[thelist] Question about web conferencing software for web site.

trevor trevor at intospace.ca
Thu Jun 12 14:30:37 CDT 2008


> Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:14:23 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Andrew Kuhry-Haeuser <rewdand at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [thelist] Question about web conferencing software for web
> site.
> To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
> Message-ID: <498140.97758.qm at web57302.mail.re1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> To anyone out there who can help,
>
> I'm in the very beginning processes of creating a web site that will host 
> a class I will teach. The class will be taught through a webconference 
> that people can access through their personal computers. I don't have any 
> experience in building web sites or in creating this sort of setup, but 
> I'm figuring it out.
>

Hi Andrew,

Here's some suggestions:

http://live.yahoo.com   You can embed the channel code in your own site. You 
probably would want a different chat module - but for the cams and audio, 
yahoo may give you what you want to allow the student's cameras too.  They 
have provided an API for the streams, those great people at yahoo.

Or...   http://vyew.com/site/   -  might be good for you....allows 
interacting with content.   I haven't used it though, so i'm just throwing 
it out there for you.

Another option...   http://justin.tv  -  great features to automatically 
archive your streams among other things, and you can password protect your 
channel (may be irrelevant if you are embedding this on your own website). 
Justin.tv has a very good chat box which is also embeddable on your own 
page -  but the kicker is how to get your student's cameras also appearing, 
so again, yahoo may be your best bet and just find a seperate chat plugin to 
use....maybe meebo or something like that

Finally....check into:  stickam, or ustream  -  haven't used them, so can't 
really say.

If you want to be more self-contained - you may want to look into Adobe's 
Flash Media Server and Flash Media Encoder.  "What's your budget?" comes to 
mind though, and if you have no experience with this stuff, it might be a 
bit daunting - up to you.

Cameras:  Are you  pc,  mac, etc? A Decent Webcam will run you about 50-75 
bucks and do the job moderately - spend the rest of your budget on good 
lighting!  But alternatively, a decent usb mini camcorder will do reasonable 
job, and a good quality mic is important - the audio is equally as important 
as the picture - consider a wireless mic, they are a real benefit.

Once you are up and running - if yer a PC user, check out WebcamMax 
software - great for options like picture in picture, text, and special 
effects.

HTH,  Trevor.







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