Antoine Beaupr : Remote presence tools for social distancing
As a technologist, I've been wondering how I can help people with the
rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic. With the world entering
the "exponential stage" (e.g. Canada, the USA and basically
all of Europe), everyone should take precautions and limit
practice Social Distancing (and not dumbfuckery). But this
doesn't mean we should dig ourselves in a hole in our basement: we can
still talk to each other on the internet, and there are great, and
free, tools available to do this. As part of my work as a sysadmin,
I've had to answer questions about this a few times and I figured it
was useful to share this more publicly.
Just say hi using whatever
First off, feel free to use the normal tools you normally use:
Signal, Facetime, Skype, Zoom, and Discord can
be fine to connect with your folks, and since it doesn't take much to
make someone's day please do use those tools to call your close
ones and say "hi". People, especially your older folks, will feel
alone and maybe scared in those crazy times. Every little bit you can
do will help, even if it's just a normal phone call, an impromptu
balcony fanfare, a remote workout class, or just a
sing-along from your balcony, anything goes.
But if those tools don't work well for some reason, or you want to try
something new, or someone doesn't have an iPad, or it's too dang cold
to go on your balcony, you should know there are other alternatives
that you can use.
Just say hi using whatever
First off, feel free to use the normal tools you normally use:
Signal, Facetime, Skype, Zoom, and Discord can
be fine to connect with your folks, and since it doesn't take much to
make someone's day please do use those tools to call your close
ones and say "hi". People, especially your older folks, will feel
alone and maybe scared in those crazy times. Every little bit you can
do will help, even if it's just a normal phone call, an impromptu
balcony fanfare, a remote workout class, or just a
sing-along from your balcony, anything goes.
But if those tools don't work well for some reason, or you want to try
something new, or someone doesn't have an iPad, or it's too dang cold
to go on your balcony, you should know there are other alternatives
that you can use.
Jitsi
We've been suggesting our folks use a tool called "Jitsi". Jitsi
is a free software platform to host audio/video conferences. It has a
web app which means anyone with a web browser can join a session. It
can also do "screen sharing" if you need to work together on a
project.
There are many "instances", but here's a subset I know about:
- https://meet.jitsi.org/ - the official one, might overload
- https://meet.mayfirst.org/ - Mayfirst non-profit cooperative,
hosted in New York (see also their usage instructions)
- https://meet.greenhost.net/ - Greenhost,
hosted in the Netherlands
- https://framatalk.org/ - Framasoft, a popular education
network, hosted in France - note that Framasoft is struggling under
load as basically everyone in France (including the public
education network) seems to think they can all run on their servers
all at once, they encourage you to run your own instance instead of
using theirs
- another list of instances
You can connect to those with your web browser directly. If your web
browser doesn't work, try switching to another (e.g. if Firefox
doesn't work, try Chrome and vice-versa). There are also apps for
desktop and mobile apps (F-Droid, Google Play, Apple
Store) that will work better than just using your browser.
Jitsi should scale for small meetings up to a dozen people.
Mumble
... but beyond that, you might have trouble doing a full
video-conference with a lot of people anyways. If you need to have a
large conference with a lot of people, or if you have bandwidth and
reliability problems with Jitsi, you can also try Mumble.
Mumble is an audio-only conferencing service, similar to Discord or
Teamspeak, but made with free software. It requires users to install
an app but there are clients for every platform out there
(F-Droid, Google Play, Apple Store). Mumble is harder
to setup, but is much more efficient in terms of bandwidth and
latency. In other words, it will just scale and sound better.
Mumble ships with a list of known servers, but you can also connect to
those trusted ones:
mumble.mayfirst.org - Mayfirst (see also their instructions on
how to use it, hosted in New York citymumble.riseup.net - Riseup, an autonomous collective, hosted in Seattle
(ask me if you need their password)talk.systemli.org - systemli, a
left-wing network and technics-collective, hosted in Berlin
Live streaming
If for some reason those tools still don't scale, you might have a
bigger problem on your hands. If your audience is over 100 people, you
will not be able to all join in the same conference together. And
besides, maybe you just want to broadcast some news and do not need
audio or video feedback from the audience. In this case, you need
"live streaming".
Here, proprietary services are Twitch, Livestream.com and Youtube. But
the community also provides alternatives to those. This is more
complicated to setup, but just to get you started, I'll link to:
- https://live.mayfirst.org/ - Mayfirst, based on Icecast and
icecream, a web-based client, unfortunately non-free
- https://live.autistici.org/ - Autistici, an autonomous collective,
hosted in Italy, based on Nginx and RTMP
For either of those tools, you need an app on your desktop. The
Mayfirst instructions use OBS Studio for this, but it might
be possible to hotwire VLC to stream video from your computer as
well.
