Online Meetings

[Procyon]

As MNfurs moves forward, it will be important for the community group, board, and membership to maintain communication and contact as much as possible.  

Although the forum system is good for general info, discussion, and making annoucments, there is also has an inherent lag.  This lag is dangerous as misunderstandings can occur.  This can then lead to hurt feelings and the perception of not being listened to or validated.

 

At the same time, although we are having monthly meetings to make sure there are clear, distinct, uninterrupted times where we can focus on JUST MNFurs community issues, some people are not able to attend, no matter WHERE the meetings might be held.

 

With this in mind, I’m asking the community if there is anyone who would like to take the role of making sure we have an online presence while we have these meetings.  I, personally, do not know if Skype, You-stream, Tinychat, or whichever of the many protocols out there is best to use.  However, I ask the larger community out there if someone is willing to at least START the process on this thread on best protocol to use and how we make sure there is a process to make sure it works and people can plug into these community meetings online if they are unable to make the physical meetings.

[Sike]

I dont know if youll find someone that is willing to fully headlong start it, or even someone at the meetings to make sure theyre able to set up on their end. but if you want a person to have/make an account for MNfurs to use (say on Tinychat as it is a free venue) And make sure that is linked on all other venues so anyone can stop in and watch/take part in the meetings no matter distance, its something do able. The person would have to be able to have access to view those places and be able to update them with the link to the chats and be able to maintain a strong focus so the chats are controlled, and be able to work for the meeting (not just have people spamming fun stuff, even if that is fun).

 

I’ll be at Perkins Sat, and this ties into what I’ll be talking to you about, and how this links into everything. Internet only conveys so much, and honestly, can convey the wrong things, so I want to make sure I make it as clear as I can what I mean, which I do best in person. I hope to set it up correctly, and be able to, make it doable for someone else, even if I dont or someone I know doesnt lead it. I hope this all makes sense.

 

Edit: To clarify as well, what I will be suggesting will not be a one person team. What I want to bring up has the potential for 2 or 3 to start, and be able to lead. Again Ill fully express what I mean in person as thats where I do my best coherent explaining.

Wut o.o

Im Sike AND Banana

[Unico]

Online meeting possibilities would be a nice something as like in the case of Jan 7th I wouldn't be able to make that meeting in person to convey things about keeping track of volunteer hours in person as i have to pick up shadow from her work and it is in the wrong direction of travel plus drive time required would make me a bit late if I tried to do it, so if we can get something working for online live meetings for the community I think that would be great, would save fuel and traffic headaches at least.  🙂 

[Drake M.]

I spoke with Kelsier on this after January’s community meeting…

I don’t mind assisting with this as needed, got a good laptop at home.  I know there may be times where Kelsier can’t make it to every community meeting and same goes for Sike as I know right now she is in ND for education reasons. 

If there is a time where I need to host, please let me know ahead of time.

~ Drake M.

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[Twisted]

I’ll have to admit I had not seen this topic until now. Nor had I recognized that there was going to be a broadcast on tinychat until 5-10 minutes before the 7th’s meeting began (horrible at keeping up on emails). So to go from having no involvement on Monday afternoon to sitting home listening while multitasking 2-3 other things, all without the hours of driving or 40 in gas? Heck yeah!

The problem I seen with tinychat, and possible you’ll see this with multiple venues, is the increased latency as more and more users join the chat. On one hand its important to have efficient communication (Like when questions were directed towards Unico he could quickly respond) but on the other hand a reliable stream, given people can still type, is valuable. A one way venue like livestream would help but force all attendees to type. Again it’s mostly on the video side of things, most voices are easy to identify.

How are we as far as finding a suitable microphone or what equipment would be ideal to have?

[Sike]

I also think a clear set of rules will need to be established. One of the things that can affect people coming in, is the large amount of people on camera, that do not NEED to be on camera. If you are simply there to learn/listen then there is no reason to be on cam. If you have a question, or will be discussing something feel free to pop on, then off. People also REALLY need to use the push to talk button! This cancels out the feedback of other microphones coming through ect.

