Elbow-to-elbow, cheek-to-cheek, face-to-cam...

Yesterday's Community and Mobility conference must have been good because lines from presentations keep triggering fresh thoughts. John Urry's was particularly good, and I hope we'll get the slides or a link. Meanwhile time for reflection on one of the reasons for travelling that he mentioned... the need to work 'elbow-to-elbow' with someone on a project. To build trust you need to be face-to-face. To develop intimacy some cheek-to-check can help. Toe-to-toe and head-to-head suggests conflict, back-to-front confusion, side-by-side solidarity. What are the online equivalents? Fingers-to-keys and face-to-cam don't have the same ring, and are just about our human-machine interface. As John said, it is easy to idealise what we are used to. We know something new is happening when it enters the language.When the ?-to-? phrases form we'll know virtual is replacing more of 'real'.

Comments

[Anne Pridmore]

David, You spoke about physical travel versus virtual travel. For many disabelled people virtual travel keeps them in touch with their peers, colleagues, friends and family. In virtual reality i can be anything i want to be. Unfortunately, in this (real) world people judge us for the way we look. Many people never look beyond. In virtual reality i am an intelligent articulate educated interesting woman. But, unfortunately many of us (especially women) find that once we divulge the real me the link soon closes. However, physical travel will (i hope) never replace the value of face to face connections and or that involves ..............

[David Wilcox]

Anne - reminds me of the old New Yorker cartoon with two dogs sitting on top of computers. One says to the other: "The great thing about the Internet is that no-one knows you are a dog." Truth in humour... but can the Net also help change perceptions?