Gather

Gather is an online meeting service in which participants see an overhead bird’s eye view of the meeting space and use the WASD keys on their keyboards to move an icon, their character or avatar, around the map. They can see and hear others who are close by (e.g., standing next to them, in the same room, or seated at the same table). Gather is being used by several WSU faculty to support online class meetings and small group conversations.

Joining a Gather session

1. Use Chrome or Firefox to navigate to the Gather session link provided by the organizer. Enter the password provided.
2. Select your Gather character icon using the right/left arrows to cycle through the character and clothing options. Select the Next button to continue (FIg 1).
3. If prompted, allow Gather to use your camera and microphone (FIg 2).
4. Ensure that your camera and mic are selected and then select the Join the Gathering button (Fig 3).

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  Fig 1. Select your character

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  Fig 2. Allow Gather to use your camera and mic

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  Fig 3. Join the session

Moving around in Gather

1. Work your way through the brief tutorial if desired. You can also skip the tutorial if you are already comfortable with using Gather (Fig 4).
2. Use the arrow keys or WASD keys on your keyboard to move about the map. Walk into marked "private spaces" in rooms to talk to only those other participants in those spaces (Fig 5.1). Walk through doors to move into other rooms on the map (Fig 5.2). Select the Chat icon to send a text message to others nearby or to everyone in the session (Fig 5.3).

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  Fig 4. Do the tutorial or skip it

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  Fig 5. Move around the map and use chat as needed

Microphone and Camera

1. On the video window of yourself in the lower right corner, you will find the Microphone and Camera icons. Select either one to turn them off, they will turn red with a line through it. White icons means they are on.
2. Best practice is to turn your microphone off when you are in the Auditorium and the main speaker is speaking. Before the session you can have your microphone on and talk to people nearby.

Video Carousel

1. You can scroll between videos of people manually by clicking the arrows to the left and right of the videos shown at the top of the screen. (There needs to be more than two people in Gather for the scroll arrows to show.)
2. Grid View of the Video Carousel shows up when you select the arrows that are pointing away from each other. This will display up to 9 videos in grid format at the same time. Now toggle back by selecting the two arrows that are pointing at each other.

Materials and Presentations

1. Some tables might have materials available to read. Some rooms might have a whiteboard or presentation to show. Use the "x" key to view the additional resources. Note: If you have your video carousel set to grid view, you will not be able to see the materials. Set your grid view back to carousel view and then open the resource with the "x" key.

Participants View

1. Click on Participants icon in the left nav to open the side bar up. Use the people icon in the lower left, this toggles the side bar off and on.
2. Users can use the Chat icon to chat with people nearby or with everyone.
3. Follow participants by right clicking on a participants name and then select 'follow'. Your avatar will automatically go to where this person is and automatically follow them around. To exit follow mode, press any arrow keys to move your avatar on its own, or select 'unfollow' at the bottom of the screen.

Extra Key Functions

1. Ghost mode lets you walk through another person. Use the "g" key.
2. Hold the "z" key down to do a little dance.