How big is your bookcase?

obewan · Post by **obewan** » Mon May 18, 2020 9:03 am

Watching TV in this current period, and the number of people being interviewed on a laptop at home, I can't help but notice the large number of bookcases behind them.
Got a thing about it now

Some of them are just a shelf with a couple of books, others take up the whole wall and are crammed.
Just find it slightly surprising in this electronic data age, also it must be almost impossible to find the one you want

enuff_zed · Post by **enuff_zed** » Mon May 18, 2020 9:18 am

I saw someone who was trying to market a roll up screen to put behind you, to look like a bookcase and make you look more cerebral.

I prefer the row of empty wine bottles, uncombed hair and 3-day stubble.

mmm-five · Post by **mmm-five** » Mon May 18, 2020 9:33 am

Depending on the conferencing app, there are a few convincing custom backgrounds you can choose - or find & upload your own.

For our (less formal) calls I pick a bathroom or set of famous BBC TV shows (Doctor Who, Open All Hours, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Porridge, Eastenders).

For the more formal ones I just either don't bother and everyone can see the door/wall behind me, or I pick an 'office-like' one. I could do a wall full of books, but that would mean me sitting in my bedroom instead of the office.

With both, the trick is to position your camera so that you fit into the scene perfectly - and not look like a photoshopped social media wannabe post.

----

And to answer the question, the bookcase (or shelves as I like to call them) only have a few hundred, most sci-fi, horror & Discworld books.

buzyg · Post by **buzyg** » Mon May 18, 2020 10:57 am

mmm-five wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 9:33 am Depending on the conferencing app, there are a few convincing custom backgrounds you can choose - or find & upload your own.

For our (less formal) calls I pick a bathroom or set of famous BBC TV shows (Doctor Who, Open All Hours, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Porridge, Eastenders).

For the more formal ones I just either don't bother and everyone can see the door/wall behind me, or I pick an 'office-like' one. I could do a wall full of books, but that would mean me sitting in my bedroom instead of the office.

With both, the trick is to position your camera so that you fit into the scene perfectly - and not look like a photoshopped social media wannabe post.

----

And to answer the question, the bookcase (or shelves as I like to call them) only have a few hundred, most sci-fi, horror & Discworld books.

Interesting we don't allow any one to one video calls at work, due to the nature of what might be in view. We still have to go to a dedicated conference room for video calls. If the tech is all ready out there to automatically hide the background, then hopefully they will enable one to one video in the near future. Though to be honest sharing computer desk tops is probably more useful than looking at your colleagues ugly mug,

Oh and which bookcase, we have a few.

brillomaster · Post by **brillomaster** » Mon May 18, 2020 11:56 am

Custom backgrounds all the way. we have a casual zoom call with some motorsport friends, and our backgrounds are normally famous racetracks from around the world we've been to (my background is eau rouge/raidillion at spa).

at work we rarely bother with video calls - a simple audio call is fine, and it saves me horror of seeing how unkept my colleagues have allowed their face fungus to get. on the rare occasion we do video call, i go for a generic plain office background, or not bother, since i have my back to a neutral coloured wall anyway.

Dav the wheel nut · Post by **Dav the wheel nut** » Mon May 18, 2020 12:10 pm

You can also get bookcase wallpaper

: 3A0485C1-B593-4CE7-ADD4-07DF40FD20F0.jpeg (151.24 KiB) Viewed 909 times

Owdgit · Post by **Owdgit** » Mon May 18, 2020 10:04 pm

brillomaster wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 11:56 am Custom backgrounds all the way. we have a casual zoom call with some motorsport friends, and our backgrounds are normally famous racetracks from around the world we've been to (my background is eau rouge/raidillion at spa).

at work we rarely bother with video calls - a simple audio call is fine, and it saves me horror of seeing how unkept my colleagues have allowed their face fungus to get. on the rare occasion we do video call, i go for a generic plain office background, or not bother, since i have my back to a neutral coloured wall anyway.

My avatar is me at eau rouge, I leave it on for my teams avatar and it usually starts a conversation.

M1k3yC · Post by **M1k3yC** » Tue May 19, 2020 9:36 pm

My decks, mixer, and vinyl are behind me in my office. I'm sick of talking about them on video calls, but it's a useful icebreaker.

Pbondar · Post by **Pbondar** » Wed May 20, 2020 9:53 am

enuff_zed wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 9:18 am I saw someone who was trying to market a roll up screen to put behind you, to look like a bookcase and make you look more cerebral.

I prefer the row of empty wine bottles, uncombed hair and 3-day stubble.

Are you referring to my wife?

enuff_zed · Post by **enuff_zed** » Wed May 20, 2020 11:56 am

Pbondar wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2020 9:53 am
enuff_zed wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 9:18 am I saw someone who was trying to market a roll up screen to put behind you, to look like a bookcase and make you look more cerebral.

I prefer the row of empty wine bottles, uncombed hair and 3-day stubble.
Are you referring to my wife?

Another Covid-19 side effect they didn't tell us about. No wonder they want to relax the lockdown!!

gannet · Post by **gannet** » Thu May 21, 2020 2:56 pm

I don't have any bookcases ...

N4LLY · Post by **N4LLY** » Sat May 30, 2020 10:36 am

Another Ice breaker, i Still have the Chrismas tree up behind me in the works Zoom calls

Crazy Harry · Post by **Crazy Harry** » Sat May 30, 2020 11:47 am

Yep got one - one wall of the dinning room 16' long by 6' high and stuffed. The rest are stacked up round the house in piles!

That's what happens when both your wife and yourself were teachers - about 95% reference books (not text books) and can't bring myself to throw them away even though we've both retired. I took a few degrees over the years and that upped the book count well.

Its an outside wall and I'm sure that the books have good thermal efficiency and keep the room warmer.

obewan · Post by **obewan** » Sat May 30, 2020 12:30 pm

Slightly off topic - but still book themed
I was rummaging around in the loft recently and found an old school library book I hadn't returned

Looking inside the cover I was amazed to see the person that had it out before me was my now wife! (of 34 years)
It was dated 5 years before I ever met her.

mmm-five · Post by **mmm-five** » Sat May 30, 2020 12:41 pm

obewan wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 12:30 pm Slightly off topic - but still book themed
I was rummaging around in the loft recently and found an old school library book I hadn't returned
Looking inside the cover I was amazed to see the person that had it out before me was my now wife! (of 34 years)
It was dated 5 years before I ever met her.

Maybe that name had subconsciously stuck in your mind, so that when you finally did meet her it triggered some sense of recognition that you couldn't explain...until now

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