The Joys of Meatspace

I’ve been attending the Astronomical Society of the Pacific meeting this past few days and it’s always a good chance to catch up with folks I know from the science and outreach communities. In particular, it’s nice to meet up in “meatspace” instead of the cyberland we all inhabit between meetings. I had to laugh the other day when someone I hadn’t seen in a while asked me “what have you been doing?” and I said “everything” and we both laughed because we’re all multitasking all the time.

Earlier today, we had a large group discussion aboutthe role of new media (Facebook, SecondLife, Twitter, etc.) in science outreachand while we were talking in meatspace, many of us were also tweeting about it, too. A sort of “meta-tweet” if you will. Then, after it was over, we all were talking in the hallway outside the room where the discussion occurred, and I heard things like “I like what you tweeted when so-and-so said XX.”

I love this new world where we can combine the virtual and the real to communicate.