Webheads and a New Wimba Tool

Webheads and a New Wimba Tool: Voice Direct:

If you are interested in learning about how we explore new web tools, and report our findings to the community, go ahead and read all the document. However, if you are only interested in learning about the findings, and how to use Voice Direct, use the following links:

Vance and Scott's wrap up comments on Voice Direct.

Step by Step instructions (with graphics)to use it.

Now, my story of the events:

This morning, Saturday, February 8, I woke up to find the following message from Michael:

Dear all, Wimba have a new synchronous voice tool and they have kindly agreed to let Webheads trial it. It is called Voice Direct and you can find a beta version of the tool at http://helium.wimba.com/beta1/jsp/manager/voicedirect/index.jsp?room=1040 Vance and Aiden have both tried unsuccessfully to enter the room but I had no problems yesterday using it with Donovan Lytle (from Wimba) yesterday. It won't work with Macs yet (sorry Sus) and you do need to have Java Virtual Machine enabled. Other than that Donovan was not able to offer any suggestion as to why Vance and Aiden were not able to access the chat room. He suggested you write direct to support@wimba.com and let them know if you have a problem getting in there. Maybe we can trial it in tomorrow's session? Cheers, - Michael C.

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Immediately, I went there to try it, while I was chatting with Vance in another window. This is part of our conversation:

dygonza (13:34:45): I am getting there right now on my old computer
dygonza (13:35:06): I am there
dygonza (13:35:21): in room 1040
vance_stevens (13:56:28): logged in?
dygonza (13:35:54): yes
vance_stevens (13:57:06): Emmy thre?
vance_stevens (13:57:15): or venny?
dygonza (13:36:11): telpac....etc?
vance_stevens (13:57:20): I can't get there
vance_stevens (13:58:00): Yaodong or Emmy from China shoudl be there
dygonza (13:37:17): I only see tmvaz@mail.telepac.pt
vance_stevens (13:58:48): teresa is there?
dygonza (13:37:57): Is that her?
vance_stevens (13:59:21): sounds like it

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After this conversation, I met Venny there, I did not take any screenshot of our conversation, but posted a message to our list:

Hi Michael and All,
I have just tried the new Wimba tool. I got there fine from my old comp.(laptop is still mute), there was a person with the mic. Since my mic was not connected, I just wrote hi, and waited for an answer (oral or written) but nothing happened. Then, Venny showed up, and we exchanged a couple of lines, he asked for the mic but nothing happened. Finally, Venny left and so did I. Hope to be luckier next time.
bfn,
Daf

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Right after that, another message got to the list. It was Tere reporting her experience with Wimba:

Dear Michael,

The new Wimba Direct voice tool sounded so exciting that I tried logging in immediately and had 'no problemo'! Of course, I was there alone and feeling very lonely, but maybe I'll get the chance to try it with someone later today.

I prepared a page with an image of my try out, but my ftp server is not allowing my log in at the moment. I'll try to upload it later.

Thanks for the info and for getting Webheads permission for a trial run.

Teresa

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It was clear now !

Dear Tere, Aha, hmmmm , so you were the one who was there with the mic and
would not reply to us ;-)
I was chatting with Vance while I was getting into Wimba, and I told him the e-mail of the person who was there, and he said, "oh Tere is there!".
Vanny and I could never get your attention :-(
hugs,
Daf

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Thoughtful Tere sent this message:

Dear Daf,

Inadvertently, yes! Mea culpa! I'm really sorry!

I was unexpectedly called away from the computer for about 20 mins. and forgot all about it!

Want to try it a little later?

Hugs, Teresa

Note for Tere: I looked for you at YM, you were "be right back" :-(

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Well, while all this correspondence exchange was going on, I gave Wimba another try, and this time I found another person there: Sophie, from Australia.
This time, I was careful enough to take some screenshots:

And Sophie happens to be a new Webhead !!! She did not have sound, but promised to be ready for tomorrow. Some sound came to my computer, but immediately an error message jumped on my screen: "sound unavailable".

