[FOM] Video Archivals of Logic Conferences

[Grant Olney Passmore]

Dear Friends,

While reading the Feferman's wonderful new Tarski biography, I've found 
myself often wishing very much that his lectures had been archived on 
film for posterity.  Certainly, in previous decades such a luxury was 
cost-prohibitive and excessive, but now, filming, authoring, and 
producing a DVD takes nothing more than some commodity hardware, 
software, and a bit of time.  Practically anyone with a cheap camera 
and the desire to do the work can make an excellent DVD that would 
serve the community nicely.  Imagine, for instance, if a DVD of last 
year's May ASL conference were available for ASL members as an option 
with their journal subscription.  This would be so nice!

Are there any important reasons why conferences should not be captured 
on film or video?  I am just an undergraduate and only attended my 
first ASL conference last year, but to the best of my knowledge, I 
can't remember any of the sessions I attended being filmed.  For a new 
student such as myself, having access to a conference on DVD would be 
an incredible pedagogical tool.  Subtleties in proceedings that are 
clarified during question and answer sessions, the inspired delivery 
that makes the great presentations great - these are just two of the 
many positive results that having video/film archival would bring.

I appreciate your thoughts very much.

Best,
Grant Passmore