A nice new use for desktop IVC!

Whilst presenting at a workshop July 28 at Vanderbilt University Virtual School, I discovered a great use for desktop interactive videoconferencing that I haven't yet mentioned/discussed: Bringing in participants and presenters who don't have what I'm calling the "high-end" IVC offerings to conferences taking place between participants who do.

My friend Jan Zanetis, director of the VUVS, held the July 28 workshop to help introduce IVC to teachers and to shore up the skills and knowledge of those who already make use of the technology. Jan had around 20 local participants (many of whom were from other parts of the Southeast) and 4 or 5 sites remotely, in Texas, Indiana, and Michigan.

My segment was to be on "What not to do in a videoconference," which I ended up skipping to make up time lost to immense difficulties using the new VU MCU bridge (Jan ended up dropping back to the University of Tennessee bridging system--Plan B, ya'll). I figured the participants had already been served a healthy ration of that! The other thing I was to share was desktop IVC. What I ended up doing was sharing my laptop desktop and bringing in my pal Elaine Shuck from South Dakota via Polycom PVX and setting the omni-directional mic from Jan's Polycom "high-end" unit on top of the laptop to pick up Elaine's audio. Remember "GE?" "Good Enough?" It was.

That got me to thinking. What if my friend James Morrison, a leading actor on Fox's "24," would agree to talk to my high school TheatreLink participants in a videoconference during their school year, perhaps in the playwriting section or the production segment of the program? He needn't be anywhere near a 5000 dollar Polycom setup. He could do it from his living room in LA using iVisit or SightSpeed!

Yep. That's what we'll do!

Cheers, and email me if you have questions,
Scott