HN user
Father of 8
Husband, product manager, and strategy consultant since 2005
Co-founder of sharetheboard.com
our humble proposition is to not replicate the whiteboard but teach it digital tricks like enhanced legibility, auto-save, digitization (now: save as vector; later: transcribe). in other words: whiteboard in a remote/hybrid setting.
tear it to shreds, please: https://sharetheboard.com
Whiteboarding is at the top of my team's list too. We couldn't live without them after going fully remote so we put together this little doozy: https://sharetheboard.com
It's the closest the real thing, IMHO. But I'd love some candid feedback if you're willing to kick the tires on it.
In answer to the original question (coming in after "lack of whiteboarding"), part of my challenge of going fully remote was training my EXTENDED family on what that means. I had aunties and uncles calling me up in the middle of the day or even showing up unannounced... "because I'm home anyway." Even though sometimes they'd bring fresh baked goods, it was still disruptive.
Yes, the idea (at least in our app) was to mimic the experience of a real whiteboard, where your colleagues also tend to be behind you. The app also serves educators who in fact called out the resulting eye contact and visible body language as one of the key benefits.
We do have an answer for the "overhead scenario" though (we call it the "tutoring scenario"): rather than using a whiteboard, you point your external camera at your desk and share a piece of paper. Then you can all write on the shared surface while facing each other online.
Our original plan was to synchronize cameras with projectors and deliver a remote whiteboard-to-whiteboard experience. Tricky but we did it in lab conditions. Put it on the back burner though, given the much smaller market.
I do like the idea of facing the whiteboard and not having to turn around. I guess a simple hack for now might be to just video conference with your colleagues on your cell while the laptop/camera faces the board (and your back)? I'll play around with this.
Thanks for sharing. Please keep 'em coming!
I think this challenge remains unanswered to this day in one important way: just about all current handwriting recognition tools assume you're capturing that handwriting digitally (touchscreen, smart pen, smart paper, etc.). That's already impacting the "operational mechanics" mentioned in the article.
Vision/light is what the physical and digital worlds have in common. I think this is the only (efficient) way forward.
How do you reach the same level of effectiveness teaching or debugging math problems on a whiteboard without investing a lot of time asynchronously?
If I may be so bold, we've taken a stab at this: https://sharetheboard.com
Our focus was originally on shared whiteboarding (PdMs + devs) but in 2020, for obvious reasons, schools started contacting us and using the tech for remote/hybrid teaching.
But it's true: the real-time part of teaching/writing/debugging is critical in the learning process. For this same reason, many of the teachers we work with use our app to share a piece of paper in real time. Similar result and you don't have to own a whiteboard.
(if you get a chance to kick the tires on it, I'd love some candid feedback)
hey, wnolens
I completely agree: in certain cases, the whiteboard is irreplaceable. in others, a notebook/paper can be very efficient too.
We didn't want to part ways with our favorite analog tools just because we all went remote so we did something about it. our app give you the ability to "keystone" to the appropriate angle and also digitizes your handwritten content in real time. this way the content on your shared surface is not only legible, it's easily savable/exportable and can be combined with digital content in real time.
If you're interested, I'd like to humbly invite you to try it out and share some candid feedback (use the "trial" not the "free" version): https://sharetheboard.com
Hello again. Have you had chance to continue your exploration?
Please do! I love the exploration here. I think the interplay of offline-online is, generally, woefully underserved.
I resisted the temptation to mention it earlier but I feel I must (if nothing else, to help with your continued exploration... and generosity of sharing your thoughts!), as it relates to this notion directly: it is, indeed, this interplay that underlies our team's product. Or, more broadly: a desire to get us (and others) back to the real world. I'm not saying that digital tools aren't useful, I'm saying that they should play a role, not all roles.
More than that: I think digital tools should carry more weight than they currently do. I'm shocked at how many latest-and-greatest tools promise me the moon if I only change all of my habits. Why can't the tool adapt to me? It's all our fault, of course, we've let this happen (both as creators and consumers).
So, with that, the next time you use your whiteboard, consider testing out our app^. Hopefully, you'll see some examples of the above motivations in action; and, if you're interested, I'll be happy to share our future plans.
^ https://sharetheboard.com -- use the free trial (not the "Tester/Free" version)
To be clear: my goal here is to facilitate your exploration. If using our app gets in the way of that (or your continued feedback), please disregard. I hope you share your reflections from your next whiteboard session either way!
Thanks - I appreciate the thoughtful feedback.
An open-ended follow-up: is there any way the whiteboard could be improved upon (and/or is there a way to better incorporate it into your workflow)?
"I haven’t had a need for a shared whiteboard experience yet..."
Just to make sure I understand correctly: does this mean that in all cases (whether you're presenting or viewing) you find that only one person needs to be able to write on the board?
Also, in your first comment, you wrote that digital alternatives are not the same as the real thing. In your opinion, what is the key advantage of traditional surfaces over digital tools?
