Comments on: 'Google Moderator' tool takes on lecture-hall chaos

Created by a Google engineer who wanted to make it easier for panel audiences to ask questions, the internal tool has now been released to the public.

[howard_nyc]

Q: at what point does a lecture, event or discussion actually end?

or, is it 'evergreen'... alway growing and therefore alive till the end of time...

[donkeyontheedge]

interesting question, we made the decision at the lecture list (http://lecturelist.org) to keep all lectures live on the system in the hope that some clever folk might use this history for research. (I haven't worked out what exactly that would be but wanted to build at least the collection of raw data)

[CBD1960]

Great now Google wants to intertwine themselves into our lives by letting machines regulate our actions.

Smarten up people!

Keep El Goog in check... or soon you'll be sending them your paychecks in order to survive.

[billylinguist]

The question about the audience being too busy to listen reminds me of the iphone giveaway in Texas:
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/hughes/23920

I don't think the issue that people might be to busy too listen is new. I was too busy (doodling, ogling, etc.) to pay attention back in the days when the really flash students had portable typewriters.

B-)

[gjl229]

It's good to talk about the amount of time actually spent listening, as opposed to doing email, eyeing attractive others, texting friends about important (as seen at the moment) matters, or even taking notes.

But listening is only the first part.

It took me years to learn that I had to pay very close attention to turn listening into understanding. And it required fierce concentration to ferret out some of the implications of what I was dimly beginning to understand.

We seem increasingly able to turn out students, in the schools and the workplace, who are able to produce grades out of all proportion to the understanding gained. Multi-tasking is a fine way to occupy space, look busy, and perhaps catch a few facts as they fly by. It rarely permits the acquisition of perspective or the use of inductive/deductive reasoning.

When did we start to take so much pride in doing so many things so badly at the same time?

[benjaminstraight]

cool

[UITD]

The problem is that people's attention spans need to be a bit longer than an IM chat session. This is ludicrous. We've lost control of ourselves. Cant wait for the implosion to occur. I'll sit back and watch. At the very least, I will have the patience to do so.