Training with Remote Feed

On Wednesday, I experienced my first formal telepresence situation, at a hearing at SF MORDOR. A silver domed triangular plastic speakerphone apparatus sat on a table with a black microphone bent over it . At the other end of this connection was a vocational expert who contributed nothing to the hearing beyond her identity, followed by her mute spectral presence.

Later that afternoon, I attended a training at a high powered law firm with a full-on two-way video link to a branch office somewhere in the Southbay.

I don't believe that the mediated, telecomm aspect of either event was the major factor making it so excruciatingly soul-quenching.