Something I was worried might happen happened yesterday, and again today. Zoom failed me! It didn't just freeze my interlocutors, or drag out their words like taffy - it booted me out! When zoom started up again it returned me to the discussion, of which which I'd thankfully made my teaching assistant co-host, but then suddenly closed again, and again. Between closings I decided it was best to send the students into planned breakout sessions, but the next time I was ejected and reinserted it didn't recognize me and told me I was "waiting to be assigned a breakout room" - nothing I could do! Happily I was booted yet again, and the next time in was able to free the students from their breakout rooms (though they hadn't received my chat message with instructions, and had been happily talking amongst themselves since they couldn't communicate with me from inside them), at which point I switched to my phone - but not before accidentally sending the invite to my dear mother, who duly showed up to everyone's confusion! Today's failures were less interesting, just meetings I was part of (though I again had to use my phone and was invisible to my colleagues), but it's got me spooked. Not surprised - it's amazing that zoom, and for that matter the world wide web and all our servers, can absorb the movement of so much of social, cultural and professional life suddenly online - but suddenly wary of assuming all will be able to proceed as planned.
