[BLU/Officers] Online meetings
John Abreau
abreauj at gmail.com
Sun Mar 15 22:53:46 EDT 2020
I saw a posting from the CDC that suggested a few options for virtual
meetings, and one of them was skype. I just installed skype on my laptop,
and it seems it does have a group meeting function, plus there's supposed
to be a way to save a video file of the meeting.
I picked up the hotspot from the library this afternoon (Sunday), after
returning it Saturday, so I'm able to test it this week. What's a good day
for us to try it out with an officer's meeting?
If there's no day that works for everyone, we can always test it with just
a few of us.
Regardless of the outcome, of course, we should still examine the other
options at some point.
On Sun, Mar 15, 2020 at 4:51 PM John Abreau <abreauj at gmail.com> wrote:
> typo in previous message: "complete" was supposed to be "compete" :-)
>
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 15, 2020 at 4:50 PM John Abreau <abreauj at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Google Meet sounds like a good option to try.
>>
>> While the question of streaming or archiving the session to youtube is
>> not a show-stopper, it's something I would very much like to do, if
>> possible.
>>
>> I took a brief look at the BlueJeans page. I see the cost of the
>> entry-level package is $9.99/month for up to 50 attendees, and the next
>> level up is $13.99/month for up to 75 attendees.The second one provides up
>> to 10 hours of "Cloud Meeting Recording", whereas the entry-level one
>> doesn't provide for recording at all, so if we could afford it, I'd prefer
>> the one with the recording option. It's unclear from the page whether
>> that's up to 10 hours per meeting, per month, or per year, so we'd need to
>> clarify that before committing to the platform.
>>
>> The other options Bill mentions are also worth looking into, of course.
>>
>> As for my broadband access, I borrow a 4G/LTE hotspot from my local
>> library for a week at a time. I can't guarantee that I'll have it on the
>> night of the meeting, as I have to complete with other library patrons for
>> access to borrow one of the eight the library provides, but most of the
>> time I've been able to borrow it again the day after returning it.
>>
>> Of course, if the library decides to shut down completely due to the
>> pandemic, then I may no longer be able to borrow the hotspot.
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 3:17 PM Bill Ricker <bill.n1vux at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> *Adding Tom Metro* to CC: list since he has experience and opinions in
>>> remote meeting tech.
>>>
>>> I've seen a number of new-to-work-from-home and new-to-teaching-online
>>> posts on twitter this week.
>>>
>>> Two threads (of many) by old hands at remote-meeting/teaching that have
>>> useful info
>>>
>>> *Options* (addressed to non-tech, but really is addressing anyone new
>>> to WFH)
>>> https://twitter.com/GlennF/status/1238690177435852803?s=09
>>>
>>> *Hints for Zoom instructor*, half will apply to all platforms and many
>>> to non-academic semi-lecture meeting like ours
>>> https://twitter.com/SamWangPhD/status/1238838659949961216?s=19
>>>
>>>
>>> My own *comments* on platforms -
>>>
>>> - *Screenleap* has 45 minutes (iirc) on free account and
>>> only-presenter-pays options also.
>>> Desktop clients for win, mac, Android, iOS.
>>> Iirc one of chrome or firefox would let me share a window on linux;
>>> the other would only let me share a tab.
>>> (*This may have changed with new FireFox security which is more
>>> flexible and explicit this year*. *We haven't used this one as much
>>> lately so not really current on it*. *When last used, it had some
>>> difficulty switching presenters but we eventually got used to how to do it
>>> without restarting meetings*.)
>>>
>>> - *Slack* has screenshare/meetings too. *I think i used it once or
>>> twice, don't remember details.*
>>>
>>> - *Google Meet*: Works well with our remote client and their remote
>>> team.
>>> Oddly Android client is least featureful, can't feed a screenshare;
>>> I suspect because Android has better program separation but might be less
>>> multiprocessing? (Android can watch screenshare. )
>>> Includes a phone bridge dial-in for folks who want audio via phone
>>> instead of tablet/laptop for whatever reason, or only want audio.
>>> Larger Meetings can be set to automute. Individuals can unmute/mute
>>> selves; and toggle their video camera.
>>> Will work with camera off.
