On March 12th, I travelled to Zagreb to meet experts from our business partner AVL Croatia, as we were planning a scientific publication on visual analysis of noise simulations. In addition, I wanted to use this opportunity to visit my Croatian family. Everything seemed fine until I reached the Croatian border. Upon entry I was instructed to go into 14-day self-isolation due to the Corona regulations. Arriving at my family in Zagreb, I moved into a separate room and started my isolation: the room became the new center of my life, my office, my bedroom, my dining room. As early as Monday, March 16th, our entire research institute was working from home. Digital communication has long been part of my routine: successful research work is ultimately characterized by collaboration and internationality. But now I also had to Skype with the colleagues who usually sat next door - an unusual situation. Our company partner AVL in Graz also moved to the home office. I switched my lectures at the TU Vienna to online mode.
I thought: What a week. Everything has changed. My life consists of one room and my work now depends on a good internet connection. And yet: It worked. I wrote publications, discussed project proposals, developed prototypes and gave my lecture. Everything went well.
On March 22nd, a terrible noise woke me up. The house shook, the ground beneath my feet trembled. A 5.4 Mw earthquake shook Zagreb. We left the house in panic and stayed outside in the cold. Two more quakes followed. The Covid-19 barriers and my long self-isolation suddenly seemed far away. Fortunately, no one in my family was hurt, and our house survived the earthquake unharmed. Soon after, my 14-day self-isolation ended. I am now allowed to move as a "free man" in several rooms of the house.
What has changed since then? The Skype calls and video conferences continue. So does our research work, collaboration on new publications, writing project proposals. I planned the first exam via Skype for one of my students and gave an online tutorial at the IEEE VR conference. This conference was originally scheduled to take place in Atlanta, USA. Until recently, it would have been unimaginable to hold such a conference online, which usually has thousands of participants. Many things that were thought impossible are now possible. I am sure the world will be different when this pandemic is over and I think it will even be better in many ways.