BigBlueButton
BigBlueButton is a widely used Free software and Open source video conferencing tool able to do video conferences and other meetings. BigBlueButton it's usually adopted in the field of distance learning and can be adopted by Wikimedia projects contributors for meetings, calls, conferences, ecc.
It's powerful but also simple (its name means something like "in order to join the meeting, just click that big blue button"). More details on the BigBlueButton Wikipedia page.
You have multiple ways to try and adopt BigBlueButton, described in this page.
Ethical values
editBigBlueButton can be appreciated for some ethical values dear to Wikimedia projects:
| Client Free | Server Free | No third-parties | |
|---|---|---|---|
| BigBlueButton | Yes[1][2] | Yes[3] | Yes[4] |
| Jitsi Meeting | Yes[1][2] | Yes[3] | Yes[4] |
| eduMeet | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zoom | No[5][2] | No[6] | No[6] |
| Google Meet | No[5][2] | No[6] | No[6] |
To use BigBlueButton you can just find a nice service provider or install it on a server (for maximum privacy and management).
Features
edit
Some key-features of BigBlueButton:
- share screen and webcam at the same time
- sustain up to 100 people talking in the same room without problems
- freehand drawing shared
- group chat and private chat
- shared notes with visual editor (and export in multiple formats)
- support for serious human real-time subtitling
- ability to create multiple rooms and set room names and tune permissions for each
- simple and powerful moderation tools (mute everyone, disable webcam for everyone, ecc.)
- breakout rooms (ability to split the participants in smaller working rooms)
- polls
- recording (it can record every webcam, every audio track, presentations, freehand drawing shared, ...)
- pre-upload slides
- raised hand
- GDPR compliant
- ...
Service providers
editYou can find good BigBlueButton providers searching on your favorite search engine "BigBlueButton provider NATION", eventually removing your nation from the query to find more.
As with any Free software, there are many ways to try it out:
- at no costs and without guarantees
- paying and with professional support
- installing it on your server for maximum privacy and customization
Paid professional support
editHere a list that you can expand to recommend a good BigBlueButton provider that you can pay to have professional support for your Wikimedia community.
Courtesy service at no cost
editHere a list of courtesy BigBlueButton providers. They are available without any cost and without any warranty.
Feel free to get in touch with them providing some useful info:
- Wikimedia Italia
- They use BigBlueButton for assemblies and meetings. When they don't have assemblies, they often lend their BigBlueButton for events or conferences.
- ...
Be your own provider
editYou can also install BigBlueButton on a server and become your own service provider:
Users
editHere some human beings who can help you with BigBlueButton:
Note
edit- ↑ a b This solution works without proprietary JavaScript executed on your computer.
- ↑ a b c d https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html
- ↑ a b The server of this application is free software.
- ↑ a b This solution allows you to exclude any third party company.
- ↑ a b This solution requires some proprietary JavaScript to be executed on your computer or device.
- ↑ a b c d In this solution it is not possible to manage everything on your server (on-premise) or it is not possible to do it using only free software.