Using Google+ Hangout Video Chat for “Maker Show-and-Tell”

Computers & Mobile Home
Using Google+ Hangout Video Chat for “Maker Show-and-Tell”

Pt 101314-1

I helped ladyada set up the first ever DIY electronics show-and-tell using google+ hangout video chat, it was fantastic. Here’s a brief write up.

The first ever electronics show-and-tell over google+ hangout was a success! We’re going to do this again, next time we’re going to start at 9:30pm ET on Saturday nights. That’s 30 minutes before “Ask an engineer“. We might have a recording of this first ever, but check out some of the screenshots (above).

Here are some quickie thoughts about what worked, features we’d like to see and more:

  • The show-and-tell is so much fun, no one wants to leave. So we’re going to do it 9:30pm and the first 10 people who are in are in for the full 30 minutes to show-and-tell. We were able to do about 10 in 30 minutes, that’s a perfect amount of time for us before the show without fatigue from the show-and-tellers or us.
  • The agenda driven video chat with a moderator asking questions and moving things along (us) worked great.
  • We’ll likely be able to record these and post them later (working on the first one now).
  • Watching a YouTube video didn’t work for everyone.
  • The text chat was handy for URLs for later and for folks talking to each other during the show-and-tell.
  • We are researching the best way to live stream the 10 people in the google+ hangout on Ustream at the same time, it’s all messy and complicated but we have some ideas that hopefully will not add a board, a 3rd computer and 3rd net connection :)
  • There are not any admin tools yet, we didn’t need any and hopefully never will. There’s just “mute” and “report abuse”. Since you can manage things with circles and blocking, that might be enough.
  • We loved it, it was like a mini Maker Faire!…

We’d like to thank the first folks who showed up with their projects and we look forward to the next group next week, see you then! Add us to google+ (http:///gplus.to/adafruit) to stay tuned for the next one!

I’m pretty sure google would like to see more of this – people sharing their creations using one of their new services. It’s one of the best uses I can think of for google+ hangouts. I think this tool is a winner for people who create and share.

Not really related, but worth mentioning since it will come up in the comments – (personal opinion) — I realize this might just be a shiny new toy for now, but for me Facebook is the “RealPlayer” of social networks, they took more value than they gave back for far too long.

I’m glad there’s an alternative for sharing and collaboration now with more features that seem to be interesting to makers. Historically Facebook hasn’t done much in the Maker community, I’ve tried to get them to participate in Maker Faire each year (and would still love to have them, there are a lot great ideas for Facebook + Maker Faire). While it would be impossible to be a fan of everything google does, they’ve been part of Maker Faire many many times, they’re doing a Science Fair, they have a hacker space for employees, they’ve adopted Arduino for Android, lots of good OSS efforts and the tools they’re creating with more control and ownership seems to fit the maker mindset better – it does feel like they’re listening, I hope they keep it up.

22 thoughts on “Using Google+ Hangout Video Chat for “Maker Show-and-Tell”

  1. Angus Hines III says:

    glad it went well I saw it going on but didnt have time to stop in will do next week though !!! 

  2. Anonymous says:

    just did a quick test, it appears we can “ustream” a google+ hangout.
    will try to do this next week. we used ustream producer pro’s “Launch
    Desktop Presenter” and stream the google+ hangout, we made sure to start
    the hangout before starting the ustream app (mac) so google+ hangout
    got dibs on the camera first. we’ll see how it works next week when we
    try to do it live… eventually we’re sure google will just have a
    “allow youtube streaming” as an audience option.

  3. Anonymous says:

    just did a quick test, it appears we can “ustream” a google+ hangout.
    will try to do this next week. we used ustream producer pro’s “Launch
    Desktop Presenter” and stream the google+ hangout, we made sure to start
    the hangout before starting the ustream app (mac) so google+ hangout
    got dibs on the camera first. we’ll see how it works next week when we
    try to do it live… eventually we’re sure google will just have a
    “allow youtube streaming” as an audience option.

  4. Anonymous says:

    just did a quick test, it appears we can “ustream” a google+ hangout.
    will try to do this next week. we used ustream producer pro’s “Launch
    Desktop Presenter” and stream the google+ hangout, we made sure to start
    the hangout before starting the ustream app (mac) so google+ hangout
    got dibs on the camera first. we’ll see how it works next week when we
    try to do it live… eventually we’re sure google will just have a
    “allow youtube streaming” as an audience option.

  5. Anonymous says:

    just did a quick test, it appears we can “ustream” a google+ hangout.
    will try to do this next week. we used ustream producer pro’s “Launch
    Desktop Presenter” and stream the google+ hangout, we made sure to start
    the hangout before starting the ustream app (mac) so google+ hangout
    got dibs on the camera first. we’ll see how it works next week when we
    try to do it live… eventually we’re sure google will just have a
    “allow youtube streaming” as an audience option.

  6. Rebekah Ryan says:

    The gplus address seems to be invalid. :/

  7. Easan Katir says:

    You are fantiastic !   In two weeks I have a class lined up in google+ hangout.   However, my Mac camera shows a mirror image so all the written stuff i hold up to the camera is backwards !   Anyone know a workaround for this?    Search as I might, i can find no adjustment in ‘preferences’ for this.  

  8. Easan Katir says:

    You are fantiastic !   In two weeks I have a class lined up in google+ hangout.   However, my Mac camera shows a mirror image so all the written stuff i hold up to the camera is backwards !   Anyone know a workaround for this?    Search as I might, i can find no adjustment in ‘preferences’ for this.  

  9. Easan Katir says:

    You are fantiastic !   In two weeks I have a class lined up in google+ hangout.   However, my Mac camera shows a mirror image so all the written stuff i hold up to the camera is backwards !   Anyone know a workaround for this?    Search as I might, i can find no adjustment in ‘preferences’ for this.  

Comments are closed.

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

current: @adafruit - previous: MAKE, popular science, hackaday, engadget, fallon, braincraft ... howtoons, 2600...

View more articles by Phillip Torrone

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK