So I have a co-admin customizing “All You Need To Know But Are Too Shy To Ask”. While addressing the IM area we have encountered some challenges. In a Private Chat we wanted to use microphones but not cameras. Is that possible? We could not make it work. I have read the Live Chat Instructions again and we will try again today unless I get the word it is not possible. I think we did everything the instructions said on our last attempt.

In our experimenting I left the private chat and struggled to get back in until I noticed it was in a new window. Then we decided to both leave the chat and start a new one, with the other person starting the chat, but we ended up back in the same one from before. Is that a feature or a bug?

I really want to get these navigation instructions out to my classmates. I do not think many of them are using the IM function much.

Hi Joan:

Private Chat (IM) does not use microphones or webcams. If you leave a private chat (IM), and restart one with the same person, you will be back in the same two-way connection you both left.

In Live Chat, you can use a webcam which also allows use of a microphone IF the webcam is operating. People in the Live Chat can only hear the audio if they have clicked on the "View Webcam" button next to the name of the person who is speaking in the list of members in the Live Chat. (This means that those in the Live Chat can not hear more than one person speaking -- only the person whose webcam button they have clicked.)

It's not possible to use audio only in the Live Chat.

If you click on a link that someone in the Live chat has posted, it will REPLACE the Live Chat UNLESS you RIGHT-Click on the link and choose "Open in New Window".

After viewing the new window, you can close it, but you may then need to use the list of open windows at the bottom of your browser to return to the Live Chat window.

One other feature with Live Chat is that those joining get to review a few minutes of previous exchanges when they join.

You are supposed to be able to review all the exchanges of messages back through the time you joined the Live Chat, but I'm not certain that is true.

If you leave the Chat and rejoin it, I do know that you can't see all the previous posts.

Hope that helps.

P.S. What the heck are we both doing up at this hour of the morning?

I'm relying on the old (non-)handyman's saw... "If it can't be fixed with either a hammer or duct tape, it's beyond repair."

Why not just put a piece of masking tape, duct tape, band-aid or similar over the web-cam eye?

Jim

I don't have a webcam, John -- just a microphone, and I've joined your Monday evening Live Chats with no problem. I believe that I was able, once, to see someone on the video part, but I don't think that any of us spoke. We used it only as a "chat room." Point I'm making, though, is that I was able to be a part of the Live Chat -- and read every post -- without a webcam.

Jerome (Jerry) Liebowitz wrote:

Sorry I wasn't clear. You don't need a webcam to see the webcam feed of someone else or to hear the webcam/mic feed of someone else.

(Your mic won't work if you don't have a webcam -- but you can hear the one person who is providing video/audio through their webcam and mic.)

And neither webcam nor mic is required to read the text posts by all the participants.

Thanks Jim & Jerry.

We have monthly chats and although several of us use the webcam, we have determined that we often appeared rude when speaking as people (depending on who they were watching) could not hear both people talking so conversation got weird. The camera people type and rarely speak.

Now my experience has been that in IM if you open to private chat, that all amenities of the live chat room are available, including video. Correct me, someone, if I am wrong. I am sure I have done video one on one in private chat launched from IM.

As for the original post, I don't know.

Margaret

You are right, Margaret...

IM itself doesn't have a way to share video, pictures or webcams. In my first response, I referred to IM as a "Private Chat", but they are different.

But if, while you are in an IM, you INVITE the person to a "Private Chat" it does open up the features of Live Chat including sharing pictures, videos or webcam video and audio to one another.

Maybe a CC Team member can confirm that launching a "Private Chat" actually loads the Live Chat system -- or can tell us if there is some difference involved?

For example, can you invite a third person to the Private Chat? Is there any way that a third person can follow the audio from two other people simultaneously?

Launching a Private Chat launches the same Live Chat interface, but the difference is the only people who can join are the people YOU personally invite. So the chat really is private. You want to open a Private Chat whenever you wish to share photos, videos, or webcam feeds with 1 or more parties. Once you have started a Private Chat you can invite any number of additional participants to the Private Chat. Note that ONLY the person who started the Private Chat has control over inviting additional parties.

Inside the chat you can tune into any webcam/audio feed, but only 1 at a time. So while Brad and John can both listen to Margaret at the same time, Margaret can hear only the person she's monitoring. So Margaret might be listening to John, while both Brad and John are listening to Margaret. As Flash or HTML5 get more advanced we'll likely be able to create a feature where everybody can hear everybody else all at the same time. Echo cancellation and other things not yet supported by Flash are involved here though, so we're more or less waiting on third parties to make more abilities possible.

Thanks, Brad. I knew that if more were technically possible, CC would have done it. Just more to look forward too!

Margaret