Skype/Pamela for Skype

There are electronic communication devices that give users the opportunity to see each other "face to face" whilst being anywhere in the world. All one needs is some service to get the connection rolling. It may be hard for us now in 2011 to imagine the world without video chatting. I remember the first time I interacted with someone through a video chatting device, internationally, for absolutely no charge. It was unbelievably amazing! If it costs less to communicate internationally and "face to face" at that, then why run up your phone bill? Video chatting has become easy and advantageous for everyone: family reconnecting with one another, friends chitchatting, and professionals conducting meetings with overseas partners. It is often said that Computer-mediated communication takes the emotion out of conversing. I do agree with this to an extent. However video chatting allows people to interact through technology meanwhile online shopping, emailing, instant messaging and using search engines all while being able to show your emotions through a screen. As using the Internet has become a daily activity for Americans, what can be more convenient than face to face (FtF) communication online!

The tools I chose to learn more about was Pamela for Skype and Skype itself as I am quite familiar with video chatting devices such as Oovoo, Apple’s iChat, and AIM. Skype is an application that allows users to make voice calls as well as video calls and conference calls through the click of a mouse or touchpad. Besides giving users the ability to look directly at the person they’re speaking with, Skype is a great device because it is free. As of this month it is said that Skype has approximately 929 million users. Right up there with Facebook which has more than 800 million active users. Skype is software that uses (VoIP) Voice over Internet Protocol. Therefore this telephonic communication can be done only via Internet as with all other video chatting software. Meanwhile Facebook is a social networking site Skype is more of a social communication tool. They both fall under social media. Wikipedia defines Social Media as the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue.

Skype’s memorable and playful light blue on white logo I believe is what attracts many users. For those who don’t know Skype is based in Luxembourg, a country between Belgium and Germany. According to them “Skype is for dong things together whenever you’re apart. Skype’s text, voice and video make it simple to share experiences with the people that matter to you wherever you are.” Also although Skype is free one can spending some bucks for some extra service.

Pamela for Skype on the other hand is software that is compatible with Skype although not affiliated with Skype. This software can be downloaded and it allows users to record Skype calls, videos, chats etc. Mainly it is an audio and video recording software. A basic download is available for free and with more services the cost increases.

Finally, Skype is a great way for people around the world to interact with one another. It is convenient, safe and free software that anyone who has basic computer knowledge should download and tell their friends to do the same. Skype uses VoIP, so it requires internet connection. Now that I know more about Skype I will consider downloading it to communicate with my family and friends here and overseas.

Sources:

Readings provided by Prof. Yonkers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

http://about.skype.com/

http://www.pamela.biz/en/

Using Tumblr for CMC

Decided to change it last second since two people already did the one I chose Almost.at.

Tumblr is a microblogging platform, which basically is a blog but with less words. Regular blogs are used for more well thought out posts while Tumblr is used for quick anecdotes, images or videos. Both allow comments, but a feature unique to Tumblr is to reblog somebodies post. Here's an example from the Washington Post's Tumblr , basically you can take from another persons Tumblr and add comments to it and share it with whomever follows you.

 The main comparison to Tumblr would be twitter. The differences betweent Twitter and Tumblr are very few, they both have follower system and there really is no way to see peoples account unless signed up, they have a direct link or they're searching. Tumblr has the ability to directly see photos and videos instead of clicking on something as Twitter does. Tumblr also has no character limit, so it's easier to share more information in one post instead of doing multiple posts on Twitter and possibly some other microblogger platforms.

As with any other online communication, it's somewhat hard to find people to talk to as not everyone is on Tumblr and you can use aliases. Finding Tumblrs to follow comes with time of using and if you don't devote some times, you may find it pointless as a way to communicate with people.

Tumblr now has more blogs than Wordpress.com [1] which is another blogging platform which is very popular, so it goes to show that microblogging is more mainstream than regular blogs for the ease of communication rather than writing alot. The Tumblr user base also ranges from companies to regular people to people who are just posting funny pictures. So there is a majority of different ways you can find information on there or put information out there. So Tumblr is very two way in terms of communication, you can give people comments or reblog their posts and also give people videos, images or text of what you think is cool or informative.

