FOSSED Day 2

Sonja Gonzalez is talking about Web 2.0 communication tools. Check out her outline.

First up is Skype. She is telling us about a colleague who was teaching a high school class on Game Programming. All the kids thought they'd be the author of the next "World of Warcraft." The teacher joined a game programmers listserv, posted a request for someone to talk to her class. A programmer agreed and talked with the kids about a game most of them knew. He explained that for that particular game there were about 150 programmers and he had done the one spot where the character icon climbed a ladder. There was a definite coolness factor and a definite reality check for the students. This was done with Skype.

I just downloaded Skype for myself. Now, I get to figure out how to use it personally and professionally. Hmmm! I could get authors, or parents, or almost anyone who could provide the class with information . . .

Time passing ~

I got wrapped up in setting up and using Skype. Now we're onto USTREAM Watch the front screen because it can be inappropriate for the classroom but once you are into your own account, you are safe. Two essential differences with USTREAM and TeacherTube/YouTube is USTREAM is designed for live streaming - your webcam and computer mic should be enough to make your movie. TeacherTube/YouTube is not live.

DimDim according to Sonja is,

• Free
• No download, no install
  
• Need to sign up
• Can schedule a meeting in the future or start one immediately
• Dimdim is a free web conferencing service where you can share your desktop, show slides, collaborate, chat, talk and broadcast via webcam with absolutely no download required for attendees

Now we are trying to set up a DimDim meeting. So far I can chat but my audio/video test failed.

But first we're going to talk about Twitter This is a quick IM answering the question of "What are you doing?" I personally enjoy Twitter.

We also talked about VoiceThread It is a way to combine images and narratives and get comments from others.

If you take a headphone with audio port (not usb), plug it into the microphone port, and talk into the left headphone. It will work as a microphone. Who knew? What a cool, cheap microphone!

Back to DimDim, we can't get the audio/video to work on Macs and no one has a PC webcam/mic.

Onto a few other tools . . .Zamzar is a free online file conversion service. Use this when someone sends you a doc that you can't open or if you need to send as a pdf.

Then there is Kerpoof an amazing TuxPaint/KidPix program. It's Fun!

Thanks Sonja for a great, interactive morning!