Week 1, Day 2, 1st Zoombombing!

[Bill Maurer]

    Dear all,

    First I want to thank those of you who shared your experiences with
    me about how your first day of class went--and it sounds like aside
    from a few technical and connectivity issues, things are going better
    than expected! Above all, several of you report that the students are
    simply grateful to have a chance to connect, to share, to commiserate
    and to be "together" with their peers for the first time since they
    started sheltering in place. Thank you for providing our students with
    that opportunity.
    
    I'll share more later, but I also wanted to alert everyone that we
    had our first major Zoombombing incident during our first attempt at
    a public event--our panel on the US Census. Despite our best efforts,
    some miscreants managed to get through some of our protections, to litter
    our screens and to interrupt our panelists with extremist rhetoric. They
    were not particularly smart about it, however—and the recording of
    the "bombed" event is being shared with campus police. Nevertheless,
    we persisted, and managed to record the session afresh, with terrific
    commentary and a Q&A session. That video will be shared soon.
    
    We are working on new guidance and possible add-ons in Zoom for us all to
    prevent such disruptions in the future--whether in our classes, campus
    activities or community-oriented events. News flash: there are jerks,
    and a lot of them live online, which is where we all live a good chunk
    of our lives now, too. But we will persevere!
    
    For now, minimally, I'd recommend anyone sharing Zoom links with
    their students to do so from within Canvas or via direct email rather
    than posting them publicly anywhere. Please also check your settings
    as discussed here and here (under 3/26, Actions to Prevent Zoom Bombing).
    More to come.

    Best wishes to everyone who taught or is teaching for the first time
    today, and again, feel free to share what's going right (and wrong)!
    
    Bill