Voice options for classes and meetings in OpenSim

Voice options for classes and meetings in OpenSim

OpenSim has not yet managed to duplicate the voice connection capabilities of Second Life.  A complete replication of those capabilities may not be needed for use in classes and meetings.  Here I will review some options prospects that may meet the needs in these cases.

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Lecture, talking heads.

 Not my favorite form of  instruction or information, but this method is widely used in academia and in Second Life.  Generally this method does not use Second Life voice but rather uses streaming audio or video.  The system is like a webcast in which your local computer becomes your broadcasting facility.  You give it the audio (and video, if you choose).  Your computer sends the encoded signal via the internet to a host server which is capable of serving the bit stream to multiple listeners.  An academic computer center may be capable handling the entire process and of guiding you through the tasks you need to do.  

This method provides no way for the listeners to ask questions or give comment.  In Second Life or OpenSim use, however, listeners use the local chat for that purpose.  Speakers regularly read the local chat and respond to questions typed there. Various methods are used to help the speaker or an assistant to identify questions that call for a response from the speaker.

Group Discussion, 2-way communication

TeamSpeak  may be an adequate replacement for Inworld voice communication where all participants are part of an existing group, particularly if the group will continue over time.  TeamSpeak is free for non-profits and low-cost for anyone.   It is independent of any particular grid, meaning:

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• Listeners have to log on TeamSpeak as a separate action.
• The cues given in Second Life to identify the speaker are not available in TeamSpeak.
• The TeamSpeak connection persists across all changes in grid connection and can even be used without a grid connection.

 I used TeamSpeak in Second Life before they introduced inworld voice.  It was quite satisfactory for an established group in which everybody had installed the software and logon credentials.  For incidental encounters it was too cumbersome to be of use. 

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Voice methods possibly available in OpenSim (some grids)

Freeswitch Module - OpenSim: 

"The FreeSWITCH module enables voice in OpenSim with no changes required to the Linden Labs Second Life viewer (must be between 1.22 and 1.23.5 - 2.x viewers do not work at present), Hippo viewer (0.5 or after), and perhaps others using SLvoice.exe module.”

FreeSWITCH is currently available.  I have informal reports from my friends indicating problems in getting it to work.  I would not be inclined to plan on using it with a group of students at this time.

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“Coming Soon”

Whisper – New Voice Solution for OpenSim – Hypergrid Business:

"Today, vComm Solutions of Switzerland released Whisper, a high quality voice solution for OpenSim based on the popular Mumble open source VoIP client. The key feature of this solution is that it enables avatar lip sync and speaker indication to work correctly, in addition to providing very stable, high quality voice.

Futureware.  So evaluation is in the future too  It sounds promising,  But promising means it is not delivered yet.

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