Author Topic: Providing video copies of lessons?  (Read 2829 times)

patcanuck

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Providing video copies of lessons?
« on: June 05, 2020, 12:16:56 AM »
I love learning how to play better bridge but feel a bit like a 'poor cousin' to the IAC members in Europe and the USA at the moment. There is scarcely an IAC lesson that doesn't require me to attend at midnight or get up at 5am or earlier. Is it possible to explore ways to get all the IAC lessons recorded and uploaded with a link provided to the poor Down Under Dunderheads?
I am happy to proved a set of instructions on just how easy it is to record the lessons (with voice)on a mac. The files can be uploaded to WeTransfer, Google Drive, DropBox, GoogleDrive and a heap of others and even if they are only held for 48 hours at least it is a resource we can access. It doesn't matter if it is the lecturer or a viewer who does the recording as it can be restricted to just the part of the screen where the hands are.
Ever hopeful.
patcanuck :)

jcreech

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Re: Providing video copies of lessons?
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2020, 01:05:45 PM »
Hi Pat,

Sorry that it is so difficult for you participate fully.  I know there are sessions I am unable to participate in, though my problem is conflicts with work, not time of day as you report.

For many classes (not all), there are some additional options.  To start, there are some recorded sessions on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUSn45jaDeDBwTnQJVOVEA).  I was unable to see Cornelia Yoder's (Chick) presentation on inverted minors, so I was able to view that presentation through youtube when I had time.

Material from some of the classes are also available on this Forum in the major section titled University of IAC.  Poco and I both put up pdfs of the hands discussed annotated with our notes in IAC Teaching Sessions.  It is not as complete as attending, because questions come up during the discussion and because the hands are played before discussion, sometimes there are additional bidding or play comments that emerge - sorry that unless the session gets recorded, those elements are missing.

Also in IAC Teaching Sessions, Curls has also been making Cedar's lessons on squeezes available, including a pdf with the discussion and links to the play demonstrations.  And before that, IAC was privy to sessions with AngelBlue on squeezes.  Although most of his material is offsite (http://angelblue.co.il/), the lessons are quite good.

In the section on OCP (Oliver's version of Precision), much of the material that once appeared there has been moved to another site (http://ocp.pigpen.org.uk) - the link is provided in the section.

So, hopefully you will be able to find other ways to continue to learn with IAC's help.  Good luck on your quest to become a better player.





 
A stairway to nowhere is better than no stairway at all.  -Kehlog Albran

kenberg

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Re: Providing video copies of lessons?
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2020, 12:34:08 AM »
This is not directly speaking to Pat's concern but it's an opportunity to say that I thought the Zoom lesson with Cedar was terrific.  Declarer and Cedar converse on audio, others are muted but can type in comments that are often addressed by audio. It was a great format.

Two months ago I don't think I could have told you what Zoom was. I still know little about other choices although I did do some yoga with Google Meet the other day. Zoom is free for one on one but for something like w have I think that if the session goes on for more than 40 minutes (or 45 maybe) then the hose gas to subscribe. Not hugely expensive if it is used more than just occasionally.

We are, or many of us are, finding our way in this Brave New World, but I really liked the Zoom. And, as noted, it records. I'm a retired mathematician and I can now see recorded math talks on Zoom. Probably not something others are just itching to do.
Ken

patcanuck

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Re: Providing video copies of lessons?
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2020, 02:41:43 AM »
Many thanks you two for taking time to reply and point out some links to me.
Could I make a comment about Zoom since it has suddenly become so popular? I would not touch that program with a barge pole. It is not what it appears and it gathers data on its users and your personal info is then on offer to buyers (Facebook, etc) and despite their public assurances they are working to fix up the end to end encryption (that is not end to end) I would take those guarantees with the same scepticism I had when I found out their encryption claims were bogus. If (during a lesson) you were privately chatting to another viewer those chats are NOT private and the entire lot of conversations can then be downloaded and read by the company/boss/lecturer etc.
The same people who originally developed WhatsApp and sold it went on to develop Signal which gets very good reviews for its privacy and genuine end to end encryption and is stunningly simple to set up and use.

kenberg

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Re: Providing video copies of lessons?
« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2020, 11:49:40 AM »
Being 81 entitles a guy to ramble on a bit so I will.

I'll keep using Zoom, including iac lessons if they occur. From what I have seen I am more cautious than average, maybe quite a bit more  so, but I do use some things. Prompted by your comment I tried to find a NYT article of a few weeks back back that looked at various remote conference options, listing pluses and minuses for each. and as I recall they decided Zoom was likely to be the best choice for the casual user. I don't recall the article in detail and I couldn't find it.

Some things are more worrisome than others, and the context matters. My daughter now works from home and this leads to remote conferences.  It's a competitive world and corporate security matters. They have switched from Zoom to something else. But as for me, discussing bridge, I don't say anything important enough for anyone to uncover. Kibbing yesterday I sent a private note to someone saying I thought the bidding was weird. Well, it was. I doubt anyone wants to track that statement down and let the players know what I said.

Yes privacy is important to me. We of an age can be boring about the old days but it is a fact that when I was ten I rode my bike off somewhere, no one knew where I was and no one knew how to reach me to ask where I was or what I was doing.  Yes, I think there is a lot to be said for having time to oneself, accountable to no one, at least as long as a person is doing nothing worse than stealing plums from the plum tree in the local tree nursery. Well, now we are connected, and connected, and connected. Except in my case my cell phone broke a few months ago and I mean to get another but haven't yet. And Becky (my wife) still has a working cell phone but often doesn't carry it. So there are times we actually cannot call reach other. This seems to horrify some people. It seems natural to us, old habits die hard.

Anyway, I use Google to search for things and then I get ads, in some cases the logic of how the ads followed from the search escapes me. And we all get these robo-calls. But I think I get less of this than many people do so I must be doing something right or at least not too wrong.

So I will keep using Zoom. But I also will listen to other suggestions.
Ken