Judging by comments on social media the Ontario Genealogical Society conference in Barrie is being well appreciated by those in attendance.
I'm wondering if those who choose to participate remotely were equally happy. Before leaving for the Ottawa genetic genealogy group meeting I tuned in to the streamed panel session. Unfortunately there were major audio issues, very low volume and an electronic buzz, making the session unlistenable. Others commented on the chat they were having the same experience. I left after the introductions, no reflection on the quality of the panel. Janet Few also commented in a tweet that her presentation was truncated.
I counted 35 people at the Ottawa genetic genealogy group meeting. Almost all had taken the FTDNA Family Finder test.
Bill Arthurs gave an explanation of researching descendants of his Titus ancestor using Y-DNA of four descendants. There was much discussion and comment allowing people to understand the concept and use of the modal haplotype.
There was still time for a round table. We heard of a couple breakthroughs, one which led to identifying the father of a child born in the 1870s.
As more people become interested in the potential of DNA evidence to aid their family history research there's a continuing appetite for help to understand test results..
I did watch the entire panel discussion. After the noise and delay at the beginning it did get going but the sound quality was poor and not in sync with the video.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that live-streaming of proceedings is the latest "in" thing but I wonder at its effectiveness. It reminds me of "one size fits all" being the same as "one size fits no one".
It must have been annoying to have paid to sit in the audience in Barrie and wait while they got the streaming going to the remote freeloaders like me.
I'm a huge fan of podcasts but live-streaming can be extremely annoying at the remote end. Maurice Gleeson re-recorded some presentations from the Who do you think you are? in Birmingham because the noise levels were so bad. I attempted to watch some other presentations that were not re-recorded but gave up.
Those who pay to attend a session in person should get a quality presentation focussed on the live audience and that begins on time. Remote audiences would be better served by podcasts recorded in proper conditions.
Obviously this isn't possible with a panel discussion but could be with individual presentations.
It might be better just to attempt to do one thing at a time and do it well.