Tumblr is alot like the CMC tools already out there but its more about versatility in sharing information and how others can share that information. If you post something that's very informative or interesting, there's a possibility that people will know about it in multiple ways. It also goes the same way that if you find something informative/interesting you can let people know about it by reblogging it, liking it or commenting on it. It's an interesting way of communicating and it's getting more popular as we go along [2].

LinkedIn and SMS Blaster

The two tools I decided to research were LinkedIn and SMS Blaster. LinkedIn is considered to be a professional networking site while SMS Blaster, an application that allows for bulk text messaging. Both tools enable online communication and the sharing of ideas and information.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 120 million members (linkedin.com, 2010). According to Danah M. Boyd and Nicole B. Ellison, most social networking sites “support the maintenance of preexisting social networks”, such as Facebook, but others “help strangers connect based on shared interests, political views, or activities.” This is what LinkedIn is for: professionals to connect with other professionals, strangers or not, either to learn about a company or find a job. As most of us in class are graduating this year, creating a LinkedIn account seems important for our professional future. Many potential employers will ask for your LinkedIn account to find out more about you/see who else you may be connected with. Now, almost all of us are Facebook members for social networking and personal reasons. LinkedIn allows for you to post your resume, personal information, and professional experience, something you would never put on Facebook. LinkedIn also only allows for private messaging while Facebook and other sites provide a wall to post on right on the user profile. However, it is similar to Facebook in that you can search for friends, employers, or professional groups/companies. I compare LinkedIn to Facebook in some ways because most of us are more familiar with Facebook.

SMS Blaster is an application, that can be installed on a lap top, desk top, or mobile phone (Bluetooth connection), that is capable of sending thousands of messages in bulk, with a specified task and numerous features (smsblaster.in). We are not capable of doing this on AIM (AOL Instant Messaging) or mobile phone text messaging. SMS Blaster can be used in professional companies, as well as for personal purposes. According to the SMS Blaster website, there are various sectors that benefit from this application, including colleges, hospitals, hotels, schools, banks, clubs, associations, and political parties. An example of what a college might use SMS Blaster for includes sending fees collections, sending activity alert messages, sending summer vacation notices, or sending staff notification messages. The University at Albany doesn’t use SMS Blaster, instead we receive emails that are sent out to all of the students and staff for these purposes. In the future, maybe the University should look into SMS Blaster as a form of communication, instead of emails because I know most of us delete the emails before we even read them.

Both of these tools in computer mediated communication are useful in different situations. Both can be used on the professional level, but SMS Blaster can also be used on a more personal/informal level. I would like to learn even more about LinkedIn because it seems to be very useful as I am graduating in May. I have created an account and have already made connections with previous employers. SMS Blaster is also something I would like to look into even more considering I had never even heard about it until now. Both tools are interesting and useful in today’s times.

ALMOSTAT & FACEBOOK

The two computer mediated communication tools I chose were Almostat and Facebook. These two tools both provide something different for its users but they are both a way for people to interact and communicate. As technology has advanced throughout the years one will find an endless amount of ways to communicate over the Internet, whether it is to network, interact, broadcast, or just go on a regular search engine.

Almostat is a new form of live interaction. David Cann created it and it is a way to follow people at real world events in real time. Anyone who uses this website can stay connected through you tube, Flickr, Twitter, etc. This website allows you to follow events even if you are not attending them, it provides you with text, photos, videos and links of what is going on at a specific event, it allows you at the bottom of the screen to see a progress bar showing how far along the event it, and also allows you to pause feeds if you would like. Right now since this is a somewhat new creation the events you can view are limited but the ones that are listed on the side bar of the website you can click on and view. This is a very new and unique way to follow events that you are interested in, and that you cannot attend. This form of interaction is different then facebook in the sense that on Almostat, people are actually attending these events and offer you images, tweets, and posts. On Facebook most people use this to just keep themselves updated on what friends and family are doing.

Facebook like I just mentioned above is more of a way for people to keep themselves updated on what friends and family are doing. This can be through wall posts, pictures, videos, and comments. Facebook users have friends on their page with whom they can interact with like pages and groups, see other peoples likes and interests and stay in contact with people whom they might not be in close relations with. Mostly everyone uses facebook, but everyone uses it for there own personal reasons. It is a great way to stay connected with friends and family and that is what most people use it for.

