Virtual Engagement Through Videoconferencing

Ted RitzerV3 June 25, 2015

Introduction

• Educational Videoconferencing: For a decade I have had direct experience with the use of videoconferencing as a medium for educational programming.

What is different about videoconferencing?

• Visually live and interactive• You see people’s emotions in their faces• You see visuals that presenters offer their

audiences• More sophisticated approaches use green

screen technology just like in the movies to put speakers into virtual environments for storytelling effect

Citizen Engagement???

• Till I took a World Bank MOOC course on the topic of citizen engagement I have had no direct experience with citizen engagement of any kind.

• I don’t know citizen engagement• But what do I know that is relevant to this

topic

What do I know or can do that is relevant?

• I know technology• I am a good technicial strategist

The New Reality

• For example despite the fact that Blue Ray DVD players deliver a much higher resolution TV experience of movies, Apple iTunes & Netflix are becoming dominant

• Sometime in 2016 Netflix will eclipse traditional TV networks for viewers

Face to Face for an Ideal World

• Face to Face two-way communication is the ideal

• But can we afford it?• Does it have the reach mobile approaches

do?• To reach citizens we have to adopt the

communication platforms our citizens use.

Mobile Citizen Engagement

• Most people have smartphones and tablets• Now to connect with people you have to go

where they are at any moment in time, forget about travelling for hours for face to face discussions.

• That means, you use a medium compatible with mobile devices!

World Bank MOOC on Citizen Engagement-16,000 people world wide participated

• Link to course:https://www.coursera.org/course/engagecitizen

Course ProjectInspired by America Speaks

• AmericaSpeaks:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJBgTFm8ZPQ

What else Can I do that is relevant

• I know how to do cold calls• Those calls get people excited about

volunteering their expertise to make the world better through the use of their technology, knowledge and skills.

Brightest Technologist’s Input

• I asked two of the brightest technologists I know Dr Peter Parns of Sweden and Calgary based tech venture capitalist Shawn Abbott

• what is the next big thing in technology?

WebRTC

• They both responded with WebRTC• Why WebRTC?• Because it represents the easiest way on the

planet to communicate with people via both audio and video via your mobile device!

• No installation required• No worries re firewalls

Who knows WebRTC?

• To which Shawn responded you have to talk to world leader Calgary based Hookflash CEO Trent Johnsen:

Trent’s Response

• To build the next WebRTC compatible mobile citizen engagement platform you have to talk to Emil Ivov who has developed the world’s only free WebRTC compatible open source multiparty server called Jitsi:

World Speaks Mobile Citizen Engagement Project

• Ted tested the Jitsi server with Emil Ivov for use in the World Bank MOOC project:

WebRTC Leaders lend support

• Ted approached and received support for the World Speaks concept from two Canadians who just happen to be responsible for WebRTC development at Google & Cisco

Dr Cullen Jennings-Cisco Fellow

• Leads international Internet working group on WebRTC, spends winters in Calgary

Dr Serge Lachapelle-Google

• Product Manager in Stockholm where he leads Google's WebRTC platform. Real Time Communication (RTC)

Google’s Top 3 Priorities

• In a recent interview Dr Serge Lachapelle was asked what his top 3 priorities were:

• To which Serge replied1. Mobile2. Mobile3. Mobile

The World Speaks Concept

• The World Speaks was inspired by America Speaks & Uses WebRTC mobile browsers for people to speak out from where they are. And uses the free open source Jitsi server to host multi-party conversations and capture that input for later use.

Why

• Time, money & convenience trumps absolute best approaches

• People want/demand services where they are and through their mobile devices

• The World Speaks concept was defined for the above new mobile reality

The World Speaks-We listen!

• Create a medium that is easy for people to express themselves by simply talking.

• The chosen medium captures their talk and archives it for future analysis, no typing, just press record, and let them talk!

• You analyze their input later from the archived input file.

Post Script

• Erik Langley of Hookflash to Co-Chair W3C WebRTC Working Group