A Day in the Life of the World

[acgoldis]

Me and time are not friends. I am still so confused
Let me see if I get this right, On Friday evening at 7pm
it begins for the people of the Eastern United states
and it finishes at 7Pm on Saturday Night?

Yes. It's the same 24 hour period all over the world, 00:00 UTC to 23:59 UTC on March 29th. If you're not in the same time zone as England and most of Western Europe, the local time differences between your time zone and UTC will shift this period (from your perspective) into a 24-hour period spanning Friday/Saturday (if you're in the Western Hemisphere) or Saturday/Sunday (if you're in the Eastern Hemisphere).

ACG

 

[acgoldis]

Me and time are not friends. I am still so confused
Let me see if I get this right, On Friday evening at 7pm
it begins for the people of the Eastern United states
and it finishes at 7Pm on Saturday Night?

Note that the times suggested by the time zone clock will be in STANDARD time unless the programs you're using to check the equivalent time in your time zone know about daylight savings time. In the case of New York, the 7 PM would be 7 PM Eastern Standard Time. That would be 8:00 Daylight Savings Time. Since New York will be under Daylight Savings Time, you should start your 24 hours at 8:00 PM if you live in New York.

NOTE FOR EUROPEAN/EASTERN HEMISPHERE PARTICIPANTS: I have just noticed that Daylight Savings Time starts MARCH 30TH for people in Europe. Check to make sure when Daylight Savings Time starts in your area when you plan your schedules. If the clocks advance at 2:00 AM local time, you could conceivably have your "24 hour period" start 2:00 AM March 29th and end 3:00 AM on March 30th if you live in a time zone two hours ahead of Greenwich.

 

[Dioboleque]

Woah! Wouldn't it be easiest for everyone just to say anytime on 3/29, wherever you happen to be in the world?

 

[Socrates]

Woah! Wouldn't it be easiest for everyone just to say anytime on 3/29, wherever you happen to be in the world?

I don't object to that. In fact, that's what I had intended several posts back. The problem is that we can't easily vote so I'm willing to let acgoldis make the decision based on our comments. After all, he started this idea. I'll cooperate with whatever he says.

 

[acgoldis]

I don't object to that. In fact, that's what I had intended several posts back. The problem is that we can't easily vote so I'm willing to let acgoldis make the decision based on our comments. After all, he started this idea. I'll cooperate with whatever he says.

Hi!

I think we should go with the UTC version. Remember if we do 3/29 in our own time zones, we effectively have 48 hours of photographs instead of 24 (some guy in the western Pacific takes a photograph at what is effectively 12:01 UTC on the 28th (00:01 AM on the 29th local time but 12 hours ahead of Greenwich) and some other guy in the eastern Pacific will take a shot at 11:59 UTC on the 30th (23:59 PM on the 29th local time but he's 12 hours behind) . This basically makes it "two days in the life of America", not one. I was hoping to get all the photographs taken in the same 24 hour period.

Other comments:

1. We should probably make sure we've got people from all over the world. If everyone's in the US it doesn't do much good

2. When it comes to taking pictures of people, we should probably follow the "Prime Directive" and make sure that the people we're photographing do not change what they're doing if they know they're going to be photographed. If you've got a lot of people in your shot it could probably be taken candidly since you're not focusing on any individual person.

3. Don't take pictures of people whose cultural or religious traditions prohibit them from being photographed (Amish, for instance).

4. Try to record the times the photographs were taken. You can convert to UTC later. If you're not sure when exactly the 24-hour interval starts for your area, you can take a few shots an hour or so on either side to make sure you've got the whole interval covered if need be (though keep in mind that if any pictures wind up on the 28th or 30th UTC they won't count)

5. I just had another crazy idea. At 12:00 noon UTC on the 29th -- exactly midway through the session -- everyone take a picture of what they're doing. It doesn't need a theme or anything like that. Just basically a snapshot of where you are and what you are doing. This will give us a whole bunch of photographs taken at exactly the same INSTANT all over the world

A friend of mine just told me she's going to help out -- and it turns out that on the 29th she's going to be on an Outward Bound program in the mountains of North Carolina. That's something you don't see often.

