All entries for Monday 15 May 2006
May 15, 2006
Skypecast attempt
Writing about web page https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/home
Tried my first skypecast on Friday evening. Interesting service that lets you set up teleconferences through a skype connection.
I connected to a US skypecast and the quality was pretty good – better than the old teleconferences I used to get on at Marconi anyway.
The associated Chat and control functions worked very well.
Unfortunately my Router kept dropping out so eventually I bailed out rather than annoy everyone with constant reconnections.
I am unsure if the drop–outs related to:
1. A crap router
2. My ISP going – oh, that's skype traffic – kill kill kill
3. The thunderstorm going overhead at the time
I will try again for the next call on friday and see if it is any better.
In the meantime I thought it was a pretty cool service. In my head I have an idea that we could trial:
1. Student Recruitment casts – open call to ask questions about UG/PG recruitment
2. Experts and Press Releases – schedule calls for journalists/other interested parties for relevant stories
3. Research–TV – get the academic online after a video is released to answer questions
Anyway, not sure if skype user numbers warrant further attention, would need to check demographic etc, but interesting none the less.