I concur with the observation about multitasking as a reason why people won't turn cameras on. Starting in the late 90s I noticed people (myself included) who started staying in cubes/offices and calling into meetings even if they were only a few steps down the hall from the conference room. Reason: Internet access. (Checking/sending email, browsing web, IM, etc.) No one wants to be observed while they are not paying attention to the meeting they are supposed to be in. Whether we are suppose to be writing code, designing circuits, writing product requirements, reading specifications, calling customers, etc. we are all now being constantly interrupted with trivial communication events. Also when we are supposed to have important person to person interactions we instead either stay in offices and call in to meetings. Or we go to meetings and bring laptops and promptly check out of the meeting room we are in and into "cyberruption" space. I observed this as the seed stage of a drop in effective technical/business productivity. The main thing we are losing is strategic level thinking both on the technical and business elements of our workplace. People have largely stopped spending focused amounts of uninterrupted time doing a single thread of work and as a result have stopped "seeing the big picture". The first kind of productivity that sees a drop in quality and effectiveness is the work that involves "reflection"; strategy, architecture, innovation, planning, post-project review, etc. At the risk of sounding like a technology luddite, What we need is a business culture change involving 2 main things. Companies must set up cultures that reward/encourage the following ...

1. When people do have meetings with the intent to get team-based work accomplished, people who are in the building should attend in person without laptops, cellphones, etc...

2. If a person is remote that person is expected use a desktop video system that also displays a text list of the names of their active PC applications. The entries of this list should then flash prominently when that person uses them so other participants know when attention is being diverted from the discussion. People who are remote do not use video in this manner should only be allowed to listen...not to speak.

I know this sounds draconian but the only thing that changes behavior in an effective way is social peer pressure. If the above behaviors/requirements were instituted in companies we would see an increase in the attractiveness of desktop video and an improvement in the quality and productivity of teams in our corporations.

My 2 cents,
Roger Toennis

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