During the COVID-19 pandemic, we as IT service providers have played—and continue to play—a crucial role. Take video conferencing, for example—we quickly helped two schools set up the open-source solution “Big Blue Button.” This makes public institutions, in particular, independent of large corporations when it comes to remote learning and video conferencing—not only technologically, but also in terms of how knowledge is conveyed.
“Of course, commercial e-learning solutions always create a certain degree of dependency—I think it’s better if we, as schools, take the initiative here ourselves, and open source fits very well with this approach,” says Christian Schlag, department head at the Carlo-Mierendorff-Schule in Frankfurt, describing the situation. Another advantage for him is that, when using open source, the student body can be actively involved in setting up the infrastructure.
We were looking for a reliable alternative that we could control ourselves. Thanks to punkt.de and Big Blue Button, we were able to communicate securely via video with the school administration team and with individual students.
Christian Schlag, Grade Level Coordinator at the Carlo-Mierendorff School in Frankfurt
Big Blue Button is open-source software that is particularly well-suited for video-based lessons, workshops, lectures, and similar activities (one-to-many). It can be set up on your own server, and there are providers who can handle the setup for you.
In addition to the Carlo-Mierendorff-Schule, we also provided quick and hassle-free support to the Paul-Hindemith-Schule in Frankfurt with the Big Blue Button solution. We were also able to lend a hand within the TYPO3 community.
TYPO3 Tech Summer - Online with Big Blue Button
We haven’t just supported schools when it comes to “COVID-19 technology.” Open-source community meetups are a vital part of the open-source world—and, of course, within the TYPO3 community, where we’re active as punkt.de. It’s a real shame when in-person meetings have to be canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
To still put on an event during the first lockdown, we spontaneously organized the “TYPO3 Tech Summer”—with only about three weeks of preparation time. Big Blue Button was used for this as well.
Marco Tiel, a member of the Marketing & Events team at TYPO3 GmbH, was very impressed with the BBB solution: "I had a positive experience and found the front end very inviting and easy to navigate. The moderator handoffs also worked great.” Despite the short preparation time and the large number of attendees, BBB proved to be an excellent choice. The performance was solid. And yet, not all of its features were even used during the TYPO3 Tech Summer. For example, Big Blue Button offers the option to stream publicly, a sophisticated “whiteboard” feature, and much more.
We’re delighted that punkt.de, as the designated sponsor and organizing team for DevDays, didn’t let the event fall through, but instead launched DevDays—which is so important to the TYPO3 community—as an online TechSummer. We’re also particularly pleased that we were able to support the TYPO3 open-source project through BBB, which also promotes the open-source philosophy.
Marco Tiel, Marketing & Events, TYPO3 GmbH
Big Blue Button Walkthrough by punkt.de
In addition to supporting schools and open-source projects, we also offer a comprehensive commercial video solution using Big Blue Button. This includes server configuration and deployment, optimization for your specific use case, and training.
Since we’re committed to digital transformation through open-source solutions—and this is our main driving force—Big Blue Button fits very well into our approach. By the way, there’s also excellent open-source software available for traditional video conferencing. It’s amazing what can be achieved with free software—offering many advantages, especially for businesses. Feel free to contact us if you need advice on this topic.
