Since the media release last Tuesday we’ve had about 6000 visits to the Te Papa squid pages! For this time period the squid ranks 5th on our website and rising! www.tepapa.govt.nz/squid
Today final preparations are in full swing with the webcam installation, and cameras being set up by Natural History NZ who are filming the dissection for a Discovery Channel documentary which will screen later this year. Converting a dissection laboratory into a film studio requires a few makeshift changes to control the lighting and sound!
The webcam will screen from Sunday morning NZ time (and we’ll leave the lights on so people can watch ice melt overnight!). Unfortunately we will not be able to webcast the lectures live on 1st & 2nd May, but these will be available as podcasts later.
We will endeavour to update events throughout the dissection as information becomes available.
What others are saying
There’s a lot of information about colossal squid available on the internet in addition to the Te Papa webpages – for example The Octopus News Magazine Online: http://tonmo.com
Especially the forums. For instance on this thread, Dr Steve O’Shea will answer questions about the colossal squid: http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13084&page=4
Some Squid-fans are even going to live-blog about the dissection: http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/2008/04/giant_squid_live_and_in_techni.php
http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=colossal+squid&btnG=Search+Blogs
Tomorrow is ANZAC Day holiday in New Zealand, so we’ll be back on Sunday morning when the squid will be removed from the freezer to start thawing. While we watch ice melt we have some other giant squid in the freezer to examine – yesterday we received news of the capture of another 200+kg giant squid that will be delivered here on Monday! The signs are good – here’s a cloud which appeared over the building yesterday:
27 April 2008 at 1:23 pm
The web-site viewing is being very poorly managed. You heavily promoted the event as starting at 12:00 o’clock Sunday. So like thousands of others I logged on at 12:00 o’clock only to watch 20 minutes of absolutely nothing. I guess everyone has gone for a good old cup of tea, never mind the viewers, they can wait…and wait…and wait… How very Public Service. I have given up and am not in the slightest bit interested in coming back.
27 April 2008 at 1:56 pm
The video coverage of the lab looks great. I’m eager to see how the whole process is managed. I don’t mind the delay. It sounds like there is going to be a lot of time to watch the specimen thaw. I think we’d all rather let the experts take their time with the squid than rush to meet a media deadline.
27 April 2008 at 2:37 pm
At the very least there should be a rough daily timetable of what is going to happen. (Give or take 1/2hr). If there are to be unforseen delays then a simple noticeboard giving revised times would be appreciated. Wasting megabytes of download (roughly 18Meg/hr @ 333kb/sec) with nothing happening whatsoever is unprofessional and inconsiderate. Even more so when it is putting NZ on show to the International community.
27 April 2008 at 3:37 pm
Via BBC Worldnews website linked to Te Papa websited. I agree guys, I assume most people just use the real time video link. Great service though! Knowing about the delay I’ll have another cuppa! Good luck tomorrow, I’ll be there. Great that the ‘Kiwi’ scientific community wants to share their excitement. Good work, good use of the web. Thanks!
27 April 2008 at 3:44 pm
Likewise from Australia (Perth) disappointing to watch 2.5 hrs of basically nothing, would really have liked to know when things were more or less going to happen. I will miss it now, other things to do during the day then wait. Not a good show.
27 April 2008 at 3:47 pm
Video looks good, but no sound? I think it would be very informative to have a bit of audio to go along with the activity.
27 April 2008 at 5:54 pm
Im in canada and everything is coming thru here just fine , yes Audio would be nice and I agree a ” rough daily timetable ” would be appreciated ,Even a chalkboard in view of a camera , Good job well done to those involved in setting this up
28 April 2008 at 10:42 am
c-food and AS I totally agree about the no audio. It is a bit crazy of them I think to have a very educational process going on live on the internet and to have no audio to go with the live streaming images seen. How are we,ordinary people,supposed to know what is happening? Yes we can see what is happening, but to most of us,squid is just squid and we do not know how to distinguish one part of a squid from another part,especially internally.
28 April 2008 at 1:22 pm
The problem is that we have absolutely no idea of what is going on (and do the Te Papa staff even care..?). There is not even the courtesy of a rough timetable. If you are going to promote it on the Internet and especially Internationally then don’t just stick a camera in a room and walk away expecting people to watch nothing endlessly. There is an appalling lack of communication by the organisers and I guess we are expected to watch and wait and wait and wait… Very poor…
28 April 2008 at 1:33 pm
It is Monday lunch time, I’m looking at a squid on a table, is this even ‘the’ colossal squid or is it just another squid specimen being played with. Why can’t someone at Te papa have the courtesy to inform us what is going on.
28 April 2008 at 1:53 pm
12:50pm Goodness something must have happened but I blinked and missed it.
28 April 2008 at 3:38 pm
It is a giant squid that is being examined – we still need to defrost the Colossal squid. And we are also working on getting you some sound. We hope to have this sorted soon. The guys here will be getting the Colossal squid out of the freezer at 3pm so I will try to keep my posts coming to keep you informed. Thanks for the comments!