Attention Span and Partial Attention [en]

[fr] Est-ce que l'habitude du multitâches devant l'écran m'a fait perdre mes pouvoirs de concentration? J'ai du mal à  suivre les conférences, alors qu'avec dix ans d'uni, on pourrait considérer que j'ai de l'entraînement...

I spent ten years at university. During those years, I attended lectures on a variety of subject, sometimes from 7am to 8pm, taking notes and understanding most of what was said.

What’s wrong with me now? I can’t seem to follow most of the talks given here. I remember having the same problem at BlogTalk 2.0 a couple of years back. Is it the partial attention thing, because of course, I can’t follow what is being said when I’m typing up a post or chatting in a backchannel. Or uploading photos.

Should I put the computer away and take notes by hand? My writing sucks now, and RSI clearly will prevent me from taking notes during two whole days.

Is it worse that that? Have years of multitasking in front of a screen impaired my ability to concentrate and focus on a single thing? Have I lost the power or the will to concentrate? That, I have to admit, is a scary idea.

On the other hand, maybe it’s just poor audio output in the room (thanks, Jérôme, for making me feel less alone about this) coupled to my usual not-so-good audio input, plus, in some cases, the fact I’m not used to following English spoken by non-native speakers (particularly francophones, because I usually speak French with them)? And the fact that I’m tired?

Oh well. It’s probably a mixture of everything. I wonder if I shouldn’t have posted this on the Cheese Sandwich Blog — but it’s a little late for that.

After Lunch [en]

[fr] Un bon repas, un peu de difficulté à  suivre les conférences (problèmes d'audio dans la salle? mes mauvaises oreilles?)

Had a nice lunch with Robert, Anina, Anne Dominique and Ben. Food was nice, conversation too, but God! am I tired. (And I don’t even have jetlag to blame.)

Cory Doctorow talking

Cory’s talking about DRM and stuff. It’s interesting, but I’m starting to wonder if there isn’t a real audio quality issue in the room. My hearing is not quite as good as the average person’s, but it doesn’t usually make it difficult for me to follow talks like this. I know I also tend to have trouble “catching” the train of words to follow what somebody is saying. (Call it “keeping in tune” with what is being said, if you like.) So maybe I’m suffering from a conjunction of “could-be-better” audio quality and “could-be-better” ears and listening skills.

Is anybody else in the room having difficulty understanding the speakers?

I think there is weird stuff going on with the wifi too. Is it hopping? Jumping? Flickering? I’m hardly seeing anybody on Bonjour — they come and go — and uploading photos to Flickr is really slow. Are any naughty bloggers in the room using the wifi for P2P stuff?

(And just in case you’re thinking I complain too much, I’m having a really nice time here; I’m just looking forward to being able to re-listen to some talks through the audio and video links made available.)

Break Impressions [en]

[fr] C'est la pause!

1. The whole place is teeming with journalists.
2. Sitting in front of Robert was not a good idea if I wanted to spend a quiet break at my place.

Maslow Reloaded

Update: 9 people in the backchannel after the break! We’re growing! Join us in #lift06 on chat.freenode.net (IRC)

First Impressions of LIFT'06 [en]

[fr] Premières impressions de LIFT'06.

Venue: not too much trouble finding it, that was nice. Laurent himself at the ticket desk, that was nice too. Robert Scoble looks younger than I expected (I’m sitting right in front of him, didn’t do it on purpose, promise!).

In Line for LIFT'06

Missing in the conference room:

  • water (no drinks allowed apart from water, and all I have in my bag is orange juice, and I’m really thirsty) Update: thanks to David Galipeau, I’ve found the water fountains now.
  • more power strips (yeah, I know)

Missing online (update)

  • backchannel? (I’m sitting in #lift06 on chat.freenode.net, just in case)
  • live audio?
  • people using Bonjour/Rendez-Vous… (I’ve opened and announced a document for collaborative note-taking in SubEthaEdit… just in case, feel free to join if you’re at the conference).

I have a huge problem: I totally suck at understanding non-native speakers talking in English (particularly francophones). Isn’t that amazing, given I’m a francophone myself?

LIFT'06 et Bloggy Friday [fr]

[en] LIFT'06 STOP BLOGGY FRIDAY STOP SEE YOU GENEVA STOP PLEASE COMMENT STOP

Très bref pour cause de surbookage. Bloggy Friday comme annoncé, vendredi à  Genève — peut-être qu’on combine ça avec la fête de fin de LIFT si on a le droit. Qui veut rejoindre le Bloggy Friday? Et chers lecteurs, qui sera à  LIFT, histoire qu’on rate pas une occasion de se croiser en chair et en os, le nez vissé à  nos écrans de laptop? Mettez un mot en commentaire.

Mon numéro de tél. mobile est disponible sur demande si jamais.

(PS: si vous avez un canapé inutilisé du côté de Genève, ça m’intéresse…)