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While chatting with Sophie I contacted Venny at Yahoo Messenger:

dygonza (14:42:27): hi Venny
vennysou (14:42:40): Hi
dygonza (14:42:43): you just loged out of Wimba I am there
dygonza (14:42:55): it was Tere who was there before with the mic
vennysou (14:53:38): ohh, I found that's you from the email list.
vennysou (14:53:57): you sent out a mail to the list
dygonza (14:43:35): why don't you go there and try to speak to see if I can hear you
vennysou (14:54:06): want to try it again?
dygonza (14:43:43): I cannot talk
dygonza (14:43:54): but I want to see if I can listen to you
vennysou (14:56:22): I just entered again
vennysou (14:56:32): and canot talk
dygonza (14:47:52): I do not see you there
dygonza (14:48:00): there is somebody else from Australia
vennysou (14:58:31): I'm going there
vennysou (14:58:57): erro message
dygonza (14:48:31): I got an error message, it says audio unavailable
vennysou (15:00:09): I'm entering the web again but very slowly
vennysou (15:01:01): java problem?
dygonza (14:50:59): don't knowvennysou (15:03:41): I just cannot enter now
dygonza (14:53:29): a pity
dygonza (14:53:45): I am chatting with Sophie a new webhead from Australia
vennysou (15:04:26): there?
dygonza (14:54:07): yes
vennysou (15:04:48): audio?
dygonza (14:55:17): no
dygonza (14:55:23): there is an error message
dygonza (14:55:28): no audio available
dygonza (14:55:40): and Sophie does not have a mic either
dygonza (14:56:40): I will try to get a mic this afternoon
dygonza (14:56:48): to have it tomorrow for our session
vennysou (15:07:37): I cannot enter now
vennysou (15:07:46): I met Vance just now and have a chat
vennysou (15:07:53): He could not log in either
dygonza (14:58:01): I am fine with the chat
vennysou (15:10:44): still canot log in
dygonza (15:00:56): I have left Wimba. Sophie will be there tomorrow
vennysou (15:13:02): I log in finally
vennysou (15:13:47): want to test audio?
vennysou (15:14:44): ok
vennysou (15:22:45): it's not stable
dygonza (15:12:31): no
vennysou (15:23:14): you're out?
dygonza (15:12:52): yes, I left
vennysou (15:23:37): my typing cannot send out to the chat window sometimes.
dygonza (15:13:25): I took some screenshots of my chat with sophie and will put up a page with them
dygonza (15:14:59): talk to you later, going to have lunch
vennysou (15:25:31): now I'm the only own there
vennysou (15:25:42): I click hand, and it said: wait.
vennysou (15:25:47): OK
vennysou (15:25:52): see you latter
dygonza (15:15:28): bfn
vennysou (15:26:00): enjoy your llunch
dygonza (15:15:34): thanks

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It seems that Buthaina gave it a try, too. this is what she says:

Hi michael,

Thank you for the Wimba voice tool.I went to wimba and managed to enter the room. It looks neat and easy to use.I clicked the speak button and left some written messages there. I don't know if the voice worked as the room was empty.I will try it again during tomorrow's meeting.

Best regards,
Buth

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Later on, I went to Tapped In, where I found Nigel and BJB. I showed Nigel this page, and this is the dialogue we had:

"I have been trying the new Wimba tool"
NigelC asks, "New Wimba tool?"
DafneG says, "yes, a new Wimba chat tool: Voice Direct"
DafneG says, "it is being tried out"
NigelC says, "Oh right. I've become a big fan of Wimba since we bought it in our department"
DafneG says, "and Webheads were invited for the test"
NigelC asks, "is that where everyone is today?"
DafneG says, "want to see my first web report on the experience"
NigelC says, "sure"
DafneG says, "no, I don't know where they are"
NigelC says, "lost in cyberspace"
DafneG asks, "may I project the page?"
NigelC says, "please"
DafneG projects the URL: http://www.oocities.org/dygonza/webheads/directvoice.html
NigelC says, "interesting"
NigelC asks, "did you get the feeling it was going to be better than yahoo im?"
DafneG says, "yes"
DafneG says, "I think it will"
DafneG says, "they are trying it out, and ask you to report problems"
NigelC says, "it's something to bear in mind I suppose"
DafneG says, "they should let us use it for free after this trial"
NigelC says, "yeah, wouldn't that be nice"
DafneG says, "sure"
NigelC says, "I'll say one thing for the subscription service at Wimba: it's very reliable (so far!)."

Guess who showed up next! Yes, Vance!! And of course, when he heard that we were talking about Wimba and that we had been able to get there, he wanted to try again from another computer, and.....there we go again looking for new adventures...

DafneG says, "Vance was there and left suddenly"
DafneG says, "I am all alone there, now"

VanceS [nondescript] says, "so am I"
VanceS [nondescript] asks, "how come we're in two different place?"
DafneG asks, "?????"
DafneG says, "no idea"
DafneG says, "you were there when I logged in"
DafneG says, "and then you vanished"
VanceS [nondescript] says, "yeah"
VennyS . o O ( why Wimba? )Venny is with us again! (we need his pic.!)
DafneG says, "rita is there now".
This is rita:

VanceS [nondescript] says, "let me log out and back in again"
DafneG says, "talking to her".

