Chris Betcher recently blogged about another new Adobe tool- Buzzword– an online word processor written in Flash. Very cool. The features that I particularly like are that you can upload a Word document and it looks just like it does in Word. You can create documents in Buzzword and export as a pdf or a Word document onto your desktop. Ideal for those without the $$$ to spend on Microsoft products. You can insert tables and graphics and do all the usuals that a normal person would want a desktop publisher to do.
Then you can share that document with others just as you might do in Google Docs. But here’s the really cool thing you can do as well. On the far right hand side of the screen you can see the icon- MEET. Thought I would give it a try and find out who I might meet.
Turns out it takes you to Adobe ConnectNow- through which I can share my desktop with others. OK this looks fun but I need someone to share with. Enter Skype and Twitter. Raewyn from school was on Skype and I sent out a general Tweet asking if anyone wanted a little playtime! Colin Warren a educational tertiary level blogger from from Geelong, Australia, answered my call. Together we played and found out pretty much how to work the screen sharing application by talking about it with Skype and sharing the iSite video. The screen capture is of how it looked from my end as Colin opened up his desktop for us to look at. Through this medium we shared photos and movies directly from my desktop.
I liked the interface and it all worked smoothly after we had played about for a bit trying to get the sound working. We nearly had to resort to using the HELP tab but resisted the temptation.
It is great to have a PLN that is so wiling to try new things and learn with each other across the globe.
Greetings from Adobe, and thanks for the good review of Buzzword and ConnectNow! I just wanted to point out that you can also use ConectNow for your voice conversations, as well as video. Skype and iSite are great apps, but you don’t actually need them when using a ConnectNow room.
It was great that we could ‘have a play’ (read: Do some learning) Allanah.
The application did seem to work well and had enough functionality to be a very useful collaborative tool. To answer Tad, we did work out the video and audio but the interface (control panels and menu functions) was different for each user depending if you were sharing your desktop or looking at someone’s desktop. I found the white/greyed out section of the screen I saw looking at Allanah’s desktop distracting (which was Allanah’s menu palette). I also found that when I shared my desktop Allanah could see what was underneath my ‘Adobe ConnectNow’ screen and I wasn’t aware of this. Just a couple of minor things to keep in mind. The speed of the application was OK and the text chat was useful – can this be saved?
Anyway, it was fun to discover something new and as Allanah says, our PLN can extend to where we least expect it. So, ‘be prepared’ to have a go at something new…
Just discovered ConnectNow and it looks very slick and easy to use. Had problems with file uploading and my microphone> need to test in school to see if it gets through the firewall. If it does, could be a great app once the issues are sorted.