 

[Socrates]

Hi!

I think we should go with the UTC version. Remember if we do 3/29 in our own time zones, we effectively have 48 hours of photographs instead of 24 (some guy in the western Pacific takes a photograph at what is effectively 12:01 UTC on the 28th (00:01 AM on the 29th local time but 12 hours ahead of Greenwich) and some other guy in the eastern Pacific will take a shot at 11:59 UTC on the 30th (23:59 PM on the 29th local time but he's 12 hours behind) . This basically makes it "two days in the life of America", not one. I was hoping to get all the photographs taken in the same 24 hour period.

Other comments:

1. We should probably make sure we've got people from all over the world. If everyone's in the US it doesn't do much good

2. When it comes to taking pictures of people, we should probably follow the "Prime Directive" and make sure that the people we're photographing do not change what they're doing if they know they're going to be photographed. If you've got a lot of people in your shot it could probably be taken candidly since you're not focusing on any individual person.

3. Don't take pictures of people whose cultural or religious traditions prohibit them from being photographed (Amish, for instance).

4. Try to record the times the photographs were taken. You can convert to UTC later. If you're not sure when exactly the 24-hour interval starts for your area, you can take a few shots an hour or so on either side to make sure you've got the whole interval covered if need be (though keep in mind that if any pictures wind up on the 28th or 30th UTC they won't count)

5. I just had another crazy idea. At 12:00 noon UTC on the 29th -- exactly midway through the session -- everyone take a picture of what they're doing. It doesn't need a theme or anything like that. Just basically a snapshot of where you are and what you are doing. This will give us a whole bunch of photographs taken at exactly the same INSTANT all over the world

A friend of mine just told me she's going to help out -- and it turns out that on the 29th she's going to be on an Outward Bound program in the mountains of North Carolina. That's something you don't see often.

OK with me. I'm U.S. East Coast DST (GMT -4).
I don't know how the 12:00 noon GMT shot will work out. That will be tough but it's worth a shot.

 

[Dioboleque]

So literally it's 24 Hours in the Life of the World... way confusing, but I guess I'll figure it out before then.

 

[Socrates]

So literally it's 24 Hours in the Life of the World... way confusing, but I guess I'll figure it out before then.

If "FL" is for "Florida," you're GMT-4. That means that your "day" is from 8:00 p.m. on the 28th until 8:00 p.m. on the 29th.

 

[schuylercat]

The more I read this, the more I like it.

Somewhere there's a clock that show's UMT and where everyone is on the internet...let's find it?

And the noon thing (what, 8:00 PM here in North Carolina? Or 8:00 AM? Gotta find that clock!) sounds very fun.

I'm in.

 

[schuylercat]

Ah - missed your post, Socrates: UMT-4 = 8:00 PM for me. I'm set. Thanks!

 

[kundalini]

Somewhere there's a clock that show's UMT and where everyone is on the internet...let's find it?

Here's one. Mute the ticking tough in the lower left corner.

 

[MissMia]

Here is a great time zone converter. Pick GMT (Zulu time!) and then your location.

 

[Dioboleque]

If "FL" is for "Florida," you're GMT-4. That means that your "day" is from 8:00 p.m. on the 28th until 8:00 p.m. on the 29th.

Thanks so much!

 

[Big Bully]

Sign me up.. This sounds fun, although I would have to wake up at 6am to take the noon UTC shot.. lol
Maybe I will sleep with the camera, when my alarm sounds I will snap the shot.. lol
Either way, I am in.

 

[acgoldis]

Sign me up.. This sounds fun, although I would have to wake up at 6am to take the noon UTC shot.. lol
Maybe I will sleep with the camera, when my alarm sounds I will snap the shot.. lol
Either way, I am in.

You shouldn't go overboard to do the noon shot. If you're up at the time and taking pictures at 12:00 UTC, take a picture then. Otherwise, don't get up too early. Messing up your sleep cycle is probably not worth that one shot.