Videoconferencing Out on a Lim

So I’m admittedly biased to H.323 videoconferencing and all the experiences that come with it. However this morning I had my first experience trying out iChat on my new MacBook Pro. I connected with Sue Porter who is on vacation in the Traverse Bay area in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. She’s sitting on the deck outside their little cabin. The quality was great! Cell phone coverage up there is spotty at best, but great wireless Internet access. What a fun conversation!

It seems so easy and so cheap compared to room based systems. But I wonder how the sound works in a classroom and if it’s possible to hook up to a projector for a quality classroom experience. Plus of course you’d have to connect to other Macs only. There really ought to be a way to use iChat to connect to H323. Wouldn’t that be awesome? I wonder if Apple is thinking about that.

Anyway, iChat is pretty cool and another option for videoconferencing with other classrooms and schools that have iChat too.

I was wandering across the Internet recently and found this link to YouTube videos about videoconferencing linked from the AT&T (SBC / Pacbell) Videoconferencing site. These links probably won’t work at school (they don’t for me), so try them at home. (Issues with YouTube include inappropriate comments on the page featuring the clip and that’s an issue with some of these too. Beware!)

Here’s some clips that show the use of videoconferencing outside the school setting:

• German Airforce Uses Videoconferencing (features TANDBERG)
• How videoconferencing is used in manufacturing (features TANDBERG)
• VC Assists Manufacturer Volkswagen in Mexico (features TANDBERG)
• A news show on Videoconferencing Technology Helping Premature Babies (features TANDBERG)
• Rosetel Videoconferencing Underwater - mostly showing off the technology vs. what they are doing with it.
• There’s quite a few more examples of TANDBERG videoconferencing being used in lots of interesting ways. Go explore when you have time!
• Reach Out and Touch Someone… Amigo Latino. Features Polycom. Done by Fox News Los Angeles. CNN did a feature on this too. CBS covered it too. These are really touching videos.
• The Next Step in Global Meetings. An ad from Cisco.
• Hospitals use Videophones to Call Santa.

Video clips that feature school use:

• Educational use of VC in Texas (features field trips, projects, shared classes and more)
• First Impressions of Videoconferencing (what not to do in a VC! by CILC!)
• New Delhi Students videoconferencing with the International Space Center
• Students in Hawaii, Palau, and American Samoa videoconference about coconuts. A Pacific Voices project. And another videoconference between Hawaii and American Samoa.

There are many more including Cisco and Tandberg ads (including some funny Russian Tandberg cartoon ads); examples of Cisco’s Telepresence system featured in popular shows, and other odds & ends. If you’re ever looking for some partially work related entertainment, here’s a place to start!

Here’s a nice little blurb from Tech4Learning about cross platform (Mac to PC) desktop videoconferencing.

Another option the teachers could pursue is using the commercial software Trillian Pro on the Windows-side. Users of Trillian Pro can videoconference directly with Macintosh users running iChat AV videoconferencing software.

Did you know that? It was new to me. If anyone has tried this, please leave a comment as to how well it works.

While I am admittedly a fan of H323 videoconferencing and mostly write about that, occasionally I have an experience with desktop VC that I must share with you. This weekend was one of those times.

With two nurses among my in-laws, sometimes we celebrate Christmas at odd times. This year it was last night. All the in-laws gathered at our house, with the exception of my brother- and sister-in-law who are teaching in Taiwan. Last year we connected to them with Yahoo with video one way (to them). This year we wanted to do video both ways. They are a Mac family, so hooking up our PC to them with a full blown VC has been a puzzle since they moved to Taiwan. When we started talking about our celebration this year, we found out that the new version of Skype has video on the Mac FINALLY!

So this year the tech set up in our house included a laptop with Skype, a projector, and a Polycom SoundStation. In Taiwan, a Mac laptop, web camera, and a splitter connecting two headphones completed the setup. The sound was excellent and the video quality just like I see at work with H323 and good bandwidth. The only pixellation and breakup came when they took their laptop outside wireless to show us their yard & surrounding scenery.

But it really wasn’t about the technology this year. It was about being together. Family. Which is what family celebrations are all about anyway! We exchanged gifts long distance, but the real “connected” moment came when my four year old nephew began throwing torn wrapping paper at the wall where we were projecting larger than life full screen of my brother- and sister-in-law. Soon a paper fight broke out. Only once did my nephew turn around to see if the paper had fallen behind him (the one they threw!). Giggles and chuckles from everyone around, the moment continued on, each one feeling the love and connection across the miles. This morning he was still talking about playing with his aunt & uncle in Taiwan.

We also played the trading game. You know, where everyone brings an wrapped un-labeled gift. You draw numbers, and then open the gifts or trade with someone until the game is over and everyone has a gift. Of course we’ll have to mail them their gifts now, but it was very fun to play long distance. The interaction was incredible; almost like being together. My nephew kept trying to touch them and hug them.

So this Christmas, I’m thankful for (among other things) technology that brings us closer together.

1.7.07 Update. Added after reading The Weblog Handbook. The Polycom SoundStation was given to me by a Polycom Sales Specialist.