October 2008

Question: Which two five-letter words have been going steady on national TV?

Answer: Oprah and Skype.

Back in March, Oprah Winfrey started using Skype on her hugely popular show. I wrote about it when I started on this blog.

The Queen of American TV used Skype to good effect.

And this season she has come back for more. During the past seven weeks, a total of 65 Skype video calls have been made on 28 out of 35 episodes on Oprah.

During an online video segment, Winfrey said of Skype: "This season you've seen it all over the Oprah show. Viewers are sitting down in front of their computers and dialing in."

She added: "I always wanted to know what people are home were doing. Now I know. "

In a special advertising section at Oprah.com, she urges her viewers to follow the simple steps to download Skype and get started, even adding a webcam so they can call and join the show.

She said: "If I can do it, you can...I love just talking with people wherever they are."

After more than a month of trying, negotiating with people in Afghanistan and the United States, I finally was able to talk with Rihana on Skype.

First we exchanged instant messages to ensure we were ready.

We were a world apart, but her voice came through loud and clear.

It was 3:30 a.m. in Chicago, where I am, and 1 p.m. in Kabul, where Rihana is on the faculty at Kabul University.

Twice a week, Rihana works on her English with a Canadian teacher based in Korea. It's part of the "Armchair English" program from the U.S.-based Alliance for International Women's Rights, a U.S. non-profit organization aimed at supporting women leaders and future women leaders in developing countries focusing initially on Central Asia.

Rihana says that she wants to learn English to update the material she uses in teaching. The problem is that most of the books used in her work are horribly outdated, going back 20 to 30 years. She wants to sharpen her knowledge so she can do the best she can for her students.

Rihana said she had some experience with computers, but Skype was a new experience and opportunity for her. She said with the help of her English teacher and a computer trainer she caught on to Skype quickly. She said she appreciates the ability to reach out to her teacher, "a kind and intelligent woman who wants to help me."

Things are tough in war-torn Afghanistan. But it's one thing to watch the war on TV or to read about it in the press. It's quite another to live there. I was asked to withhold Rihana's real name and her field to prevent her from being harmed.

One of her colleagues explained to me why we had to be so careful: "People are extremist in this side of the world. They kill ladies for any reason. The mentality of men is just weird. Taliban kill ladies who work and study with foreigners."

I appreciate Rihana's drive to learn and her courage in even speaking with me. Here's to the day, when we can safely speak with Afghan people on Skype.

Posted in Mongolia with her wildlife biologist husband five years ago, attorney Lisa Herb decided to find a way to make herself useful to the women in the Central Asian country.

Herb, who lives in Upstate New York, founded Alliance for International Women's Rights, a U.S. non-profit organisation aimed at supporting women leaders and future women leaders in developing countries with an initial focus on Central Asia.

Based on conversations with the women in the region, Herb concluded that what they wanted and needed--after funding--was lessons in English, the international language.

She explained: "In order to learn what the rest of the world is doing and in order to share their situation and their endeavors, they need to be able to speak English. This is true in Mongolia, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

"They need to speak English to reach out to the international community for funding, for research, for information about what women in other countries are doing about similar problems, for example domestic violence, what legislation exists in other countries. All of that is done in English."

Herb, who works remotely for a Seattle law firm, and her husband Peter Zahler, who works for the Wildlife Conservation Society, were early Skype adopters.

She said: "My husband is all over the world with his work as an international wildlife biologist. He frequently travels and when we're apart, we use Skype for our personal communications to stay in close touch."

She came up with the idea of using Skype to connect the women in Central Asia--initially in Mongolia, then Kazakhstan, and most recently Afghanistan-- in "Armchair Volunteer Programs" to learn English and to connect with colleagues in other countries.

The program has taken off in Afghanistan, where 20 to 35 Afghan women twice a week go on Skype for the Armchair ESL (English as a Second Language) Program to meet with English teachers elsewhere in the world. The program launched there in February 2007.
Classes are one-on-one with Afghan women leaders and future leaders who work with trained ESL teachers. Most teachers are based in the United States.

The Alliance also uses Skype for its Mentor Program, matching talented Afghan professional women with American mentors in their fields. For example, an Afghan woman senator has been matched with a team of American women attorneys for live classes on legal and political terminology, via Skype.

Conditions are tough in Afghanistan. Electricity is not always available to power up computers let alone for the needs of daily life. UNIFEM, a United Nations Development fund for Women, and U.S. Agency for International Development have been partners with the Alliance. The agencies have electrical generators--along with computers and satellite Internet connections to help the program.

Herb said the women have taken easily to Skype after less than two hours of training. For many, this is the first time they have used a computer. "Practicing typing in and of itself is a huge thing and then practicing using the English language on a keyboard is another new skill and stringing it all together to write coherent sentences and paragraphs is yet another."

Teachers use IM as a white board to teach words that are hard to understand and for grammar exercises.

How much English do students learn in three months on Skype?

Herb said: "It's as individual as each woman. Some of the women in our program have just basic English because they have lived in Afghanistan all their lives and during the Taliban years, they couldn't leave their homes, much less have access to education. Their English is quite minimal and they progress depending on how much they study on their own in between classes. Some of them have made very significant progress in the three months because they study so much on their own.

"Others have just basically increased their vocabulary. They feel much more comfortable using the technology and much more comfortable communicating in English, but they still have a very long way to go.

"On the other end of the spectrum, there are many women in Afghanistan who left during the Taliban years and after 2001 they returned and they studied and learned English in other countries. Their level of English is quite advanced."

Back in May, European advocates for Barack Obama made news when they used Skype to call people in the United States to try to persuade them to vote for their candidate.

The idea has spread to the Palestinian territories, according to Associated Press.

