[LINK] Government teleconferencing

[Ivan Trundle]

On 13/03/2009, at 2:01 PM, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:

> The two way Skype video conferencing worked extremely well on the  
> eeePC (built
> in camera and microphone) over the Access Grid worked extremely well!
> See my documentation here:
> <http://www.ramin.com.au/linux/eeepc-video-conference.shtml>

I've been using Skype for business for a number of years now, but find  
that Skype 'newbies' go overboard with the use of video, and then  
eventually learn that video does not contribute a great deal and so  
learn to have it off most of the time.

I also frequently use the ability to share part or all of my desktop:  
handy when reviewing material of all kinds (and in reverse, to  
diagnose computer problems when a VNC client isn't running).

One thing that we have discovered over the years is that decent  
bandwidth is needed for successful Skype teleconferencing, and that  
the 'host teleconferencer' needs to have not just good bandwidth, but  
a reasonably fast computer, too. And preferably few people using the  
same node.

Yesterday we were talking with a bunch of clients in the US and  
Australia, in four distinct time zones, and it took a while to find  
the right 'host' to join everyone together (ended up being my  
connection that initiated the calls).

In general, the system works very well so long as no-one has their  
loudspeaker sound turned up too high (audio loop interference problems  
notwithstanding, it generates significant echo). A good solution to  
the loop issue is to tell the offending 'looper' to use headphones,  
which resolves the issue right away, or simply turn the output sound  
down to a reasonable level.

We've used alternatives in the past (iChat, for example, does a good  
deal more, and more smoothly), but Skype is becoming the app of choice  
for most people that we deal with, and is more widespread.

We also use SkypeIn and SkypeOut tools, too. In all, a very robust  
system, though it would be even better if the feature set matched  
across platforms (mac and win are different).

iT
--
Ivan Trundle
http://itrundle.com ivan at itrundle.com
ph: +61 (0)418 244 259 fx: +61 (0)2 6286 8742 skype: callto://ivanovitchk