Zakim Tips

Zakim is W3C's teleconference bridge system. It links the world of telephone conferences to the Internet via the IRC channels we use for our meetings. So you can control Zakim through IRC commands. The W3C blog also has some images of Zakim....

If you regularly use Zakim, reading the main documentation is highly recommended. Zakim has lots of clever hidden features.

This page is for keeping track of other useful tips that aren't (yet?) in the main docs.

how do I tell Zakim which caller is me?

To get the most out of Zakim, it needs to associate phone-based participants with nicknames in the IRC channel.

When people join on the phone bridge, unrecognised numbers get assigned codes like  ??P13, ??P22, ??P23 etc. If several people join at same time, it might not be obvious who is who. The main documentation has more information on identifying callers, but here is a useful trick:

From Ralph:

17:19 Ralph: you could press 41#
17:19 Ralph: zakim will q+ your line
...
17:20 danbri: 17:19 Zakim hears ??P27's hand up
17:20 danbri: that confused harry, and me; I misread and thought it
would mute me

Yves suggests something similar but using the muting mechanism:

The Zakim bridge has the capability to mute conferees. (Muting blocks sound on a conferee's line from being heard on the conference.) Conferees can mute themselves by dialing 61#. In that case, unmute is 60#.

17:19 Yves: mute yourself using the keypad magic combination, zakim should tell that you just muted

Origins of this page

17:21 danbri: cheers for the tip! is there a zakim wiki page for such
cleverness?
17:21 Ralph: there's a Zakim doc page, yes
17:21 Ralph: -> http://www.w3.org/Guide/ The Art of Consensus
17:22 Ralph: - -> http://www.w3.org/2001/12/zakim-irc-bot.html "Zakim,
for bridge management"
17:22 Ralph: -- ->
http://www.w3.org/2001/12/zakim-irc-bot.html#speakerqueue Floor
Control
17:22 Ralph: but, what you're really suggesting is a wiki for hints &
tricks like 41# to identify lines