From the Stoop – Feb 2015

For the first time ever I would like to do something a little different on the stoop today. I would like to invite all of you to join me. Grab a coffee or a tea or even a beer if that suits your fancy this early in the day. I own the stoop so everything is just fine. Have a seat anywhere there is a spot.

Good to see you.

My story begins in the spring of 1980. I had just returned from a long, what seemed like an eternity, job in Tripoli Libya working for Omar Qaddafi and his military installing night vision telescopic cameras on armoured trucks and in helicopter pods to survey the Gaza Strip. My morals have obviously changed dramatically since then and given the same opportunity today I would turn it down. A laid-off Electronic Technologist in 1980 puts aside a lot of things to provide an up scaled version of life to his family when the opportunity arises.

Aside from the excitement of reunion, two major things happened to me on my return. The first was to actually meet my daughter who was a mere 5 or so days old when I left for Libya and the second was an interview for a job in the AV service department at Algonquin College. I had attended Algonquin in 1967-70 when there was only A, E and F buildings adjacent to a farm pasture (along with the cows of course) where B and C buildings now stand.

I did get the job and the journey began. My first roll was as a service tech amongst a group of 4 other technicians who were responsible for the service and maintenance of all the College’s AV equipment. My specialty was both ¾ inch U-matic VCRs and audio equipment. Others were “experts” with 16mm film projectors or CRT televisions. Our shop was located in C221. Next to us was the AV distribution room C223 and C224. Room configurations have changed so much over time it is difficult sometimes to visualize the layout. Across the hall in C222 was the creative department. I can see the designers on the stoop chuckling at what it would have been like in 1980 to create visuals and print without computers and all the software that goes along with it. C210 and C212 held the two theaters. C215 was a television studio of sorts and their control rooms were behind the studio, one for audio and one for video. There were about 27 employees including runners that would bring and setup AV equipment in the classroom and pick it up afterwards.

I have worked along side hundreds of people in my career at Algonquin and have worked for at least 20 managers, directors and group hands. I was one myself. Of the multitudes of coworkers I was lucky to almost never having a bad experience. I guess it fits in with the creative and innovative fields I was involved in. I enjoy some very sincere friendships that have lasted untill now. Of the managers, I can count on one hand the ones that it was their true calling to be “in charge” and on the other hand those that boarded the wrong bus entirely.

Apparently Audio Visual had just moved up to the second floor from the basement shortly before I arrived. Much of what was the AV complex became Photography, Broadcast media etc.

C211 or thereabouts was the “computer room” with a large window where both students and staff brought their punched cards to be read. There was no ITS like there is today and I can still remember when the first pair of mini computers were delivered and we were to test their capabilities against the card readers.

One of the highlights of working in a college after 1980 was being able to witness and be part of the evolution of technology and computers. If was like an explosion happened and the whirlwind of changes still hasn’t stopped. Although for some reason I have never understood Colleges seem to lag 2 to 3 years behind technology. Instead of being on the cusp it seems to want to have advances prove themselves first.

I can’t pinpoint a date when computers arrived at Algonquin in any quantity but I do remember I had been experimenting with an Apple IIe and plus at home before they did. The “fun” with the Apple was that you got to invent your own peripherals. They just weren’t available anywhere. I remember finding the monitor very small (even then) so I built an RF Modulator that would output the computers video on channel 3 on a 19 inch tv.

Ibm xts, 286s, 386s, Commodors, Lisa, Macs, Powerbooks, 486s and ‘on and on’ came and went. There always was and continues to be a steady flow of faster, smaller more powerful devices and computers. I am still not sure as to what end. Is it a quest to connect at one level but at the same time to disconnect at a basic level?

The highlight of growing along with technology was that not only did I get to see it evolve but in some cases I got to be a part of it and influence it. When the internet arrived it was strictly a text based system on monochrome monitors over phone lines that zipped along at 14.4 kbit/s. Going by today’s standards an average YouTube video has a size of around 130mb. It would have taken 34 hours to download and with that would probably be missing packets. Anyone who had a modem will always hear the sounds of it connecting.

Moos and Mudds were the internet games of the time except that at that time you typed in descriptive commands against your friends or enemies and they responded in like. These were quickly followed by MMOGS as technology allowed. Usenet was the chatters choice until mIRC and other multi room applications arrived . Gopher was email. I am leaving out so much, but point is if you needed a better toy than the one you were given you had to invent or mod(ify) the one you had. You couldn’t just go out and shop the apple store or android store and download a better app. The need to improve and the ability to do so is what drove the march to what technology is today. Logging into the National Capital FreeNet was the only gateway people had in Ottawa to get to the internet. As rudimentary as it was it still showed what the future might hold.

