Scott Merrick's Desktop IVC!

I'm retiring this blog on New Year's Eve 2010

2010-08-28T05:08:00.000-07:00

Hey, if anyone's still reading this, be advised it will be going away as of New Year's Eve 2010. This whole field is now so incorporated into daily life for so many people that the blog is now more a curiosity than a help. See Skype.com.

Wow, Long Time No See!

2007-09-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm embarrassed. I've been so into my own general blog, my education-in-second-life blog, and my classroom blog, not to mention my podcast and my day-to-day-teaching, that I've sorely neglected this poor orphanblog.

Well, I have to say that part of it problem is that I haven't really seen very interesting newsnotable items. This morning, however, via vcinsight (itself a quirky little site dedicated to IVC and sponsored by the "big guys," I discovered a most interesting post about Sony's new desktop "Walkman for Videoconferencing" system. Read about that, and whilst reading, note the new theme of IPM (IP Monitoring) that seems to run through the site's posts. For network-connected folks, it seems that QOS (Quality of Service) settings are (duh, slapping my forehead) absolutely key to performance. Perhaps a little intro to QOS might help. I'll look for that soon. Meanwhile, perhaps the best tack to take is to bake a batch of yummy chocolate chip cookies for your system administrator, or perhaps gift him/her a nice bottle of scotch :)

For those watching trends in the high end players, you can also read at vcinsight.com about Tandberg's purchase of Codian. That's significant for a number of reasons. I'm sure the Calista-rooted Codian folks are feeling quit pumped about the sale of their project to Tandberg. This team of developers may now move on to the next big project. Wonder what it will be...

I'm rambling. See what you get when you make me feel guilty?

Cheers!

Learning is Messy -- Videoconferencing in the Classroom with Skype

2007-02-23T07:24:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite blogs, The Infinite Thinking Machine, shared this today and I want to spread the love. Head on over to "Learning is Messy" to view a VERY cool video about how a class of 4th graders bring a classmate who suffers from leukemia into their classroom with the aid of Skype videoconferencing. Priceless.

My own class did a similar thing using Skype earlier in the year to chat with a 4th grader whose family was in Holland for the first several months of the school year. If you missed that, here's the link to its "celebration" posting. There's a brief movie clip there for you, too.

Possibilities are endless, dontcha know?

High Definition Telepresence from Polycom

2007-02-02T09:19:00.000-08:00

This is a news article from a couple weeks ago, so is it still news? I dunno, but I found it so interesting that I dragged it to my links bar to make sure I blogged it. Von Magazine ran an article about Polycom's new HD telepresence solution that I simply must share: Its claim that the RPX HD "family" is "backwards compatible with the million-plus video systems already deployed on desktops and in conference rooms around the world" just makes me want to run out and buy one, especially if it'll help me facilitate meetings that look as good as this one!

Oh, yeah, I forgot. It's probably pretty pricey!!! Oh well, one can dream...

(A reliable inside source tells me the entry-level unit that can accomodate groups up to four people is around $250,000.)

See ya!

Out on Janine's Lim Again with Videoconferencing

2007-01-26T04:07:00.000-08:00

My friend Janine, blogger of "Out On a Lim" IVC blog, has put up a stellar video stream of a ~40 minute multi-point videoconference she conducted recently. While this was obviously an IVC that was carried out over the high-end stuff (Polycom, Tandberg, etc.) there's absolutely no reason why many of these projects can't be carried out with a hunnert dollar webcam at each end and Skype (or any other free or low-cost solution) doing the work.

I discovered this stream via Roxanne Glaser's "VC Rox" blog, dingdingdingding new blogroll addition!

Here's the link to the stream. Ah, Janine strikes another solid blow for adoption. This video stream is an excellent potpouri of ideas for classroom IVC and also a beautiful example of a master thinking on her feet during an interaction. Note the way Janine shifts tactics during the question and answer session to encourage more participation. Share this with every teacher you know!!! (Is that a call for spam? Nawwwwww...)

Pic from the Learning Technology 2006 Speakers page, but it seems to be all over the place so I'm not sure that's its original source!

Digital Lifestyle Interactive Videoconferencing Article

2007-01-22T06:21:00.000-08:00

Just across my desktop today, an interesting and well-done little post that wonders aloud, "Do I need to upgrade my ISP in order to do desktop videoconferencing? Give it a read.

VCInsight Reports Weekly!

2006-12-06T05:58:00.000-08:00

Have you bought your Microsoft Zune portable player yet? It'll be interesting to see how sales go this holiday season. I know my iPod 3rd gen 30 gig player has now been through a hard drive replacement and is now on its third battery. No biggie, but I have now paid as much for it as I might have if I hadn't won it in a sweepstakes at audible.com!

What, you might ask, has this to do with any kind of videoconferencing? WELL:

VCInsight ezine, a weekly newsletter that summarizes the website's news-of-the-week, today announced that "Working in concert with Microsoft, TANDBERG has enabled Zune-optimized content creation through the TANDBERG Content Server, the company’s Windows®-based streaming and archiving solution. Using the Content Server, any standards-based videoconference can be instantly recorded and optimized for Microsoft Zune download and playback without any additional configuration." IMHO, can Apple be far behind in adopting this tack?

Wow. Read more, and subscribe to this very succinct online publication if you're interested in keeping up with IVC news on a weekly basis.

Polycom Slams into the High Definition Videoconferencing Fray!

2006-11-21T12:43:00.000-08:00

Polycom has announced its "UltimateHD" system, going Cisco Systems an apparent one-up in the effort to take advantage of a reported boom-economy for high-end videoconferencing vendors. Stuart Corner's story at iTWire.com cites Polycom spokespeople claiming that their solution, unlike others they might mention, "which can only focus on delivering the requisite video resolution, systems adhering to the UltimateHD architecture 'enable a total high definition solution for every aspect of the experience affected by high definition: HD video as well as HD voice, HD multimedia content, HD bridging, HD recording/archiving/streaming, and supporting HD services.'"

I know we're all about the less pricey developments and resources here, but I feel I owe it to you to track these kinds of developments in the airy realm of the "Big Boys," Polycom, Tandberg, and Cisco. Come to think of it, I do have something for the desktop aficionados. Here:

Think of it as blogging on steroids.

Social networking melds with videoconferencing, By Greg Sandoval, CNET News.com, November 20, 2006, as run on ZDNet India, describes a new development in social networking, something called "online videoconferencing." Hmmmmm... Who woulda thunk it?

Keep an ear peeled for "Paltalk," which hopes to become the YouTube of social networking online IVC. They claim a network of 20 million users. I'm listening: That's hard to do, though, while one's head is spinning around with increasing rapidity.

1Videoconference--mmmmmmm Interesting

2006-11-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, ya'll. Received an email notice this morning pointing me to an article at Newsforge, which led me to check out VOIP Videoconferencing at adiance, a solution they're calling "1Videoconference" and for whose "alpha trial" they are looking for "free participants." That's all I know at the moment, but those of you who might be looking for strong web-based desktop solutions might do well to check it out and get on that list. It's an India-based company, so the bandwidth should be there, along with the drive to innovate and conquer!

At the 1Videoconference website, there's a link to the opensource alpha version that one may download and install on one's server, though I'd say maybe wait 'til the release of the beta that is promised by the end of the year. When it's released, if it works as promised, I'll be covering it here!

Cisco to Release TelePresence Meeting Solution

2006-10-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

'K, a rare not-desktop post, but one any fan of IVC should know about: Cisco's pending release of a proprietary room-based high-end (VERY high-end) solution for IVC collaboration. You really owe it to yourself to go check out the demo video and see where IVC's going. If our buddy Moore (pic at left from www.nature.com) (of Moore's Law) was correct--and he was, by all indications--one day we'll be able to so similar things from a desktop interface yet to be conceived. (Cue the spooky music!)

Read yesterday's press release here.

Cheers, Ya'll

Dan Gross Knows the Most!

2006-10-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

Hey, ya'll,

I figure I get permission to repost this here from the ed1vidconf posting today, on the grounds that Dan has taken my name in vain. Just kidding, but Dan's extensive posting makes for a good balanced read about the topic.

