This pad is part of our attempt to collectively study a platform. No exhaustive knowledge precedes it, nor wishes to reach a point of full understanding, but to combine with the lived experience of the software.
These are questions not to be answered one by one, but to spend time with. Although of course if you have answers, please go ahead ;)
Can be used as a group, not as isolated questions -- so more like a questioning atmosphere?
These questions can also be applied to a group of software, more or less nameable "videoconferencing tools"?
These questions might invoke other tools for comparison and extension: please welcome those in!
This is a growing list of questions, please rewrite and add as many as you wish!


- 1/ Protocols

• • How would you describe the main characteristics of video conferencing? E.g.: centrality, frontality, usernames, flat surfaces...
    • Usernames are customizable // can they be preassigned like zoom
    • Flat surface, but multidimensional
      • embbeds remain flat, but chat is framed as a hosted space, overlayed in its own dimensions
        • curation reference to the customizable welcome message
        • though this message is focused on tech, asking people is more effective, as this message is not pinnned, can have things be lost in the flow
    • UI utilized simple line drawings, change color for fill, similar to awesome font icons, more of a visual menu
    • centrality is dynamic based on consent
      • I want to show by camera ==> that will be acknowledged in the space on how I want to be perceived in my existence, otherwise hidden
        • mic also hidden unless noise happens, still different, not like camera is only when movement happens
      • How do black squares impact the footprint of the recording? 
      • I want to see the presentation, I can toggle this
    • rectangularization = we all look the same
    • lack of communication in the interface of what is being observed by the host , which information is being stored/safed?
    • control system, invisible in zoom, visible in BBB (red dot, when recording)
  • how is the flow of interactions regulated in the software (sounds modulation, silencing, muting..)?
    • Consent before joining the call has two main options, camera off default // can be set to do that in zoom, but not by default
    • Whiteboard can be toggled on an off, acts as a illustrative chatboard // zoom the whiteboard is focused, can be distracting, compounding components are more of a chore rather than outlets for alternative engagement
      • cannot export whiteboard in the same way though
    • Jitsi's hands up mode is an interesting way to negotiate speaking time, but it relies on there being a moderator to keep track of the people wishing to speak
    • Depends on the attributions given to the user
  • What translations/encodings/decodings you see (opperating/appearing?) in this tool?
    • Closed captioning is accessible to user list
    • user names, public chat, can be saved by the individual
    • Not really sure what encoding means
  • What communication protocols emerge in the platform? (both in the sense of technical protocols such as WebRTC, and social protocols such as speaking one at a time...) 
    • I don't really know what this means! 
    • Social protocol, addressing who will speak first, who takes up the most air time, alternative means for those want to contribute more to establish postive both as an individual and as a collaborative
    • Ways of dealing with uncomfortable digital silence
    • Ways of alternating speach: for example one person naming who the next person will be to answer a question
  • What roles are established by joining a call?
    • So far, no sense of hiearchy
    • Facilitators not made explicit
    • No roles for translation, anyone contributes to dialogue in etherpad
  • How does this tool provide with recording / archiving techniques?
    • archival relies on permanence, the website, using user/chat/drawing logs as a part of a slice into the experience
    • Interested to find out where the recording goes... to the user's computer, to the server of the service provider?
  • Do you find any interesting elements regarding sound-based interaction?
    • Zoom, I have no additional audio sounds, default sounds from the software are minimal presets
    • BBB - the voice is in the center, not the image (video)

BBB
with webcam positions (that are often static and frontal)
through user-spaces (that are based on a customizable username)
always in single-presenter-mode (as it's not possible that multiple people share their screens)
without the famous "black squares" (turned-off camera's don't leave squared shadows behind)

Zoom
mandatory online interactions
zoom as default video conferencing tool

Questions
how to switch tools when groups are getting used to a specific tool?

• comfort
• access
• assumed monopoly of software
• ability to perpetuate a skillset
• inherent political value control
• sustainability
• digital/physical navigation of contexual acknowlegments
• Self hosting ==> joy, liberation, curation, agency, autonomy
• intersectionality of microinterfaces ==> building resilience, inter-reliance 
• being able to monitor the impact and efficiacy of what is developed 

----------------
consent: your video icon is on all the time, but when you speak the micro icon is moving

mic is the main display of presence..
instead of the frame becoming green in zoom..

the presence on top is in a way friendly to signal presence..

voice is in the center. less image centric..

acknowledgements
land acknowledgements
digital infrastructures are still build on stolen land
how to deal with complicancy 
selfghosting
monitoring imapcts footprints