Text chat
When all else fails, text should go through. Slack, Twitter and
Facebook are the best known alternatives here, obviously. I would warn
against spending too much time on those, as they can foment harmful
rumors and can spread bullshit like a virus on any given day. The
situation does not make that any better. But it can be a good way to
keep in touch with your loved ones.
But if you want to have a large meetings with a crazy number of
people, text can actually accomplish wonders. Internet Relay Chat
also known as "IRC" (and which oldies might have experienced for a bit
as mIRC) is, incredibly, still alive at the venerable age of 30
years old. It is mainly used by free software projects, but can be
used by anyone. Here are some networks you can try:
- http://webchat.freenode.net/ - the largest network, Freenode
- https://webchat.oftc.net/ - smaller network, used by the Debian
oftc.net/)
- http://irc.indymedia.org/ - a relic of the almost defunct Indymedia
network which I help operate
Those are all web interface to the IRC networks, but there are also a
plenitude of IRC apps you can install on your desktop if you want the
full experience.
Whiteboards and screensharing
I decided to add this section later on because it's a frequently
mentioned "oh but you forgot..." comment I get from this post.
- Big Blue Button - seems to check all the boxes: free software,
VoIP integration, whiteboarding and screen sharing, works from a
web browser
- CodiMD: collaborative text editor with UML and diagrams support
- Excalidraw: (collaborative) whiteboard tool that lets you
easily sketch diagrams that have a hand-drawn feel
I'll also mention that collaborative editors, in general, like
Etherpad are just great for taking minutes because you don't have
that single person with the load of writing down what people are
saying and is too busy to talk. Google Docs and Nextcloud have similar
functionality, of course.
Update, public Big Blue Button instances:
- https://bbb.jitsi.rocks/ - also a Jitsi redirector,
https://jitsi.rocks/
BBB requires one user to register to start the conference, but once
that's done, anyone with the secret URL can join.
Common recommendations
Regardless of the tools you pick, audio and video streaming is a
technical challenge. A lot of things happen under the hood when
you pick up your phone and dial a number, and sometimes using a
desktop, it can be difficult to get everything "just right".
Some advice:
- get a good microphone and headset: good audio really makes a
difference in how pleasing the experience will be, both for you
and your peers. good hardware will reduce echo, feedback and other
audio problems. (see also my audio docs)
- check your audio/video setup before joining the meeting, ideally
with another participant on the same platform you will use
- find a quiet place to meet: even a good microphone will pick up
noises from the environment, if you reduce this up front,
everything will sound better. if you do live streaming and want
high quality recording, considering setting up a smaller room to
do recording. (tip: i heard of at least one journalist hiding in a
closer full of clothes to make recordings, as it dampens the
sound!)
- mute your microphone when you are not speaking (spacebar
in Jitsi, follow the "audio wizard" in Mumble)
If you have questions or need help, feel free to ask! Comment on this
blog or just drop me an email (see contact), I'd be happy to
answer your questions.
Other ideas
Inevitably, when I write a post like this, someone writes
something like "I can't believe you did not mention APL!" Here's a
list of tools I have not mentioned here, deliberately or because I
forgot:
- Nextcloud Talk - needs access to a special server, but can be
used for small meetings (less than 5, or so i heard)
- Jabber/XMPP - yes, I know, XMPP can do everything and
it's magic. but I've given up a while back, and I don't think
setting up audio conferences with multiple enough is easy enough to
make the cut here
- Signal - signal is great. i use it every day. it's the primary
way I do long distance, international voice calls for free, and the
only way I do video-conferencing with family and friends at
all. but it's one to one only, and the group (text) chat kind of
sucks
Also, all the tools I recommend above are made of free software, which
means they can be self-hosted. If things go bad and all those services
stop existing, it should be possible for you to run your own
instance.
Let me know if I forgot anything, but in a friendly way. And stay safe
out there.
Update: a similar article from the good folks at systemli also
recommends Mastodon, Ticker, Wikis and Etherpad.
Update 2: same, at SFC, which also mentions Firefox Send
and Etherpad (and now I wish I did).
