These three computer programs/services/apps enable audio and video over the internet. Prof. Showalter lives three doors from me but you may know him as Dr. Wow if you are a high school teacher of chemistry. Dr. Wow made a series of television tapes explaining and exploring chemistry topics that are popular all over the world. The other day, he sat in his kitchen and talked for an hour with the members of a high school chemistry class in New Jersey. It was a live exchange and the students could see and hear Don and he could see and hear them. Since Dr. Wow and his partner, Prof. Marvin Lang have traveled to many parts of the globe to give chemistry demonstrations, it was quite different for him to be able to have a talk with students without leaving his house.
Prof. Arthur Herman is a retired philosopher who specializes in the philosophy of the East (India, China, etc.). His son, also Arthur Herman, is a well-known author and scholar working with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Our local older learners group is interested in having the younger Arthur talk to us by way of Skype, FaceTime or Google Hangout. We don't have a budget to pay people to travel and like, Dr. Wow, the younger Arthur could talk to us by way of the internet. As we think about this method of meeting with people, we will no doubt develop other ideas and projects.
The director of the campus laboratory I am volunteering in, Dr. Kristi Roth, told me that she thought Google Hangout was better than the better-known Skype. Here is a page on my own web site that could be used to follow up on the comparison of these methods. skype or hangout or facetime | kirbyvariety Skype belongs to Microsoft and is the best known. FaceTime works with iPads and Macs. Google Hangout, like all Google products uses web pages. With your family and with organizations you belong to, you may be doing more video conferencing over the internet.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
