Wireless Etiquette in Meetings

The Austin Municipal Building has been lit up, so tonight was the first Telecommunications Commission meeting where I had wireless Internet access.

At tonight's meeting we had a number of presentations, from organizations such as the River City Youth Foundation and the Austin Community Access Center. I found that the presentations were enhanced by Internet availability, although I have some concerns about the propriety of using that access during presentations.

When, for instance, Mona Gonzalez discussed the River City program, I was able to visit Mapquest and see exactly where the center is located. When she discussed support for the Computer Learning Lab, I was able to visit their web page and see who else sponsors the program.

Similarly, when John Villarreal discussed ACAC policy, I was able to visit their web site and view their posted information.

The net allowed me to get more out of the presentations. It may have appeared, however, that I was only paying half attention. Some presenters understandably may take offense at this. If I was the one giving the presentation, I might be bothered seeing people staring at a laptop screen instead paying attention to me.

I'm not sure what to do about this. It would be wrong to stop doing online research during presentations. On-line access allows me to get even more out of the presentations.

I could say something like, "Don't mind my web surfing, I'm really paying attention to you." That seems terribly lame.

I hope that with time, this becomes less of a concern. I suspect as Internet access becomes ubiquitous, people will become used to this, so online research during meetings will become less offensive.