mozilla hubs for discussion (alternative to zoom)?

[jdkent]

I've had an awesome experience using mozilla hubs and I think it could be a valuable tool for our Friday discussion, if someone else takes the lead, I will be in full support.

• here's a getting started video

[kerry-tarrant]

Looks cool. Here are things I noticed.
-Hub is browser based.
-Links last for months (uncertain about max duration).
-Do not need a Mozzila account.
-Short link available as well as a six digit code (like Zoom).
-Space bar brings up a secondary menu.
-Capacity is 24. Mozzila recommends more than one hub if there is more than 24 participants. Participant 25 and higher can still spectate and use text chat in a hub (cannot interact in with mic or avatar).
-Can share screen and videos and pin them to a point in space.

[jdkent]

thanks for the rundown Kerry! I linked a room in the slack group pinned in the general channel (not posting the link publicly)

The motivation is to avoid breakout rooms for everyone since one person has to administer the breakout rooms and it is not easy for someone to switch rooms dynamically.

With that said, I think some people will still be most comfortable using zoom (there is a learning curve to mozilla hubs, especially for those that have not ever played video games)

I'm imagining everyone checks into zoom when we do the overview of the concepts, then people that are comfortable with trying hubs move over to hubs to separate into groups within the virtual space, and have one space in zoom for everyone that prefers zoom (hopefully that group is ~6 people).

Before the session starts on Friday, someone can make/pin a couple objects in the mozilla hub room for initial group assignment/questions, then people can teleport to those groups for initial discussion.
Following that if people want to cross boundaries to ask questions/talk with other groups, they can do that!

We will need a tutorial for navigating/using hubs to show people the necessary functionality.

[GHarmata]

Personally I think we are already going to be dealing with a lot of new information for people, including basic programming and the google colabs interface, and that it isn't worth the trouble of introducing a new communication platform as well, unless we absolutely need to. Why don't we wait and see what happens on this Friday first?

[jdkent]

for those participating in neuromatch academy, they may use hubs at some point since they are using for the conference: https://twitter.com/neuromatch/status/1265342512073453568?s=20

[mpipoly]

I loved the mozilla room and found it to be very fun.... for the walking in and out of rooms feature. However, I am not sure this is "better" than the zoom platform now. I agree with @GHarmata that this might not be great for the majority of participants. @jdkent Maybe we could do a side tutorial for this platform if it is something that interactive neuromatch participants might encounter?

[jdkent]

I'm in support for a side tutorial with interested participants.