Subject: [Manycouches] comment on https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-duke-shmoo-virtual-hum requirements for "virtual humming"

From: Larry Masinter <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2020 14:41:28 -0700

https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-duke-shmoo-virtual-hum contains no references; there's an extensive field of online tools for polling and group decision making, and the decades of research on the effectiveness of such tools for achieving different outcomes.

Should we encourage groups to try various online poling tools in addition to the meetecho hum tool?

 searchfor:voting+polling+app  turns up dozens, some intended for use in face to face meetings.

Some links:

https://slack.com/apps/A0HFW7MR6-simple-poll 
https://help.webex.com/en-us/n0pdj9x/Start-a-Poll-in-Cisco-Webex-Meetings  
https://directpoll.com/ 
https://www.sessionlab.com/blog/online-facilitation-survey-report/  has some interesting data about what people use for online meeting tools.
https://www.crowdcomms.com/what-we-do#hero-polling-and-qa

It is quite difficult to completely match the nuances of in-person humming and hand-raising:
 <bikeshed>
When there's a group hum, sometimes I'll hum softly and listen to how much everyone else is humming, and then modify my humming louder or softer depending on how everyone else is humming. Humming isn't completely anonymous, I can listen for the people immediately around me.  It increases the impact to hum in tune with the other hums, on the same note or a harmonic.   
Similarly with hand-raising, if you know that your name might be taken down and published in the minutes, you might be reluctant to raise your hand fully because you have to convince your management or yourself. Perhaps you want to raise your hand only if you can do so anonymously.
</bikeshed>

1995   https://www.cs.colorado.edu/~rhan/CSCI_7143_Fall_2007/Papers/Want95long_PARCTab.pdf
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