How about a digital meet and greet?

Good day everyone. David Rosen and I were playing around with the new Google Hangout invitation system and we both thought it would be a grand idea to have a micro-group digital hangout this week if possible. For those of you not aware, Google has a free service that allows people to digitally gather with voice, video, screen sharing and many other features and all of this is free. It helps a great deal if you have a Google account or a Gmail account as that those accounts act as the one key to get you into all the many tools Google provides free. 

I have set up a hangout for us for Saturday evening from 5pm to 8pm EST. If anyone has suggestions for a better time frame, please offer. Trying to get a common time for all is very difficult of course so I may be able to hangout with individuals that can't pop in during Saturday's session. Please realize that this session on Saturday is by no means a 3 hour long affair. I will be on for 3 hours and people can pop in as they have time during that time. In fact, the way Google Hangouts works is that the link below brings all of us to a reserved digital space just for us. At any time, we can pop in to the room by clicking on the link and if anyone else is in there we can chat, talk and see each other. So I am planning on jumping into the room around 5pm ish Saturday night but others can jump in really any time to meet up and talk with each other at any time. 

Link to our microgroup Hangout space: https://hangouts.google.com/hangouts/_/sg27qiay5fc6dn3dnqspqhzzsae

Notes on Google Hangout:

  • There currently seems to be a problem running hangouts in the Firefox browser. The parties responsible know about the issue and hope to have that fixed soon. For best results, people may wish to use the Chrome Browser. 
  • If this is your first time using Google Hangout, you will probably have to give permission to use your microphone and speakers the first time you try to enter a hangout. 
  • Having headphones on is a nice plus because it eliminates your microphone picking up feedback from your speakers. 
  • When in a hangout, please make sure to mute your microphone if you have lots of background noise. You can always toggle your microphone on and off (I will show you how in our session) so you can still talk when you wish. 
  • Although hangouts work well on phones and tablets you may have difficulties seeing any shared screens. This difficulty is because computer screens often have much higher resolutions than the phones or tablets can establish. This makes any text very tiny on the smaller devices. 

If anyone has any other hints, tricks or things to be aware of please share. It is hard for me to remember all of these "new hints" because I use the tools all the time and forget what the initial set up entailed wink

Our Saturday gathering is to get to digitally meet and hopefully I can share a tour of Diigo and the resources so we can talk together about what resources may be of interest with people. On the topic of Diigo, I would like to congratulate jharpermakaafi on being the first to post a resource in the Diigo group!!!!!! smiley You did a great job tagging it appropriately and I hope to look at "Recap" before Saturday so I know more about it. I will also attempt to get resources we have talked about in previous discussions to ensure those are in our collection before we get to meet. 

Is this whole Saturday meeting virtually something people like the idea of? Sometimes it is just easier to pop in and talk with people than composing and typing experiences, ideas and perspectives. I am hopeful the hangout will afford more of us a voice and I look forward to virtually meeting many of you if possible. 

If you need help getting started with Hangouts, you can drop questions here in the forum or you can email me at ohgeer@gmail.com and I help you get set up. 

 

 

Comments

Google Hangouts is a great idea!  I should be able to pop in for a little while to chat.  Hope to see everyone else there too!  

And I'm glad to know that my first diigo link was successful.  It looked ok from my end but wasn't sure how it looked to everyone else.  Like most things, there's a little learning curve, but I'm of the opinion that a combination of reading (ok, skimming) the directions and some trial-and-error will take you places!.  And I figure if I do something wrong, someone will let me know!  (My predilection for trial-and-error is why I'm not in the medical field )  

While I personally love all things Google, I am very aware that some organizations, including many state-level organizations, actually block Google Drive and Google Hangouts.  Since this is a Saturday, if that applies to you, I'd suggest using a personal device.  

I work on Saturdays, so it really depends on what time and for how long whether I can attend or not.

Peace, 
Glenda

Thank you Glenda for that perspective. I am shocked that the services are actually blocked in this day and age, but I guess it is one of the side effects of a free society that can make choices about what they allow or don't allow in their workplace. Still, there is a part of me that wants to have some intense discussions with those making those decisions :) 

A personal device is a good suggestion and if it can be done from home or some public environment that does not block or filter Google stuff, that would be a huge asset in enjoying our time together on Saturday. 

You mention that the timeframe matters, Glenda. Would you have a timeframe that works best for you?

 

Hi Ed and others,

Unfortunately Saturday evening is out for me. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings are fine for me this week. Perhaps pick a one-hour or 90 minute time frame. with the understanding that you would be there throughout, Ed,  but that others could drop in? OR, especially if people want to meet each other, another possibility would be for you to create a Meeting Doodle with times that work for you, Ed, post the URL here and ask everyone to go to the doodle and choose all the one-hour time blocks that they are available for.  Then tell us which one(s) will be the Google Hangout time(s).

Two other browsers that work with Google Hangouts are: Internet Explorer, and Safari.

Google Hangouts has a settings icon (it looks like a gear) where you can choose whether or not to use a headset, or computer mic and speakers, and where you can test your sound.

BTW, Jana, are you also jharpermakaafi ?

All the best,

David

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

 

As David has suggested I created a Doodle here. Please take a moment to click on every time slot/date that could work for you to connect with the group. I will use that data to help pick the best times that could involve the most people. 

I have scheduled 1.5 hour blocks but please don't feel these are hard and fast times. If the group wishes we can go longer or if we find we have accomplished what we want we finish early. 

I will work on a means of recording at least a session so that those that can not attend at all still may be able to view/listen to the discussions. 

Sunday May 7th, 7pm to 8:30ish is the time when 4 out of the 4 respondents shared they were available. If some of you did not enter in your preference, please know that you are welcome to join us on Sunday night 7pm EST. Looking forward to meeting everyone digitally! If you have questions before then, please share or email me ( ohgeer@gmail.com )