I will share that I had a great peer to peer connection via Skype (see the li'l movie there) that resulted in one of my 4th grade classes being able to chat for nearly an hour last week with a classmate who's in Holland with her family until January.

Cost of the experience? Zip. Quality, GE ("Good Enough"--thanks for the term Steve Bergen). And on the headset issue, I'd add that for that connection we used a Polycom Communicator (cost, 129 bucks from Polycom) and the student sitting in her (dimly lit) apartment in Holland rarely had to ask for repeated comments or questions and our students adjusted well and quickly to the sometimes skippy audio probably more created by our own bandwidth than anything else.

In short, Dan's right on most points. The downside of the dedicated equipment at this point is that you lose the chance of interacting with some sites who might not have it, like my student in Holland, whose parents use Skype to IVC with their research labs at Vanderbilt every day. A best-of-all-possible-worlds answer, I would submit, is to have both options. At least until the geniuses who do these things make all the solutions play fair and well with one another.

Dream on, Scotty.

Cheers, and heeeeeerrrrrre's DAN:

Posted by: "Gross, Daniel" owner_ed1vidconf Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:55 am (PST)

Susan Neale wrote: Two districts in Nassau County, LI, have been using ViaVideo equipment for videoconferencing for a couple of years now. My experience: if you've got the bandwidth to support IP connections (a dedicated modem is a must in my humble opinion), the results are comparable to much more costly IP-capable equipment.

Good luck!
Susan Neale
Videoconferencing Program Consultant New York Institute of Technology Central Islip, NY ***
Dan replies:
Since this came up again... (And no offense to Susan, but I want to make sure I nip this one before we let it spread.)

There are two issues here:
1. "webcams" or inexpensive software based codecs for videoconferencing
2. bandwidth

For the latter, most cable modem providers provide 4.5-6Mb download speed, but only about 300K upload speed. It is an asymetrical connection. Since h.323 connections use a balanced bandwidth model, you will find a 384K call is trying to cram more back to the provider than even your dedicated cable modem is likely capable of handling. YOU will get an OK picture quality, but it is likely that what you are sending back to the provider is jittery and freezes up, the audio may be tinny... And this holds true for any h.323 equipment - dedicated appliance or software based.

The first, which the original poster asked about, is if an inexpensive software based codec can be used in a classroom. You have to understand some of the tradeoffs:

1. You have to expose your computer to the outside world, or invest in firewall workarounds, or you will probably end up in a situation where you can only call out. This can be a problem if you're trying to work with someone else who can only call out. If you expose your machine to the outside world, you open to a wide variety of nasties.

2. Webcam hardware (typically) is not capable of full resolution video. Most use VFW QSIF/QCIF, approximately 1/4 of the resolution of the SIF/CIF resolution we normally use today. Also, vendors like Tandberg and Lifesize are pushing us to 4SIF/4CIF for motion. So webcams operate at 1/16 video resolution - again, this is what you're sending, not what you're receiving. Worse yet, most webcams will be shown on a higher resolution screen, causing extreme pixelation, where appliances "smooth" out the image on a lower resolution television, resulting in a more pleasing picture to the eye.)

3. Webcams often have a narrow depth of field, and with the exception of products like the Orbit, are not movable or zoomable. Everytime someone talks, they have to move into the field of view. Or a hand reaches up to cover the camera and move it, etc. Appliances are usually able to track to voices or presets, have deep focus fields, can be remote controlled.

4. Most soundcards and systems are not set up for full duplex audio, and certainly not high quality audio. Having a cheap headset is OK when you're using Skype peer to peer, but not so great when you have 25 4th graders all wanting to be heard.[See my comment in the intro above re Polycom Communicator--Scott] ViaVideos are a hybrid unit - for $400 or so, they offload the graphics processing from the CPU to the VV. But the hardware is now old designed around 1997, and the software has been supplanted by Polycom's PVX, which actually operates BETTER with a generic webcam than it does with a ViaVideo. (i.e. You really shouldn't be using your ViaVideo any more - a $40 webcam will do a better job. One such example is that although PVX can run h.264 with a webcam, it can only run h.263 on a VV.)

Jason's comments still hold true - the overall experience with a software codec/webcam is quite poor compared to that of a dedicated appliance. Having your students seen and heard is important, and a poor quality causes your presenting partner to burn out faster on your group. (Not something to brag about, but true none the less.) Yes, in a pinch, you can make it work. You can bring in a program, and make it look "OK" for your students. You will spend more time with IT setting up and maintaining a webcam based solution, versus a far more durable appliance that can be fired up and used quickly in a classroom.

Joan replied that in her district teachers use iSight for teacher to teacher work. This is ideal, and what it's designed for. Spontaneous 1:1 teacher to teacher or student to student collaboration. When teachers provide mentoring and remediation for individual students, this works well. Even those who really push the envelope of desktop IVC, like Scott Merrick, will tell you that you just can't get the same experience with a classroom in front of a webcam that you can with a dedicated appliance.

So a webcam is a good way to get started, but certainly not a very good long term solution. Appliances can be found used for a little over $1000. New and current hardware suitable for classrooms starts around $4000, up from $2600 a few years ago, but still just the cost of a few PC workstations. If your school did just 1 program per month over the course of a school year, you can depreciate the cost of that equipment quickly in just a year to $300 per use. That probably rivals your bus costs. Year two can be considered a free-bee. Use it more, and the cost per use comes down.

Webcams are wonderful - but they are what they are - for general instructional purposes, we strongly suggest that you pursue a dedicated appliance by any major manufacturer before you frustrate yourself with a cheap webcam...

Woot! Tandberg's "Movi" Announcement!

2006-10-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

It's a really long URL, ya'll, but just click here to learn what's behind the Tandberg's announcement (about a half hour ago--I'm really on it for ya!) of "Movi," touted as "the only PC-based video conferencing product that features One-Click Usage for the user, and One-Touch Installation for the administrator."

Hmmmm...Time, it seems, will tell. Movi (or is it "movi") will reportedly be released commercially the second quarter of 2007. Meanwhile, somebody send me a beta!!! And you can visit the Tandberg LaunchPad site to view a demo and offer feedback.

Asus 20 inch monitor with built-in webcam!

2006-10-10T04:08:00.000-07:00

Look at this article from the British ChannelTimes.com for a description of what only begins to make sense: A new option for your desktop monitor, one that "comes with a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam and has a pivot neck design, enabling both vertical and horizontal viewing angles for viewing different visual applications." Anyone who's recently bought a Dell notebook computer will be familiar with the built-in webcam option, of course (I didn't go for that but now wish I had, even though I love my Orbit Quickcam--one less thing to plug and unplug would be such a joy!); but this baby comes with some extra punch, including a (proprietary, apparently) LifeFrame IVC bundle.

Get specs and read more at the ASUSTtek Computer Inc. site! You really gotta see this thing in portrait mode!

Janine's "Remember the Teachers"

2006-10-05T04:22:00.000-07:00

I've shared some of my friend Janine Lim's work here before, and I am called to do so again. Take a moment out of your hectic franticity (I coined that one) and give her latest blogpost a look. Essentially a gentle share about her late grandmother, it's called "Remember the Teachers."

I'm Becoming a Collaborative Technologies Addict

2006-10-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, I guess I need to start a new blog. Or maybe not. This whole desktop IVC thing is about working together across distances, isn't it? Yeah, that's the ticket.

At any rate, the product this posting points to is not a desktop IVC one at all, rather a software to facilitate collaboration, Flash-based, made to enable VOIP and desktop sharing, all at a click. Or two.

Check out Vyew.

Joanie's Shareshare at Collaboration Collage

2006-10-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

In response to a call for info from a fellow listserv member at the wonderful Collaboration Collage group, my pal Joan Roehre had some thoughts I thunk would be useful to share further here. Enjoy:

While our district uses full-motion video as well as IP units, we are
purchasing more and more iSight (Mac) cameras for many uses- including
classroom applications.

Primarily we use webcam technology for teacher-to-teacher use within the
district. We have found it immensely powerful for our initial educator
mentor program. New teachers have instant access to their mentor and can
observe classroom activity at any time.