(Let's take a look at our talk)

We keep reporting back to the people at TI about our experience at the Wimba chat room:

DafneG says, "Venny is also there"
VennyS [:)] says, "hear noise there"
VanceS [nondescript] says, "so do I"
DafneG says, "the noise there is awful"
VennyS [:)] asks, "and I can not send out my typing?"
DafneG asks, "are you "null" VAnce?"
VanceS [nondescript] says, "I might be"
VanceS looks null.
VennyS [:)] says, "I can't text chat now:("
VanceS [null] says, "me neither, I closed it"

Back at Tapped In:

DafneG says, "I can chat but only hear noises"
VanceS [null] says, "the noise went away but I'm no longer null and I can send text"
VennyS [:)] says, "I reload it and just say one sentence."
VennyS [:)] says, "and canot send out text again"
DafneG says, "I heard VAnce"
VennyS [:)] says, "ohh"
VennyS [:)] says, "I can hear you Vance"
VanceS [null] says, "amazing"
VanceS [null] says, "funny I didn't hear anything"
VennyS [:)] says, "but I can not do anything there"
SusanneN has arrived.
DafneG says, "your voice came out clear and loud, Vance"
VennyS . o O ( how many users can join that room? )
VanceS [null] says, "hi Susanne, for some reason I can no longer work miracles in the Wimba chat room"
SusanneN wavesses hi to /all, with enthusiam.
VanceS [null] says, "I've had my fun. I can no longer speak in Wimba, nor can I send text chat info"
VennyS [:)] asks, "I log in again but cannot even send out text?"
SusanneN asks, "Vance, isn't Wimba payware now?"
VanceS [null] says, "Michael C f"
VanceS [null] says, "sorry"
SusanneN simply waves
VennyS [:)] doesn't like Wimba so far
VanceS [null] says, "Michael C found us this free chat demo"

Let's go back to the Wimba chat room:

Back at Tapped In, Sus complains that Wimba is only for Windows:

SusanneN reads this undated note at Wimba:
SusanneN says, "At this time the demo only works on Windows. If you are a Mac user, please be patient, as the demo will be made to you in the coming weeks."
VanceS holds up a BIG sign: | Mac Users Have Their Rights |

SusanneN holds up a BIG sign: | Mac users are proud users |

This is the announcement at the Wimba site:

We are sent to ASO and the discussion went on for a while, to conclude from our first experiences, that the chat feature is slow, the sound quality is good, but the sound does not stay very long, in short, as Venny said, the new Wimba tool is not yet stable.

That's all for now folks.let's see what new experiences we can report tomorrow.Thanks Michael for this new toy!

Sunday morning: While I was sleeping some people have written conclusions on their findings, let's check them out.

These are Alice's comments:

After I learned about Winba, I directly logged on, and BINGO, I found myself in Room 1040 right away with Yoadong and Venny. While Venny was busy with his student on MSN, Yoadong taught me how to use Wimba. We had voice chat and text chat in turns. The voice was loud and clear. I have intented to copy our text chats but it didn't work.
Anyway, it was a very nice experience. And I would love to go there again.
Alice

And Vance, gives us his final report from yesterday's trials:

I just got through meeting Daf, Rita, Venny ... not sure who else was there ... at the Wimba voice tool. From my home DSL computer I was able to get to the Wimba voice chat room. I haven't been able to connect on my laptop through the dialup in my office (the applet doesn't run). I was able to broadcast momentarily and post text chat. The others in the chat commented on how clear my voice was. But then it just cut out. I could see other people's postings but could neither post nor speak. So I shut the browser and tried again, and again I was able to speak for a few moments and post text chat, but after 3 min, nothing but incoming. Others in the chat recorded similar experiences. Venny was able to speak to us, but then ... nada.

Also, Sus got a message this this voice chat room wasn't for Macs.

Now, Vance makes some comments about AOL and Yahoo Messenger:

Meanwhile Venny has been trying out AOL messenger. I upgraded to version 5 and he and I got in touch and we tried voice but we were both given messages that we were each behind 'different' firewalls. We said (or wrote in text chat) to heck with that and we started a Yahoo voice chat just to see that the voice was working fine (it was). So AOL Messenger does not appear to be the answer to our dreams either. Yahoo answers all dreams except inclusion of Macs in voice chat, and that's a significant dream killer.

Still dreaming,
Vance

Tapped In sesssion awaits for us!

Well, after a hectic session of chaos navigation and multitasking, at the new Wimba chat room, Tapped In, TI2, and lot's of webcaming our "good" Scott :-), wrote an excellent descriptive account of our feelings and findings:

Hello every1:

Sunday's session was amazing (for me at least). Between webcams on my screen, text chat in the TI1 (no luck with TI2 for me), and the WIMBA voice direct chat, there was just too much going on on my monitor and over my headphones. The WIMBA experience was so captivating that I neglected the text messages in TI1. I apologize if I appeared to be ignoring any1.

