OLPC talk:Support gang

Meeting format

I'm just curious about this - not a binding vote or anything... but what format would people like to have support-gang weekly meetings in?

I prefer Phone

• Cbigenho I'm not very good at IRC. I type slowly and there are always several conversations going on. In 3 weeks I will be back to dial-up internet access unless I can can find an ISP who will be able to serve my (rural) house. That is one of the reasons I prefer the phone. BTW...I didn't say the phone is "best". I said it works best for some of us and the irc is needed for others. Ergo...we need to continue with both.

I prefer IRC

• Mchua (vote is for a private chat). I'm hearing-impaired and can't understand conference calls, period. Also, IRC has the benefit of automatic logs for ease of meeting-noteness. I will personally volunteer to clean-up and post (to teamwiki and the SG mailing list) IRC meeting notes.
• Seth The sound quality on the phone system is awful. Phone meetings are fine for non technical people, or for groups up to 10 or 12, but 20+ is far too much. IRC is logged, much faster, generally preferable to me.
• Ian_Daniher Phone quality is awful, hogs the line for extensive time periods. I would sooner (have my parents counter-)sign an NDA then resort to security by obscurity. The biggest argument against IRC meetings is that there's a risk of things being reposted. As global G1G1 approaches and SGers are talking about a restructure with commitments, then an NDA may make sense. Also, SILC (secure IRC) may make sense for really sensitive topics.
• TTown My phone connection dropped out about 12 - 15 times within little over an hour. VoIP and the AT&T server don't seem to cooperate too well.
• iXo My neck hurts holding up the phone. My phone drops out once or twice during session. Alot of noise/static in background, makes hard to hear.... and identify who is talking. Once something is missed, hard to backtrack to make sure everyone gets it. (Lots of repeating the same message/point over and over again. Several times, 'discussion' turns into 1-on-1 off-topic, which could be sent to private chat. I can appreicate the human aspect, but maybe a combination, of start of meeting people are on and say hi, with quick summary. But other conversation/details can be done via private channel IRC.
• scorche I prefer IRC for several reasons: It is much easier to comprehend and follow along due to being able to go back and re-read what has been said. It is much clearer due to no issues with static, loud noises, and other phone-related interference. No one can talk over another person. It is easier to get your thoughts in due to the aforementioned point. Due to the nature of phone conversations, I find it much harder to speak as you need to wait till others are done speaking and there is an empty space and making sure to not talk over anyone and to make sure you use the time properly and etc and etc. It is much easier to cultivate notes from. It is *MUCH* easier to multitask around as well as splitting off one-to-one talk. In the end, I think phone meetings are good for a low number of people (although they still do not have some of the benefits of IRC, however IRC would be much better for our purposes. ...Although I doubt any sort of vote like this will change anything...