murder at the touch of a button. One-click ordering from Amazon is great — until your kid orders stuff without you knowing.
Ease of use is also a root cause of “Zoombombing” — harassment through the suddenly popular video-calling app.”
Don’t take me wrong, I like Zoom, and I plan to continue using it, but I agree that the company needs to become more diligent in addressing issues of security if it will continue to have the trust of those using it.
For now, I have apologized to all those who joined my Chat, and we will continue with the program Tuesday, April 14 at 9:30 am. (EST). The subject will continue to be how we write, edit and design for mobile consumption.
Join me April 14 for Episode 3
INVITE FOR QUARANTINE CHAT APRIL 14 9:30 AM
Mario Garcia is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Free.
Topic: Zoom Quarantine Chats
Time: Apr 14, 2020 09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Extremely useful, related
The Lesson We Are Learning From Zoom
The popular app offered the simplest path to videoconferencing in a pandemic. That doesn’t make it the right path to take.
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TheMarioBlog post # 3241