New Plugin (preliminary release) BabelRoom

Folks

A few weeks back I asked for input on integrating our virtual conferencing platform with elgg. For reference the thread is here: http://community.elgg.org/discussion/view/1307474/asking-for-feedback-on-potential-new-video-conferencing-plugin.

Based on positive feedback we decided to move forward and we are pleased to announce we've completed a first release plugin.

For those that expressed interest in this project - thank you. Please note that is a preliminary release with basic features and you should set your expectations accordingly.

Points in no particular order:
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* This is a first (dev) release, and we are not elgg dev pros so we likely got a few things wrong -- feedback welcome, fixes more welcome

* This is targetting elgg 1.8.x, we tested on 1.8.14 and 1.8.15. We think it should work on 1.8.0, we're not sure.

* Not interested in making this work on elgg <1.8 (should we be?)

* elgg plugin page: http://community.elgg.org/plugins/1410681/2.37dev/babelroom

* source: https://github.com/babelroom/elgg-mod_babelroom

* zipfile (unzip in elgg/mod/) http://sourceforge.net/projects/babelroom/files/elgg-babelroom-2.37dev.zip/download

* pretty screenshots: https://github.com/babelroom/elgg-mod_babelroom/tree/master/screenshots

* Consider this alpha quality. Though it's pretty solid. If there's not a lot to fix we'll stamp it an rc level with basic features.

* Some of you expressed interest in advanced integration with groups, files and other features of elgg -- this doesn't do that (yet)

* This allows a user to create, update, delete rooms via a widget. The widget has a "Join" button for participants to join the room

* This is pretty much the same level of functionality as our moodle plugin.

* Our platform supports slides, audio, video (via flash) and a bunch of other things. WebRTC is working in development but not yet released (soon).

* There's a demo here: http://elgg.babelroom.com/profile/admin, you can join the room and play as Guest

* Join our discussion group to participate: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/babelroom

* Our website is bblr.co

  • Not interested in making this work on elgg <1.8 (should we be?)

    No, it's not necessary. Currently 1.7 sites are being upgraded to 1.8. Also 1.9 will be released soon so then 1.7 won't even be available anymore in the official releases.

    Some of you expressed interest in advanced integration with groups, files and other features of elgg -- this doesn't do that (yet)

    I believe there are many devs who will contribute to the Elgg plugin as soon as they feel that BabelRoom has proved itself. So make sure there is an API to communicate with and an up-to-date documentation. The community will most likely take care of the rest! :)

  • I clicked through babelroom but didn't spend enough time there to determine if it's something useful for me.  I do second what Juho said, though we are a comparitively small community, so if you can integrate it with groups etc don't just leave it and wait for someone else to take care of :)

  • You should not worry about 1.7

    This look like a great tool for elgg. I have not tried it, but based on the screenshots it looks like this could be very helpful for several networks.

    As for me, I think it is amazing. I've been working for so many months in a Learning Solution product based on elgg and this is just what I needed.

    Rodolfo Hernandez

    Arvixe/Elgg Community Liaison

  • For me I think the killer addition to babelroom would be a whiteboard...

  • Thanks for a the replies and testing -- I'm very impressed with the quality and level of engagement here.

    To answer last item first:

    We've identified a need for "plugins" in our dashboard so the dashboard could then be customized with say, a whiteboard or an embedded youtube video (with synchronized playback), a browser or a tick-tac-toe game etc. I'd like to build a whiteboard (possibly using this: http://raphaeljs.com/) but as one of these optional plugins. So then any front-end developer can take a library, add a bit of js glue and make a plugin. (a plugin within a plugin no less).

    There are so many of these javascript/html libraries and tools out there - it would be great if adding a little glue would allow any of them to be embeddable and shared in a virtual room.

    I'd like to answer the other points raised by referring to my response on this thread (I hope it's kosher to do that here)

    https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/babelroom/6zZszCFgVEA/lgAVcGKcpJAJ

    Thanks again!

    -J