Future-proof tools
Unfortunately, sustainability criteria are often criminally neglected in digitization. But when it comes to sustainability, this is fatal. Change is not possible with proprietary knowledge. That's why at the Sustainability Weeks @ Universities BaWü we rely on future-proof tools as far as we can.
Demand paper
We also address this in our demands paper in Request 16 "Thinking digitalization & sustainability together", which we published during the Sustainability Weeks 2021:
!!! quote "Demand 16 "Thinking digitalization & sustainability together". Exploring, understanding and shaping the opportunities and risks of digital transformation
Digitalization will profoundly change our society in many areas. For socio-ecological change, digitization offers many opportunities, but is also accompanied by some risks. We therefore believe that universities have a responsibility to address the role of digitization in a sustainable world in research and teaching, and to base their own digitization strategy on guiding principles for sustainability.
We endorse the demands of netzwerk n e. V., who at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic set out six demands for digital, sustainable higher education transformation [1]:
1. make digitization at universities democratic and transparent.
2. explore, understand and shape the opportunities and risks of digital transformation
3. enabling digital maturity
4. to make knowledge available in a networked way in order to improve education with the help of digitization
5. demand and promote sustainable procurement
6. IT security and data protection at universities
We would particularly like to emphasize the implementation of consistent data protection, the transparent handling of data, and the use of free software in research and teaching. We join the Baden-Württemberg state student representation, which published a corresponding statement on data protection at universities in March 2021 [2].
[1] netzwerk n e. V. (2020). Education, bits & trees - digital, sustainable university transformation. Available online at [https://www.netzwerk-n.org/2020-52/](https://www.netzwerk-n.org/2020-52/){:target="_blank"}. Last accessed 04/20/2021.
[2] Landesstudierendenvertretung Baden-Württemberg (2021): Stellungnahme zu Datenschutz an Hochschulen. Available online at [https://lastuve-bawue.de/stellungnahme-zu-datenschutz-an-hochschulen/](https://lastuve-bawue.de/stellungnahme-zu-datenschutz-an-hochschulen/){:target="_blank"}. Last accessed 04/20/21.
Why BigBlueButton.
Short: BigBlueButton meets the criteria we set for a videoconferencing system that is fit for the future 😃.
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BBB can be operated in a privacy-friendly manner (this is the case with us; no personal data is stored).
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BBB can be self-hosted and configured (we use only servers in Germany; managed by the StuRa of the Uni Heidelberg and the Fachschaft Informatik of TU Dortmund).
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BBB is fully open source (→GitHub).
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BBB is platform independent (web browser with WebRTC support is available on every relevant platform).
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BBB is independent of decisions made by individual companies (unlike Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, etc.).