Organizations and Sociology Archives

Packet and SFWEM interconnects

28 May, 2021 by sky 1 Comment

Over the last year (most of 2020), the majority of my radio work has been focused on making my connections between packet radio and SFWEM even more resilient.

SFWEM.NET is the San Francisco Wireless Emergency Net, which is a mesh network that’s being built out by amateur radio operators with the intention of being a communications backup in time of emergency — when phone and data networks may be locally overwhelmed or not functional. Beside that, however, it’s an interesting experiment for amateur radio operators seeking to understand the benefits and limitations of “wi-fi” as a long-distance tool. [Read more…]

Got the Logitech C920/C922 blues?

18 September, 2020 by sky 6 Comments

photo of blueish tint in logitech C920 camera — This is the C920 camera’s “automatic” color balance before I corrected it. (In zoom.us setup on Mac OS)

We (the team here) have been struggling with the color on Logitech C920 and C922 webcams recently. We’re preparing for a big international conference in November when the cameras will be in around-the-clock use. Initially each camera had a nice color balance, but after a couple of weeks each of them acquired an “underwater” blueish cast, and things that should have appeared white in the picture turned a spooky underwater blue!

Some of the blueness is due to where we have located our webcams — they’re in rooms with good outdoor light, but no direct sunlight, so the ambient lighting is saturated with blue skylight. But, beyond that, the cameras over-emphasized the blue. They were trying to auto-correct, but slewed way too far blue. Instead of compensating for our blue light, they were over-emphasizing it. Today we solved the problem!

Tips for Recording Online Interviews and Conversations

31 March, 2020 by sky Leave a Comment

When you’re preparing for an online interview (Zoom, Skype), there are a few things you can do to really help it be a truly professional shoot. These tips are for both the interviewer and the interviewee. And they are the tips I suggest to interviewees on the Exploring Leadership podcast.

[Read more…]

Dog-related Antisocial Behavior

7 January, 2018 by sky Leave a Comment

Couldn’t resist this sign, which is posted in the public park near Euston Station in London. I’ll leave it to readers to make their own comments.

London is full of parks both public and private. Yes, private in that they’re fenced off and you need a key to access. Neighbors might have a key — others do not. And parks that have been there hundreds of years.

In San Francisco we’re not used to this concept of private parks. Frequently one encounters brass plates in the sidewalk stating “Right to pass… by permission of owner…” and in some cities, like New York, owners of private property that is open for trespass will close off their right-of-way once a year, just to enforce their right of ownership. [Read more…]

After Net Neutrality

4 January, 2018 by sky Leave a Comment

Under the principles of net neutrality, Internet Service Providers [ISPs] are like common carriers, carrying all bits equally, but with neutrality nullified, what’s the likely outcome?

The Federal Communications Commission [FCC] in the United States has voted to nullify the common carrier status of ISPs, and thus to kill net neutrality, but of course other nations may not do so and I think there are customer actions that could make it difficult for carriers to run roughshod over this principle. The FCC calls their own action “Restoring Internet Freedom” and I, along with millions of others, contend that it’s only restoring the freedom for carriers to differentiate and prioritize, and charge as they see fit, making it more difficult for us common folks in the long run.

[Read more…]