Collection of awesome resources, tools, and initiatives to alleviate loneliness, isolation, and other burdens imposed by "social distancing" measures.
Social distancing is a strategy used to slow or contain a contagious infection. When imposed by public health officials, the public is urged to reduce or eliminate physical contact with other people. This list offers pointers to digital tools, services, or platforms that can be used in lieu of physical contact to maintain social, economic, and other connections with other people during such times.
For context, during the (COVID-19) coronavirus pandemic, many people started asking for our recommendations of digital tools to support their community's emotional and mental health. Isolation, loneliness, and lack of intimate contact can dramatically reduce the quality of life for already vulnerable populations. With stress levels high, and public officials warning of extended periods of social distancing measures necessary for many months to come, we decided to compile a list of digital platforms that you might be able to use to augment your social interactions to stay as healthy and happy as possible throughout the crisis.
Please contribute as you are able by posting a new issue on our issue tracker.
We also urge you to consider supporting efforts to provide relief from the impacts of this situation and simultaneously improve conditions for all people by taking measures to, for example:
- End reliance on health insurance for access to medical care. This pandemic is a perfect showcase why a medical system built for-profit is a dangerous detriment to the health of everyone, including insured people.
- End reliance on employment for healthcare and income. Suspend all employment obligations and provide free healthcare, sick leave, and food (stamps/SNAP/universal basic income) for all.
- End rent, erase all debt. Immediately stop enforcing parking violations, evictions, and other property-protecting activities that diminish the health and wellbeing of the population at large.
- Release all humans held captive in cages. Release all prisoners from confinement in the unsanitary and dangerous conditions of jailhouses and all the other cages they are being held captive inside of and provide for housing instead.
- House the houseless. Convert unused spaces such as empty lots and now-empty, city-owned buildings into shelter for those without alternative housing options.
(Image credit.)
⚠️ 🛡️ Most of these sources have not been vetted for security or privacy. Where available, look for a checkmark (:heavy_check_mark:) in the circle-A (Ⓐ) column for Anarcho-Tech NYC's own recommendations.🚧 📝 This is a fast-evolving list and many categories of software overlap with one another; "livestreams" can be used to conduct "webinars," for example. We make little distinction between these categories for now other than doing our best to evaluate the primary intended purpose of the application from the software creator's perspective.
Refer to the § Legend for definitions of various symbols.
- Additional resources elsewhere
- Livestreaming
- Online event participation
- Regional initiatives
- Video conferencing
- Webinar software
- Watch party software
Related COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic resources; not social distancing specific.
- COVID-19 Mutual Aid & Advocacy Resources - Meta-compilation of additional general resources related to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic (not social distancing-specific).
- Collective Care is Our Best Weapon Against COVID-19 - Compilation of mutual aid and disaster relief efforts organized by geographic region.
- CoronaTracker - Independent news portal and data-driven dashboard vetted and curated by volunteer professional journalists showing up-to-the-minute information about the COVID-19 pandemic and the global response to it.
- Coronavirus Resource Kit - Collectivized document linking to many mutual aid projects and resources that appear online as they are discovered.
- Coronavirus Tech Handbook - Crowdsourced resource for technologists building things related to the coronavirus outbreak.
- Database of Localized Resources During Corona Outbreak - Reference listing of numerous organized efforts such as relief funds, mutual aid networks, and other initiatives in response to COVID-19.
- Don’t Panic: The comprehensive Ars Technica guide to the coronavirus - Rigorous, scientifically vetted comprehensive guide for understanding and navigating this global public health threat.
- List of Free Software and Services During Coronavirus Outbreak - Roundup of all the free upgrades (limited to "safe-for-work") to services and software licenses being offered during the Coronavirus outbreak.
- Mutual Aid NYC - Everyday New Yorkers working to lift up local organizing, connect people to resources, and build a citywide movement to address this crisis.
- NYC United Against Coronavirus - Resources and Information - Information and resources to help New Yorkers respond to the coronavirus, compiled and maintained by a city residents. (Facebook)
- Tech:NYC's COVID-19 Resource Guide § Tips + Tools for Remote Work - List of helpful tools for employers and employees who need to transition to remote work.
See also livestreaming and online event participation.
- Stay at Home - Online music festival and events calendar.
- Stay at Home Festival - World's first 24/7 online festival with participants from over twelve countries.
- Virtual Music Events Directory - Comprehensive, up-to-date resource for anyone seeking guidance on how to stage alternative music events in this moment of significant upheaval for the industry.
See also webinar software.
- Teaching Online Tools - Resource directory for remote learning and virtual learning scenarios to help teachers find and choose appropriate tools during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
- Teaching in the context of COVID-19 - List of additional resources for teachers struggling to adapt to remote learning and the needs of students in the cotext of a pandemic.
- awsome-selfhosted § Learning and Courses - List of self-hostable Learning Management System (LMS) software.