- https://meet.jitsi.org/ - the official one, might overload
- https://meet.mayfirst.org/ - Mayfirst non-profit cooperative, hosted in New York (see also their usage instructions)
- https://meet.greenhost.net/ - Greenhost, hosted in the Netherlands
- https://framatalk.org/ - Framasoft, a popular education network, hosted in France - note that Framasoft is struggling under load as basically everyone in France (including the public education network) seems to think they can all run on their servers all at once, they encourage you to run your own instance instead of using theirs
- another list of instances
Mumble
... but beyond that, you might have trouble doing a full
video-conference with a lot of people anyways. If you need to have a
large conference with a lot of people, or if you have bandwidth and
reliability problems with Jitsi, you can also try Mumble.
Mumble is an audio-only conferencing service, similar to Discord or
Teamspeak, but made with free software. It requires users to install
an app but there are clients for every platform out there
(F-Droid, Google Play, Apple Store). Mumble is harder
to setup, but is much more efficient in terms of bandwidth and
latency. In other words, it will just scale and sound better.
Mumble ships with a list of known servers, but you can also connect to
those trusted ones:
mumble.mayfirst.org - Mayfirst (see also their instructions on
how to use it, hosted in New York citymumble.riseup.net - Riseup, an autonomous collective, hosted in Seattle
(ask me if you need their password)talk.systemli.org - systemli, a
left-wing network and technics-collective, hosted in Berlin
Live streaming
If for some reason those tools still don't scale, you might have a
bigger problem on your hands. If your audience is over 100 people, you
will not be able to all join in the same conference together. And
besides, maybe you just want to broadcast some news and do not need
audio or video feedback from the audience. In this case, you need
"live streaming".
Here, proprietary services are Twitch, Livestream.com and Youtube. But
the community also provides alternatives to those. This is more
complicated to setup, but just to get you started, I'll link to:
- https://live.mayfirst.org/ - Mayfirst, based on Icecast and
icecream, a web-based client, unfortunately non-free
- https://live.autistici.org/ - Autistici, an autonomous collective,
hosted in Italy, based on Nginx and RTMP
For either of those tools, you need an app on your desktop. The
Mayfirst instructions use OBS Studio for this, but it might
be possible to hotwire VLC to stream video from your computer as
well.
Text chat
When all else fails, text should go through. Slack, Twitter and
Facebook are the best known alternatives here, obviously. I would warn
against spending too much time on those, as they can foment harmful
rumors and can spread bullshit like a virus on any given day. The
situation does not make that any better. But it can be a good way to
keep in touch with your loved ones.
But if you want to have a large meetings with a crazy number of
people, text can actually accomplish wonders. Internet Relay Chat
also known as "IRC" (and which oldies might have experienced for a bit
as mIRC) is, incredibly, still alive at the venerable age of 30
years old. It is mainly used by free software projects, but can be
used by anyone. Here are some networks you can try:
- http://webchat.freenode.net/ - the largest network, Freenode
- https://webchat.oftc.net/ - smaller network, used by the Debian
oftc.net/)
- http://irc.indymedia.org/ - a relic of the almost defunct Indymedia
network which I help operate
Those are all web interface to the IRC networks, but there are also a
plenitude of IRC apps you can install on your desktop if you want the
full experience.
Whiteboards and screensharing
I decided to add this section later on because it's a frequently
mentioned "oh but you forgot..." comment I get from this post.
- Big Blue Button - seems to check all the boxes: free software,
VoIP integration, whiteboarding and screen sharing, works from a
web browser
- CodiMD: collaborative text editor with UML and diagrams support
- Excalidraw: (collaborative) whiteboard tool that lets you
easily sketch diagrams that have a hand-drawn feel
I'll also mention that collaborative editors, in general, like
Etherpad are just great for taking minutes because you don't have
that single person with the load of writing down what people are
saying and is too busy to talk. Google Docs and Nextcloud have similar
functionality, of course.
Update, public Big Blue Button instances:
- https://bbb.jitsi.rocks/ - also a Jitsi redirector,
https://jitsi.rocks/
BBB requires one user to register to start the conference, but once
that's done, anyone with the secret URL can join.
Common recommendations
Regardless of the tools you pick, audio and video streaming is a
technical challenge. A lot of things happen under the hood when
you pick up your phone and dial a number, and sometimes using a
desktop, it can be difficult to get everything "just right".
Some advice:
- get a good microphone and headset: good audio really makes a
difference in how pleasing the experience will be, both for you
and your peers. good hardware will reduce echo, feedback and other
audio problems. (see also my audio docs)
- check your audio/video setup before joining the meeting, ideally
with another participant on the same platform you will use
- find a quiet place to meet: even a good microphone will pick up
noises from the environment, if you reduce this up front,
everything will sound better. if you do live streaming and want
high quality recording, considering setting up a smaller room to
do recording. (tip: i heard of at least one journalist hiding in a
closer full of clothes to make recordings, as it dampens the
sound!)
