Collaboration @ Wake

…obviously yields many useful meeting functions. However, there’s one in particular I’d like to point out today. It seems to provide a possible workaround to the iPad’s issue with flash video . In a recent WebEx “jam” session (jamming-you know, just playing around) with a coworker, I demonstrated desktop sharing. I opened my web browser, went to nytimes.com just for kicks, and began to show how the actions on my screen displayed simultaneously on his (the meeting participant’s) screen. At the time, we were just using our laptops, so I played a news story video, not thinking much of it. Of course, it played just fine through desktop sharing.

Later on during our jam time, my coworker joined the WebEx meeting using his iPad in hopes of simulating a distance student. For instance, a student-athlete could partake in class on the bus via an iPad.I shared my desktop, opened my web browser, and went to the same news site. I then played the same news story video. And guess what? It played on the iPad. Chew on that, Apple.

[Additional note--Audio via desktop sharing does not playback for meeting participants. If it did, you would not be able to converse. So essentially, anyone watching a video on a shared desktop cannot hear it. But hey, that's better than not being able to watch at all! Also, we discovered that sharing your web browser within the meeting center, as opposed to desktop sharing, increases the speed of the video playback on the iPad.]