I spent many years on IRC chat servers, met people globally, role played and eventually looked to where to go next. I heard of a group from Cornell University who had been experimenting with a mac based video server and who were looking for volunteers to port that system over to the PC. I became one of those volunteers and my passion for video conferencing was fueled by a new protocol called CuSeeMe. It was a video conferencing system that did not require a server because it worked on a reflector principle. Each participant had a client that would transmit their own video and audio and at the same time reflect out any other signals. So long as there were two or more participants you would see the others video and hear them. It worked flawlessly and eventually was taken over by White Pine Software and they failed miserably to support and market it. Being the first effective video conference application it allowed many of us to see thinks we would never have had the chance to otherwise. NASA would broadcast regularly as did World News Now and Global Schoolhouse. Today there are a myriad of webcams showing almost anything you can imagine, in CuSeeMe times there was one, the coffee pot in the Trojan room of Cambridge University. A 128 x 128 greyscale live image that remained on the internet from 1993 to 2001 when it was sold for 33 hundred British Pounds, refurbished by Krups and subsequently switched back on. My own claim to fame with CuSeeMe was an accidental evening with Fleetwood Mac in the studio during the early recording their “Say You Will” album. One of the mixers was a CuSeeMe user. The band was having a hard time agreeing on the opening acoustic guitar riff for a track and with me being the only fan present I got to make the decision. Stevie referred to me as her bud. Small stuff but it sticks.

Everything became saturated from that point forward. Technologies, applications, operating systems, devices and bigger-better thingies. When something exciting becomes demanded or an expected way of life it loses some of its romance. I still try it all and focus on what suits my lifestyle and personality. I still chat with some of the people I met online 15 or more years ago and will make new friends.

One of the most exciting technologies that I am involved with and I truly believe the College missed the boat on is Second Life. Second Live is a virtual world where you can simulate anything or create that which never will exist. Enormous amounts of monies can be saved by constructing in world simulations for almost anything taught in the real world. In the few years I was involved “officially” in second life I created a nursing simulation lab where virtual patients could be assessed and treated, a paramedic response team that could be deployed to any city in the virtual world where a crisis was present. Not only would they need to assess and treat patients but would have to do so in a foreign land. Along with the help of a co-worker from York U we built an exact preview building of ACCE long before the first cement was poured in real life. A student Avatar or a planning avatar could walk around each of the hallways and classrooms and get a real feel for what the building would actually become. I understand there were some safety questions answered in the simulation that resulted in design changes. We even held some classes outside on the roof auditorium. I hosted a tour of the building where representatives from 13 countries walked through the building and we gathered at the living wall to talk about the build. Later we built an advanced build of the new Pembroke Campus in time for their Open House. Students who would eventually attend classes in the new campus, once it was built, could virtually walk about the campus, play basketball in the new gym and see inside all the classrooms. They knew where the office was before showing up and how to find what they needed. 150 virtual students took the tour. Part of the BIT degree program is to manage an evolving business through it’s successes and failures. With the leadership of Al Pilcher I built a manufacturing facility that produced pet foods. Students in real life managed the books and then in Second Life they worked in the warehouse. The warehouse was to evolve over time into a modern facility but the plug was pulled before PetSim finished its evolution. Second Life still thrives but sadly Algonquin Island is no longer there. Last count was over 100 higher education institutions are active with 3000 educators. This is not including all the open source spinoffs.

What is the point of my ramblings? Simple. Nothing of what we take for granted today would be possible without the drive for the next step by the early adopters. If it wasn’t for IRC or usenet there would be no Facebook. Without CuSeeMe there would be no YouTube or Facetime. Video tape had to exist before you could even think of digitizing video. I overhear comments that chat, apps and online social media are a young person’s media and that old people don’t understand. Such an insult. Because we old people don’t buy into everything that comes around the corner simply because…. we have the insight to choose. That does not mean we “don’t understand”.

It is more of a “done that, been there, so whats next”

For me “what’s next” is retirement. I will still be a Stoop sitter with an opinion, an architect in Second life, keep abreast of what is worthwhile adopting, perhaps design innovative websites and keep up my presence as an app developer.

The best part is that I get to choose which stoop I do it from. And if you are willing to listen I will tell you all about it.