Also known as online broadcasting.
| Service | Ⓐ | Free? | Registration not required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caffeine | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Livestream service provider offering in-stream options for producers to receive donations from viewers. |
| Crowdcast | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Service powering the livestream feature in Patreon's mobile app, but can be used independently to use additional features such as webinars. |
| Facebook Live | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | Livestream functionality from the (in)famous Facebook, Inc. corporation. |
| Instagram Live | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | Livestream functionality from the Facebook-owned Instagram photo sharing social media service. |
| LinkedIn Live | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | Livestream functionality offered by the LinkedIn social network "for (employed) professionals." |
| Livestream.com | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Commercial offering enabling organizations to stream video of events to an audience of thousands. |
| Owncast | ✔️ | ⭕ | ✔️ | Self-hosted live video and web chat server for use with existing popular broadcasting software. |
| Twitch | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | Livestream app with a large established community of musicians and gamers. |
| VDO.Ninja | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | Free and open source, Web-based video streaming tool for producing real-time live shows with OBS Studio (or other compatible software) by brining in remote sources, turn smartphones into wireless webcams, add VirtualCam software, and more. |
| YouTube Live | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | Livestream functionality from the famous Google-owned YouTube web site. |
Sometimes known as event streaming, virtual worlds, or virtual office.
| Service | Ⓐ | Free? | Registration not required | Participant limit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gather | ❌ | ⭕ | ❌ | 25 in Free tier | Platform offering a customizable virtual world experience tailored for events like classrooms, conferences, or large offices where visitors move an avatar and can connect to video/audio of others' nearby avatars. |
| Hovercast | ❌ | ⭕ | ❌ | ❓ | Made for entertainers who want to offer participatory features to an online audience. Usually paid, but currently offering free software licenses to independent artists and small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. |
| Mozilla Hubs | ✔️ | ✔️ | ⭕ | ~15 | Share a virtual room with friends where you can watch videos, play with 3D objects, or just hang out. |
| Run The World | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | Online event platform made for larger conferences or events with online components. They are waiving set-up fees for producers whose events are impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. |
| Wonder | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❓ | Virtual rooms for hosts of conferences, workshops, or other events that can have distinct areas for breakout sessions where participants can congregate for small-group video chats amongst themselves or watch a broadcast together. |
| WorkAdventure | ✔️ | ⭕ | ❌ | 25 in Free tier | Free software and self-hostable virtual workspace presented as a 16-bit Role Playing Game (RPG) map environment built for small- to medium-sized group collaboration. |
- Invisible Hands Deliver - Safe, free deliveries for NYC’s most at-risk community members facing COVID-19.
- NYC-DSA: COVID-19 Mutual Aid Response - Local resources organized in part by the NYC Democratic Socialists of America.
- NYC Vaccine List - Volunteer-led effort to help you find a COVID-19 vaccine in and around NYC.
- Queer Food Share New York City - Queer mutual aid network organizing volunteer deliveries of free or cheap food to those in need.
- The End is Queer - Queer mutual aid network in NYC headquarted on Discord self-organizing to deliver supplies and provide support during this time. (Facebook)
- TurboVax.info - Finds the latest vaccine appointments from 43 city and state-run administration sites in the NYC area.
Also known as vidchat.
| Service | Ⓐ | Free? | Registration not required | Participant limit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galene | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ⭕ | Self-hostable videoconference server (an "SFU" [selective forwarding unit]) that is easy to deploy and that requires moderate server resources. |
| Google Hangouts | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | 25 | Free digital video conferencing service hosted by Google. (GSuite Enterprise customers can hold videoconference meetings with up to 250 participants.) |
| Jitsi Meet | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ~10 | Self-hostable, free and open source software video conferecing system. List of Jitsi Meet instances. |
| Signal Private Messenger | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | 8 | Free, highly secure Skype-like one-to-one and group voice and video conferencing available for all major mobile and desktop platforms. |
| Zoom | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Hundreds | Commercial digital video conferencing service built for companies. Free offering limits meetings to 40 minutes. |
| ezTalks | ❌ | ⭕ | ❌ | Hundreds | Virtual business meeting software with a free tier. |
Also known as voice chat.
| Service | Ⓐ | Free? | Registration not required | Participant limit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discord | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | Dozens | Free voice (and text) chat service popular with gamers of various kinds. |
| Mumble | ✔️ | ⭕ | ❌ | Installation dependent | Free and open source self-hostable voice chat software. Numerous public Mumble servers exist as well. |
See also awesome-selfhosted § Conference Management. Many video conferencing software shares webinar-like features, such as screen-sharing or shared slideshow (Microsoft PowerPoint, LibreOffice Impress) presentations.
| Service | Ⓐ | Free? | Registration not required | Participant limit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BigBlueButton | ✔️ | ⭕ | ✔️ | Installation-dependant | Self-hostable software suite offering real-time sharing of audio, video, slides (with whiteboard controls), chat, and the screen, built for integration with Free Software LMS and CMS systems. |
| BigMarker | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | Webinar software built for large (and virtual) events such as conferences, digital training, and more. |
| GoBrunch | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | 409 | In-browser, free webinar hosting platform with the ability to record audio and video streams for replay later. |
Also known as video synchronization.
- Kast - Real-time video sharing app with screen capture, voice, text, and video chat technology that makes it easy to connect with friends wherever they are.
- Kosmi - Watch videos together, play games, or simply chat with friends or strangers all from within your browser!
- Netflix Party - Browser add-on that can be used to synchronize your Netflix viewing with another user of the add-on.
- ❌ : No or not availabe.
- ⭕ : Limited or restricted prior to payment.
- ✔️ : Yes or available.
- ❓ : Unknown; please contribute.