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“Can You Hear Me Now?”

“Can You Hear Me Now?”. Videoconferencing for Communication, Education, and Telehealth. Overview. Demonstration What is videoconferencing? Uses for videoconferencing Videoconferencing protocols Hardware and software Hands-On Play Time. What is Videoconferencing?.

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“Can You Hear Me Now?”

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  1. “Can You Hear Me Now?” Videoconferencing for Communication, Education, and Telehealth

  2. Overview • Demonstration • What is videoconferencing? • Uses for videoconferencing • Videoconferencing protocols • Hardware and software • Hands-On Play Time

  3. What is Videoconferencing? • Real time interaction (seeing and hearing) with other people located with one or more remote sites • Components: • Viewing equipment (computer or TV) • Camera(s) • Microphone(s) • Network or phone line

  4. Does It Work? • To paraphrase Mae West: • “When it’s good, it’s very, very good.”

  5. Uses for Videoconferencing • Collaboration with colleagues • Education • Distance learning • Collaborative learning with 2 groups of students at different schools • Telehealth • Patient care • Family support

  6. Videoconferencing Protocols • H.320 • Broadband over a dedicated line (T1, ISDN) • Very fast • Very expensive • H.323 • Uses the regular Internet (IP) • Cheaper • Slower, and runs into Internet congestion

  7. Videoconferencing Protocols • H.324 • Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) • 56K analog • For family support situations • H.323 • De facto Internet standard • “Good enough” for many applications

  8. Videoconferencing Protocols • SIP • Session Initiation Protocol • Used by new video chat programs • Windows Messenger • Apple iChat • May eventually replace H.323 as protocol of choice

  9. Types of Videoconferencing • Multi-point • Multiple sites • Point-to-point • One-to-one communication

  10. Hardware • High-end = > $1000 per site • Medium-range = $500 - $1000 per site • Low-end = under $500 per site

  11. Hardware – High-End • Videoconferencing “bridge” systems maintained by a telecommunications department • Allows multi-point access • Polycom “ViewStation” for multi-point conferences using the bridge • $4000 - $6000 per site

  12. ViewStation

  13. ViewStation

  14. Hardware – High End • Advantages • Excellent quality • Good enough for telehealth and meetings with colleagues • Disadvantages • Requires scheduling “bridge” • Computer application sharing (i.e., PowerPoint or Web) not good quality

  15. ViewStation – Our Experience • Used for monthly conference calls for distributed HEAL team at 3 institutions • Utah – ViewStation • UCLA – ViaVideo camera (lower end) • Oklahoma -- ViewStation • Like being in the same room with Okla. • Video occasionally freezes with participant using a cheaper ViaVideo camera • Excellent for meetings where participants “talk” but don’t try to look at a computer together

  16. Access Grid • Internet II videoconferencing system

  17. Access Grid • Internet II: • Consortium led by 206 universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, • Internet2 is recreating the partnership among academia, industry and government that fostered today’s Internet in its infancy. • The primary goals of Internet2 are to: • Create a leading edge network capability for the national research community • Enable revolutionary Internet applications • Ensure the rapid transfer of new network services and applications to the broader Internet community.

  18. Access Grid • An ensemble of resources to support group communication • Large format multimedia • Visualization environments (virtual reality) • Over 150 institutions participate • Requires investment in hardware and personnel to set up

  19. Access Grid

  20. Access Grid – Our Experience • Required many more months than expected to install • Campus networking issues • Once working, we conducted a collaborative meeting with 5 institutions

  21. Access Grid – Innovative Uses • University of New Mexico – Project TOUCH, Dale Alverson, M.D. • Collaborative distance learning in a virtual reality environment • Video clip: 38:26 – 48:30 • Slides • Set-up page

  22. Hardware – Medium-Range • Personal desktop system: Polycom ViaVideo II • Camera and built-in microphone • Proprietary software • $500 • For point-to-point only • Can sit on your desk for spontaneous calls • Excellent data and application sharing software • No Macintosh version!

  23. ViaVideo – Our Experience • Works very well for point-to-point meetings IF your Internet connection is fast • Would not work for a distance ed Utah – Germany due to poor connections

  24. Hardware – Low End • Consumer level cameras • iSight (Macintosh) ($149) • Logitech Quickcam ($50-$100) • Headset with microphone

  25. WebCams – Our Experience • Works well to see the other person using low-end software (NetMeeting or VRVS) • Quality headset is important

  26. Choosing a System • Purpose • Communicate one on one with colleagues? • Distance learning with multiple sites? • Telehealth? • Budget • Institutional support

  27. Software • Free • NetMeeting • Virtual Room Videoconferencing System (VRVS) • Proprietary • Polycom ViaVideo software • Access Grid • Uses a version of VRVS

  28. Software • NetMeeting • Comes with every PC • On Windows XP, find it by running the program “conf” • Use with any camera and microphone headset • Includes data sharing application • Does not seem to have many firewall issues

  29. NetMeeting

  30. NetMeeting – Our Experience • Conducted distance education class between Utah and California using NetMeeting • Utah instructor had Polycom ViaVideo • California students saw video with NetMeeting and had microphone to communicate with Utah • Worked well except for a few minutes of “Internet congestion” • Example of using low-end software

  31. Software • Virtual Room Videoconferencing System (VRVS) • www.vrvs.org • Multi-point “meeting room” • Uses servers (reflectors) across the country • Free • Use with any camera and microphone headset • Has data sharing application • Works on PCs or Macintosh • Can have set-up issues

  32. Software – VRVS (Vic and Rat)

  33. VRVS – Our Experience • Mixed experience • Wanted to use it for collaboration with 8 libraries • Only 6 could get it to work completely due to firewall issues • Sound quality sometimes poor • But it shows promise for free multi-point conferences

  34. “Mixing and Matching” Technologies • Many different configurations, to name just a few: • ViaVideo Camera with VRVS software • WebCam with VRVS Software connected to Access Grid • ViewStation with participants using ViaVideo cameras, other ViewStations, or Access Grid

  35. Resources • Videoconference Cookbook • Dale Alverson’s talk at InfoFair

  36. Questions • Questions?

  37. Hands-On Play Time!

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