We also use it for our two enrichment programs to strengthen curriculum
alignment at separate locations.

Classroom applications included a collaboration project between a school
here in Kenosha WI and a school in the Bahamas. One of our Library Media
Specialists taught in the Bahamas and communicated regularly back to her
home school and developed a series of cultural exchange connections. While
the Bahamian school only had the laptop, iSight and an external microphone-
our school projected the video on to a large screen and it really worked
great.

I also know that during last year's Read Across America connections- I had
several requests for webcam connections which leads me to think webcam use
is indeed growing!

Now - the real issue with us was cross-platform webcam compatibility. While
our district is primarily Mac, I have found MANY browser based methods to
bridge that gap and I'd be THRILLED to share my findings with anyone that
needs it. (Maybe WE could then do a collaborative project??? I have 23K
students itching to use the technology!) My good friend and NECC
co-presenter Scott Merrick (University School- Nashville TN) and I have
tested quite a few. Mac and PC CAN play well together!

A request I received this morning from a teacher was "Can we show a video at
one school and show it to the connected school via iSight?" My response was-" let's get a copy of the video to the other school and just show it at the same time. "

Bottom line being- it isn't going to be the ideal situation all of the time-
BUT we have ways of making it work. Is it ALWAYS ideal to use webcams?
Probably not- HOWEVER- IF it's the only way we can make the connection- it
will work- and it will be awesome! Webcam technology gets better everyday as
well. There are great resources out there too for classroom-to- classroom
connections using webcams.

I welcome any requests, invites, questions and encourage you to contact me
if you're interested in any projects! AIM & iChat screename: kusdiva

Joan Roehre
Media Production and Distance Learning Facilitator

Her'e's one for you opensource folks!

2006-10-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

My Google Alert for "netmeeting" sometimes pops something really interesting into my inbox. I couldn't resist pointing you to it. If you know (or want to know) a bit about the quandry many opensource folks are in, check out this post at the Mad Penguin! It contains some information about Skype that you might find useful, if for no other reason than that it spawns a quandry of your very own...Me, I'm keeping Skype, at least for now.

e/pop from wiredred.com

2006-09-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

Hey, ya'll,

A parent at my school emailed me a couple days ago to ask if I could find the time to field test a new desktop IP IVC option, e/pop, from wiredred.com. He set up a conference at his end, invited me in, gave me a URL to join, I clicked and we were off and running. There's a nice little video at the website with an intro to the software, and what I have to report here is that I experienced the clearest video I've thus far received. I'm going to paste in a screengrab you can click on to get a notion of the clarity. This is straight off an Alt-PrntScrn grab into Paint. A cool feature of e/Pop is its ability to display a program or a .ppt presentation in its large workspace, which itself is very "moddable." As you can see, multi-point connections are possible.

Though my own loopback video was delay-ridden his seemed extraordinarily real-time. Whether that's a function of the audio being carefully delayed by the codec or whatever, it's a remarkable improvement on most other solutions, including my favorite in the free software category, SightSpeed. I did have a great little SightSpeed chat yesterday with my online friend David Fletcher, a retired barrister in Twickenham, England, yesterday, but while the video was GE (Good Enough) it didn't come close to that provided by the e/Pop connection.

That said, my audio was a bit choppy, which may or may not have been affected by my running on a notebook computer over my school's double T1 network.

Go check out e/pop for yrself! As I understand, the pricing runs on the order of 5 seats at $3800 dollars annually, a significant savings over the cost of, say, WebEx.

Cheers,
Scott

K12 Online Conference! Check THIS out!

2006-09-21T15:15:00.000-07:00




Any teachers out there? Click on the above link and get this completely online Web 2.0 focused international conference in your radar. It'll be happening over a period of 2 weeks in October. Travel cost? Nil. Registration fee? Nil. Need to ask for time off from your important work teaching our children? Nil.

I'm talkin' big names here, folks, some of my favorites: Will Richardson, David Warlick, Wesley Freyer, and others whom I don't know but whose place in the company of the previously named mavens highly recommends that I meet them. Be there or be some kind of incompletely formed shape. :)

Don't say I didn't tell ya!

Adobe Acrobat 8 Adds Videoconferencing--It's a BREEZE!

2006-09-19T03:16:00.000-07:00

Hoooooooie!!! This is some news, ya'll. Check this out:

"Adobe has announced that version 8 of its Acrobat file-sharing product will have improved functions for multiple users to collaborate on documents including videoconferencing."

ZDNet announces that the new version 8 of Adobe Acrobat--not "Acrobat Reader" that ubiquitous download everybody (excepting the more opensource-geeky of us) seems to need to read the ubiquitous .pdf files everybody (excepting the more computer-display-rather-than-print geeky of us) seems to put up on the Web--will include enhanced collaboration tools including videoconferencing.

Wheeeeeeesh! Wooooooooot! This is very good news (cue the ominous music), or is it?

Well, it remains to be seen, now doesn't it. Adobe, having purchased Macromedia and thus gained possession of a truly nice desktop videoconferencing tool, Macromedia Breeze, has taken that puppy and integrated its functionality into Adobe Acrobat. The U.S. version of this service will initially cost users a 39 dollar subscription, or an annual fee of 395 dollars.

Now, anyone with even slightly better math skills than moi can see that's a great deal more than SightSpeed's 4.95 a month (or free) or iVisit's 49.95 a year (or free), but I predict that the fact that it's Adobe, ya'll, Adobe, I'm talkin', will have a greater impact upon adoption of desktop IVC than we've yet seen any product make. Heck I may even have to spring for Adobe Acrobat 8. This product's impact on the growth of challengers like SightSpeed and iVisit will be huge. Intuitively, one thinks it might be damaging, but ever the optimist, it might just make way for some really interesting competition (cue the nefarious giggle).

Don't take it from me: Read the whole article from ZDNET here!

Audio Post!--Conversation with Polycom's Elaine Shuck

2006-09-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

I'm hoping this little conversation with Elaine Shuck, Education Marketing Director for Polycom, Inc., is of interest to ya'll. It references two of my favorite "go-to" softwares and one new one Elaine introduced me to so give it a listen and see what you think. (Right-click/save that link to download it or just click to listen.)

I called Elaine a few minutes ago using Skype because I have re-installed HotRecorder for recording Skype calls, mainly for my podcast "Snacks4theBrain!," and I'm hoping to do a Skype interview today with Kyle Butler from the "Brain Food" podcast. I wanted to make sure everything is playing together well on my new Dell notebook, an Inspiron E1505. When I first called her she was bundling her daughter into her coat to send her off to school so I called her back, hence the little exchange at the beginning of the conversation.

Me, I'm going out to check out xmeeting.

10 minutes later. Well, looks like it's a MacOSX opensource product not yet up to release 1.0 but very interesting if you have a Mac and want to connect to an .H323 or SIP client. Are we on the way to being able to reliably connect desktop computers to the higher end providers? The pricey (for a classroom) Polycom PVX has always done that, but are we on the way to making some of the free or nearly-free solutions useable??? Stay tuned!

Cheers,
Scott

"Videoconferencing: convergence bites"

2006-08-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

(Pic--me rolling up and down aisles of my computer lab two-handedly adjusting settings for the start of the school year!)

Hey, ya'll,

Longtime no post: Sorry. So much is developing on so many fronts that I've not deemed any news on this one reason enough to post. However, my Google Alert for videoconferencing was loaded up today, mostly with news about a "coming boom in videoconferencing" due to the latest round of heightened airport security. Whether that's true or not, do check out this very interesting post from Bill Snow at Computerworld Blogs. The commenting is pretty robust, mostly from various commercial camps, but truly worth a read. I also find this post from businesswire.com about Tandberg's deployment of a PC based conferencing solution interest-piquing (is that a word?) though I know absolutely nothing about Lotus Sametime. Any comments?

Would You Like Video Chat with That Game Today?

2006-07-25T04:55:00.000-07:00

Woo woo, ya'll. Bundled into my "videoconferencing" Google News Alert package in my email this morning was this story about Sony registering a patent for incorporating Collaboration Properties' videoconferencing technology for use in future versions of its Playstation product. What will this do to for the technology, one wonders? One more collaboration tool for teachers to monitor (and most likely prohibit) in schools?

