Shindig (video chat platform)


Shindig is a patented technology platform for large scale online video chat events.
In a Shindig event, participants can use webcams to see each other in a shared space. A featured presenter can give a talk, be interviewed, share a multimedia presentation, give a live performance, teach a course and much more to a live online audience of thousands. Meanwhile, audience members can move freely in and out of private video conversations with whomever they choose, and selected guests can be brought up to "share the stage" and directly interact with hosts "face-to-face" before the entire group. The speaker can also share PDF, MP3, and MP4 multimedia files with the group.
Shindig has also been looked at as a potential solution for online education.
Shindig enables a hybrid MOOC, which has the potential to reduce the cost of higher education without radically diminishing its quality, as many feel other MOOCs and platforms threaten to do. As of October 2013, some 20 institutions had commenced pilots using the platform for online e-courses including Caltech, Duke, NYU, Cooper Union, Texas A&M, Manhattanville, University of the Sciences and University of Crete. Shindig was the recipient of SIAA's 2013 Innovation Incubator Award as the Educator's Choice Runner-Up for Education Technology Product or Service. I

History

Shindig was created by Steve Gottlieb in 2009. In 2009, Gottlieb filed a number of patents for self-aggregated chat and other innovations that would become the underlying basis for the Shindig platform. Beta build of the platform was launched in June 2012. In 2010, the company raised $5MM in financing from the Pritzker/Vlock family office. An additional $5 million was raised in 2013.