I think that these two tools are both used in completely different ways. Almostat is more for people interested in a specific event they are unable to attend, or are just interested in, while facebook is for users that want to view friends and family’s walls, pictures, and updates. Both of these tools are great for communication and depending on the person either one of these tools can be used for different purposes.

Yammer.com

Yammer is a new social networking site that combines the capabilities and usage of Facebook and LinkedIn. It is revolutionizing the world of internal corporate communication by allowing all of a company's employees (from the CEO to the Entry Level Employees) to communicate easily and efficiently inside a safe, secure, private network. It connects remote workers, eliminates some needs for quick meetings or briefings and gives all employees access to enterprise tools.

In able to access a company’s network you must have a company email address. This eliminates the general public and main competitors from hacking or simply making a profile just to see what your company is up to. You can microblog (chat, post, and share content), create and join private or public groups to collaborate in smaller teams, upload documents, use yammer to connect with coworkers in other departments, increase control with administrative tools, tag content and messages to make your work easier to organize and discover, install third party applications, use a cloud to message privately and create external networks with partners. You can even upload and fill in a contact card of your expertise and past work experiences (especially for larger corporations), increase your company's knowledge base by archiving every conversation and be able to search for content, and access all of these tools via your smartphone.

According to the Boyd-Ellison article on Social Network History, in September 2005 Facebook expanded from closed networks such as Harvard only, and professionals inside corporate networks (BE 2008). Open signup still meant that closed corporate networks still required an appropriate .com address to gain access. Facebook developers also started to use and build “Applications” to personal profiles and perform other tasks. Yammer uses these approacheswith its own site and focuses not on applications such as games, but on applications and tools for companies and enterprises to study their analytics and send important documents over a secure network.

Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe (2007) suggest that Facebook is used to maintain existing offline relationships or solidify offline connections, as opposed to meeting new people (BE 2008). I think that Yammer.com does this very well and that it is crucial to bridge these gaps in the workplace. For example, for people that work in different departments, you can see someone every day, know their name and department, but not really know what they’re about personally. With yammer.com you can feel more comfortable adding that person and talking with them online and potentially creating a base relationship to later work and collaborate on projects. Having a relationship even a small one will make it more comfortable in the future to interact on both parts and increase productivity.

All of these tools allow you to access a wide variety of information all in one place for your company. Barring an internet connection and a profile your options are limitless. Yammer.com gives users many attributes to make their choice easier. The information about the audience is simply just having your company registered and a valid email address that corresponds so you can make a profile and log on. To communicate effectively you need a reliable internet connection either from a computer or a mobile phone. Some time constraints that might interfere with some of the tools and services are, employees not being online at the same time, interrupted internet connection/poor connectivity, and time differences in networks that have employees in different parts of the country or world. Purposes of this communication tool are to communicate efficiently and effectively in one place that enables you to share and view content enterprise wide.

References

Danah M. Boyd, Nicole B. Ellison. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13. 2008. https://blackboard.albany.edu/bbcswebdav/courses/2119-ACOM-375-9281/boyd-ellison%20social%20network%20history.pdf

Skype

The tool hat I decided to analyze is Skype. Skype bridges the gap of distance with friends and family. You could add the Skype app on anything that have Internet, I have Skype on my phone, ipod and laptop. It is very useful for on the go communication except it is better than just picking up the phone and talking because you get to see who you want to reach. The only downfalls to Skype is that if one of the users does not have good Internet signal the video call may get interrupted.I became a part of the Skype world this Summer and it has been very beneficial. As long as you have Internet you could communicate with your friends around the world with no charge! During my Euro Trip this Summer, the best way to communicate with my parents was through Skype. Having to buy calling cards in a country where you do not even speak the language is difficult, that is why Skype helped speaking to my parents simple. My parents like any other were worried that I was in a different country therefore the fact that were able to see my face on Skype was a relief and made them feel that I was closer to me than they actually were.

Skype is a form of communication that is utilized when you are apart. With Skype you could use text, voice and video. Skype makes it simple for you to share life experiences with people that matter to you.With Skype you could learn a language, hold a meeting,work together.You could use Skype on your phone, computer and TV. With Skype it is easy to find friends. It is also easy to download Skype they also have cheaper prices than a calling card to make phone calls. Skype offers various ways to connect with others; skype to skype, skype to go number, conference calls, online number, video calling, group video calling, screen sharing text messaging, facebook, instant messaging, send files etc. Basically Skype provides a well rounded computer mediated communication.

