Will Richardson

Speaker, consultant, writer, learner, parent

UStream Fun

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Kind of spur of the moment I decided to UStream all of my presentations at MICCA in Baltimore, and in the midst of doing so noticed some cool upgrades, the best of which is the ability to “cohost.” (Notice the little link in the bottom left of the picture.) This may not be all that new since I haven’t played much of late, but it was fun to bring all sorts of willing experimenters from the studio audience in to play. Talked to bicyclemark in Amsterdam, a classroom teacher in Wichita, a technology specialist in the UK, and some students in Montgomery, Alabama, pictured here. The folks who were watching seemed to indicate that the sound and picture quality were pretty good, despite some spotty bandwidth yesterday. The only glitch was that when I tried to record those interviews, the “cohost” contributions didn’t stick. It was just me talking and listening, making little sense.

I have to say that UStream has become quite the eye-opener for people in my presentations. It’s definitely an interesting way of positioning the drastic publishing shifts that we are experiencing, and to give a bit of context to the “call for conversations” around them. And on a personal note, it is great to be able to watch/listen to presentations while multitasking in the background.

Now if only UStream would archive the chats…

Comments

  1. gmwand says

    I, too, have been away from Twitter and Ustream for awhile but picked a good day to return though, because I got to see your “experiment” live. I didn’t get a chance to join the fun because I was in a workshop similar in context to one you presented in Illinois last fall that started the conversation for me. I see some great potential for using this and CamTwist in educational applications. Too bad it didn’t record the co-host though.

    Thanks for start last fall and the nudge yesterday. As for the workshop, well, my principal came away wanting to start using a moodle forum to start conversations with the students at the high school. Sounds like a promising start of something positive to me. . .

  2. David says

    You’re right. I was fascinated that while I was watching you in person at MICCA there were just as large an audience from other parts of the world. I know this is cliche now but it was a powerful example of our flat world.

  3. Paul R. Wood says

    I sat yesterday from my home in Duncanville, TX., and listened to your presentations and then had the chance to watch you work with others online “co-hosting” and was amazed and continue to be amazed at the tools and what they bring to us and can do for us. As you say sometimes we don’t have the chance to just play and that is what I continually tell people in my building, you have to make time to play with what is there to get familiar with it and to not be afraid of the possibilities.

    Thank you fo what you continue to share and show.

    Paul

  4. Lidia says

    Your presentations yesterday where great. We are linking your archived presentations to our teaching staff here in school. I work for the American School in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in Central America. We are encouraging teachers with web 2.0 and technology in their classrooms.

  5. A. T. Wyatt says

    I will throw in a word of caution–have you really looked at the ustream license? I quote from the document in question:

    (i) License Grant. Ustream.tv does not claim ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by uploading, streaming, submitting, emailing, posting, publishing or otherwise transmitting any User Submission to Ustream.tv or on the Site, you hereby grant Ustream.tv a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, perpetual and irrevocable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, prepare derivative works based on, perform, display, publish, distribute, transmit, broadcast and otherwise exploit such User Submissions in any form, medium or technology now known or later developed, including without limitation on the Site and third party websites. You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents and permissions to grant the foregoing licenses to Ustream.tv. Ustream.tv will own all right, title and interest in and to all derivative works and compilations of User Submissions that are created by Ustream.tv, including all worldwide intellectual property rights therein. You agree to execute and deliver such documents and provide all assistance reasonably requested by Ustream.tv to give to Ustream.tv the full benefit of the rights granted to Ustream.tv by you.

    I find this more than a little off-putting. While I may be in a position to make a judgment about this license and my own work, what happens when I begin to involve students or colleagues?

    It is worth thinking about.

  6. Richard Smyth says

    I stumbled upon your conference presentations via ustream.tv by reading your tweets. I am discovering the way that engaging in web2.0 tools (slideshare, twitter, social bookmarking, etc.) allows for the emergence of a kind of “collective intelligence,” a way to make other people an extension of my mind. (I call it “social networking as collective remembering” in one presentation.) I thought your advice to “follow your passions” and thereby discover the power of these tools for yourself was excellent. That’s the only way I’ve been able to experience their power.

    And so I immersed myself more deeply today by experimenting with diigo.com, which I learned about in the back talk on the chat.

    Thanks for your leadership.