Scott Merrick's Desktop IVC!

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

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:08:00 -0700

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!

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 05:57:00 -0700

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

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:24:00 -0800

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

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Fri, 2 Feb 2007 09:19:00 -0800

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

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 04:07:00 -0800

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

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 06:21:00 -0800

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!

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Wed, 6 Dec 2006 05:58:00 -0800

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!

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 12:43:00 -0800

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

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Tue, 7 Nov 2006 07:00:00 -0800

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

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 08:22:00 -0700

'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!

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 05:49:00 -0700

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!

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 07:56:00 -0700

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!

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:08:00 -0700

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"

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Thu, 5 Oct 2006 04:22:00 -0700

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

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Wed, 4 Oct 2006 18:57:00 -0700

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

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Tue, 3 Oct 2006 11:26:00 -0700

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!

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Mon, 2 Oct 2006 07:24:00 -0700

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

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 06:47:00 -0700

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!

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 15:15:00 -0700




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!

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 03:16:00 -0700

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

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 07:03:00 -0700

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"

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 09:35:00 -0700

(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?

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 04:55:00 -0700

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!

scott@scottmerrick.net (Scott Merrick) — Fri, 7 Jul 2006 12:53:00 -0700

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.