Comments on: Advising, webcams, and Skype http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2006/11/advising_webcam.html Technology, leadership, and the future of schools Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:00:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Michael T Williams http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2006/11/advising_webcam.html/comment-page-1#comment-15317 Michael T Williams Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000 http://annahein.com/2006/11/advising_webcam.html#comment-15317 University of Illinois has the same policy (and I believe that policy was founded on info from the same link as above - or at least that was the page I was sent to as well). We have numerous faculty utilizing it for research groups spread across the world. I had asked our Campus if they had any research on the network implications of the software from the Gizmo Project (http://www.gizmoproject.com/). I'd also wonder if anyone has deemed Gizmo to "behave" nicer than Skype. University of Illinois has the same policy (and I believe that policy was founded on info from the same link as above – or at least that was the page I was sent to as well). We have numerous faculty utilizing it for research groups spread across the world. I had asked our Campus if they had any research on the network implications of the software from the Gizmo Project (http://www.gizmoproject.com/). I’d also wonder if anyone has deemed Gizmo to “behave” nicer than Skype.

]]> By: Quyen http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2006/11/advising_webcam.html/comment-page-1#comment-15318 Quyen Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000 http://annahein.com/2006/11/advising_webcam.html#comment-15318 Skype is an incredible product. I have found the audio connection quality to be unsurpassed, and personally use it. And yet, Skype inherits much of its technology from P2P. A bit of internet research into Supernodes will reveal the (low) potential bottleneck it can provide for networks, as well as (low) potential security risks. Your university is justified in their approach and actually quite forgiving (as all universities should be!). With the potential for pc video conferencing, universities should seriously consider standards-based internal systems (such as Marratech). It hasn't happened at ours (University of Oklahoma), but our center has gratefully been allowed to piggyback on a Marratech system owned by a local school district. The technology has been great, especially considering it is cross-platform across PCs, Macs, and H.323 appliances! Skype is an incredible product. I have found the audio connection quality to be unsurpassed, and personally use it. And yet, Skype inherits much of its technology from P2P. A bit of internet research into Supernodes will reveal the (low) potential bottleneck it can provide for networks, as well as (low) potential security risks. Your university is justified in their approach and actually quite forgiving (as all universities should be!).

With the potential for pc video conferencing, universities should seriously consider standards-based internal systems (such as Marratech). It hasn’t happened at ours (University of Oklahoma), but our center has gratefully been allowed to piggyback on a Marratech system owned by a local school district. The technology has been great, especially considering it is cross-platform across PCs, Macs, and H.323 appliances!

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