Hybrid

Last week, Ulf Holbrook defended his dissertation at RITMO. I was in charge of streaming the disputation, and here are some reflections on the technical setup and streaming. Zoom Webinars vs YouTube Streaming I have previously written about running a hybrid disputation using a Zoom webinar. We have used variations of that setup also for other events. For example, last year, we ran RPPW as a hybrid conference. There are some benefits of using Zoom, particularly when having many presenters. Zoom rooms are the best for small groups where everyone should be able to participate. For larger groups, and particularly (semi-)public events, Zoom Webinars are the only viable solution. I had only experienced Zoom bombing once (when someone else organised a public event with more than 100 people present), which was an unpleasant experience. That is why we have run all our public events using Zoom Webinars, where we have more fine-grained control of who is allowed to talk and share their video and screen. ...

For the last couple of days, I have participated in the NordicSMC conference. It was organized by a team of Ph.D. fellows from Aalborg University Copenhagen, supported by the Nordic Sound and Music Computing network. UiO is happy to be a partner in this network, together with colleagues in Copenhagen (AAU), Stockholm (KTH), Helsinki (Aalto), and Reykjavik (UoI). Choosing a conference format When we began discussing the conference earlier this year, it quickly became apparent that it was unrealistic to meet in person. Restrictions have been lifted in most Nordic countries, but the pandemic is still ongoing. One option could have been to run it as an online-only conference. But since we are an adventurous group of researchers, we wanted to explore running it as a hub-based hybrid conference. Hybrid means that it was run both in-person and online. Hub-based means that there were multiple physical locations. This makes sense, given that there are five partners in the network. ...

I have been running the disputation of Guilherme Schmidt Câmara today. At RITMO, we have accepted that “hybrid mode” will be the new normal. So also for disputations. Fortunately, we had already many years of experience with video conferencing before the corona crisis hit. We have also gained lots of experience by running the Music, Communication and Technology master’s programme for some years. In another blog post, I summarized some experiences of running our first hybrid disputation. I have also written about running the Rhythm Production and Perception Workshop as a hybrid conference and how to successfully run a Zoom Webinar. ...

Yesterday, I wrote about Agata Zelechowska’s disputation. We decided to run it as a hybrid production, even though there was no audience present. It would, of course, have been easier to run it as an online-only event. However, we expect that hybrid is the new “normal” for such events, and therefore thought that it would be good to get started exploring the hybrid format right away. In this blog post, I will write up some of our experiences. ...