(no subject)

[eldabe]

I'm at the Arisia virtual con this weekend, and it's not my first virtual con (FanWorks con, which, to be fair, is MUCH smaller) and I'm actually really impressed by the way Arisia did this. There's a landing page where you can go quickly to the schedule which links to every panel "room," and VERY easy links to a help desk and safety desk, and an easy link to the dealer's corner....and it's just very pleasant and well-put-together while still being a little dorky and clearly made by fans.

The Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog fan performance thingy last night was done on a streaming page where they had a frame set up to look like a theater which made me think of the MST3K theater which was the exact balance of clever, fun, and dorky.

I don't know if it's perfect for everyone and I do miss the con "atmosphere" because it's not quite the same at home. But honestly, I'm really impressed and I'm much more inclined to try out virtual cons after this.

Comments

[eldabe]

Ohhh, thank you for the outline! This sounds a lot more doable on zoom that I though filking would be, even if it's not all entirely the same.

And I'm glad some people are finding it easier to do in these circumstances! I think it makes sense. I've had one friend who has found working from home incredible while I'm miserable, so some people finding that filk-from-home is better for them is kind of awesome, actually. Do you know if there has been any discussion of keeping remote options once we go back to normal?

[sdelmonte]

There is definitely talk about continuing some form of online "housefilk" since travel is always hard. But I think that once cons start again, there can't be direct competition from anything else. Though I wonder if cons will be more willing to livestream. Most cons have been very reluctant to try for many reasons, but that will look sort of exclusionary now. All the Zoom filks have allowed a lot of people who I have never seen filking into the community.

[eldabe]

I think having SOME livestream options at cons would be amazing. Like, one room is set up with it's own dedicated wifi connection and all the tracks at the con get a certain number of panel slots they can reserve in the "streaming room" and filkers could grab it for a few panels at least. I get that logistics for every panel could be hard, but just a few would be great?

And ooooh housefilk. That opens up all sorts of possibilities! Housefilks with people across the planet! (I was almost going to say "across the country" but that's thinking too small!)

[sdelmonte]

Quite international. I have been filking with people from the UK, Sweden, and Germany, and there are two cons combining forces in February that will have Europeans performing in the morning and Americans the rest of the day. No sign, though, of the one and only known filker in Singapore.

If you want to try attending any of these online filk events, let me know. Or we could invite you to join the Discord filk channels.