26 September 2013 — The Government Information Office (GIO) carried out a Google Hangout video conference on the topic of Open Data and Civic hacking involving a panel of experts participating from varied locations and using a range of technology.
The recording of this session is available on YouTube.
While the topic of the discussion is of interest to the ACT Government and GIO, the key objective of the activity was to test and demonstrate the potential for the Google Hangout platform to be used by the ACT Government for a range of communication and community engagement activities.
The participants were
- Gavin Tapp, moderator from the GIO
- Pia Waugh, lead organiser of Govhack Australia
- Michael Phillips, Manager eGov Cluster at NICTA
- Alex Sadlier, open data hacker and Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) member
- Steve DeCosta, Director at Link Digital
- Toby Wild, Govhack participant and hack day advocate
What is Google Hangout
Google Hangout is a free multiparty video conference platform offered by Google. It allows up to ten people to participate in the video conference, and features strong links with the Google suite of online products such as YouTube, Google Docs, and Google Drive.
To participate, each person requires a Google account. In most cases, this will be a personal account owned by the participant.
Typically, a Google Hangout is a private video conference where only invited participants can see and hear the other participants.
There are numerous additional features and extras available for Google Hangouts including text chat alongside the video conference, collaborative viewing of YouTube videos and documents, dynamic costumes and more.
In this case study, each of the participants used the ‘Hangout toolbox’ add-on to add a banner graphic with their name to the lower third of their video stream. In our case, each participant was able to set this up themselves with very little guidance. The small profile pics shown at the left of the lower third bar are the profile pictures that each participant had already set for their personal Google Accounts. This picture could be replaced with another image or logo if needed.
“Hangouts on Air”
Google also offer an option to run a ‘Hangout on air’, which operates in similar fashion to a typical hangout yet is open for public viewing and text interaction with a live audience.
The Hangout can by viewed via a live video stream from YouTube with viewers posting questions as they would post comments on a YouTube video.
A number of specialised add-ons are available for Hangouts on Air, including the ability to assign a ‘camera operator’ who, while part of the Hangout, is hidden from public view and whose role may be to moderate and guide the discussion or programme. This operator can select which participant to go to, possesses options to control audio from participants, and more.
When using this add-on, the normal view of the Hangout participants located across the bottom of the screen is hidden, instead displaying a full screen view of the selected participant. This provides a more TV-like experience by removing the video conference view normally presented.
In the case study video above, we use the ‘camera operator’ add-on but as the moderator is performing both roles, the experience is a little clunky — it would be much better to have a dedicated person for this role.
Other Users of Google Hangouts
White House
The US Government have carried out a number of public Google Hangouts, and provide a useful example of how this tool might be used by the ACT Government. One such session included Vice President Biden in a discussion on gun control following the Sandy Hook massacre is perhaps a good early example. Note the video quality discrepancy in this view — the news anchor and Vice President were being filmed with professional-grade equipment, whereas the other participants were likely just using the inbuilt cameras in their laptops.
Over time, the White House has improved its use of Google Hangouts. A recent example shows improvement in the placement of cameras and lighting for the participants.
Govhack Community
The organisers of the Govhack event used Google Hangouts extensively during the pre-event organisation and to provide a live, national video link during the event. For an example see the recording of the session from the close of the event.
Technology Requirements
Google Hangouts can work with a range of technology. As demonstrated in the Open Data & Civic Hacking session where participants used the following equipment
- HD Camcorder into Apple laptop via NBN connection
- Webcam built into Linux laptop via 3G mobile phone connection
- HD webcam into Apple laptop via high speed corporate Internet connection
- Webcam built in to Windows laptop via ADSL
This platform can take advantage of both higher quality cameras and high-bandwidth Internet connections. A camera capable of a 720–1080p picture and an Internet connection capable of 5mbs (megabits) download speed and a 2mbs upload speed provides a very good experience with clear audio and picture. Lower bandwidth connections reduce both picture and sound quality. In addition to Internet capacity, a low latency connection such as that offered by the NBN or a fast corporate network provides and improved experience as connection latency drops from approximately 25–30ms to 5–6ms.
As you view the recording of the Google Hangout above, note that the video dropout that effects Pia at one point is due to the low speed and fragility of the 3G phone connection she is using for her Internet connection. In that case, it is good to note that the system intelligently scales back to audio only to preserve her ability to contribute, returning the video when bandwidth is available.
Sample equipment setups
Here are three example equipment setups used in this event
Pia Waugh
Used the built in webcam on a 2010 Apple MacBook Air running Ubuntu Linux, tethered to her phone via USB cable to use a 3G Internet connection.
This set of equipment represents a minimum requirement to participate, though there is a high likelihood of dropouts and problems. It serves as a demonstration of the low end capability of Google Hangouts.
Michael Phillips
Used a Logitech c930 USB webcam capable of 1080p high definition video connected to a 2010 MacBook, this was connected to the high speed corporate Internet connection in the NICTA office via ethernet cable.
This setup provides a good example of what a typical corporate participant might use. Note that the USB webcam offers a step up in quality to that normally found built in to laptop/desktop computers. Using an external camera requires the user to make a change to settings within the Google Hangout software (and possibly a hardware driver installation) but these are easily managed by most users.
Gavin Tapp
Used a high quality Sony Camcorder on a tripod, which provided the highest potential picture quality. This was connected to a Retina Macbook Pro via a Blackmagic Ultrastudio Mini Recorder (HDMI capture device) and used an ethernet cable to connect to the NBN connection available at Gungahlin Library.
This arrangement demonstrates the option of interfacing professional camera and AV equipment with the Google Hangout software. As with the White House example, this could include use of high-end or studio equipment as was used for the Vice President and PBS news anchor in the example above. This capability could be used in conjunction with the new multi camera facilities coming online at Gungahlin Library.
Session planning
Participants were recruited and briefed on the technical requirements of Google Hangouts 10 days before the event. Most of the participants had used the system before. The GIO visited Michael Phillips to provide a tutorial and do a test hangout and to install a HD USB Camera from the GIO equipment inventory.
A brief list of topics was distributed 3 days before the event and each participant was asked to provide a short bio that could be read at the commencement of the session.
The Moderator created the hangout session 30 minutes before the start time to allow participants to join in advance of the start time for last minute troubleshooting and discussion.
Note: the 30 minutes of preparation time was reduced to only 15 as the Google account intended for use had not been used for a Google Hangout ‘on air’ prior to this event. All Google accounts require additional validation before they can be used for ‘on air’ hangouts — a process that couldn’t be completed so close to the beginning of the session. Lesson? Always do a test run with the Google account that will be used at the event.
Conclusions
As a free service available to the ACT Government and local community, Google Hangouts offers a useful tool that can be added to our existing range of communications and community engagement activities. Its key features in our context are
- low cost
- useful and scalable results across a range of Internet connections and hardware
- can involve people from a range of locations — local, interstate and international
- the conference session can be set up in minutes (organising the other aspects such as participants and promotion require just as much effort as traditional events).
- requires minimal technical know-how — could be organised by communications staff as done for Twitter Cabinets.
- would work best with a dedicated ‘camera operator’ and moderator roles to allow the moderator to focus on the content of the session and the participants.
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