I agree (and I'm glad I'm not alone). Haven't seen the swivel stand approach - good idea!
Curious: * Is sharing the whiteboard via camera enough for you/your colleagues? * Are you ever the "recipient/viewer" of such a shared whiteboard or always the presenter? * (How) do you transfer your whiteboard content to other tools?
I'd like to offer an alternative to the surrogate method... Many of the folks on our team have kids and, like so many people worldwide, were greatly disappointed by what happened in early 2020. We watched our kids suffer as this normally human-rich interaction was replaced with powerpoints and tiny talking heads. We decided to offer a solution of our own.
Our team developed https://sharetheboard.com - an app which digitizes handwritten content in real time. The practical application here is that any analog surface/content can be shared simultaneously online, in real time.
For teachers this is valuable for a number of reasons (direct feedback from educators): - it allows them to teach "as they always have" - standing in front of a board or writing on a notebook, etc. - they don't have to learn anything new - they don't have to buy new equipment - they can simultaneously address in-person and remote students (again, without "doing anything new") - they can work (in the same way) from home, when needed
You'll note that many of the above points are of interest to school administrators as well. - No hardware + no learning curve = high adoption. - Mobile/scalable = fast deployment. - Low cost = well, low cost.
For students (direct feedback from students): - the biggest plus is that this is as close to "like in class" as it gets: they get to see their teacher's natural body language, maintain eye contact, see the explanations evolve on a familiar medium (whiteboard, chalkboard, etc.) - they can do more than ask questions: the app facilitates direct interaction with digitized content - they can focus on the lesson: the app allows you to easily save board contents any time
What was meant to be a quick response to a problem is beginning to turn into an actual product. For better or for worse, some form of remote interaction seems to be in the cards (not only in education) for quite some time. Our goal is to help make it a more real/physical experience, despite being shared remotely. Interested in feedback from teachers, parents, and students on this thread.
Our team has developed https://sharetheboard.com
The app digitizes handwritten content in real time, making it an excellent way to share a real whiteboard (or other surface) with remote teams. Remote participants can contribute digital content and the combined contents can be then shared/saved as needed.
There are many excellent digital-first tools out there but our goal was to bring some more reality back to our shared remote experience. There are some tasks that are simply better served by analog tools. Integrations with many existing apps are forthcoming; you can think of STB as a connector of digital/analog content.
Hi, lumost - Happy New Year!
Thanks for taking the time to test out the app. Really appreciate the thoughtful feedback. In answer to your questions:
0) In short, unless you volunteer to share data - to get a discount or to use the free version - no data is shared (for your company test, simply use a Trial of the Starter version and you should be good to go).
We do track (anonymous) UI clicks, essentially to make sure the app is working. If this is prohibiting you from a broader pilot, contact me and we'll figure something out.
1) "Integration" with video conferencing currently relies on screen sharing: so.. it supports all tools! We are working on a few platform-specific integrations and would love your feedback here.
2) The primary use case is board (whiteboard, blackboard, flipchart, etc.) sharing - usually via a laptop or some external camera. We will be supporting a mobile version but to do it justice we'll need to release some apps. The amount of real-time processing going on already is quite ambitious; adding a useful image stabilization or surface detection to be executed in a browser has proven too heavy for most devices. That said, we may release a thinned-down version for mobile capturing before we do the apps (waiting on some POCs to inform this).
To sum up, for your broader test, I'd recommend: - using the Trial (of the Starter version) - using a laptop (or external cam) pointed at a whiteboard
And contact me at "marcin" [at] sharetheboard.com if you have any special requests or follow-ups. Would love to get feedback from your team!
Hey, lumost,
I agree with most of your assessment. I particularly like the focus on fatigue. I think this tiredness (in oh so many ways) has yet to be fully understood - not to mention, addressed. If I may be so bold, I'll go one step further: something has got to give! People can't be tired all the time. Something has to (and will) change. Here's hoping that in 2022 it'll be largely for the better.
As for the whiteboard, I humbly offer our team's answer: https://sharetheboard.com We too couldn't bear to be whiteboard-less and have come up with at least a partial solution. If you have time to kick the tires on it, I'd love some feedback.
All the best in the New Year!
Hey, Niko,
Nicely done! Very smooth stabilization. I'm curious: in most of the examples on your site you show the smartphone quite close to the shared surface. What's the maximum distance you've tested? Can I use it to share someone else's surface?
Our team is working on a very similar challenge: sharing any offline surface through real-time digitization. Check it out when you get the chance: https://sharetheboard.com
Love seeing more and more focus on real surfaces! Anything that brings us back to real whiteboards is welcome in my book. Keep up the great work!
"...roles that require a lot of whiteboarding and brain storming simply don't work well remote on zoom"
Agreed. And the point about eye contact really extends to any remote exchange... though I believe it is particularly important in education (where we've supplanted a human-rich interaction with staring at files or tiny heads).
