PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon, as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

I use the headline to indicate that, in this age of coronavirus, I have become proficient in new technologies.

Well, not proficient.

Just call me the assistant chief technology officer at my household.

The chief is my good wife. With her help, I have been able lately to use such virtual meeting venues as Go-To-Meeting, Skype, and Zoom.

If you cannot meet in person, then meet on-line.

Examples:

1. I used Go-To-Meeting yesterday to join a number of colleagues on the Oregon Golf Association Board of Directors Executive Committee for our regular meeting.

Spread around the state, we were able to communicate as if we were together in one room. We dealt with issues about keeping golf going in Oregon during the pandemic, which has been and will be a feat of new engineering and creativity.

2. I will be using Skype this Friday to participate on-line in a meeting of the State of Oregon Ethics Commission.

Normally, we meet in a Salem conference room. This time, we will be on-line and the meeting, by law a public one, also will be available for any citizen who wants to tune in.

3. Each Friday at 8 a.m. I tune in via Zoom to a Bible study for members of Illahe Hills Golf Club who want to do more than golf together.

The user-friendly Zoom allows us to be together from our own living rooms.

Regarding Zoom, Fortune magazine reports that the virus outbreak has supercharged demand for the video-chat service. Zoom won’t disclose usage numbers beyond its last reported quarter, but CEO Eric Yuan said on March 4 that the company has seen a “large increase in the number of free users, meeting minutes, and new video cases” – beyond such older systems as Skype and Go-To-Meeting.

So, I am not alone in using on-line meeting devices in the pandemic. But my experience has been and will be that programs represent a valuable way to stay connected in one of the most difficult times in our country’s history.

A footnote here is that my niece, Zan Fiskum – a musical talent considerable proportions (meaning that got none of her ability from my side of the family — has been competing on the NBC program, The Voice. In the last few weeks competition has occurred on-line. Several months ago, she was in Los Angeles in the studio, but with the pandemic, she and other contestants have been singing from their homes around the country.

Celebrity judges also have been in their homes and both the contestants and the judges have had to learn to put together the technology to be on line. It was feat of significant propositions.

Go Zan!