Thing #6

2009 Webware 100 winner: Skype http://www.skype.com
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237739-29.html?tag=mncol

Skype is a lot of fun to use. I have been using it all year to talk with my friends in Europe. There are several components to Skype. You can pay for the telephone service or if you have a Web cam, microphone and headphones you can teleconference all over the world via the Web. If you don't have a Web cam you can talk with a mic and a headset. Then you can also Instant Message. If they don't answer you can leave them the message.

It is funny because you have to pay for the phone but you can teleconference for free. I would talk all night with my friends in Europe. For free.

For music purposes, I can talk with my friends in Europe and get lessons from them. If they have a Web cam they can teach me right then and there. I can talk with composers and performers who can demonstrate their talents. As a matter of fact I do this a lot. If I am learning a song and the composer is online I contact them and try to get a Web lesson. I think these tools make the world a little smaller. It is an excellent tool for foreign language students. You can connect two groups of children and they can learn to speak the languages and help each other while learning about the cultures first hand.

I love Skype. I did not like using the Web cam that much because I felt I would be exposed. Sitting up all night in pajamas with my hair in curlers is not a good time to get photographed. Plus it is better to leave things up to the imagination some time. But for the classroom use it would be a great way to connect two classrooms in different places if there was a collaborative learning environment.

My friend could not afford to perform at a concert in Nashville and was upset about it. He had a Web cam and did the show from his studio through Skype.