Happy Friday! To my fellow academics: please stop reflexively recording meetings & events. It& #39;s one of the terrible responses that& #39;s emerged this year associated with the rise in usage of video conferencing software. Storage takes $$$, and, yes, it has an environmental cost.

It also has, I would argue, unintended consequences for pedagogy. Just like everyone else, I& #39;ve encountered the wall of camera-off students, as well as the quieter-than-ever classroom. These reactions seem pretty reasonable to me.

On the one hand, 2020 is a burning stress-dumpster floating down a river of sewage. On the other, having my every word recorded while trying to learn is deeply unpleasant. It& #39;s why I likewise hate the "was that panel recorded?" question about conferences, conventions, etc.

This thread is, to be clear, not about my employer or any org in particular. It& #39;s about the capture of experience. Just as I hate vendors gathering stats about my reading while I& #39;m reading, I hate orgs gathering info about my learning process while I learn.

This isn& #39;t a "some things shouldn& #39;t be recorded" suggestion. It& #39;s a "think carefully before recording at all" suggestion.