Science Fiction London (SFL) has been meeting in person for many years. Meeting this way has been great but it has always limited us to people that lived close to us. Since Science Fiction is read all over the world, we know that there are people who don't live in our area but still want to talk about their favourite works of Science Fiction and Fantasy. We are delighted to give you the opportunity to join our meetings via the Internet!
We operate in English so as long as you are functional in English - and you probably are if you can read this website - and have a computer with a non-dialup internet connection, you should have everything you need to join our meetings remotely.
Before you can participate in any of our meetings remotely, we'd like to spend a few minutes with you (via computer) to show you how to use the software. We'd like to do that some time before the meeting so that we don't find ourselves having to teach several newcomers how to use the software at the same time as we are trying to have the meeting! So far, we've had short training sessions with each of the people who have participated remotely. That means 15 to 30 minutes of working one-on-one with our webmaster to see the highlights of the software so that you know how to use it. Once you have completed that short session, you'll be sent an invitation to the next meeting that you want to attend. The training session is very informal and is scheduled at a time that is mutually convenient.So far, no one has found it difficult, even those who were not very skilled with computers.
If you enjoy your remote meeting and want to attend more, we'll invite you to subsequent meetings. Also, you can always ask our webmaster for an invitation, if you've attended a meeting with us in the past but haven't attended one lately. You can come to our meetings as often or infrequently as you like. You don't have to participate either; if you just want to "lurk" (listen without participating), that's okay too. Some of our "in person" members are lurkers, too ;-)
You may be wondering what sort of hardware and software you're going to have to install on your computer in order to participate in the meetings. The good news is that you probably won't have to install anything at all. Our software is web-based; you just go to a web page and participate that way. You won't have to install any programs unless you want to screen-share your desktop with us; in that case, you'll need to install a single plug-in in your browser. But most people won't need to install the plug-in.
The software will enable you to see and hear us as long as you have a working monitor and speakers. If you want us to be able to hear you when you speak, you'll need some kind of microphone connected to your computer. Otherwise, you'll be typing your comments in a chat window. If you want us to be able to see you, you'll need some kind of webcam installed. A lot of computers have webcams with built-in microphones these days, especially laptops and other portable computers, so you probably already have both things. But if you have an older computer without a webcam or microphone and still want to participate, you can do so via the chat window.
The only other requirement is that you have a high-speed internet connection, via DSL, cable or fiber optic. Our software doesn't work with dialup! We've also found that it is best to use a "hardwired" connection rather than a wireless connection with this software. That just means connecting your computer to your modem or router via an ethernet cable for the duration of the meeting rather than running wirelessly.
We will not charge you anything to participate in our meetings or join our club. There is no charge for connecting remotely to our meetings or for the short training session to show you the software. The screen-sharing plugin is free too if you need it. You will, of course, have to pay your ISP for your internet service as usual. If you want to upgrade your hardware by buying a (better) microphone or webcam, that's entirely up to you; we won't pay for it.
For more information about the club, simply look at the rest of the site via our index to find out what you want to know. You will probably be interested in looking at our list of Meeting Topics to know what's been scheduled and when. Also, if you want to know how to get your own suggestions on to the topic list, see the Choosing Topics page. Information about the precise time and duration of the meetings can be found on the Meeting Location page. If those pages don't answer your questions, ask our Webmaster.