Last Thursday fifty one Digital Heritage Heroes joined us in the virtual world as we undertook an experiment in showing archive film using Zoom and Watch2Gether. We’ve wanted to try this for a while so we did some research, liaised with our friends at the North East Film Archive and dived into the unknown. We were overwhelmed by the number of people who booked to attend. We’ve proved there is a demand for this type of material when we’ve done in-person events but we weren’t quite sure how a virtual event would go. It turned out to be a really lively session.
There were lots of questions about how to switch in and out of Watch2Gether from Zoom. I think we had every conceivable type of device imaginable being used by the audience. It was such a good learning experience to hear about how people were using various laptops, tablets and phones to see the film. Another thing that was great to see was how participants helped each other out, offering hints and tips about how negotiate the tech.
At the end of it I felt like the wing commander from an RAF fighter base waiting for his crews to return after a mission. I can say that we counted everyone out of Zoom and we counted everyone back, safely home for a well deserved cup of tea. We couldn’t have hoped for a better way of collecting feedback. Here’s a taster:
‘I was amazed that I actually managed to get the film, I always assume I’m not going to manage it, but often surprise myself on my technical ability 😮😃. I did panic when I couldn’t work out how to get back in the room after the talk 😱 but I had a few stern words with myself and just clicked on the link in your email again…and heh presto!’
THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR DIGITAL HERITAGE HEROES FOR GOING OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE WITH US
Once we’ve gathered up all the feedback we’ll have another go and see if we can make it an even smoother experience!