Virtual hacksession?

[Steven Pickles]

Hey there,

An idea was hatched by Fee tonight at MEGA. The possibility of a regular virtual hack session (using Google+ hangout or IRC or similar) for people that can't get to the hack sessions regularly, but want to be more involved. This could maybe work for the parents that have trouble finding time between work and kids to attend the sessions physically.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, reply and let us know which days and times would be good for you.

pix

[Fee Plumley]

am I allowed to second an idea I suggested?

*grins*

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[Cameron Milton]

The platform is irrelevant really because it should change to fit the types of projects being undertaken, such as the use of a webcam, headset or whatever other apparatus (could even stream data input from one project over the net to another).

I would be willing to participate but I can't commit routine times, generally weekends are my friend at the moment though.

Fee why are you asking for permission? This is the internet. :)

[Jamie Mackenzie]

Great idea :) I'm often online during a hack session and would love to be able to interact or see what's going on. I was hoping one of the benefits of having a hack adl

[Robert Hart]

Sounds like a good plan, not that those with family will be able to participate virtually the whole session time either, but it does allow for a "pop-in pop-out" from time to time which would be really nice.

The only issue I can see is having the "special somebody" who wants to set-up and keep it running at each session, which is a big ask, put if someone is keen that is great, but experience tells me we all need to make sure as a group we give that person lots of ongoing encouragement and never criticise when things go wrong.

Robert

[Steven Pickles]

...?

I'd imagined that this would be independent of (but possibly an important catalyst to) getting some kind of virtual component to the physical hack sessions.

So I imagine a time separate to our physical hack sessions where all the participants are online. Then having the possibility for people to somehow dial-in to the physical hack session. But I imagine the two experiences would be quite different as in the latter case, the people at the space will not have much spare attention for the online participants, so the online participants would form a kind of island of interaction.

But this is only how it looks in my head. Feel free to discus.

pix

[Steve Roehrs]

This is exactly the sort of thing I've been looking for!

I could see this working well on an ad-hoc basis - I don't usually know much in advance when I'm going to get time for a decent at-home hack session.  If there was an IRC channel or Google+ hangout I'd probably sit on there while working on something, and use it to bounce ideas off people who are of like mind, where I need a quick response instead of going to email or facebook.  Likewise I'd be happy to explain what I was doing to anyone who asked.  

It's also a great way to learn from others, as I'm sure within our group we have some experts with very strong skills in narrow areas, as well as some generalists who know a bit about everything.  It's also good to feel a 'part of something' instead of being a lone hacker late at night.

I just read the blurb page on Google+ hangouts (http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/?hl=en) and they look like just the thing.  Next time I'm working on something I'll login there and post to the list so anyone interested can virtually pop in and say hi.

Having the set times could work better for some people - it's all free, so why not try both?

Cheers

Steve

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[Fee Plumley]

wicked! sounds like all this is coming together :)

re google hangouts, you ca create a google circle and then share it. praps all interested parties make sure they're added to the google+ hackadl & steve (or whoever runs that) can set up a shared circle from there?

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Fee Plumley

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[Fee Plumley]

re the live combo of physical & online hack sessions - i'd seen these as separate sessions too, but it is possible to have a sort of 'live tweeter' role in the room.

i do a lot of live tweeting and can happily go through the basic best practice stuff before i head off on the road trip if anyone is interested. 

hey, look, there's a skill i can actually CONTRIBUTE to hackadl! aww, it'd be nice to give sommat back for once :)

[Robert Hart]

Yes I think one of my next hack sessions at home will be to mount a camera above that looks down on the work bench and connecting to a Adelaide Hackerspace G+ hangout when I'm working or just generally might be an idea.

Robert

[Steve Roehrs]

My next project (more of a meta-project) is a decent work bench, so I'll make sure it has a suitable spot to mount a camera above it :)

[Steven Pickles]

I'm liking the idea of having the times be ad-hoc for a while, we can see if a pattern emerges.

pix

[Steve Roehrs]

Friday and Sat evenings I'm sometimes at it, although it's not unheard of that I get some hacking time in during the week between 9.30pm and 12.00pm.  I'm sure others with kids have similar timetables.

Steve

[Robert Hart]

Very true

On 10/10/2012 2:07 PM, Steve Roehrs wrote:

[Damien P]

On Wednesday, October 10, 2012 12:04:06 PM UTC+10:30, Steve wrote:

If there was an IRC channel or Google+ hangout I'd probably sit on there while working on something,

We've got the #hackerspace-adelaide IRC channel, but it's not used much.  #ozhs sometimes gets some activity.

Has anyone used other conferencing software, like bigbluebutton or openmeetings?

[Robert Hart]

Have added a cheap usb webcam to my magi-lamp.
Thought I uploaded these images to the hackerspace circle but is it ended up in mine.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108678074261862082397/albums/5798617992223401089

Can't start a Hackerspace hangout as I'm not the owner, but looks very straight forward, easy setup and join.

Robert