[talk-ph] Increasing demand for OSM talks and workshops

[Jim Morgan]

On 01/31/2014 09:18 AM, Eugene Alvin Villar wrote:
> But for real-time workshops and lectures, the problem would be the 
> unreliable Internet connection.
I agree there would need to be a solid internet connection, but the 
bandwidth needed isn't that great, so interested parties would only need 
to get to a location where they could secure a reasonably reliable 
connection. In addition, a whole group of people could be sharing one 
client computer, so even if you're limited to 10 participants, that 
could be 10 small groups of people around the country.

The services I've used usually have some sort of slideshow presentation 
capability, have audio streaming for the presenter's voice, can do 
screen-sharing, for demonstrationg applications and techniques, and have 
a group chat facility where participants can ask questions. This all 
seems to work fine over a 1Mbit connection.

>
> Also, I've noticed that Filipinos generally prefer face-to-face 
> interaction. I've seen countless times where you ask the audience if 
> they have any questions and nobody would raise their hands. But after 
> the lecture is over, a few people would approach the lecturer and then 
> ask questions. This kind of interaction would be hard to do online.
Point taken about the reticence of audiences here. I've held a few 
meetings here myself where its really hard to get input ... which has 
been the whole purpose of the meeting! But I think the group chat might 
actually encourage this. People actually seem to get braver when they're 
not putting their hand up in a roomful of people. Basically as the 
presenter is demonstrating something, questions appear in the group 
chat, and the presenter can address them when its convenient. It 
actually seems to work quite well. There are also options to send 
private messages by email which can be addressed in the Q&A session.

Anyway, just something to consider, and I'm just bouncing the idea around.

Jim