- mute your microphone when you are not speaking (spacebar
in Jitsi, follow the "audio wizard" in Mumble)
If you have questions or need help, feel free to ask! Comment on this
blog or just drop me an email (see contact), I'd be happy to
answer your questions.
Other ideas
Inevitably, when I write a post like this, someone writes
something like "I can't believe you did not mention APL!" Here's a
list of tools I have not mentioned here, deliberately or because I
forgot:
- Nextcloud Talk - needs access to a special server, but can be
used for small meetings (less than 5, or so i heard)
- Jabber/XMPP - yes, I know, XMPP can do everything and
it's magic. but I've given up a while back, and I don't think
setting up audio conferences with multiple enough is easy enough to
make the cut here
- Signal - signal is great. i use it every day. it's the primary
way I do long distance, international voice calls for free, and the
only way I do video-conferencing with family and friends at
all. but it's one to one only, and the group (text) chat kind of
sucks
Also, all the tools I recommend above are made of free software, which
means they can be self-hosted. If things go bad and all those services
stop existing, it should be possible for you to run your own
instance.
Let me know if I forgot anything, but in a friendly way. And stay safe
out there.
Update: a similar article from the good folks at systemli also
recommends Mastodon, Ticker, Wikis and Etherpad.
Update 2: same, at SFC, which also mentions Firefox Send
and Etherpad (and now I wish I did).
mumble.mayfirst.org - Mayfirst (see also their instructions on
how to use it, hosted in New York citymumble.riseup.net - Riseup, an autonomous collective, hosted in Seattle
(ask me if you need their password)talk.systemli.org - systemli, a
left-wing network and technics-collective, hosted in Berlin- https://live.mayfirst.org/ - Mayfirst, based on Icecast and icecream, a web-based client, unfortunately non-free
- https://live.autistici.org/ - Autistici, an autonomous collective, hosted in Italy, based on Nginx and RTMP
Text chat
When all else fails, text should go through. Slack, Twitter and
Facebook are the best known alternatives here, obviously. I would warn
against spending too much time on those, as they can foment harmful
rumors and can spread bullshit like a virus on any given day. The
situation does not make that any better. But it can be a good way to
keep in touch with your loved ones.
But if you want to have a large meetings with a crazy number of
people, text can actually accomplish wonders. Internet Relay Chat
also known as "IRC" (and which oldies might have experienced for a bit
as mIRC) is, incredibly, still alive at the venerable age of 30
years old. It is mainly used by free software projects, but can be
used by anyone. Here are some networks you can try:
- http://webchat.freenode.net/ - the largest network, Freenode
- https://webchat.oftc.net/ - smaller network, used by the Debian
oftc.net/)
- http://irc.indymedia.org/ - a relic of the almost defunct Indymedia
network which I help operate
Those are all web interface to the IRC networks, but there are also a
plenitude of IRC apps you can install on your desktop if you want the
full experience.
Whiteboards and screensharing
I decided to add this section later on because it's a frequently
mentioned "oh but you forgot..." comment I get from this post.
- Big Blue Button - seems to check all the boxes: free software,
VoIP integration, whiteboarding and screen sharing, works from a
web browser
- CodiMD: collaborative text editor with UML and diagrams support
- Excalidraw: (collaborative) whiteboard tool that lets you
easily sketch diagrams that have a hand-drawn feel
I'll also mention that collaborative editors, in general, like
Etherpad are just great for taking minutes because you don't have
that single person with the load of writing down what people are
saying and is too busy to talk. Google Docs and Nextcloud have similar
functionality, of course.
Update, public Big Blue Button instances:
- https://bbb.jitsi.rocks/ - also a Jitsi redirector,
https://jitsi.rocks/
BBB requires one user to register to start the conference, but once
that's done, anyone with the secret URL can join.
Common recommendations
Regardless of the tools you pick, audio and video streaming is a
technical challenge. A lot of things happen under the hood when
you pick up your phone and dial a number, and sometimes using a
desktop, it can be difficult to get everything "just right".
Some advice:
- get a good microphone and headset: good audio really makes a
difference in how pleasing the experience will be, both for you
and your peers. good hardware will reduce echo, feedback and other
audio problems. (see also my audio docs)
- check your audio/video setup before joining the meeting, ideally
with another participant on the same platform you will use
- find a quiet place to meet: even a good microphone will pick up
noises from the environment, if you reduce this up front,
everything will sound better. if you do live streaming and want
high quality recording, considering setting up a smaller room to
do recording. (tip: i heard of at least one journalist hiding in a
closer full of clothes to make recordings, as it dampens the
sound!)
