Share Flipchart over WAN

[saha]

We are in the process of collaborating with a school in Bangalore India.
Our students already had live Telepresence Conference on the big screen with their counterparts in India, thanks to our sponsor "CISCO".

My next step idea is to introduce the school in Bangalore to Promethean Activstudio, establish a student and teacher exchange program and collaborate and create flipcharts collectively and simultaneously.

Any ideas on how to enable live multiple collaboration with Activstudio across the Wide Area Network?

[BenPosner]

No ideas or suggestions from me (definately NOT a network person!), but I just want to say what an AMAZING idea this is, and I (as well as others I am sure), can't wait to see or hear about what happens with this project! WOW!

~Ben

[Peter Lambert]

I have been searching the forum in vain for a post on this matter where somebody described how they set this up. Sorry, but I just can't find it. In the meantime, the best I can suggest is why not investigate Elluminate or Webex?

[markrobinson]

As Peter says - Elluminate does this... and you can get a free vRoom for up to 3 classes.

Users can take control of the same presentation from either end - and it provides video and audio too.

http://www.elluminate.com/vroom/

[lsmith2]

I use elluminate to communicate with a student of mine 3 days a week while he is at dialysis. What others have said is true, elluminate does allow users on both ends to work on the flipchart cooperatively. Infact just this morning my student was writing a letter on the board from 30 miles away and I was able to edit and make corrections on his letter. He was then able to create a picture using the drawing tools and images from the library to go along with it.

If you decide to give elluminate a try, I would be more than willing to give you a few pointers of what I have learned about making it work most effectively, how to share applications and such. I would even doa trial run with you if you wanted. Just let me know. Good luck!!!

Laura Smith
4th grade
Avon Lake, Ohio

[markrobinson]

Laura.... That sounds like a fantastic story and a great topic for our blog to pick up on.

http://blog.prometheanplanet.com

It would be interesting to see how this grows. You can mail me at mark.robinson@prometheanworld.com

[saha]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I am aware of Elluminate. However it is bulky and not free.
I am exploring free opensource software to achieve this first. We want to be able to save our technology budget to buy more Activboards, Activotes and ActivExpression sets.

At first I thought of using VNC or Timbuktu, but these will only work on LAN and not WAN.

As I was researching the option this morning, I came across this free Open Source App that looks very promising:

With no software to download or install, Dimdim forever democratizes web- based live meetings. In seconds - right from your browser - you easily host or attend web meetings complete with audio and video conferencing, screen and application sharing. After experiencing the freedom and ease of Dimdim Web Meetings, you’ll wonder why you ever used expensive and difficult alternatives.

http://www.dimdim.com/products/what_is_dimdim.html

[markrobinson]

DimDim looks good... although the three user vRoom is free too I thought...

I suppose all the obvious web based services - will become free or Open Source in time.

I found that despite its claim to be install free it required the installation of a 'DimDim plugin'

Suspect you need to get out of the browser security sandbox to capture the desktop so you need to agree to this....

[lsmith2]

As far as we have been using elluminate, 3 days a week since January, it has not cost us a dime. (Watch, now the elluminate police will come after me!) Up to 3 participants in a Vroom is free.

I have to say it has worked marvelously well, and I am quite sad that the school year is coming to an end and "my little techie" will be moving on to a new classroom in a new school.

Laura Smith
4th grade
Avon Lake, Ohio

[Dug]

As I was researching the option this morning, I came across this free Open Source App that looks very promising...

http://www.dimdim.com/products/what_is_dimdim.html


Has anyone had a comprehensive play with dimdim?

I've spent an hour or so with it and it is a little 'quirky'. Is it (as I suspect) a one-many application? By this, I mean I and other attendees can only see the host of the meeting, rather than all the participants.

We're getting fed up with Polycom. I think Elluminate might be worth investigating...

...unless you can come up with any other (free?) alternatives, Gautam:)