While this is an interesting way of disobeying and a nice idea in general, I have to admit that it also feels a bit overreacted. The reason why laptops are banned (as outlined in this document: http://fraktion.piratenpartei-sh.de/2012-09-19-bericht-aus-d...) are that people used them during the parliament hours for social networking or games and that the clicking of the keyboard and the fans and harddrives of the laptops created a distracting noise.
Tablets are specifically allowed.
I can understand that the noise that a set of laptops generates can be distracting. On the other hand does a tablet not really help if you want to type down thoughts or parts of what's currently being said. So the smart thing to do would be to only allow very silent fanless laptops (my MacBookAir, for example, seems to make no noise at all, except when watching YouTube videos).
I sincerely doubt that it makes sense to try to ban the clicking of keyboards. That's like trying to ban the shuffling of paper. Bringing a typewriter which makes really loud typing noises doesn't sound like such a good idea in that context. A foldable bluetooth keyboard + would have been the better idea; that way they wouldn't show disobedience, but instead they'd display that there're other ways in which one can be silent and still use a keyboard in there.
If government officials don't care about parliament sessions and are playing games during them, the noise of their keyboards is the least of your problems. I think typewriter is a great way to express that. You can't play games on it, unlike iPad.
You know, this view is probably the minority here but I think that the way we conduct meetings has changed.
Whenever I hold a workshop or longer meetings, I always try to give 5-10 minutes on every hour so people can "reconnect" with their email, news, social network, or whatever it is that is trying to occupy their mindshare with me.
I've noticed a marked increase in engagement whenever I allow this. I know that the people there should be paying attention, but in practice they are incapable of it.
Hah, not in the ones I attended. They were under the impression that those in attendance or participating should pay attention always, with a couple mandatory bathroom breaks.
> the clicking of the keyboard and the fans and harddrives of the laptops created a distracting noise. Tablets are specifically allowed.
Why not just ban the noise itself? Why deal with the inevitable complexity of attempting to capture the causes of the noise in a system of arbitrary categories, and suffer the collateral damage of suppressing activities and objects that aren't generating noise, while still subjecting yourself to non-laptop-related sources of distracting noise?
The real reason why they are banned: Because the majority of the parliament wanted it that way and voted for the rule. I don't get the outrage at all, why shouldn't the parliament get to decide how they run their own sessions?
Not quite the majority of parliament - it's the 'Ältestenrat', the 'Council of Elders' composed of representatives from the different political fractions that decides on these procedural rules. So perhaps about 15 people for a majority?
There were probably typewriters used there in the past. It's good way to make the law seem silly and a waste of money, because the government ran fine in the past with something much noisier. Buying a certain kind of keyboard to adhere to a stupid law would make disobeying pointless, since it is also a waste of money.
I can understand that the noise that a set of laptops generates can be distracting. On the other hand does a tablet not really help if you want to type down thoughts or parts of what's currently being said. So the smart thing to do would be to only allow very silent fanless laptops (my MacBookAir, for example, seems to make no noise at all, except when watching YouTube videos).
I sincerely doubt that it makes sense to try to ban the clicking of keyboards. That's like trying to ban the shuffling of paper. Bringing a typewriter which makes really loud typing noises doesn't sound like such a good idea in that context. A foldable bluetooth keyboard + would have been the better idea; that way they wouldn't show disobedience, but instead they'd display that there're other ways in which one can be silent and still use a keyboard in there.