[Osmf-talk] OSMF & Video Chat | Re: Next OSMF board meeting on Friday 17 April 2020, at 17:00 London time

[Rory McCann]

On 11.04.20 20:36, Dorothea Kazazi wrote:
> The next monthly board meeting will *not* take place on Mumble.
> Rory will provide more information.

The on-going [Coronoavirus/COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 
pandemic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_pandemic) 
is causing a lot of in-person events to be cancelled or changed, 
especially in Europe (where I am). The Board's own [“face-to-face” 
meeting in 
London](https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Board/Minutes/2020-03-F2F) 
became a virtual “screen-to-screen”, which we used the increasingly 
popular, yet closed source, [Zoom](https://zoom.us/) service. We found 
video chat much nicer than the audio-only 
[Mumble](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Mumble) that the board has 
been used for years. The board will trial having board meetings on video 
chat.

We have arranged a [BigBlueButton](https://bigbluebutton.org/) server to 
be set up for the Foundation, currently hosted at the temporary URL of 
[`https://osmvideo.cloud68.co/`](https://osmvideo.cloud68.co/). Our 
board meetings will be happening in [*The Boardroom* meeting 
room](https://osmvideo.cloud68.co/user/ror-6j3-kxm). We will continue to 
have open, public board meetings. 
[Transparency](https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Board_Rules_of_Order#3._Confidentiality_and_Transparency) 
is important to us. The medium has changed, the commitment to 
transparency has not.

Video chat over the internet is famously tricky. We will have a test 30 
minutes before the April 2020 board meeting in [*The 
Boardroom*](https://osmvideo.cloud68.co/user/ror-6j3-kxm). The [April 
2020 board 
meeting](https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Board/Minutes/2020-04) will 
be on [Friday, 17th of April 2020 at 17:00 London 
time](https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=OSMF+board+meeting+-+Friday+17+April+2020+&iso=20200417T17&p1=136&ah=1). 
One or more Board members will connect 30 minutes early (i.e. [Friday, 
17th of April 2020 at 16:30 London 
time](https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=OSMF+board+meeting++Video+Test+Period&iso=20200417T1630&p1=136&ah=1)), 
and do some “live mapping” or something. You will have the option to 
connect, and check that your web browser & internet settings are 
working. If, when the meeting starts, the software doesn't work, we will 
switch to the our old audio-only 
[Mumble](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Mumble) meeting set up. BBB 
has, I think, the option to only have audio. If you are on a slow, or 
metered, internet connective, then such low bandwidth options are very 
useful.

We are currently experimenting with, and investigating the capabilities 
of, the BigBlueButton Software. Specifically, we want to ensure we can 
moderate it well. I've been on the internet since dial-up days. Trolls 
are an unfortunate part of The Internet™. Please, please, [create an 
account](https://osmvideo.cloud68.co/user/signup) well before the 
meeting. Please.

If BBB works well, we hope it will be useful for the wider OpenStreetMap 
community, not just the Foundation or Board. More details will follow if 
this software & service works well. Please inform the board/the 
community/me of your experiences using this.

Thanks to the Cloud68/[Collective68](https://collective68.tech/) team 
for their help with setting up & hosting this.

See you on the intertubes.

Rory