techNOcool

None of my relatives will be reading this in the next month, so I can share. We're having a Skype Christmas this year. My parents, my mother-in-law, my grandfather, and my brother-in-law are all getting webcam/microphone combos for Christmas, and we're going to Skype-ify our family's communication. The big two reasons for this is our two-month old nephew 12 hours away, and the fact that my grandfather is 88, the oldest "nerd" I know and I want to get him using that long promised videophone from the 1964 World's Fair before he passes on. He got me interested in computing in the early 1980's, when he bought a Commodore Amiga for a retirement hobby. He's still totally stoked by technology. (For instance, his project right now is preserving photos by scanning and cleaning them up on his PC. How many 88 year olds do you know who do that???) However, I am sure he would not use the word "stoked".

I haven't had a chance to try Skype yet. I Don't have a webcam, and I don't like talking on the phone. I have some concerns about the security of the transaction, but in a public setting who cares. I also have concerns about bandwidth usage if this technology takes off. 2400 users on Skype could be hazardous to your internet connection. Another thought I'll throw out there, hopefully James and Jason have some ideas on this that are better than mine, is worker productivity. What's to keep users from chatting with kids or relatives all day long? Yes, the service could be blocked on the network side, but the network can't determine if it's work related or fun...yet. I'm not looking for policy or even a "company line", more thinking of the old Verizon commercial where the guy's college buddies are calling him at the worst possible times.

Hey, Brian let's not give anyone's college buddies any bright ideas! I have had to change cell phones twice to keep the guys from calling me! Stupid network!

Brian just touched on a HUGE debate. Shall I open it up? The debate is about the blurring of work and home, or even work and pleasure, which I think I mentioned when this blog kicked off. Is the response I'm typing right now work? Is the research I did on Skypecasting after reading this post work? Was it still work, when I kept going and researched more about setting up Skype for my family? How about when I set it up for them in a month? I think there is a big dilemma these days about work vs. home. I think there is a separate dilemma for those of us whose job involves supporting people that have different answers to that same dilemma.

If IT support wants to be part of the flexible new age of blurring home and work, they have to be prepared to work ALL the time to support anyone who happens to be working. How can you give short shift to the 8-5'er who wouldn't dream of staying past 5:01, because maybe I don't want to come in on the 8-5 schedule anymore. What if someone is doing critical work at 11 at night? Should I be expected to work then too? And is IT really different from a greater community of people whose jobs are all intertwined with others, others with schedules that are scattered around a 24 hour clock? I support a people who I fully expect to get emails from (and sometimes phone calls) after hours and weekends. In return, my users still have a huge respect for my schedule, but how long can that last?

I'm asking a lot of questions that I have already developed answers for. (Frankly IT at an institution of higher learning is a lot cushier than IT at an ISP where I learned a lot of coping mechanisms, or else I'd have probably gone insane.) But, I think they're questions that our society must wrestle with, so I'm posing them here, because in a lot of ways, this question has been opened by technology. How Allegheny answers it as an institution is a really big deal for all of us.

Wow, didn't mean to open up that can of worms, but I do agree with you. Something we're all going to have to get used to, IT or otherwise is that as technology evolves people are going to want to work when and where they please. 10 years ago the idea of telecommuting was the unheard of, now I can't think of a business that can't benefit from it. I'm sitting at home as I type this. I was more thinking of the frantic call when a user can't log onto Skype (or get some other technology to work) in time for their prearranged conversation with a loved one, while sitting at their desk, and here's the kicker, being paid by an employer. I would completely expect my boss or any supervisor to chew me up and spit me out if they walked in and I was chatting with my girlfriend on "company time". These lines are and will blur further, but I think that employers will always expect workers, while sitting at a desk in an office, at a place of business (take note of all of the qualifications), to be doing work related tasks.

James, let me know next time you plan to try a Skypecast. I'd like to join in. How did it go yesterday?

As you know if you're reading my blog I'm a big fan of using Skype and iChat, especially for video chats. The 1964 World's Fair made a big impression on me.