Sorry about that conjecture: I'm in a mood. In my defense it must be stated that my mood has been informed by my recent interview with Ian Jukes in my Snacks4theBrain! podcast. Look for that in a blogpost today or tomorrow and listen to it if you can make time and are interested in the future of learning and teaching.

Double-Dutch Done!

2006-07-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

Okayalrighty! Joan Roehre's IVC Showcase session was really really fun. She had every bit as many interesting and interested people in her session as I did in mine yesterday. The difference, and I MUST remember this for future sessions and workshops of my own, is that she got the folks up and moving with music. K2K Connections and Collaborations: Get Your Project and Partner Here! featured everybody's favorite erstwhile cheesehead delivering a very brief intro to classroom to classroom collaborative projects, then getting folks up to face off "Speed-Dating" style, in two lines down the middle aisle. When I started the music, attendees had 3 minutes (or so) to exchange the information cards Joan had provided and discuss what they might be able to do with their respective schools and classrooms to establish IVC interactions of mutual benefit. It was veryveryvery cool, watching enthusiastic educators meeting and sharing under pressure! This was such an exciting procedure that I really hope it gets replicated in a concurrent workshop (hence larger room, hence more time to do it) next year!!!

Of course, Joan picked my own song, "Fly Raven Fly" from my Alaska Songs CD to use for the first background song, which surprised and pleased me, basically a gopher-guy for this session. A big handful of attendees stayed for chat after the session, and I got to meet a fellow named Aaron from Michigan who has worked extensively with my friend and colleague Glenn McCombs at the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach. Joan distributed copies of Janine Lim's guide to classroom videoconferencing to all the folks there.

I'm off to LA to visit my dear friend James Morrison, of 24 fame, for a couple days tomorrow morning. This has been great! Let's Skype sometime!!! My username is, cleverly, "scottmerrick" and I'd be pleased to chat with ya.

WooWoo--Call that done!

2006-07-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

As my lovely wife is wont to say, "stick a fork in me--I'm done!"

Joan and I had a great session of the first annual Desktop IVC "Birds of a Feather" group. Scheduled 'way'way'way in the south forty of the massive SDCC, and at the same time as the "Ice Cream Social" elsewhere, we happily satisfied ourselves with Quality, not Quantity. Nearly everyone in the room was a repeat offender in workshops of mine, and we were graced with the presence of Ms. Multitask herself, Janine Lim. She was blogging the session as it was going on so I certainly hope she said kind things. LOL, (LaughOutLoud) for the IM impaired amongst us.

We had a GREAT talk, shared iVisit (talking with "Goliath," the education director), Sightspeed, and the fabulous new Polycom Communicator, visited the Knowledge Center Illinois browser-based solution, talked a bunch about the challenges inherent in using iChat in a school/district, shared stories--along with a great DVD movie that I hope Joan puts on her own blog, all about a classroom mentoring via desktop IVC. Joan shared a movie everyone who reads this needs to look for and rent/buy: The Lost Skeleton of Cadavera. Favorite quote from the short segment we watched? "I'm a scientist--I don't believe in anything." Not NEARLY as funny out of context.

Thanks to our attendees, all of 'em and thanks to Janine, who's here despite the fact that she has to leave early for her tenth wedding anniversary Friday!!!

Hello, NECC Attendees!

2006-07-04T15:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Desktop IVC blog, which will sit up on the screen during our little get-together Wednesday at 5:15 in room 28C -- it's a long walk but I hope it'll be worth it as we chat about the state of the technology and what it might mean to us as educators and to our students as, well, students. I'm thinking increased collaborations classroom to classroom.

My fellow presenter didn't get her name on the sign outside the door, but please come by if for no other reason than to meet my friend and co-presenter Joan Roehre, educator extraordinaire from Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Pics to come soon!

Polycom Communicator Review!

2006-06-30T05:33:00.000-07:00

My good friend Elaine Shuck, Polycom Corporation’s Education Market Coordinator, came through for me today in a big way with FedEx delivery of a new Polycom Communicator. This device has been being trumpeted for a couple of months now as the company’s new solution for quality Voice Over IP telecommunications and I intended to take it for a ride around the virtual block to see what it could do. Here's the review.

First of all I have to disclaim: I have no affiliation with Polycom other than being a member of the Polycom User Group and a faithful user of their higher-end IVC solutions in education for many years. Secondly, I’m pleased to announce that it soooooooo matches my laptop, a Dell Inspiron 600m, the longest-life computer I’ve ever owned and an appendage of importance to me equal to that of either of my hands (you might have to read that last phrase out loud a few times but I'm stickin' with it). The metallic blue finish of the one she sent me goes well with the Inspiron’s color scheme. I’m already impressed, from a stylistic perspective (and that's only half kidding!).

I popped in the CD labeled “Driver/Software Install—Microsoft Windows XP Only, Version 1.0” and it fired up with a menu interface with two selections: “Download Polycom Communicator Software Now” and “Download Skype Software Now.” Since I’m a regular Skyper I don’t need that, I just clicked on the first button and quickly downloaded the 7.05 Mb .exe setup file to my desktop. However, there is a voucher for 30 minutes of Skype Out time and 1 month of Voicemail service included in the setup packet and I plan to see if it'll apply to my existing account later. Probably not, but it's worth a try!

Firing up the downloaded setup file, I selected English from the 8 optional languages. I accepted the terms of the license agreement (only use the software with this device, don’t reverse engineer it, and don’t lease it or use it illegally—pretty standard, though there is an explicit grant of rights to resell it as long as you don’t retain a copy: pretty cool). Uh-oh, after clicking to install a driver I got a warning that the product hasn’t been certified Windows compliant. Oh, well, I forged ahead anyway. I usually do. I’ve received this message upon install in the past with certain webcams or other software—like some Griffin Technology iPod hardware drivers, some webcams, and most anything Apple related—and sometimes, though not always, it can be a harbinger of conflicts that can cripple the hardware down the road. However, after the experiences which follow, I'm convinced that this will not be the case with this one. The amazing clarity its design produces seems miles beyond that of any other I've used.

Once plugging in the device per instructions, I clicked to update and was informed “the current installed version is older than the newer version: Do you want to update?" I said, yes: I’m no dummy. The software then began “checking for DFU mode” and continued doing so seemingly interminably, finally resulting in a message that the update was unsuccessful and the device “unusable until update is complete.”

I followed instructions to unplug and replug the device (the USB cable has a cleverly designed little case in the back of the unit--something many other devices should consider) and Windows told me it was going out to look on the Internet for the software. Now, gentle reader, this is usually the bell of doom during a software update, because Windows virtually NEVER finds the software that it is looking for. I made plans to hit the back button and try reloading the drivers from the download on my desktop, but instead, ever the optimist, clicked retry. Amazing! It found the software, although the interface did pop me another not-certified-as-Windows-compliant warning. I went ahead manfully and after a brief reprise of “searching for DFU mode” it found the DFU (whatever that is) and completed installation. Success! Now per instructions I unplugged and replugged the device again.

NOTE: Now switching to present tense to enhance reader experience.

Looks promising. Let’s see what Skype does with it! Ha, the speaker works! That tasty little geeky slurping audio that Skype makes when it connects plays through the built in speaker, clear as a proverbial bell! I don’t know how big the speaker is, but the diameter of its cover is about 2 inches, clearly larger than my Dell notebook built-ins. The thing sports not one but two microphones, with a “7-foot microphone range…ideal for one-on-one or group conversations over Skype.”

WOW. Very very very very neat. My first call is to Elaine in South Dakota and I swear it sounds like she’s on her landline down the block, instead of on her PC in her home office in Sturgis, South Dakota. No lag. Yes, I said that: NO lag. My wife came out to my study to yell at me to come inside and help with dinner and instead of giving me the old one-two punch to the laptop she joined into a lovely conversation with Elaine. This thing rocks, ya’ll. Over the next few days and during NECC I’ll be testing this out with Skype (the service Polycom promotes for the unit), Polycom PVX, Sightspeed, iVisit, and anything else I can get my hands on. Tune in later for more! For now, thanks, Elaine and Polycom, for the demo unit: Aside from the slight glitchiness of the installation this device performs better than I could have dreamed it would. I think you’re gonna sell a TON of these things.

