“The things we had to consider were specific health and safety, and effective placement (breathing height, multiple monitors for multiple locations, not near windows/doors),” a spokesperson for Kawaikon, which goes by Sput Online, told WIRED over email.
“Frankly, this is no different than considering other access options (e.g., access to the venue, access to talks, access to private space for personal needs),” Sput wrote. “Being a tech-inclined community, it is easy for us to set this up on our own or with volunteer help, but given how accessible CO is, it is certainly not out of reach.2 Monitor technology.”
KawaiCon attendees could quickly check conditions before arriving and decide how to protect themselves accordingly. At the event, WIRED saw attendees checking out CO2 Viewing levels on your phone, masking and unmasking in different conference areas, and display of all room readings on the dashboard at the registration desk.
In each conference session room, small monitors mounted on the wall display stoplight colors indicating immediate conditions: green for safe, orange for risky, and red to show high CO in the room2 Level, the top level for risk.
“Each person who occupies the Con space we operate has a different risk and threat model, and we want everyone to feel they can experience Con in a way that fits their model,” organizers wrote on their website. “Bearing in mind COVID-19 is still out in the community, we wanted to make sure everyone had all the information they needed to make their own risk assessment on ‘if’ and ‘how’ they attended the conference. So that’s our risk model and all the controls and areas we have in place.”