Compline experiment, round 3

The other night I hosted the third round of Compline via Google Hangouts. I am ever thankful for a supportive community of folks who are willing to muddle through this process with me! Made a few tweaks from last time, and, while not perfect, the experience and our engagement with the technology continues to improve.

So, what was new:

Five screens! Seven people! A few puppies in the background! While Google Hangouts can support up to ten screens, this was the most we’ve had so far, and it worked well. We also had a variety of types of screens – PC, Macbook, iPad, and iPhone. One issue was that each of these devices interface with Google Hangouts a little differently, so it took some coaching and experimentation to figure out how to do the same thing on different devices.

Group chat feature. While this feature didn’t work for our iPad and iPhone users, on my screen it looked like a white column on the right side of the screen, where group members could type messages to be seen by the group. This was really helpful during the psalm – we took turns reading, one verse at a time around the group, and I was able to type for everyone’s reference the order in which we would read.

More work with the muting-during-songs thing. Matt tried this during round 2, and it seemed to help with the lag issue, which becomes especially problematic during the hymns. The leader is heard by everyone, while all other participants mute their microphones. Matt also discovered that within the “Toolbox” feature is the ability to adjust each volume level separately (we noticed that the microphones on some devices were coming in louder than others).

Suggestions for next time:

Alternating leadership. I realized this time around that the leader’s experience is quite different from the experience of the other participants (mostly with regard to the singing/muting/lag issue). So, it would be interesting to share leadership of various parts of the service, including individual verses of hymns. This would allow each participant to be heard by the others at some point in the service, rather than only the leader, and would add to the communal nature of the experience. This would work especially well if there was a dedicated group of folks committed to meeting on a regular basis, who had experience/felt comfortable leading the various parts.

Leader to sing all the parts. With the muting during singing, the other participants noted that it is helpful for the leader (as the only un-muted voice) to sing and read all portions of the service, so the participants have a voice to follow.

We’ll keep trying this! There is a true sense of community in being able to see, if not hear, folks we know but with whom we don’t often get to spend time. And, just like at in-person Compline at the seminary, we have a chance to chat and catch up with one another before and after the service! This presence, and this experience of community, makes the experience meaningful as well as worshipful.