See you in San Diego!

P.S., The following morning I called my friend Jason Barnard in Mauritus, a tiny island off the east coast of Madagascar. Jason is the creator of the best children's educational/play website I know of, uptoten.com, and we chat over Skype frequently. I officially continue to be amazed at the Polycom Communicator's functionality. Jason and I usually encounter amazing lag and echo and he reports, though he doesn't have the same gearat his end, very little of either. I barely heard some echo despite the fact that his setup is just PC speakers and a mic. Usually our conversations entail my dealing with the irritating echo while trying to speak. Ever experience that? It's kind of other-worldly and the brain doesn't like it. My new little gadget, while not eliminating it completely, does reduce it to very manageable scale.

Finally, this device is excellent for music, ya'll. I have a couple of sets of folding Radio Shack speakers that plug into the headset line-out jack of my laptop for a pretty good listening experience while traveling, say, when I want to listen to a podcast or my new Johnny Cash "Personal Files" album while I work. I'll now be using my Communicator in their stead: The audio quality is, oh, 10 times better. I'll still have to use the other speakers for my iPod, though, maybe Polycom could look at adding a powered line-in option for that!

Cheers, and again, see you at NECC in San Diego!!!

Polycom Communicator Ships

2006-06-29T04:54:00.000-07:00

Hey, ya'll,

A few posts ago I mentioned that I'd heard tell of a new device that offers great promise in our educational collaborative arena, the Polycom Communicator (read the post again).

Despite the appearance of blatantly advertising one vendor's product over another (and because there really is no comparable product from another vendor :), I'm pasting in text from an announcement email I got from the Polycom User's Group this morning to let you look for yourself. This product figures to be very very useful to those of us interested in collaboration, and used in tandem with Skype video (unless of course Congress decides to tax VOIP to death) might well put us on the way to letting a classroom full of kids see and talk to another classroom "At a Distance" (cue the music).

Here 'tis:

Dear Scott,

PolycomÂ® Communicator gives you the ultimate hands-free Internet calling experience with Skype.

The Skype-certified Polycom Communicator enables crystal-clear, natural conversations when using Skype. Enjoy the freedom of not wearing your headset for hands-free Skype calls, or plug into the built-in stereo headphone port for private conversations.

*High-fidelity wideband audio for the best possible Skype experience
*Hardware supports up to 22kHz for CD-quality music or presentation audio
*Convenient buttons to launch Skype, pick up and hang up calls, and control volume and mute
*Integrated USB cable stores inside the unit for portability and convenience
*Two high-quality 360-degree microphones
*Built-in stereo headphone port

To purchase Polycom Communicator, contact your Polycom channel partner, or visit the Polycom Web Store.

NECC Attendees' Resource!

2006-06-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

Hey, ya'll,

If you are going to NECC in San Diego (or travelling to any major US city this summer, for that matter) you really need the free "Schmap Player!" Read about it at Jake Ludington's MediaBlab then download it. WOW.

See you there. I'll be the one at a San Diego tourist attraction consulting my personalized printed-out Schmap guidebook!

Note to Kecia: I have now fulfilled my duties as co-director (with Joan Roehre) of the Distance Ed-Tech Team's social activities committee. LOL

HP's "Halo," IVC Built for Shrek

2006-06-13T04:39:00.000-07:00

If you and/or your company/institution has a spare half a million bucks and wants the real deal for an IVC room outfitted with "an array of equipment...[that] makes sure that there is no interruption in the flow of data that might interfere with the illusion that you’re in a meeting, not a videoconference," HP and Dreamworks have a Halo Collaboration Studio room for you. Oh, yeah: I fergot to mention that your team on the other end needs one of these rooms, too.

There's an interesting article about the system, originally designed for remote collaboration between teams during the development of the hit movie "Shrek," at Canadian Technology News's website. Give "A videoconferencing system built for Shrek" by Lynn Greiner a read, if only to see how the other half lives and perhaps to further fuel your commitment to find a cheaper but viable soluton (pic from the "HP Interactive Press Kit" detailing the technology).

Go Deeper:

“The problem with video conferencing to a large extent is that it doesn’t actually help us get things done,” a quote from an article linked from the Halo one, illustrates the question the article raises--is IVC "a solution looking for a problem?" Just to keep yourself in balance, give "You want to have it but do you need it?" by Grant Buckler a read, too. No one can say DestopIVC isn't fairfair!

Cheers, and you better get packin' for NECC in just 3 weeks!!!

Jake Ludington on Sightspeed

2006-06-12T08:10:00.002-07:00

Ah, de news. Tech guru and computer media expert Jake Ludington recently issued a brief review of one of my favorite desktop IVC options, Sightspeed. He says, "Think of this as the Skype of video communication, with outstanding image quality and convenient conferencing between your Mac and PC friends. The basic version is free. If you want to communicate with multiple people simultaneously, SightSpeed Pro is available for $49.95 per year and includes a free Webcam..."

Read the whole piece.

While you're there you might consider subscribing to any of his digital newsletters. I subscribe to the "Digital Lifestyle" one!

Sightspeed has thrown into the VOIP warz with the new addition of audio only calls. I agree with Jake that it has miles to go before posing any real challenge to Skype in that arena, but a little competition can't help but be good for the wee end users (that's us, pilgrim).

Google Alerts for May 30, 2006 and NECC Programs!

2006-05-30T04:24:00.000-07:00

Just to repeat myself (something those who know me might say I do a bit too much), if you don't have a set of Google Alerts working for you yet, check out the email alert I got in my inbox this morning. You can set up to receive Web or News or Both alerts so that anytime anything appears on the Internet it gets logged to your alert and then sent to you as often as you wish. I have this one (for the term "videoconferencing") set to deliver to me weekly because it's fairly active, as you'll see.

Going to NECC in San Diego the July 4 week? Check out my offerings:

Searching for Mr. Goodware [Birds-of-a-Feather]
Scott Merrick, University School Nashville/Vanderbilt University with Joan Roehre
Wednesday, 7/5/2006, 5:15pm– 6:15pm; SDCC 28C
Polycom PVX, iVisit, SightSpeed, YahooMessenger!, AIM, IChat, MSMessenger, Skpe, GoogleTalk, yadayadayada, ya'll. What works the best and why aren't we all using it?

Scientists in the Classrooms: Truly Engaging Content from Vanderbilt CSO [K-12 IVC Showcase]
Scott Merrick, University School Nashville/Vanderbilt University with Rocky Alvey
Thursday, 7/6/2006, 11:00am– 11:30am; SDCC 24C
Sharing a live presentation from Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach, whose FREE science expert presentations have reached thousands of K-12 students over four years.

K2K Connections and Collaborations: Get Your Project and Partner Here! [K-12 IVC Showcase]
Joan Roehre, Kenosha Unified School District #1 with Scott Merrick
Friday, 7/7/2006, 11:00am– 11:30am; SDCC 24C
IVC Classroom collaborations, easy as 1-2-3:
1. Meet teachers that participate in exciting collaborations
2. Brief brainstorm
3. Pick a partner
Leave with a partner(s) AND project!

See you there! On July 3 or so I'll post my Conference Planner Session so's ya'll can stalk me...um...seek me out for lively chat. I'll also be podcasting for Snacks4theBrain! so if you don't want to hear it on the Web, don't say it in earshot of me!!!

Cheers!

Berrien County Honors Top Content Providers

2006-05-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

Hey, ya'll,

Pal Janine Lim has posted results for this year's "Teacher's Choice Awards" for top IVC content providers chosen from survey results nationally. They also posted the winners list of survey participants, the first prize winner of which received a new Polycom Polycom VSX7000s. Even though I didn't win anything, here's the announcement!

Two Things...

2006-05-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

1) a promising new post about a promising new Mac solution. See Moving at the Speed of Creativity, Wesley Fryer's marvelous blog (thanks, Janine, via JRo!), and

2) a new wiki on our favorite topic. Come play.

