As the Coronavirus-led pandemic has locked up most of the global population indoors, working from home using the help of technology has become a norm in 2020. So, with the mandatory lockdowns in place, we have seen a massive increase in the usage of video-conferencing platforms like Skype and Zoom. However, virtual meetings still lack some of the key features of in-person meetings like those hallway talks between you and your colleague before. So, to make virtual meetings more like physical ones, MIT researchers have created an open-source video-conferencing platform that supports impromptu conversations.
So, Minglr works mostly like any other video-conferencing platform ou there in the market. However, when you log on to the platform and join a meeting, you will see a list of people who are available to talk. The system also provides a list of people who specifically want to talk to you. You can then select anyone from the list to enter a private room to chat or converse over a video call with that person for as long as you want to.
The open-source platform went for the pilot test at the June MIT Collective Intelligence 2020 meeting. And according to the working report by the team, most of the people who attended the meeting hinted that sudden conversations in lobbies, hallways, or by the coffee machine were the most important factors that attracted guests at academic conferences.
