Webcast Academy
Dual monitors working for me by now
Last Sunday i was struggling with having too many open windows with just one monitor. I'm currently working from my stationary PC but whan I was more frequently using my powerbook laptop, I enjoyed connecting a secondary monitor. And I do have two 19" monitors, so what am I waiting for!
Bengt sent me some information about connecting dual monitors to a PC and I felt encouraged to work on this problem. It came out to be quite easy! My PC has an nVidia Video board with DVI-I dual link. I figured out that I needed a DVI male -VGA female 15 pin adaptor. All I needed was to locate a vendor here in Denmark. Then ,I had to find the Monitor preferences and do the correct settings for primary and secondary monitor. Now it works well, and I am happy as a child.
Dennis: Euro-zone Huddle meeting
Greetings those who would like to do a copycat meeting of last Wednesday's, which was at 01:30 GMT. (To make it clear - We won't be able to copy what that meeting did - different people with different competencies). Just to be definite, I'd like to suggest this coming
Monday 6 November
19:00 GMT
(If that isn't possible for someone, write so we can negotiate).
I suggest we do a mini Skype conference first, which I will start, and then plan to go to Huddle, if that seems worthwhile.
As I've noted before, my primary aim is to get help streaming. (Someone wrote that Huddle enables one to see particpants' desktops. That sounds interesting in this context, and potentially helpful.)
Thinking about Web Huddle, Small Group Meetings, and the Academy - call for Nov.8th
It's time I posted about our Small Group Meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 1st, 20:30 EST.
I got a little nervous when 8:20pm rolled around and noone had poked their head in the webhuddle area but then soon after, names started appearing....whew, first hurdle over. I was thankful that Kathy took the reigns quickly and although she had never done a Skype conference before, she threw caution to the wind and set one up. Jeff also bridged from one skype conference (I believe) to Kathy's which I thought was very impressive but soon we all just stayed in Kathy's conference.
I learned alot about Skype Conferencing by listening to Kathy and Jeff set things up. I also discovered that my audio was causing grief to others so I had to be 'muted'....then eventually, when I tried to fix my audio, I completed turned myself off...well, audio-wise that is! We trouble-shooted using WebHuddle for a bit, where I showed my settings and others provided advice... and then Jeff suggested that I shut down Skype and come back...this did the trick, I was vocal again!
Error on saving entry
Thanks for tutorials
Recording a monologue (an introduction)
I thought I'd start my webcasters report with how I recorded my introduction.
H/W setup:
HP nx6120 notebook
60 GB HDD/1.25 GB RAM/15" TFT display
I used a reguler ($5) mic, that went into mic port of the laptop.
For recording I used Audacity, and set the sound source to 'Microphone' (The sound source appears on the controls at the top of the window just besides the volume settings).
I'd like to thank the Academy...
Comments from last night's meeting
- Always start your Skypecasts with visitors muted by default
- Everyone should take time to get familiar with their friendly neighborhood sound card settings
- We're going to set up a Moodle space under webcastacademy.com to help with the process of getting through the course requirements in a logical and organized manner
- Hosting a show is much easier when you have a partner acting as your "engineer"
- Susan did a great job!
Soundcard woes
I'm thinking aloud here, but if you have any thoughts please comment.
I've recently bought a new, fairly high spec PC running Windows XP SP2. I have three sound capture devices attached: a SoundMax internal card that came with the PC, a Soundblaster Audigy that I've just added and an M-Audio Firewire 410 audio interface, which I have to record my own music. Sounds complicated. Now I also have Virtual Audio Cables which I suppose falls into this list. (VAC keeps saying "Test" btw?)
I was having problems with the SoundMax, hence the addition of the Audigy. The Firewire interface I regard as a separate issue. Everything can work - I just don't know when it will and when it will fail. I was in at the beginning of the small group meeting last night on the Skypecast and had tested Skype with our friend the Skype Lady before the meet. Everything was OK. Previously I had been using the Java-based Elluminate environment to play back some conference sessions. During our meeting I had Web Huddle running.
Audacity new release 1.3.2 beta
Meeting 1.3.2
What now?
Anxiety of recording
First sorry to miss you all last Sunday - as a penance I'm going to get up at 1.30am tonight to join whoever manages the 8.30 EST mini-meet.
But the great news is I did take part on Sunday - albeit asynchronously. Like the student who sends their tape recorder to the lecture, there is always the danger that I may never appear and take part in real time again, but I'm missing you all already. This is why the webcast/podcast model is a valid, valuable approach. As participants I think we understand the significance of the social value of using this technology. The social aspect therefore is equally about the need/desire to give as well as take (or listen).
Small Group Meeting - Wed.Nov.1st -8:30pm EST...Everyone Welcome
Hello all,
There is going to be a small group meeting on Wednesday Nov. 1st at 8:30pm EST for WebCast Academy Interns. Global times are listed here.
Okay, that was easy... announcing the meeting was simple... but where do will we actually "meet"??? I've checked the Book of Webcasting for some hints about these small group meetings and there wasn't a listing so I think we're on our own here and you definitely don't want me leading!! I participated in my first Skypecast on Sunday!...or was that a conference???...sheesh, so many terms to learn...
Anyway, I'm just going to jump in and say let's 'meet' in a webhuddle meeting spot. Here are the directions:
1. At 8:30pm EST (Wed.Nov.1st) go to: http://www.webhuddle.com/
2. Click on "Join Meeting" at the top of the page.
3. Complete the form on the "Join" page by using my email address - [email protected] and the password 'smallgroup' (without the quotes).
In the WebHuddle, I will initiate VOIP (Audio) and recording the session. We will start off by using the chat (since I'm unsure the audio will work) and do demonstrations if need be (see topic #2 below) - I'm hoping someone knowledgeable will drop by and 'offer' to create some skype-thingy that we can join (I believe we will have better audio but I'm really unsure)....otherwise, I will try my best to become a 'skyper' on the spot.
Agenda Items (thus far......please add additional things you would like to cover under the Wednesday meeting thread here: http://www.webcastacademy.net/node/484 ) -
1. Round Robin on how everybody's doing - what's been fun and what's been frrruusstt...not so fun.
2. Tips, Tricks, Walk-throughs on How to record both sides of a Skype Call.
3. Next Time to meet (and suggested improvements, meeting techniques, etc).
I'm thinking we'll be together for about an hour and half or so.
A few other things.....
During Sunday's meeting, Jeff created a table for the 1.3 interns whereby you can add an "X" to keep track of the things you've done and see the things you have yet to do... You can check it out here: http://www.webcastacademy.net/Class_of_1.3
At this page, you can select the "edit" tab and an "X" under the column of the task you have completed.
You can see Art's minutes from the Sunday's meeting here: http://www.webcastacademy.net/node/500
Paradox66 (sorry I don't know your 'other' name) has created a wikispace and has invited all interns to share the space with knowledge and mindmaps - Here is the link announcing this endeavour: http://www.webcastacademy.net/node/500 and the wiki link is here: http://webcastclass.wikispaces.com/
Well that's about it... hope to 'see' some of you Wednesday night (EST) in the 'huddle'.
Sue
Skype ID - sl_info
Trying to Get into the Groove
I missed the sunday meeting because I was out of town for a family function and could not possibly log in to join the group. Now I am scrambling to catch up. Have downloaded the mp3 file and will listen to what transpired and catch up on the conversations in print here, there and everywhere. Information seems scattered all over the place. I'm trying to find time to focus enough to catch the gist of the organization that I fear is not really here given the infinite expansion possibilities of the communication tools we are using. :-)