Wut o.o

Im Sike AND Banana

[Unico]

The Meeting on the 7th was nice and all, but I think we probably could loose the video feed aspect of it as we aren't showing items on Camera, it is just showing the person who is speaking, I think Skype might be a good alternative to Tinychat as for whatever reason there were moments during Tinychat where the video and Audio streams would just die out suddenly and i hadn't changed any settings on my system and trying to refresh my system ended up in more lag trying to get the stream back up and running so i could be a more active member of the meeting, when the lag happened even the text portion of the chat stopped working until things sorted themselves out once again.

 

But overall I think it went well and it does allow people like myself and others to become a little more active in meetings.  🙂 Also I have a creative labs Microphone here that I could give away if anyone would be interested in it for being used at the online meetings. it still works last i knew, I just ended up getting a gaming headset which worked better for what I needed, Plus having a manual Mic Mute button built in helped when i had nothing to say so I wasn't broadcasting nothing Relevant to the meeting.

[Sike]

The only issue I have with Skype is group meetings cost money (something that I as a poor college kid cannae afford lol). Im not saying there ISNT issues with the video Tiny chat. Im debating making it where MNfurs is the ONLY video at all (to not only lessen the lag, but also noise). I still do not really feel there is a point to having any other members on video chat. The only exception to this is if they are bringing up a point/asking a question. There are some limitations with it as well (internet being a big one on mnfurs side). It wasnt a hugely stable connection. There are also issues on the users end (I had flash crash 2 times. Just sometimes happens with my FF). Its also known that TC does not work well with Chrome! If you are using it, more issues are likely to happen as of now.

 

So just some things to keep up on =3 Hoping to take more look at this in the near future.

Wut o.o

Im Sike AND Banana

[Unico]

Sikeananer said:

The only issue I have with Skype is group meetings cost money (something that I as a poor college kid cannae afford lol). Im not saying there ISNT issues with the video Tiny chat. Im debating making it where MNfurs is the ONLY video at all (to not only lessen the lag, but also noise). I still do not really feel there is a point to having any other members on video chat. The only exception to this is if they are bringing up a point/asking a question. There are some limitations with it as well (internet being a big one on mnfurs side). It wasnt a hugely stable connection. There are also issues on the users end (I had flash crash 2 times. Just sometimes happens with my FF). Its also known that TC does not work well with Chrome! If you are using it, more issues are likely to happen as of now.

 

So just some things to keep up on =3 Hoping to take more look at this in the near future.

I wasn't Using Chrome to access Tiny Chat, I was using Safari on my Mac and maybe the poor internet connection at the Denny's or wherever was the trouble and not my connection or system here, hard to say for sure.

[Twisted]

Just regarding Skype, does it cap the number of connections or limit something else? I know we’ve had once up to six or eight people playing cards online just fine. I could also look into borrowing a ventrilo server of a friends if we’re okay no video at all.

[Sike]

Twisted said:

Just regarding Skype, does it cap the number of connections or limit something else? I know we've had once up to six or eight people playing cards online just fine. I could also look into borrowing a ventrilo server of a friends if we're okay no video at all.

Its my understanding (So it can be wrong) That group conversations especially with video requires someone to pay to host it. Only one person but I cannot.

Ventrilo is ok but it does require some downloading for people. Ive used it before and didnt have a lot of issues with it, but all youll get is the sound no video.

 

As for TC on Mac that could be it? I dont know I dont use apple products at all so I dont know how it acts on those devices, though I can ask my friends and see if theyve had any issues. I still think there was some issues from the denny internet but well see what happens.

 

Like I said before, this was the test run, and while not perfect, still went off better than I had thought =3

Wut o.o

Im Sike AND Banana

[Unico]

I don't believe that Skype requires anyone to pay for it as i have been in conference calls with others from our group and even with some from other countries before with multiple users on the same stream and minimal problems at all. Never had things completely cut out before even with 6 people in the chat at one time talking with Mics.

 

But don't know what way people wanted to go in for things as it was just a thought.

[Piroshki]

Group calls (audio only) in Skype are free, and so is one-on-one video chat. In order to have a group video conference, though, the host (and only the host) of the call needs to pay for Skype's premium package.

 

And I've never had any serious issues with having many people all in the same call aside from the fact that it gets kinda noisy. The only times I have connectivity problems are my adapter's fault. I only have experience with Skype, though. The only other voice chat program I've used was Ventrilo, once, and I didn't even have a mic then. xD

[Mouring]

One could also look into G+ Hangout if they haven’t. I know there has been a few decent size photography video conference hangs outs.

[Author]

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