NECC Challenge Video

2006-05-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hey, All,

Representatives from Desktop Interactive Videoconferencing solutions hardware and software check this out:

Share freely--The more the merrier!!!

Cheers,
Scott

Polycom Communicator

2006-05-05T06:35:00.000-07:00

My good friend Elaine Shuck, Polycom's Education Market Coordinator, Skyped me a couple days ago and said that I needed to check out Polycom's new Skype-enabling hardware solution, a desktop USB voice unit their calling the "Communicator." Check it out I did, only to find it's not available yet; but I guess that speaks as much to Elaine's frontline status as to anything else! Anyway, there's a nice little "microsite" about the device, and I for one want to try it a.s.a.p.! Expect a review here when I do. You might recall that I tried out a USB microphone quite a while ago and found it lacking. This looks like a great deal more than a microphone, and I 4 1 hope this is all Polycom says it will be! If so, Skype, along with its video-enabling plug-in software Festoon, might just be de bomb we're all lookin' for!

Will it work with other desktop IVC solutions? Stay tooooooooned!

You can visit the site and click "Buy Now" to add your email to the release announcement list. I suggest you do!!!

Cheers, and see ya at NECC!

MacBooks said to get Core Duo, iSight - Engadget

2006-04-08T04:45:00.000-07:00

Though primarily a geek post referencing a rumor, the added prediction that MacBooks will be coming with a built-in iSight cam is some good news for Mac users. Now if we can just get iChat to play well with solutions from other platforms so we aren't bound to AIM for collaborating. hmmmmm.....

MacBooks said to get Core Duo, iSight - Engadget

Birds of a Feather at NECC2006, San Diego!!!

2006-04-01T04:29:00.000-08:00

Yep, this un's been been busy with the two podcasts and teaching my 20 classes a week, but never fear, ya'll: There's good news to share and I'm here to share it!

I received yesterday the email from NECC2006 confirming the acceptance of my "Birds of a Feather" ("Birds-of-a-Feather sessions are a special opportunity for like-minded educators to gather and network. They are one-hour in length, and approximately 30 Birds-of-a-Feather sessions will take place each evening on Wednesday and Thursday.") session proposal's acceptance. I reprint it here in part:

Dear Scott,

The NECC 2006 Program Committee has completed its review of this year's
proposal submissions, and we are pleased to announce that you have been
accepted to present at NECC. Please find the status of your BIRDS OF A
FEATHER discussion topic below:

Title: Searching for Mr. Goodware:
Status: ACCEPTED

Rooms will be posted online in mid May. Birds scheduled in the Sail
Pavillion are roundtable format; all others are scheduled in session rooms.
Those scheduled in a session room may use the equipment however no technical
support will be provided.

Sincerely,

NECC Program Staff

Woo-weeeeee! Validation from the International Society for Technology in Education that there is a need and an interest in desktop IVC tools for educators! Now I'll be working to bring in remote attendees from various hardware and software providers all over the country (world?) to give fellow birdsies, briefly, the reason(s) why their solution is preferable to others. Here's the 25 words or less (required--I kid you not) description of the session--

Polycom PVX, iVisit, SightSpeed, YahooMessenger!, AIM, IChat, MSMessenger, Skpe, GoogleTalk, yadayadayada, ya'll. What works the best and why aren't we all using it?

The session is scheduled forWednesday, 7/5/2006, Time: 5:15pm– 6:15pm and as the message states its location is to be determined.

Now, the description for BOF (interesting acronym, eh?) sessions tells me that "no computers or Internet connections will be provided." That's a bit disheartening, but I do have a nifty laptop and I know from experience that NECC session rooms are robustly wireless, so I plan to proceed with my skeletal plan to, yes, hold a discussion of the various options and how people are using them in education; but also to provide direct info from providers of hardware and software. It's just the right thing to do! Most interestingly, we'll be sharing experiences from the PC and the Apple perspectives--my friend Joan Roehre will be co-presenting and will represent the MacHeads of our profession. Want to play?

I hope if you're an educator planning to attend NECC2006 in San Diego that you'll pencil in the date and time and come join us. And check back here occasionally to see if I have made any progress making productive contact with the commercial world...

Cheers from springtime Nashville!
Scott

Out on a Lim!

2006-02-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned buddy Janine Lim's wonderful Videoconferencing Out on a Lim! blog before, and now there's a link in the sidebar here, but you may want to check it out anew since she recently migrated all her content to WordPress, with a nice clean look and ever-increasing valuable content. And I'd add that mutual friend Dan Gross in Wisconsin has done some wonderful innovating with his own IVC site. The info-share just keeps getting better and better!

I also like the fact that Janine posted a (rather desheveled, however) pic of me visiting with her and mutual pal Elaine Shuck via Festoon, which I've also mentioned before. Take a look at the program again, though, pardners, since it seems to be much improved since my earlier post, and it works not only with Skype but also with GoogleTalk. Janine says that it can handle as many as 200 concurrent connections in multipoint connections (assuming, of course, that the parties' bandwidth could do so!). As she notes, it may not be the solution for schools yet, since its peer-to-peer functionality may impose unacceptably high drain on typically bandwidth-taxed school networks. But these folks are working, and working hard, so keep checking back wi' it.

I also want to remind you here that I'm hosting two weekly podcasts, Snacks4theBrain! from the Vanderbilt University Center for Science Outreach and TechTipTuesday from the University School of Nashville teacher tech support team. Check those out, ya'll!!!

iChat and such and NECC2006

2006-02-07T12:06:00.000-08:00

Had to add the iChat site here for the sake of discussion. Looks like a great solution for those Mac-ies out there, but what about the rest of "the rest of us?"

I just put in a proposal for a Birds of a Feather session on Desktop IVC for NECC2006 come July 4 weekend in San Diego. I called it "Searching for Mr. Goodware: 'Ware's' the Best Desktop IVC Solution?" The brief description that ISTE wanted goes like this:

Polycom PVX, iVisit, SightSpeed, YahooMessenger!, AIM, iChat, MSN Messenger, Skpe, GoogleTalk, yadayadayada, ya'll. What works the best and why aren't we all using it?

I'd like to think some of the software vendors and would-be leaders in this field would answer the call. Might be a good session!

"K12 Videoconferencing: The State of the Art" Webinar archived!

2006-01-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

Hello, ya'll,

I discovered today that the webinar I held via innovateonline e-zine back in November is now archived onsite, so if you have 45 or so minutes to kill check it out at uliveandlearn. There is a wealth of archived resources at innovateonline, so be sure to visit that site, too. Select an offering that's been archived or sign up for an upcoming one!

Happy New Year!

SUPER!

2005-12-11T06:33:00.000-08:00

I've long been a lifetime subscriber to completelyfreesoftware.com, an Aussie-based website dedicated to highlighting new freeware and shareware as it becomes available, all in a marvelous "one-stop-shop" way. This is one newsletter I always read--well, completely scan, at least--since I often discover useful software that I can adapt for my teaching or my other work.

This week's newsletter pointed me to a multimedia program that has every potential to make my life as an Interactive VideoConferencing proponent 'way easier. It's called SUPER and can be downloaded from eRightSoft's website. I haven't unbundled it yet but its description as a program that will enable virtually unlimited conversion of digital video from any format to any format is enough to tell me it's going to become a new best friend.

Recorded video is often too bulky to readily post on the Internet or email. The ability to record an IVC and share it, or highlights from it, editing and compressing optimally for sharing, is one I can certainly use!

New tossable "eyeball camera" takes webcam tech to a new level

2005-12-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

This post from WIRED news says it all. I saw a demo on television this morning and thought, hmmmmmm....

There's a pic of the unit at this ABC.com story.

Festoooooooooon

2005-11-29T12:47:00.000-08:00

Well, interesting. Skype, the world's biggest, baddest VOIP (VoiceOverIP) service (3,996,447 users online at the moment I type this) has for a while now been flirting with IVC and there's a nifty little program called Festoon that is currently in beta and hence currently free. I downloaded it and have it installed but so far don't see anyone in my contacts list (admittedly small) who has the program installed so I can test it. Anyone out there looking to take this thang around the virtual block for a test drive?

