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So, how does it work? In the early morning each day we get an agenda of the day, listing what everybody are doing. Get, however, is not very correct. We have to practically drag it out of some very sleepy cavers. This goes into the "Where are they today?" section. At this time we sometimes also get the written reports from recently arrived and very smelly cavers. These go in the always growing "translate me" folder.
Afternoons are sometimes spent translating articles, and also gathering more daily reports. This is also the time for meetings, discussing today's site, tomorrow's articles. And for editing video, or touching up the photographs, and letting the cavers send e-mail to their family and friends. Evenings are spent translating, preparing the site for updates, compressing video, making interviews, and reviewing information.
To do all this, we had to bring along quite a bit of equipment. Just the act of setting up a decently reliable Internet connection became quite an odyssey, involving a very long telephone cable to be brought up from the Hotel Viki reception, and relying on a rural telephone connection to our offices in Mexico City. This is not a game, and lost carriers are all too frequent. We share this Internet connection with the other machines in the network, so people can browse to check satellite pictures, and write their e-mails.
We obviously use the same video editing systems that we offer for sale, and these Promax-based systems really are the best, most stable and expandable solutions on the market. The editing software is Apple's Final Cut Pro. Oh, did we mention that the systems are cheap as well? Barring this advertising break, however: If you add to this a network hub you have the general computer setup of this expedition. Some of the smaller laptops don't have network cards, but we beam files back and forth on those with the infrared ports. Putting up camp for this kind of expedition can be a real headache, but this time we've found it to be quite comfortable. We have clean, dry hotel rooms and access to a telephone line. For our next trip, we might not be quite that lucky.
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Then
we delegate. Oyvind might go out with Jonathan and Paz to take pictures
at a newly-found cave. Maru might go to see the Municipal President
to explain the expedition. Monica and I might stay behind to write about
the weather machine and to film a small demonstration of it. Or we might
go out driving in search of photo opportunities, or go talk to some
of the locals.
Then,
when we're finished and ready, the new pages go online, and the circle
starts again, often with only a handful of hours worth of sleep. The
goal is to keep that cycle running smoothly.
Computer
equipment is mostly laptop-based, as can only be expected. They are
small, rugged and versatile, and newer ones are powerful enough to swallow
most any task you throw at it. Perfect for taking to your hotel room
to write an article, for instance, or for sending out the window to
a waiting caver who wants to write his e-mail. My laptop serves as both
gateway, temporary Internet server (to review the site before we update).
The big Mac, with a 17" monitor, works primarily for editing video,
but also as file-server for large files (it does have 120 GB of disk,
after all). The Mac is also perfect for PhotoShop work and for compressing
the video. We've also brought some basic sound equipment (sound mixer,
sound monitors) which doubles as entertainment center.