Like many people with technology and communications interests, I've been following the evolution of the Meerkat and Periscope apps. The former was a third party real time super simple video streaming tool that integrated with Twitter. The latter is a similar solution from Twitter.
Discussions of the technology and possible uses popped up on two of my favorite podcasts (Daily Tech News Show and For Immediate Release) earlier this year. Even then I wondered about how it might be used at the largest GIS conference in the United States. I also wondered if Esri had any policy about this kind of live streaming.
So What Happened?
I found about 15 Periscoped videos from the conference. Many were of sessions, but a few were of the exhibit floor and one was of an exhibitor setting up the booth. Many were from Esri staffers (Karen Richardson, Rob Elkins) and partners (Jim Tochterman of Bradshaw Consulting, Blue Raster), but I only saw one from a media person, GIS User's Glenn Letham(@gletham). Earlier in the week Letham was concerned about bandwidth issues.
@DaveAtCOGS @periscopeco I thought on it but live stuff doesn't wow me any more and WiFi is an issue...I didn't view any live streaming, but the one session I checked out after the fact was unwatchable. The audio was too soft and the video to jittery. Map Everything (@TheMichaelBusby) found the videos "OK."
#Periscope sort of OK for live-sharing #esriuc sessions. Video grainy & audio tolerable w earplugsBy default, Periscope videos expire after 24 hours of storage. Best I can tell, none of the people who captured videos on Periscope chose to save them elsewhere and make them available. Constant Geography said he might post a sample of video he saved but I don't see it yet. He explained that one person in the session he chose to Periscope did not want to be recorded.
Update 7/30: Dave MacLean (@DaveAtCOGS) saved one of his Periscope videos and uploaded it to YouTube. It's an "exhibit floor" video.
Maptiks (part of SparkGeo, @Maptiks) offered a Periscope demo from its headquarters in Vancouver. The presenter showed off the product ("Google Analytics for web maps") and highlighted that that a colleague was onsite at Esri UC. Clever use of the technology and hashtag!
LIVE on #Periscope: Mapping analytics tour #esriuc https://www.periscope.tv/w/ …And, Meerkat?
I didn't find any Meerkat videos from EsriUC. I did see some from April's Esri GIS Tech event in The Netherlands.
Next Year
I suspect as both apps mature and get more use, there'll be more use of live streaming from Esri UC and other GIS conferences. And, I suspect conference hosts, including Esri, will details any "rules" for doing so.