If I may be so bold, our team is working on a solution to both of these issues. By digitizing contents from physical/analog surfaces in real time, we're trying to encourage folks to keep the whiteboard (or blackboard or paper...). If you have the energy, would love some feedback: https://sharetheboard.com
Getting to know people and their voices does take some time, so cameras can be useful when the team (or some new teammate) is new. I'd like to think we can play it by ear but I feel like teams get into habits and any change is considered odd.
Otherwise Agreed. And, for what it's worth, many of those whiteboard meetings can now also be conducted remotely (I humbly submit our app, ShareTheBoard, as an example solution).
Dear alwaysanon, I humbly invite you to try ShareTheBoard (https://sharetheboard.com)
We believe you shouldn't need an iPad/apple pencil to conduct remote whiteboarding. With some handy CV/ML/Math your laptop is all you need to share legible content with remote viewers and even let them contribute to your board.
Check it out and let me know your thoughts, please. Thanks in advance.
Indeed, most of our users simply open our app, then use Teams/Zoom/Meet to share that tab using the built-in screen-share. That gives you content legibility but none of the other benefits: by hitting our meeting link (in browser: no sign-up/download needed), all viewers can also save board contents at any time and even add digital content of their own.
Can't do that second part "through" videoconferencing apps - not without a deeper integration (read: participation with the companies in question). It's on our list of possible developments but will require dancing partners on the other side.
Sorry, can't resist: you've perfectly teed-up ShareTheBoard. Solves the exact problems you've listed here. https://sharetheboard.com
plug: this is along the lines of our thinking, at ShareTheBoard. rather than kill the whiteboard with VR, we use vision to give it new tricks.
step 1 is real-time content digitization and obstacle avoidance (available now). step n involves synchronizing cameras and projectors for a deviceless AR experience - true "remote whiteboarding." we've completed this in laboratory conditions, hope to release it next year.
Hear, hear!
My suggestion is to keep using the whiteboard when you can, and a (paper) notebook when you're on the road. Then digitize that content (in real time, if working with someone simultaneously) using ShareTheBoard.
Great read. Honest, sufficiently detailed, humble, and humbling! Congrats on your journey and on ending up with Miro. What's next?
Interesting! Curious whether an integration with our app (ShareTheBoard) would be useful here - i.e., would real-time digitization of content from actual whiteboards help these discussions?
I humbly submit for your consideration: https://sharetheboard.com
We built this app with hybrid environments in mind, from the ground up. The idea is simple: rather than creating look-alike digital experiences or requiring people to learn new tools/techniques (often tricky in education sector), we believe that you should be able to do what you've always done and the technology around you* should do the heavy lifting.
*Second point: we're surrounded by gadgets. Laptops and smartphones are omnipresent. We believe you shouldn't need new, dedicated (and usually immobile) hardware.
ShareTheBoard allows you to share any traditional/analog surface online, using just a laptop. It digitizes handwritten content in real time and intelligently avoids obstacles (such as people), making them transparent. Your content can then be saved, shared, or uploaded wherever necessary.
In other words: the best tool is the good old whiteboard (or even a notebook, if you're all alone) + your laptop, running STB.
It's a Web app so you should be able to run it on almost any device (though Safari has some known issues which should be resolved soon). In September we'll be adding digital annotations, that will allow remote viewers to add content to your shared surface (overlaid visually). Presenting via smartphone comes soon after that.
There's a free trial option on our site. Give it a go and let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks in advance!
Firefox on Linux - no problem.
Soft launch of browser version next week at the latest. Write me at "marcin" [at] "sharetheboard.com" and I'll setup a shortcut for you to test it.
it's not "syncing" yet but https://sharetheboard.com does make it easy to save and send whiteboard content with other people and tools (in real time). one-click integrations are a few weeks off. syncing is just one step after that.
Is it a shameless plug if the tool you're working on addresses the very issues being discussed? At the risk of plugging...
To all commenters on this thread: please check out https://sharetheboard.com
Our app identifies and digitizes handwritten content from any analog surface (not just whiteboards) in real time, while ignoring obstructions. You can share via videoconference (screen sharing) or stream your content straight to recipients' browsers. Soon we will have fully-integrated videoconferencing.
Desktop app now, Web version launching this/next week. Digital annotations will follow within another 1-2 weeks (allowing viewers to add to the board with their fingers or cursors).
We are of the opinion that no digital look-alike can fully replicate a true writing experience. There is something... frictionless about using your shoulder/elbow/hand as nature intended when pouring content onto a surface at the speed of thought. The challenge, as we see it, is not to replicate that experience but to let tech do the heavy lifting: digitize the content and make it easy to share with other people/apps. Oh, and we believe your laptop/phone should suffice - no dedicated, wall-mounted hardware needed.
We're very close to leaving beta. I'd love some feedback or questions from the power users on this thread. Thanks in advance.