How to Discord (At UIST)
by Thomas Langerak, with help from the UIST OrgComm
UIST 2020 is using Discord for instant messaging and voice chat during the virtual conference. This document provides some pointers to understand how to engage with others during the conference using Discord.
What is Discord?
Discord is freeware instant messaging and VoIP software. It has over 250 million users worldwide (it is highly popular with gamers) and uses the Electron framework and Rust. We found it to be easier to combine voice/video chat and text chat in one platform than in other options. Discord works cross platform in the browser and as a stand-alone application. We recommend installing the stand-alone application. Otherwise, Chrome is an ok browser option. Discord uses the concepts of Servers and Channels to organize communities. We have a UIST 2020 Discord Server, and host many channels on it! Users on the Discord server can have different roles, such as SV, Organizer, or Attendee.
What is a Discord channel?
Channels come in two forms: text channels (#) or voice/video channels (📢). Text channels are similar to Slack channels and allow you to chat, mention other users using @, refer to other channels using #, etc. Conversations are not threaded, although you can quote a previous message, similar to Whatsapp.
Voice channels allow you to speak to other attendees, and optionally, video chat. As soon as you click on a voice channel, you will join the channel. Your microphone will automatically turn on and you can talk to the users who are in the channel. You can also see who is already in the voice channel as they are listed under the channel name:
Once you are in a voice channel, you can also turn on your camera.
Per voice channel, there is a limit of 99 voice chatters or 25 video chatters. We limited this to 10, to improve performance and thereby your experience.
You can disconnect from a voice channel by hitting the disconnect button in the bottom left.
Social Interaction on the UIST Discord Server
General Social
Beyond adhering to the Code of Conduct, please treat all UIST attendees with respect! For many attendees, it might be their first time at UIST, or their umpteenth time. People might be familiar with Discord or not. We are first and foremost a community, and we hope we can still (sort of) gather as a community online!
Voice-channels
Many voice-channels will have a text-channel accompanying it to help facilitate questions, provide relevant links and information, and afford an option for people not comfortable or using their microphone to speak or ask questions. If you are in a voice channel, keep an eye on the associated text channel!
Who can I message for questions or help?
If you need help with Discord, you can include @sv (discord specialist) in a message to get the attention of Student Volunteers who have experience with Discord.
Accessibility Statement
We have evaluated Discord with one screen reader user and found that it was not a perfectly accessible experience. We have not evaluated its accessibility for people with other types of impairments. If you experience an accessibility problem on the UIST Discord please reach out to the accessibility chairs ASAP <accessibility2020@uist.org>. The UIST accessibility chairs will do everything in their power to ensure that attendees with disabilities have an equitable experience at UIST 2020.
Performance
Shortcuts
Using shortcuts makes navigating discord a whole lot easier. ctrl/cmd + / shows most of them. However, some of the most useful ones are not listed there. ctrl/cmd + shift + a collapses all channels that you have read, are muted and voice channels. To mark all channels as read you can use shift+esc.
Hardware
Discord can be heavy on the GPU when hardware acceleration is enabled. Especially during video calls with multiple people. One way to solve this is is to force Discord to use your discrete GPU (if available) on your operating system. Otherwise to turn off hardware acceleration in the Discord settings (Voice & Video > advanced).
