Instant Messaging
I use AIM at home, but I don't really like it because I see it as an irritating interruption.
However, there is something in this category that I have used a lot and love. That is Skype. I used it a lot in 2007 when my husband spent most of that year traveling extensively overseas. Skype uses Voice over Internet Protocol. The calls are loud and clear and FREE between Skype users. I easily talked to my husband when I was in Gainesville and he was visiting a research station on a coral island 40 miles off the coast of Belize in Central America. The connection was great and the sound quality was perfect, so much better than most phone calls.
Text Messaging (Short Message Service)
I do not use this, but my daughter does. As a non-user, all I can say is that I like that it's silent. I do think it's cool that the Australians have started Reference by SMS.
Web Conferencing
I enjoy webinars and am excited about OPAL. From their Archives, I listened to a few minutes of Pat Wagner's "Communication Skills For Front Line Library Staff." Webinars are great teaching tools for library staff.
One of my library school classes at USF used Elluminate last year for some class meetings. I thought it worked very well and hope that more of the professors start using it.
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It's good to hear a positive comment about Skype. I would love to use it for my daughter to keep in touch with her grandparents in other states, but I have yet to try it since I have heard several negative things about it. I have an uncle who worked for AT&T (pretty IT savvy kind of guy) and he said it kept crashing his computer. Any suggestions for getting it to work well? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteSkype never crashed our computers and always worked fine. However, there is a down side to it. You will get many messages from strangers all over the world asking you to talk to them. Turn all those requests down, especially the marriage proposals.
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