If Skype serves up a codec and service as impressive as its voice communications offering, Microsoft and Apple might just have some healthy competition. Skype/Festoon me (that sounds a bit weird, doesn't it?) at my cleverly disguised Skype username, "Scott Merrick."

Cheers!

TechBuilder | Videoconferencing For The Rest Of Us

2005-11-17T18:46:00.000-08:00

This is an article about how to set up Yahoo!Messenger for your network that I stumbled across in the course of looking for something else. Ah, don't we love the I'net...

Though Y!M works quite well, I advocate looking into as many solutions as you can before settling on your organization's tool. iVisit, SightSpeed, and even plain old NetMeeting are also very nicely deployed over a network, not to mention the growing number of online portals and tools. See links in the sidebar for more information.

Hello to Visitors from InnovateOnline!

2005-11-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

I'll be sharing this site amongst quite a few others on Monday, November 7, with attendees at my InnovateOnline ULiveandLearn webinar. This is just a post to welcome them to the resources available here. Dig deep, and ye shall find valuable information!

Videoconferencing Out on a Lim

2005-10-14T04:15:00.000-07:00

TWICE IVC sorceress Janine Lim at Videoconferencing Out on a Lim just posted my Innovate IVC article as educator shareshare. Thanks, Janine. Her site has even more good IVC links, too. Wow, but there's a lot going on!!!

Avon, Ohio's Interactive Video Distance Learning Blog

2005-10-14T04:06:00.000-07:00

Joan and I made the bigtime with a shoutout on Avon, Ohio distance learning guru Paul Hieronymus's blog. The whole post is really a great summary of the experience we all had in Indianapolis at the Keystone Conference October 3-5, 2005. Cheers to Paul!!!

Welcome to Indy!

2005-10-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

Live from Indianapolis at the Keystone Conference, it's the Scott and J-Ro Show. This is to welcome Connie and anyone else who shows up to our "Birds of a Feather" called "Dude, Where's my Desktop Videoconference."

I put up a wild little podcast-style "soundseeing tour" of my morning jog the last morning of the conference. It's HERE. And a little movie to prove I was really jogging along the canal HERE. I took some movies and some stills that I hope to compile into a "shareshare" from the conference, and when that gets done I'll be back to edit this post and add a link (or links) within it. I met some great people and renewed relationships with other fine folks and I want to thank Polycom and University School of Nashville for supporting my trip there.

Cheers to all!

A nice article about the Wardlaw-Hartridge School workshop

2005-09-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

Kathy Meier just sent me, via email, a nice local newspaper article about last summer's workshop at her school. You can read it here (.pdf). Me, I'm still reeling from being mentioned in the same sentence as Kathy Schrock!

BTW, I'm looking into all kinds of new options for collaborating online, and one of the coolest is the way the marvelous, hardworking Richard Vobes is experimenting with the service at camstreams.com. Some of the online streams there are just the kind of thing one would expect--silly waste-of-time office cams, beachside webcams, and the occasional scantily clad human (that's purportedly as risque as it can get and still stay on the streaming service)--but Richard, the creator of the podcast, The Richard Vobes Radio Show, is using a live stream combined with telephone, VOIP (Voice Over IP), and a live chat room to make his "radio show" the most interactive of the medium.

While most podcasts are free, Richard asks a 20 dollar subscription fee for his show after 7 listens. I subscribe, because I love his G-rated DAILY (whew!) show. His show won the "Best SoundSeeing Tours" category in the recent international competition for podcasts. Along with his 12 year-old daughter Georgie, Richard serves up a rich and witty 30-45 minute show each and every day. I'm watching the streams and sitting in on the talk and the chat as he moves toward instituting "The Weekly Debate" on his show, using all the interoperable technologies to feature his most loyal fans in the actual show!

A nice new use for desktop IVC!

2005-07-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

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

Sightspeed video mail feature

2005-07-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

SightSpeed has a nifty video email feature that you can see by clicking here.

Cheers,Scott

Housekeeping! Dontcha just love it?

2005-07-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

Hey, there.

Thanks again to Rhona and Kathy for organizing the Institute and for shepherding us so kindly and hospitably through our couple of days together. And thanks to Kathy Schrock for such wonderful new resources to investigate. I have my work cut out for me now, but what's new, eh?

This post is to address issues and questions we didn't achieve some kind of closure for during the workshop.

A participant asked me if our school published its curricula online. Yes, indeedie, we do. Lower School Academics :: University School of Nashville will get you to a webpage where you may check out detailed descriptions of every curriculum in our Lower School. These pages are revised every year and I'll be making another pass at them by the end of September, so check back around then for updates/revisions.

I can't believe that I never got to "Warriors of the Net, the fun and informational animation that entertainingly describes how data packets travel over the Internet. It's a VERY long download, but VERY worth the wait. Hint: Download it and burn it to CD. It's HUGE.

Windows Photo Story, the excellent free tool I mentioned for transforming digital pics into marvelous slideshows for friends, family, and students, is well worth the download. Read the system requirements carefully before you download it, then play with it to your hearts' content. It's wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!

There are links on your workshop CD to Yahoo!Messenger, AIM, and MSMessenger. I'd add those to your punch-list of softwares to check out for videoconferencing. Some people like the additional features, but you know me: I like an application that does what I want it to do and doesn't try to foist endless options on me. That doesn't mean you won't like one of these tools, though!

I didn't really send you to my podcast! See Snacks4theBrain! for that! That page is chocked-full of podcast and podcasting related links which in sum provide a pretty good introduction to the media. You do not have to have a portable media player to begin enjoying these anytime-anywhere radio shows, and you can pretty much find one on any topic you want to hear about regularly. If you don't find what you're looking for, maybe you need to create one yourself!!!

Cheers, and more later (always and of course)

Grace Hopper Teacher Institute 2005 - a photoset on Flickr

2005-07-27T06:39:00.000-07:00

This is the first blogpost to update the site after a fabulous two days with teachers at the Teacher Institute at Wardlaw-Hartridge School. Participants check back soon for links to a number of things we didn't get time to cover! Maybe next year!!!

See Grace Hopper Teacher Institute 2005 - a photoset on Flickr

More pics

2005-07-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

Hello!

2005-07-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

Really enjoyed the bits of Kathy Schrock's workshop today! Mostly I've been tweaking network setting and making sure that the softwares we'll play with tomorrow all work. Thanks to Anthony and Joe I have every confidence they will! Here's a pic from a webcam I test-installed in one of the mobile laptops. It's a picture of Kathy Meier hard at work constructing her first blog!

Gearing up for the WH Workshop

2005-07-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

Working this week on the roadmap for the workshop at Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison NJ, really looking forward to it and excited to share possibilities. I understand that participant info is on the way to Nashville via snail mail and I hope that there's time to send along some links prior to the actual "day of." If not, at any rate, this will be the first place we visit!

Hello, New Jersey! (Live from a Fairfield Inn in Anderson, IN on the way home from Interlochen Arts Camp in northern Michigan.)

Optomystic

2005-06-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

Just an update on the goodbeershow: Long story short, I'm going to visit Jeff in Muncie at the Heorot on July 18 and we'll record a GBS featuring LFB music live and for fun! I'm taking up at least one growler of Yazoo from Nashville and we'll talk about that beer and whatever else comes up and listen to some Last Frontier Band! The actual show will be #31, though it's most likely not "workplace safe:" Jeffrey and his pals can get a little R-rated in their empassioned discussion of beers and life.

Optomystic Blog

2005-06-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

Optomystic blog is a nifty compendium of all my "fun and games" stuff, mostly related to podcasting and such. Check it out!

Polycom PVX

2005-03-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, finally, my friend Elaine Shuck increased her bandwidth from her ISP in South Dakota and we were able to utilize Polycom's PVX program, their dedicated desktop IVC solution, effectively. I'm doing a brief session on the IVC topic this Thursday night, March 31, as part of my school's Evening Classes fundraiser and I'll get to add this program to my repertoire. It's a good one, allow a free download trial version (with a 5 min. per call limit) is available; but to my mind the upgrade to advanced features and limitless calling doesn't justify the hefty pricetag. Further experimentation may prove that wrong?...

