Latest headlines: Christopher Gillespie on the idea of collaboration, Scott Tiner on Zoom’s recent success, plus news from Biamp and more
January 22, 2021 | Volume: 7 | Issue: 2
Hello everybody! Happy almost weekend. We’re back in the swing of things over at rAVe, and we are working hard to keep the virtual live events poppin’! The latest news? LAVNCH WEEK 3.0! It’s coming — Feb. 9-11. I hope you join us because our lineup is going to be so, so cool! Anyway, I’ll keep this short and sweet.
Four columns this week:
— Christopher Gillespie talks about collaboration in his latest article. What does it mean? Is it the same in AV as in other industries? The short answer is no — but he’ll tell you a little more about what you can expect from collaboration tools and how manufacturers and end users alike don’t always get it right.
— Scott Tiner writes about Zoom’s success during COVID-19. The pandemic is a lot of why the vast majority of us use it, but the UX does not hurt its case.
I was looking at job descriptions earlier today and I saw that Workday had an ad for Director — Collaboration Technology. If one were to read that ad from the POV of a person in the AV world, one would think it was a role that drives audiovisual and videoconferencing and lots of fun touchy-feely stuff that allows folks to work together remotely, etc. And you would be mostly wrong. Way, way, way wrong. You would, however, be correct in the last sentence, “allows folks to work together remotely, etc.” But all the other stuff — nope. Not in the least. Here is the challenge: When it comes to the AV world and the enterprise world, there are words we use that are the same, but have totally different meanings.
Each of the past several iterations of videoconferencing have a few things in common. First, they became part of the consumer lexicon, becoming verbs, in fact. Second, they became popular because of their use by, and availability to the general consumer. Only Zoom, however, grew at what can be described as an explosive pace. Yes, the pandemic is the main reason for this huge uptake, but as many others have pointed out over time, it is also because Zoom just works!
Yes, I received the actual vaccine rather than the placebo (21,720 people in the study received BNT162b2 and 21,728 received the placebo). My first shot was Sept. 4 and I received my second on Sept. 28; I am still in the trial for another 24 months. I thought I would put together my thoughts — as many of you will be eligible as soon as next week and might be either nervous or not sure what to do. Of course, this is an individual decision everyone must make on their own but I was hoping if I shared my story, it might make you feel better. If you have any questions, PLEASE reach out.
As the number of electronic devices in use across North American schools continues to proliferate, K-12 curriculum leaders and IT decision makers are turning to administrative tools to manage data assets, track progress and provide support. A new end user study from Futuresource Consulting explores the impact of these tools, the current and projected ownership, key issues faced and the scope of the opportunity for vendors operating in the education space.
