How we mixed virtual with real in our workshop:
1. Audio streaming. We couldn’t secure a real-time audio stream, which would have been ideal, but we did OK by routing our audio through voice chat. The problem with this is dropoff, which the listener can override. Or we could have created a group chat, though that can get logistically hairy in realtime. The bigger challenge, it turns out, was getting sound into the computer in the first place (see below).
In the absence of proper audio streaming, Catherine and Aaron engaged in a lot of furious text transcription. Wow.
2. Picture relay. We weren’t video streaming either (which probably wouldn’t have added that much anyway), but we did have someone take photos and quickly upload them into Second Life to display. This is a trick that Aaron’s done a number of times, and I think it helped give participants a feel for what was going on in the room without boring them with zero-action video.
3. Give virtual participants something active to do. As I discussed in my other postmortem post, we created small groups out of the audience and then assigned them all something to do. We treated the Second Life participants as their own group, and this turned out pretty well, I think.
How we could have improved:
1. Ensure and test appropriate hardware. Our microphone sucked, and it severely affected participants’ ability to hear what was going on in the room. Ideally, we needed some kind of multi-mic setup, though such an option wasn’t in our budget. On the flip side, we also had trouble getting sound out of the computer into the room. We had a room mic and amp, but it took just a few seconds too long for us to put it right in front of the laptop’s speaker. Direct output to the speaker system would have been better, if that had been an option (as it would be in most classrooms).
We also failed to test the hardware setup with enough lead time to troubleshoot problems — as Aaron points out, “When a single component was crippled, it had enormous effects on the experience for the participants in Second Life. Also, small and seemingly insignificant issues, such as physical location of the computers can have a huge effect on how things play out.” In our feeble defense, I would point out that this especially hard to do in a hotel setting where not everything is going to be available far in advance for testing. Having a mobile broadcasting suitcase (containing microphones, mixer, mini speakers) would be the ideal solution for those who can afford it.
2. Upgrade our Second Life learning objects. We just didn’t have enough appropriate objects in the space such as discussion logging, whiteboards, etc. That was simply a lack of preparation!
3. Get to the action sooner. We lost a lot of participants early on because there just wasn’t enough for them to do. I’ve sat through enough SL lectures to know that listening to people talk about something somewhere else is just not that exciting. Compounded with technical difficulties, it’s deadly. By the time we got to the group activities we were down to 4 hard-core participants. Next time, we have to move to group activities almost immediately.
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