Bottom line: Pro--Clear audio and video, Con--cost, retail $149.00. See http://reviews.cnet.com/Polycom_PVX_complete_package/4014-8033_7-31208245.html?orderby=50&sort=asc for reduced pricing from 2nd-party vendors.

Upcoming Stuff!

2005-03-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

'K. It's not anywhere near the end of July, but I'm excited that I've been asked to present a full-day teacher workshop at Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison, NJ this summer, July 26 to be precise. More exciting, but possibly only if you're an elementary school geek teacher, is that the other presenter at the summer teacher institute is Kathy Schrock, a pioneer in the field of technology integration into teaching practices. Stay tuned for more info, but the short story is that I'm presenting a hands-on teacher workshop geared to exploring the possibilities of desktop IVC (let's start calling it dIVC) in the K12 setting. I hope to learn alot, and when I do, I hope to share it here!

Cheers, and happy Spring Break to those of you to whom that applies!

Developments 2004!

2004-12-21T05:56:00.000-08:00

Quite a few developments have, well, developed, over the early months of the school year. For one, Sightspeed has released a new version, 3.0.0.3029, which enables multi-party calls. In tests at my school, which is very tightly firewalled, SightSpeed performed very well around the security with no additional setting tweaks, and connecting with my friend Brandon at Franklin Road Academy showed us that it does well around at least one other configuration as well. Brandon's not yet been successful getting his network guys to NAT his Polycom around their setup! The program did crash a couple times for us, but all in all it seems to perform, as I say, very well. The video is stellar.

Sightspeed Basic offers free download and 15 min. per day connectivity one-to-one (or paying-user-instigated multi-party) for free. The "Freedom" plan is $4.95 per month and I'd suggest you give that a try on a monthly basis if you have a loved one or a colleague you'd like to frequently connect with then go for the annual 'scription at even less.

The other thing I want to report here is that I'm putting together an Evening School class at my school for sometime in Spring Semester. I plan to use this site as my content and news page for that, too, so watch it for new info. And if you want to take a moment to click on any of the ads from Google that'd be a cool thing, too. The new AdSense program pays me for advertiser visits, and I'm testing it out for my father-in-law, who plans to put up a new alternative energy site at blogger.com and wants me to get him up and running to set up AdSense on his site.

That's all for now. Happy Holidays to everyone! And remember, if you need testing, chat me up at the Chatango link in the sidebar. If it shows me offline, leave your contact info and I'll get back to ye.

Cheers!
Scott

Review and chat!

2004-07-21T03:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.schoolblogs.com/mlti/2004/07/02#a43 is an independent review of the session. Also note the button to the left for Charango, a new online service to facilitate instant chat. If you have any questions or just want to chat, try registering for the free service and "chat me up!"

IVisit page update

2004-06-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

"Goliath" at iVisit put up a nice little documentation of our little interaction this past Monday at the IVisit "Share Your World" page.

2004-06-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

"Scotter" on the levee

Pics from the session--Thanks, John for takin' 'em!

2004-06-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=uxxzs15.8lxzoo1t&x=1&y=w47ln8 will take you to ophoto for a neat set of snapshots from the session. Copy to your computer to print at home or order from oPhoto very inexpensively. Cheers!

Scott

Powerpoint now online

2004-06-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

Up early on Tuesday, going out to scooter back down to Cafe duMonde again (no commitments 'til 10), I tweaked the powerpoint a bit for Web display and popped it online for your convenience in case you want to share with colleagues or friends. It's at http://scottmerrick.net/presentations/vidlimitedmoney.htm.

I also realized that when I described our kindergarten interaction with Jason at boowakwala.com I failed to mention that he's located on an island off the east coast of Africa, Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean. The things we forget in the frenzy of the moment!

I'm done, now. Well. Except to point you to a nice little (grabbed with my li'l Orbit Quickcam) impromptu round by one group of kindergarteners several days before our scheduled connection. Remember when I said I was stubborn? Well, the first time we tried to connect with Jason in Mauritius we didn't. Turned out it had to do with my NAT IP settings: I had mistyped one digit. To salvage the moment, I suggested that we sing one of the songs from the site to record and send to Jason, and a brilliant teacher, Laura Laughter, embellished the notion with this little minilesson on the art of singing in the round.

Want to "join" so you can post comments?

2004-06-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

email me at smerrick@usn.org if you were a conference attendee and I'll give ya rights to post. I'd love to hear comments...

Wonderful to see everyone there!

2004-06-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

What fun today! Thank you all for a great hour of sharing. I promised to post some links, and I think that I will, rather cleverly, put them in the Links section of the navbar to the left. I'll embed them here, too, for your browsing convenience.

CSO Links will be the site with the video clips and the IP Guide page.
My Online Session Document will be the page that contains links to cams, etc.

CILC (Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration) is a great site. Reminder: These interactions will require you to be participating in the videoconferencing "revolution" with higher end solutions, although an intermediate step that would allow you connectivity with IP only might be the Polycom ViaVideo (link may expire--let me know if it does!).

I didn't get to the iVisit video, but it's worth watching.

I guess that's enough for now!

Here!

2004-06-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

I'm here! Yay! Hot and humid but I'm used to it.

I flew in this a.m. with friends Jan Zanetis and Kecia Ray and after Kecia dropped me off at my hotel I walked out to Felix's for oysters and gumbo until I could get into my room. Once there, I napped and arose later for dinner with the dynamic duo and our pal Elaine Shuck. We walked A LOT and ended up after a couple missteps at the Ugly Dog Saloon. Great fare, reasonably priced. Check it out.

Tomorrow I'm up for an early bike trail scooter (yes, I brung my xootr) then an early workshop with Jamie McKenzie of "From Now On." After a noontime NECC volunteering stint I'll do the 3 p.m. facilitator workshop to learn how to work those Tandberg things and then I'm off.

I revised my scottmerrick.net site tonight because that's my only handout for the workshop, folks--my business card with my website address on it. That'll link you to everything you need to know.

New Guest set for session!

2004-06-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

Hey, all,

Just had a very successful iVisit connection from my office at Vanderbilt University to a classroom in Bath, Maine; and held a wonderful chat with 1st grade classroom teacher Donna Smith there. She pointed out some of her desktop VC successes with two projects (after reading about the first just scroll down to "Moose on the Loose" at the bottom of the page)! In the session we'll connect with her and hear her own thoughts in her own words. There may even be a few kid "guest stars!"

New Article!

2004-06-03T05:06:00.000-07:00

New article online at techlearning.com! Though it's describing a wonderfully successful Polycom (higher end solution) facilitated experience, there's no reason why this kind of interaction can't be enabled using desktop solutions.

"Door Prizes!"

2004-05-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Hey, Word is that there will be substantial "door prizes" at my Desktop VC session. At the very least, I've gotten commitment from iVisit to donate a couple of annual subscriptions (now priced at 39.95!) to the iVisit Plus service (iVisit is free but a membership/subscription yields the user additional priveliges, like the ability to create private rooms--great for classroom conversations), as well as several accounts on the private K12-only ivisit server. Cool! I wonder what else there'll be...hmmmmm.....

2004-05-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Just posted my resources document in Word format and as a webpage at my comcast site. Help yrself!

NECC Wraparound site!

2004-05-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

NECC2004 participants have put together an amazing array of asynchronous discussion groups, live chats with experts, chatrooms for meeting, and resources at the NECC2004 Blackboard site. Free learning, e-learning, and fun. Go to the "Hot Technologies" "course" and sign up in my "Desktop Videoconferencing" forum to investigate this area of interest in an ongoing way!

NECC2004 Info

2004-05-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

A quicklink to NECC2004 and directly to my concurrent session's description and schedule

Welcome

2004-05-14T04:17:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's lame, but here's a welcome message: Welcome.

I'll be posting here starting the week before NECC, coming up pretty soon now. Of course, as you read this, "now" is now later than now was when I was (am) posting this. Huh?