This raises the question: why do academics bother with in-person presentations, rather than just sending each other (even more) papers? The answer seems to be some mix of:
low-effort/​motivation: it’s easier to sit in a seat for a scheduled talk (at least if you already have some professional obligation to be at the general event) than to pick up yet another paper
interaction value (Q&A period)
post-event informal interaction /​ networking
Posting online videos loses all the value of the latter two points, and also a fair chunk of the first, insofar as you’re unlikely to have any professional obligation to be in the general space of watching the video. (Though some might find watching the video to be less effort than reading a text version?)
Because text is better than video?
This raises the question: why do academics bother with in-person presentations, rather than just sending each other (even more) papers? The answer seems to be some mix of:
low-effort/​motivation: it’s easier to sit in a seat for a scheduled talk (at least if you already have some professional obligation to be at the general event) than to pick up yet another paper
interaction value (Q&A period)
post-event informal interaction /​ networking
Posting online videos loses all the value of the latter two points, and also a fair chunk of the first, insofar as you’re unlikely to have any professional obligation to be in the general space of watching the video. (Though some might find watching the video to be less effort than reading a text version?)