Ibrahim Abu Jayab, 24, a non-English-speaking media student from Al-Aqsa Univesity, cold contacted American families at random to ask them to vote for Obama.

In one message, he said:"I'm Ibrahim Abu Jayab from Gaza Strip. I support the Senator Obama from Gaza Strip. I think the Senator Obama achieve the peace in the world and in my area. For the peace, please elect Senator Obama. Thank you very much."

The Pajama Entrepreneur notes that in tough times, entrepreneurs have to be smart about controlling their spending.

He notes: "It seems like only yesterday (for this pajama entrepreneur, mid-2002 to 2004) that we were facing a long period of very few clients or clients who don't pay. The key to surviving is to cut costs by using free online services, cheap mobile calling plans, and a bit of creativity."

His No. 1 pick? It's Skype.

He notes: "I do almost all of my calls on Skype. It's free and convenient."

He has a a top 10 list on other phone tricks, free e-mail and free invoicing.

Retired journalist and motorcycle enthusiast Bruce Hoskin isn't totally new to Skype.

For more than a year, he has used Skype in connection with his podcast interviews. He also used Skype to make local and domestic and international long distance calls.

But he describes in his blog the Tampa Bay Boomer Biker Examiner, how we he was thrown for a loop when he got his first incoming Skype call.

He said: " I didn't recognize the ringtones or understand what was actually happening. But fortunately, the creators of Skype have also programmed an on-screen alert into the software that alerts we subscribers of incoming calls.

"I began excitedly scrambling to answer my first-ever incoming call. And when I did, I heard 'Hello Bruce, Deepak here!'

It wasn't Deepak as in Chopra,

He said it was his buddy Dr. Joseph Deepak Vidmar calling from Bali, Indonesia. They share an interest in motocycles and astrology.

Vidmar, he said, told him he is now offering astrology sessions long distance over Skype.

Hoskin noted: "Now it's easier than ever to develop life-enriching long-distance friendships anywhere on earth - all thanks to the FREE VoIP program - SKYPE!"

I'll have to consult my charts, Maybe a converstaion is in the stars for me with Vidmar.

Over the past year and half, there has been a series of frank discussions about the Middle East between a group of global studies students from York Central High School in York, Pa., USA, and people living in the region.

Just on Friday, the group spoke with an Israeli and a Palestinian about such things as the U.S. presidential race, media coverage of the region and life in their countries.

It all happened under the sponsorship of MideastYouth.com, founded and run by a 22-year-old Bahraini woman, Esra'a Al Shafei. And it was done on Skype audio conferencing.

Continue reading "Skype used to open 'fierce but respectful' discussions about the Mideast" »

I've done a couple books. And there's nothing more gratifying than meeting someone interested in your book face-to-face and discussing the book.

But not everyone who might be interested can make it to a book reading or signing.

In an interesting new wrinkle, Cabot, Ark.-based Variance Publishing and Jeremy Robinson, author of the science thriller, "Antarktos Rising," are holding what they claim to be the first virtual book signing.

It's being done via Skype Video.

Readers are requested to sign up for Skype, buy the book and then schedule for a virtual signing Oct. 22-25.

Ed Gallagher, the blind man who "sees" with the assistance of guides via the Internet and Skype, really wowed them at the TODAY show.

Producer Josh Weiner retells Gallagher's story online.

He notes that Gallagher's system is a "seemingly simple, yet brilliantly clever remote guidance system. Ed mounts a web-camera to a strap around his forehead, and the camera wirelessly transmits the live video over the Internet using free software called Skype. Ed's friends take turns acting as his guide. Both wear microphones and earpieces, and talk back and forth as the guide tells Ed what he's 'seeing.' He's testing the barriers, and regularly uses it to sail, but also tries shopping, cross country skiing and even biking in Golden Gate Park."

A behind-the-scenes view at TODAY show of Jenna Wolfe testing Gallagher's system:

Ed Gallagher may be blind. But he shared his vision for seeing via Skype on NBC's TODAY Show on Monday.

TODAY called the segment: "One man's blind ambition: Doing it all without seeing a thing."

Earlier this year on this blog, Gallagher, 57, told how he uses a Webcam to scan his surroundings, sending Skype Video to a guide over the Net.

As NBC viewers saw, Skype enables Gallagher to ride a bike, ski, shop and to skipper a boat on San Francisco Bay.

With Skype, Gallagher told reporter Jenna Wolfe that it feels as though he has his eyes back. He said the Skype system could help the blind cross streets or to get a job, supplementing the use of guide dogs and canes.

He said that the technology is being tested through about 40 chapters of Rotary international in the Bay Area.

Gallagher appeared at the end of the segment with Wolfe and TODAY host Meredith Vieira. She hardly is a Skype newbie. She's the host of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" which uses Skype in lifeline Video calls to newsmakers, journalists, former "Millionaire" contestants, politicians, doctors, professors and trivia champs, among others.

Gallagher was featured earlier this year in a film, "Ed's Inner Space," made by his friend, filmmaker and sometime guide, Alison Victor.

Victor said: "Skype permits video phone calls via computer, and is free to use between Skype users. So we got this idea to strap a web camera to (Ed's) head, use a wireless internet connection through an Air card and a laptop and BOOM! I can see through the webcam that Ed is wearing, so I literally become his eyes.

"For example, I'd be at home on my laptop, typing, and Ed would call me using Skype. I'd see what he would be seeing if he could see. I have been acting as Ed's 'remote guide' in this way for quite a while now. (As have others)."

TODAY was wowed Gallagher's "blind ambition." Wolfe said if asked if he ever feels sorry for himself Ed says: "Why? I'm just blind. I'm not dead."