[LGM] Some thoughts on if people aren't permitted to travel

Tue Mar 17 19:51:08 UTC 2020

Hi,

I will need to discuss with the other organizers before we take any
decision, but for sure judging by how things are evolving, looks like we
should already plan on a backup solution to make the event remotely.

I saw the Libre Planet conference did that last week, and I think we
could probably do something similar.
(with a streaming server for live conferences; we can then "plug" in the
stream people doing their presentation via Jitsi for example; and a live
chat on irc to go with it).

The new restrictions in France make it even harder for us to meet and
discuss about it... I hope we will have more information to provide soon.

Timo.

Le 17/03/2020 à 18:59, Eylul a écrit :
> Hi,
>
> First time lurker posting so I hope this is ok to do so.
>
> OBS is something I am still figuring out. (I have done a few streams in
> past, and am currently finishing preparations to start a weekly one).
>
> Trying to think about the challenges of recording with non-professional
> gear, (as someone who is a beginner in these things and had some
> experience having to make do with limited budget and... lets just say
> creative use of everyday objects and tools) I feel like there are 3
> categories of issues in terms of recording.
>
> 1) software. (obs is a good one for lecture format, and it is very VERY
> easy to do a basic setup (fullscreen views a window of your choice (e.g.
> libreoffice), and a small webcam view of the presenter. (the stream part
> might be a bit trickier but that really depends on what platform is
> used, and instructions needs to be specific to that) For workshops etc,
> that are not meant to be recorded and publicly view, something like
> discord might work better (discord is temporarily allowing livestreaming
> to a group of people up to 15 people I believe. Normally the number is
> 10). If we can sort out the video streaming site issue separately and
> want to stay with FOSS software, mumble is still alive and working, and
> has a decent sound quality for communication purposes (I wouldn't
> recommend the sound quality of mumble OR discord for putting videos for
> permanent viewing/archiving, but it can be done).  At least last time I
> installed it -which was a couple of years ago- it was quite easy to
> install and setup. (we could have a mumble install for the whole
> conference and virtual conference rooms regardless of what we are using
> to help creating a space of community, this would also take the weight
> of one setup from attendees and presenters, as they will simply need to
> install the client and receive a username/password). I can imagine that
> any physical venues can also be integrated by placing some
> microphones/speakers within the presentation/workshop spaces within the
> venue, and we can create multiple "rooms". In terms of workshops it
> might also be worth looking into something like moodle although it might
> be overly complex tool for it. I don't personally use it, but we have a
> lot of educators so hopefully one of them might have thoughts on it.
>
> 2) hardware/setup.  It would also be helpful to assume that what any
> average person has access to at most is a single screen + computer (1
> laptop or 1 desktop) and a smartphone. Some people will have access to
> more (they might have a graphic tablet, they'll have an extra screen,
> they might have a good mic, they might have decent video lighting or an
> external webcam, or a combination of any of these), but especially for
> people who are not from NA/EU specialized items are a lot less
> accessible - especially in a short turnaround- and can be quite
> expensive so it would be best to assume that any extra hardware or
> specialized gear is not feasible to acquire for one event. That still
> doesn't mean we shouldn't do virtual events, but only that we should
> probably manage expectations. I think everyone will be alright with
> small hiccups as this was not a situation that was planned :) There are
> some tricks that can be done to help somewhat with the video quality,
> like helping the presenters be aware of what is in their background,
> some lighting and audio tips using everyday objects. E.g. using woolen
> blankets to help with reducing the echo in the space, or lifting a small
> laptop/phone to eye level with a stack of books or a box, etc. It might
> be also best to put some buffer for tech issues - even if presenters
> test their setup ahead of time, as unexpected problems even shows up in
> physical venues, and remote presenters will have less access to support :)
>
> 3) server side/central system. This will depend on exactly what is
> happening. However, if the whole conference (or a good portion of it) is
> online the central "venue" will need to become virtual. That venue might
> be the self hosted streams, chatrooms etc. It might be a single
> software, or a central place that links to all of the relevant streams,
> videos, chatrooms and instructions that are spread to a variety of self
> hosted and commercial solutions. If most of the conference is still
> expected to happen in place, and it is just a few presenters missing,
> this will become a different question to deal with how the virtual
> systems integrate with the venue.  I have a lot less ideas about this
> latter option as I have never done such an integration myself but in
> that case, depending on number of presenters affected, it might even be
> more time-cost effective to work one-on-one with the said presenters
> rather than setting up a big system that work with everyone.
>
> I can help out with writing instructions for the end users and being
> testing dummy/experimentation person for any setup involving linux, as I
> am probably going to be one of the people stuck home anyways either as a
> workshop/lightning talk presenter or attendee. :)  I hope this is of help
>
> Best,
>
> Eylul
>
>
> On 17.03.2020 20:16, Alexandre Prokoudine wrote:
>> On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 6:41 PM Julien Deswaef wrote:
>>
>>> Now, he uses some proprietary hardware and software in this
>>> presentation, so a word of caution for those who would not like to see
>>> that,
>> Do people really get triggered by other people using proprietary
>> software that easily? :)
>>
>>> but the video raises quite a few valid questions to make
>>> remote-whatever (workshops, lightning talks, quizz, etc.) more engaging.
>>> (To be clear, I do not necessarily agree with the solutions he is
>>> proposing.)
>>>
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNzU-TPdxR4
>>>
>>> I'm sure we could do similar things with OBS (every Twitch user does
>>> amazing things with OBS) and other FOSS tools if we put our brains up to it.
>> OBS supports quite a few streaming services other than Twitch and
>> YouTube, and you can plug your own server.
>>
>> Alex
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