Teresa made a wise move to get out of WIMBA when she did. I could tell that she was just as amazed as the rest of us were with the clarity of the sound and the ease of operation of the beta product (thanks to MichaelC for the heads up on this one). The reason I say it was wise of Teresa to get away when she did, is because she has been doing so much work and is in contact with so many people that she realized that she would have sacrificed some productive exchanges with other webheads not on WIMBA by lingering any longer.

For those of us who did stick it out in WIMBA for the duration, it may not have been productive in the utilitarian sense of the word. But OMG, it was fun and dazzling. And I think it was productive in the sense that a group of us became better acquainted with the package. Hopefully we will be able to provide some assistance to those of you who want to try to connect next Sunday. I heartily recommend that you give it a try.

Dafne pointed out that there appears to be no facility within WIMBA to create a transcript of the text portion of the chat. We also fumbled around with trying to make some form of audio recording of the conversations. More experimentation is required on this aspect. I was able to record my speech and Dafne's using the Sound Recorder program of Windows 98. But while I was talking, I realized that other room members were sending me text messages that they couldn't hear me. To make matters worse, I was unable to relinquish the microphone when I wanted to stop. This required my shutting down the browser and logging back in - Sorry about that.

As Michael pointed out, WIMBA voice direct is a beta software package. We at WIA are very fortunate to have the opportunity to check it out in this trial phase. That said, it would behoove us as well as WIMBA to offer comments and suggestions to the developers. Perhaps we can encourage them to include a transcription feature in a future version. The link to send comments is at the bottom of the WIMBA chatroom page.

Well, I'm sorry for rambling on like this. I know you all have more important things to do than read this. But I do think it would be useful to have a brief introduction to the WIMBA interface for future new users. Maybe a screenshot with graphics painted on describing what each of the buttons are for would be helpful. It would also be a way to introduce the concept of having the floor and relinquishing the mic, and requesting the floor. It is actually brilliant the way the WIMBA people have put it together, (but more than a few of us made the mistake of not relinquishing the mic on our first use of feature. I will try to put such a primer together. If any of you have suggestions, please feel free to send them my way.

Every1, have a great week. I look forward to hearing and seeing you again very soon.
best wishes,
Scott Lockman in Tokyo
YM: sacato
TI: ScottLo

Your wishes are commands, dear Scott, here are your suggestions, step by step instructions to use the new Wimbs Voice Direct tool:

Go to this url:http://helium.wimba.com/beta1/jsp/manager/voicedirect/index.jsp?room=1040 (be sure to have mic and speakers ;-)
When asked, write your name or nick, you do not need to write your e-mail as it says there (Michael and "null" Vance found that out yesterday).
Once in the chat room, you will see who's there on the right column. Under that column you will find the following symbols:
You need to click that hand if you want to speak, and then the person who is speaking will be shown like this:
If a person is speaking at the moment you ask for a turn, next to your name you will see a hand, like this:
Turns are given in chronological order, so when it is your turn, you will get a "speaking"sign on the symbols bar.
In order to pass the floor to another person, the speaker needs to click this button:

That's all!

No, it was not all. Look at Sus's reflections:

Scott, Michael, Vance, Daf, Chris, Venny, Yaodong, Sophie, Nigel, Rita, Buthania, Alice well, I¹d say all who contributed to the new Voicedirect page, set up by daf in a few moments and updated on the fly. I liketo learn the way this can be done, so fast and smooth from decision to ready (copy, paste, combine, comment and link). You¹ve gor a great deal of routine by now, Daf (and those sweet blinking blue eyes make a very personal new signature of yours)

This new page absoultely makes sense including the quick manual - to learn how to use the microphone,and stand in line for next turn! I think the developers of Wimba will like the usability report and I¹m thankful for Scott to taking contact with them.

For myself, I can add this : even though I¹m a mac user, and I read the note about a future version for macs, this Sunday during ur TI session with webcams in Yahoo, I wanted to join you in the Voicedirect chatroom, and I arrived there from the same link that brought Scott there. But I saw nobody and was not able to join the text chat. So I guess I¹ll have to wait impatiently until the Mac beta version has been developed - in a few weeks, said the note from Wimba people. Now, I feel a strong urge to practice my own hoarse voice, to hear how yours sound like (Vance says that Scott has a nice British Accent :-) - and to laugh with you as your pleasant faces in webcam windows witnessed clearly, even making me perform a mute smile, too.

Yours, Sus (in Denmark)

This is it, folks!

Hugs for All,

Daf