[[PageOutline]] = Web Conferencing = May First/People Link has several tools for web-based conferencing. == Recommended Tool == Jitsi Meet is our recommended tool for web-based video conferencing. All participants can join a video conference by clicking on a web link that you can send by email or instant message. Each participants must use the Chrome or Chromium web-browser and have a functional microphone and speakers on their computers and (optionally) a camera. Participants who want to share their desktop instead of their video, must install the desktop sharing plugin described below. Jitsi Meet works best when all participants have a reasonably good Internet connection (1 mbit upload, 5 mbit download) and with 5 or less participants (if you have more participants, you can still have a good conference, but you will have better sound quality if each participants disables the video option). All participants must use a recent version of Firefox (it is possible with Chrome, but we have experienced some problems if some users are on firefox and some on chrome). If you are using chromium, you must pass the --no-sandbox option. To start a conference, visit: https://meet.mayfirst.org/. Alternatively, you can pick a conference room by inventing your own address on the meet.mayfirst.org web site. For example, you could invite all participants to go to: https://meet.mayfirst.org/my-special-meeting. The first person to enter the conference is the moderator, and will have special rights (for example they can mute other individuals, kick someone out of the conference, or set a password for the conference room). === Help! How does this work === [[Image(jitsi-meet-help.png)]] * In the top left corner there is an icon of either a camera or a microphone. If you don't see either (or you see a lock) then it means you are not sharing your camera and/or microphone. Reload the page and look for a pop up window asking you to share these things. * Along the top of your screen (you will only see it if you move your mouse in that direction) you see a lot of icons. The one on the far left is a microphone. Click the microphone to mute yourself. Please do this when you are not talking! The one next to it is a camera. Click the camera to turn off your video. You may be asked to do this if the conference encounters bandwidth problems. * In the bottom right corner is a cartoon talk bubble. Click this button to start the text chat. Please do this! Your conference organizer may need to communicate with people who are not able to talk or hear in the conference. === Desktop Sharing === ==== Firefox ==== * You and all participants must have Firefox version 51 or higher installed. * Click the icon of the screen to start sharing ==== Chrome or Chromium ==== * Download the desktop sharing application: https://meet.mayfirst.org/desktop-sharing-chrome.tgz * Unpack the folder: `tar -xzvf desktop-sharing.tgz` on Linux, or double click on Windows or Mac. * Type the following into your browser address window: chrome://extensions * Check the "Developer Mode" checkbox in the top right corner * Click "Load Unpacked Extension" * Navigate to the unpacked folder and open it * You should now see a new extension called "Mayfirst's Jitsi Desktop Streamer." Click the Enable checkbox. * Now, open a Jitsi Meet conference and you can click on the Share Screen option === Limitations === Jitsi is solid software, however, getting video and audio to work across different computers and platforms is still quite experimental. Be sure to test thoroughly before relying on a jitsi web conference. If you are using video for all participants, ''each'' participant needs a high bandwidth connection. Alternatively, instruct participants to turn off their video when they are not speaking. There is no option for calling in via phone, at this time.