Killing AV As We Know It | IT in AV
By James King
As we enter a new year we take the time to plan and see where the new year is going to go. There are many aspects that I could take my predictions as I feel 2023 is just ripe for technology advantages. After getting out the crystal ball and looking into the future I have decided to take this article a different route. If you were on the Dec 16th Higher Ed AV Happy Hour you would have heard both Ryan Gray and Joe Way say I am wrong with my prediction. I even talked about it on an episode of The AV Life Podcast as well as an episode of Ask The Programmer (not released yet). I might take some heat and maybe Joe will ask me to stop writing but I do not believe I am wrong. My prediction is we are killing AV as we know it. I really hope I am wrong here but I see the writing on the walls.
Killing AV as we know it
What do I mean by “killing AV as we know it”? I do not mean that AV is going away but we are oversimplifying and killing the basic knowledge we need to grow into AV techs. How are we doing this? We are doing this with AI and software. Just like we need to crawl before we can run, we need to learn the basics before we can become advanced AV techs. With AI and software, we are removing a critical learning process. For example, there are products on the market where a ‘tech’ can place it in a room, hit a button, and the device will auto setup. This device will set audio levels, microphone levels, etc… with the ‘tech’ not doing any more than just hitting the button. The issue with this is, what happens when it doesn’t work? Does the ‘tech’ have the basic knowledge of audio to fix any issues? How does the entry-level tech learn this basic knowledge? Does the system even allow for someone to come in and make changes?
It reminds me of a situation that happened when I was back in high school. My mother and I were out and decided to stop at a fast food joint for lunch. We walked up to the counter and a young person was working. My mother ordered a combo meal, the sign said $5, but when the worker rang it up it came to $2. My mother said ‘did you put that in correctly? I did ask for the combo and the sign says $5’ The worker replied ‘yes I pressed the combo button. I know the sign says $5 but the computer says $2’ After the worker looked at the sign and then looked at the computer screen multiple times with a confused look, we decided to move forward with our order. When we went to pick up the order, my mother’s ‘meal’ was just the sandwich, not the whole combo. It turned out the wrong button was pressed, maybe the worker fault, maybe the computer fault, but underlining the worker blindly followed the information on the screen. Now I know that situation had nothing to do with AI but more likely human error.
AI can be helpful and remove human errors in our lives but are we blindly following it without learning the basic? If there is something on a screen, or device handling something do we have a basic knowledge to know if it is correct?
Going back to this magic device where AI can set it up, leads me to why I feel I am right about #AVisIT and why the title of this column is AV IN IT. If you have followed me any time on social media you will know I am in the camp of #AVisIT, even if that is a camp of one. During the Happy Hour (mentioned above) Ryan went on to say “it is time for AV to take over IT”. Ryan went on to say that nothing that IT does is hard and he isn’t incorrect with that statement. With that said this reminds me of a statement told to me once. I was talking with an old supervisor of mine and was telling him “nothing I do is hard” and he replied, “it may not be hard for you, but it might be hard for someone else”. This statement has stuck with me over the years as I watch the simplification of IT and now AV.
“Nothing I do is hard” and he replied, “it may not be hard for you, but it might be hard for someone else”.
Old Supervisor
If we look at IT from the lens of an outsider they seem cold and ‘get the job done and move on’; but this isn’t really the case. IT folks, mainly in higher education, understand that when our phones ring, it is not someone calling to say “hello”. There is an issue and ‘our’ systems are preventing that user from achieving something they are trying to do. This is why IT techs are protected from their systems and looking for the quickest solution and most uptime. These quick solutions lead me back to the killing of basic knowledge. When I first got into learning about computers there was already a simplification going on. How many of you, readers, know about computer IRQs (Interrupt Requests)? A computer tech used to have to know which IRQ linked to which process and how to set them correctly but as I was getting into the field this process was now being handled by software and code. Fast forward to my student worker days. When a computer would have issues, like a virus or even software issues, we techs would spend time trying to solve the issue. Now if there is a virus on a computer or a software issue, the techs hit a button and re-image the computer. This does allow the computer to be in working order again quickly but does not allow our techs to build and add to their toolbox. This quick, get-up-and-running process has been ingrained in IT and they are running with it. They understand the longer the system is down the more eyes are on them and the more the outside folks feel the IT people are not good at their job.
How does this lead me to my prediction?
Simple AV techs are still digging their heels in and taking the long road to solving problems. There is nothing wrong with this and in reality, it leads to a better experience for our users and allows our techs to build and add to their toolbox. The issue with the long road is just that, it takes time and we are in a time of instant gratification. When there is an AV issue, feedback in a mic, blurry video, or audio cutting in and out, the outside folks are looking to us for a quick fix, and when it’s not a quick fix they are thinking ‘are you even good at your job?’ This is where software and AI from the IT world are coming into our world. This is now allowing us to quickly fix issues or even set something up. This is even allowing the IT techs, who are used to quick solutions, to come in and set up the equipment. This will bypass the need for ‘AV’ techs and increase the need for ‘IT’ techs. We can sit back and try to explain the user experience and the need to do things ‘correctly’ but while doing that an IT tech just came in, hit the button, and got the user up and running with ‘good enough’; yea I said it.
We will not stop the advancement of software and AI and in fact, these tools are valuable in our field. This movement is killing AV as we know it and we ‘AV’ techs need to become techs and grow our toolbox in other areas just like ‘IT’ techs did.
The more we dig our heels in, the quicker ‘AV’ will be killed and ‘IT’ will take over.
