Corona / Moving class (further) online

Hi all, have seen the updates from UZH regarding suspension of classroom activities. Fortunately for us, we're already digital, and had planned to do some digital classrooms at some point throughout the course anyway.

If Corona disrupts anything for you, you can post here or in the class absences issue. If anyone has some nice ideas regarding replacing our Tuesday physical class with an online platform or something, add to this issue and perhaps we can find a decent solution.

@martin.dusinberre anything to add? We can figure things out e.g. Monday, but I figured out digizeit members needed a quick update too!

Be safe and well everyone!

changed title from Corona Moving class (further) online to Corona / Moving class (further) online

Here's a simple example of a space where we can collaboratively meet, author and edit stuff in real-time, as opposed to Git (which isn't designed to be synchronous): https://yourpart.eu/p/digizeit

mentioned in issue #5 (closed)

Added remarks on Etherpad to our wiki/resources: https://gitlab.uzh.ch/lit/digizeit/-/wikis/Resources/Etherpad

mentioned in issue #16

Why don't we meet on zoom.us? That way we can even have a discussion.

@maryam.joseph indeed a possibility, I'll take a look at it by Monday. But is any of their software open source? We should rely where possible on open source / free software, especially in times of crisis. Preference is given to tools that respect privacy, are free to use, and whose source code is public.

I know it can feel a little silly to use the 'free alternative', especially when the proprietary tool is better, quick to sign up for and so on. But there are often hidden costs, in terms of privacy, ownership of data, and being able to verify the claims made by a service (i.e. by looking through source code, running your own version, etc). In fact, UZH and CH in general can prohibit our using 'closed' services like this in university contexts, if the tools do not conform to Swiss/cantonal policies regarding data storage and so on. That said, I don't know the specific rules, and I use CH here as a bit of a "boogeyman".

Does anybody know anything about the Swiss legal side of things? I have just been told that for example, software services must store user data in particular places, and for particular maximum lengths of time. I like such rules, though they can mean that even the most popular websites in the world are technically illegal.

And is this not a discussion?

I find the terms for the service most unfavourable: "40 mins limit on group meetings" for 3+ participants, that might be a deal-breaker.

We could buy the pro-version for 15 dollars a month.

Whose $15?

I mean...since we can't really go outside at the moment and spend our money on let's say...drinks, we could all chip in!

We have used zoom in another class to bring in students from overseas. So I just guessed that it was legal. But I just looked at their website and it seems like it's not free.

haha, of course this is also a discussion! But I feel like spoken discussions are (on some levels at least) better that written discussions. Maybe this is also something one could discuss.

If I can chip in something: A quick google search led me to a program called Riot.im. I don't completely understand all the jargon regarding privacy, so Danny should take a look, but it might be a fit for our purposes.

Hey, I'm not a lawyer. But I'll look into it. Other opinions welcome too, some brave soul can test it out while quarantined. Looks sufficiently geeky from website at least...

So I downloaded the program, made an account etc., but the way it is, there have to be at least two parties for communication. So it'd be nice if someone could also make an account and find me with @hinrek:matrix.org, so we could figure out if it fits. Doesn't have to be today, but best in the next two days, that we find a solution before tuesday.

I like Matrix (the undelying technology of Riot), because it's a decentralized social network (another great tech buzzword to learn about, here's an intro). Unlike other federated social media an upside (or downside!) is that we wouldn't have to host our own instance or join someone else's, it seems.

To test it, I've sent you a DM @henrik.jochum :) I'm @toadheart:matrix.org

@daniel.mcdonald , what about Microsoft Teams?

Here's another one: Jitsi meet, open source, fully encrypted and you don't need to make an account.

Hi all: sorry to be late to the party. I tend, for sanity's sake, to try and knock off communications at the weekends. A quick update: the Historisches Seminar will be enabling us all to use Microsoft Teams, apparently. We'll get more log-in details today and I'll let you know. Thanks, Martin

It also appears that uzh already has its own instance of Jitsi: https://uzh.meet.switch.ch/

@daniel.mcdonald @henrik.jochum @leyla.feiner @maryam.joseph @manuel.kissoczy @patrick.gut @ricardo.stalder Morning all: following overnight instructions from the HS, I've set up Microsoft Teams on my laptop and added you all as members (Danny as teacher). I'm still not sure how the call to a video conference will look like from your perspective--if there are any willing guinea pigs at about 11am, can you let me know and we can try to set something up in advance of class at 12.15? Cheers, Martin

@martin.dusinberre I will be giving a Webinar on video conferecing with SWITCHmeet today at 10, but I should be done by 11 and will have a lot of video conference guinea pig experience :) Also, if possible, could you add me with the e-mail leyla.feiner2@uzh.ch on Teams? Just so I have everything in one place.

@leyla.feiner Yes, no problem. Shall I delete your other membership? I'm having more trouble with the video conferencing software that UZH recommends just for meetings (not for teaching). Let's talk at 11. Thanks, Martin

@martin.dusinberre Yes, that's fine! See you at 11.