Emma Duke-Williams

Susanne, I had those problems & initially thought it was because I had no webcam - in my case, resetting my hardware firewall to be off (still had the software one running) solved the problems. (Well, not the fact my webcam & I were in different locations ... but the disconnections!)

Does it use an odd port, Sylvia?

I'll see what I can do, but not sure that I can get it all working at home. (mind you, it's raining here, so maybe staying late is more of an appealing choice. Don't want to get rained on!)

Emma

Do we have to have a webcam to take part? I've got a nice new Mac Mini at home (but no webcam on it) & a very ancient laptop/webcam (that can have a camera attached, but looking at the minimum requirements it's going to struggle!)

Audio won't be a problem with the Mac, but the video could be - and can't stay late at work tonight to use the (slightly less ancient) webcam here! [Unless it works on a Linpus based Acer netbook?!]

Thanks for organising the session - unfortunately, I wasn't able to use the video, as I don't have a webcam at home that works with the Mac - and, having been away for 10 days, biking home via the shop (& thus having a full rucksack) was a higher priority than filling my rucksack with work laptop!

Next week, I'll try to be more organised.

I found it useful - and reassuring to see that even a set of seemingly people who're very au-fait with online video conferencing still took time to get going - makes me less worried about when I've done similar sessions with studnets & took most of the first session to make sure they all knew how to use the software, how to stop echo ( stop echo, stop echo )...

I was interested in the suggestion of trying to make the background look professional - while I agreed that the dark curtain did look professional - I also thought that Nellie's books etc, made her look academic. (Certainly in the UK, when they interview academics for news items etc., they always seem to seat them infront of a bookcase ... albeit it a much tidier one than most I see ... that said, Nellie's looked very organised!)

In this type of session, though, I wonder if we're taking on more of the 'learner' role -when I'd expect them to have all sorts of things in the background - I'd aim to do sessions like this at work if I were 'teacher' - when, granted I don't have a plain backdrop, but the online students do get to see me in the same office as they would if they were on campus.

I mentioned Flashmeeting as a video conferencing tool we'd used in the past - not got much beyond about 7 in a meeting, though it can go up to 20 I think. http://flashmeeting.open.ac.uk/home.html
I'd used another (not free, but not that expensive) one in the past, before we discovered Flashmeeting - but I can't remember what it was called.

Emma

Vance Stevens wrote,

For one thing, all of us are lurkers. I lurk a lot in this community, the SCoPE one. I'm active in other communities, where you wouldn't call me a lurker. In some communities I lurk, and then suddenly, I show that I've been listening with more attention than I'd been getting credit for. At such moments, I suddenly contribute, as do we all.

and then

Christine Horgan wrote,

What is participation? As an experienced lurker in SCoPE, I can say that I am still an active participant because I read every posting and I take on the role of a little sponge sucking up knowledge and ideas from more knowledgeable and experienced colleagues. If you count "thinking and reflecting time" then I'm very active.

I've mentioned before, in SCoPE I think, but maybe not, that many years ago, on an email list (non-work related, as it happens) a friend noted that where 'lurker' has negative connotations & thus people seem to want to reform them, 'listener' implies something much more active - as Christine wrote.

In this session, I've very much been a listener (speed listener, if that's possible!) due other commitment - & have found what I've had time to read, useful.