- mute your microphone when you are not speaking (spacebar
in Jitsi, follow the "audio wizard" in Mumble)
If you have questions or need help, feel free to ask! Comment on this
blog or just drop me an email (see contact), I'd be happy to
answer your questions.
Other ideas
Inevitably, when I write a post like this, someone writes
something like "I can't believe you did not mention APL!" Here's a
list of tools I have not mentioned here, deliberately or because I
forgot:
- Nextcloud Talk - needs access to a special server, but can be
used for small meetings (less than 5, or so i heard)
- Jabber/XMPP - yes, I know, XMPP can do everything and
it's magic. but I've given up a while back, and I don't think
setting up audio conferences with multiple enough is easy enough to
make the cut here
- Signal - signal is great. i use it every day. it's the primary
way I do long distance, international voice calls for free, and the
only way I do video-conferencing with family and friends at
all. but it's one to one only, and the group (text) chat kind of
sucks
Also, all the tools I recommend above are made of free software, which
means they can be self-hosted. If things go bad and all those services
stop existing, it should be possible for you to run your own
instance.
Let me know if I forgot anything, but in a friendly way. And stay safe
out there.
Update: a similar article from the good folks at systemli also
recommends Mastodon, Ticker, Wikis and Etherpad.
Update 2: same, at SFC, which also mentions Firefox Send
and Etherpad (and now I wish I did).
- Big Blue Button - seems to check all the boxes: free software, VoIP integration, whiteboarding and screen sharing, works from a web browser
- CodiMD: collaborative text editor with UML and diagrams support
- Excalidraw: (collaborative) whiteboard tool that lets you easily sketch diagrams that have a hand-drawn feel
- https://bbb.jitsi.rocks/ - also a Jitsi redirector, https://jitsi.rocks/
Common recommendations
Regardless of the tools you pick, audio and video streaming is a
technical challenge. A lot of things happen under the hood when
you pick up your phone and dial a number, and sometimes using a
desktop, it can be difficult to get everything "just right".
Some advice:
- get a good microphone and headset: good audio really makes a
difference in how pleasing the experience will be, both for you
and your peers. good hardware will reduce echo, feedback and other
audio problems. (see also my audio docs)
- check your audio/video setup before joining the meeting, ideally
with another participant on the same platform you will use
- find a quiet place to meet: even a good microphone will pick up
noises from the environment, if you reduce this up front,
everything will sound better. if you do live streaming and want
high quality recording, considering setting up a smaller room to
do recording. (tip: i heard of at least one journalist hiding in a
closer full of clothes to make recordings, as it dampens the
sound!)
- mute your microphone when you are not speaking (spacebar
in Jitsi, follow the "audio wizard" in Mumble)
If you have questions or need help, feel free to ask! Comment on this
blog or just drop me an email (see contact), I'd be happy to
answer your questions.
Other ideas
Inevitably, when I write a post like this, someone writes
something like "I can't believe you did not mention APL!" Here's a
list of tools I have not mentioned here, deliberately or because I
forgot:
- Nextcloud Talk - needs access to a special server, but can be
used for small meetings (less than 5, or so i heard)
- Jabber/XMPP - yes, I know, XMPP can do everything and
it's magic. but I've given up a while back, and I don't think
setting up audio conferences with multiple enough is easy enough to
make the cut here
- Signal - signal is great. i use it every day. it's the primary
way I do long distance, international voice calls for free, and the
only way I do video-conferencing with family and friends at
all. but it's one to one only, and the group (text) chat kind of
sucks
Also, all the tools I recommend above are made of free software, which
means they can be self-hosted. If things go bad and all those services
stop existing, it should be possible for you to run your own
instance.
Let me know if I forgot anything, but in a friendly way. And stay safe
out there.
Update: a similar article from the good folks at systemli also
recommends Mastodon, Ticker, Wikis and Etherpad.
Update 2: same, at SFC, which also mentions Firefox Send
and Etherpad (and now I wish I did).
- Nextcloud Talk - needs access to a special server, but can be used for small meetings (less than 5, or so i heard)
- Jabber/XMPP - yes, I know, XMPP can do everything and it's magic. but I've given up a while back, and I don't think setting up audio conferences with multiple enough is easy enough to make the cut here
- Signal - signal is great. i use it every day. it's the primary way I do long distance, international voice calls for free, and the only way I do video-conferencing with family and friends at all. but it's one to one only, and the group (text) chat kind of sucks