Coronavirus Cancelled SXSW EDU. Soooooo Now What?
As a West Coast woman living in one of the cold and snowy parts of Canada, I was really looking forward to combining my love for Digital Literacy, education, Conferences, tacos & the Texas heat into one, sweet winter escape this week.
When the texts started coming in Friday evening (mere hours before I was due to head to the airport!) from friends and colleagues asking “Did I just read this right??” with links to the announcement, messages ranging from “I know you’re supposed to be going! What’s going on??” to the more direct “F*&(!!!” from a colleague reacting to the news. As the messages came in my heart sank - one of the largest education conferences in the US that I was supposed to attend, SXSW EDU, was cancelled due to concerns related to the coronavirus epidemic.
The disappointment was real, as I realized how many amazing workshops, talks, discussions, networking opportunities, announcements, and so many spin-off events such as film screenings, Austin music walks, hikes in-and-around Austin, the bbq — I was going to miss it all. My head was spinning for days afterwards.
Ok quick, call the airline, call your friend who had booked the hotel rooms for us, check-in with everyone you know who was also going — “ARE YOU STILL GOING?” I asked them all. And they all replied: “No.”
None of us went.
And so I sit here in a Montréal café on this wet, March day with an entire week free (previously booked with adventure, learning, and networking), reflecting on what this cancellation means.
Not just for me, but for the world of learning, education, conferences and travel at the local, national and international level, and what the future may have in store for us who move around as much as I do - people who rely on travel to attend conferences and deliver hands-on Digital Literacy workshop experiences.
Clearly the need to continue providing our Digital Literacy workshops and consultations remains, but the format and delivery method will need to adapt in light of these cancellations and travel restrictions.
Developing an Online Media Education School has always been a dream of mine, leveraging the reach of the internet to provide critical Media & Digital Literacy Education to educators and students around the world who I can’t easily reach through hands-on workshops.
I feel that the potential of Hands On Media, our reach, and our impact are limited by the physical realities of in-person workshops, and have been excited by the shift towards our remote, virtual webinars and workshops.
Just last month, in partnership with LEARN Québec we delivered a webinar for teachers across the entire province of Québec! What a dream to be able to have that kind of connection with folks in some really remote communities! You can read the accompanying blog post here.
As large meetings, events, conferences, university classes and travel begin to be cancelled around the world in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, I am encouraged, excited and hopeful to make my dream a reality quicker than I had originally anticipated. We already offer webinars and remote workshops to students and educators anywhere in the world, but the big dream is to start an Online School…