According to the article by Anabel Quan-Haase, Universty Students, local and distant social ties found that friends were the most important communication partners in a students life. Most of these students used instant messaging as a form of communication and because of high cost cell phone and texting were used less. This is where Skype comes in because you could communicate with someone for free as long as you have Internet and their are many locations that have free wifi. This will help bridge the gap with communicating with those because it is too expense or because they are too far.

I would diasgree with the article of Exploring the Potentials of Computer-mediated Communication, stating that “computer-mediated communication alters the social norms governing conversation by removing elements of emotion and social control.” In form of video calling its not removing emotion if anything it enhances more emotions since although you may not be able to be there for instance for the birth of your grandchild, with a video you will still be able to watch and maintain that same connection. Overall, Skype is a way of “Social networking” you can add friends and call them through video or text. But with Skype you will not know whose friends with who or who you have been chatting with so it keeps it private.

BeamYourScreen

In today's world, companies and businesses are constantly expanding their networks across the globe. Most of these expanding companies have numerous offices located in different countries, which can cause a negative effect on effective communication throughout the company. Using basic types of communication( telephone and email) does not always provide quality information transfer throughout the companies because of several barriers like; time differences, language boundaries, and cultural differences. In order for these companies to overcome these common barriers, companies are turning to new technology systems to stay connected and up to date with information. One the the newest and emerging technologies that has helped to provide effective communication across the globe is known as BeamYourScreen.

BeamYourScreen is a free website that allows for companies and small businesses to conduct online meetings and desktop sharing. Allowing for companies to communicate freely despite the territorial boundaries, can create many affordances to both the companies and their employees. Some affordances of BeamYourScreen include; use anytime or anywhere in the world, user-friendly interface, high interactivity, and time saving information transfer.

The first benefit to using BeamYourScreen is being able to have constant contact with other offices and employees around the world. People can access the website anytime without having to fly to another country in order to conduct a meeting. For example, on the same day an employee located in Los Angeles, California can attend a meeting that is being conducted in Tokyo, Japan. Being able to send and receive real-time information from across the globe allows for companies to process information at an exceptionally faster speed.

The second benefit to companies is the user-friendly interface that is associated with the program. BeamYourScreen is a public website that everyone can access from any computer or smart phone. The program is set up so there is no installation or configuration involved for the user. The website also offers instructions and help for using the website and program for problems accessing any of the features. BeamYourScreen is developed to be easy to use, so people with limited computer skills can still use the program without any hassle. Here is a picture of how BeamYourScreen actually works:


Above picture: The initial user (organizer) first starts a session from the website and obtains a 9-digit access code. This 9-digit access code is then forwarded to all of the participants. Once the participants receive the 9-digit code, they are able to connect to the organizer and they can begin their online meeting and desktop sharing.

Another affordance to using this new technology involves the high levels on interactivity between users. With this program, companies are able to communicate freely and respond to one another instantaneously . The users can add their opinion to the presentation and frequently give feedback to one another. Some examples of the high interactivity features of BeamYourScreen include; allowing for users to use a whiteboard to show others their ideas, live chat, file transfer from computer to computer and multiple language settings. Whether the participants are interacting over video, audio, live chat, or just simply sharing different files, they are constantly in contact with one another.

The final benefit to using a technology program like BeamYourScreen is the time saving information transfer. Companies can now log onto the computer and conduct meetings all around the world, instead of taking a 12 hour flight and spending high amounts on travel expenses. With real-time meetings, companies and employees are sending and receiving the information that they need from the other offices. Whether the other offices are located 5 states away or 5 time zones away, companies are able use BeamYourScreen to effectively communicate specific information.

BeamYourScreen is just one example of the new advanced technology that is being offered to companies and businesses to manage and maintain offices around the world. The many benefits and affordances help these companies to maintain open communication 24/7 to all of their offices, employees and customers. It is evident that this type of information and communication transfer provides people with the necessary tools to stay on track and up to date with new information.

References:
http://www.BeamYourScreen.com