>>> With Latest FireFox, the user must grant camera, mic, screenshare
>>> privs to in-tab applet, and FF keeps a visible warning that one is sharing,
>>> very nice. (*And will work if you deny camera, which i do.*)
>>> I haven't tried with Chrome but i think Tom did. We recently shared
>>> both Terminal window and a Google Docs tab alternately, switching
>>> presenters.
>>>
>>> Smaller replies interleaved below ...
>>>
>>> On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 9:47 AM Jerry Feldman <gaf.linux at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Some of our speakers may have access to a video conferencing system. We
>>>> certainly could have the speaker give his/her talk via YouTube. But, our
>>>> next speaker is Federico who has access to BlueJeans
>>>> <https://www.bluejeans.com/>.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Perfectly reasonable to let the speaker present with their preferred
>>> brand.
>>> (Whether we can or should capture a BlueJeans presentation on our
>>> YouTube channel is a separate question.)
>>>
>>> In the future, we can explore ways to be able to conduct online meetings
>>>> where the audience will be able to interact with the speaker.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Having an IRC-like back channel, either in the presentation app or on a
>>> second screen (tablet) can work.
>>> Some of the apps allow participants to unmute themselves and butt right
>>> in, others have RAISE HAND button and chat channel.
>>>
>>>> We would need to secure a location with a high enough bandwidth for the
>>>> speaker,
>>>>
>>>
>>> Staples Brighton has a WeWork or equivalent meeting space in the back,
>>> but if they have any sense they've shut that down for the duration.
>>>
>>>> or the speaker could present from his/her home or work.
>>>>
>>> During this time of sanitary isolation that's probably ideal.
>>>
>>>
>>>> We would probably need to buy a license that would allow our members to
>>>> connect. (Possibly Boston User Groups could use its funds to acquire a
>>>> license). For us, we must be able to use Linux. I'm sure most support
>>>> Android.
>>>>
>>>
>>> True Linux Desktop clients are few and far between (due to the
>>> infinitude of testing space) but ability to work from the browser on Linux
>>> is more common; some Electron "It's not a browser" apps exist (e.g. Slack).
>>>
>>> As noted in my comments above, at least Google Meet native Android App
>>> can not drive a screen share - which is likely an OS restriction so i
>>> suspect may be across the board.
>>>
>>> Zoom is $14.99/Mo
>>>>
>>> This seems to be the popular choice for Universities going On Line.
>>> Per Glenn's comments, they've fixed their egregious security botch.
>>>
>>>
>>>> SamePage has a free option. Prices start at $7.50/User
>>>> RingCentral $14.99/Mo
>>>> jitsi https://jitsi.org/ Free/Open source. We may be able to use this.
>>>> Source is on github.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Google Hangouts Meet
>>>>
>>> I like, am using at least weekly with client currently.
>>>
>>>
>>>> Talky (https://talky.io/) built on jitsi
>>>>
>>>
>>>> Let's take a look at the above list and add or subtract.
>>>>
>>>
>>> See my list and resources above.
>>>
>>>> I would like to be able to test 1 or more of these online within a few
>>>> days among us. I would prefer all of John, Me, Kurt, Bill, and Dave. I
>>>> think John is the key here since he does not really have home internet.
>>>>
>>>
>>> If John doesn't have home broadband, how would he consume a streaming
>>> video meeting from home?
>>> 4G tablet OTA?
>>> I don't expect anything beyond text chat and audio will work well over
>>> dialup, iffy on ADSL !
>>> Self-isolation w/o broadband is not going to be pleasant!
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Officers mailing list
>>> Officers at lists.blu.org
>>> http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/officers
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix
>> Email: abreauj at gmail.com / WWW http://www.abreau.net / PGP-Key-ID
>> 0x920063C6
>> PGP-Key-Fingerprint A5AD 6BE1 FEFE 8E4F 5C23 C2D0 E885 E17C 9200 63C6
>>
>>
>
> --
> John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix
> Email: abreauj at gmail.com / WWW http://www.abreau.net / PGP-Key-ID
> 0x920063C6
> PGP-Key-Fingerprint A5AD 6BE1 FEFE 8E4F 5C23 C2D0 E885 E17C 9200 63C6
>
>
--
John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix
Email: abreauj at gmail.com / WWW http://www.abreau.net / PGP-Key-ID 0x920063C6
PGP-Key-Fingerprint A5AD 6BE1 FEFE 8E4F 5C23 C2D0 E885 E17C 9200 63C6
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