Wetoku

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Launched in early 2009, Wetoku is a tool that allows users to create video interviews and instantly post these to a website or blog via embed code or link. The interviewer and interviewee no longer have to be in the same location, with Wetoku they can be thousands of miles away. Each participant sees the other person via webcam, and the final video places the video for both participants side-by-side. Wetoku also eliminates the need for any other video conference software to record interviews and uploads the video directly on to a video sharing site.Wetoku also allows the interviewer interviewee to hold a simultaneous text chat. The text chat area is not recorded; it is just for the private sharing of information among participants.

I had the opportunity to test the tool with David Lee, one of the founders of Wetoku. David upgraded my account so the video was upgraded so there is no pixelation on the video. Seeing David on the screen side by side to my video made me feel I was in the same room with him and setting the interview in Wetoku was a breeze. Once the room is setup, the interviewer receives a unique url, the interviewee uses this url to access to the "room," no login required. media type="custom" key="4274971"

Wetoku is still in closed Beta but I requested it via their website and received a code within a few days. As with any beta application there are still some bugs that need to be ironed out. The video and audio quality need to improve, the video is on the free edition is pixilated and the audio sometimes comes through with static but considering that Wetoku was launched only a few months back it is a powerful application!

=**Possible educational uses for Wetoku**=


 * **Oral History Project** - Wetoku would be a great tool to integrate [|oral history] in the social sciences curriculum. A student could use the tool to interview a family member about their heritage and family history. Something similar but at a larger scale has been done by [|StoryCorps]
 * **Research** - The internet opens the doors to experts in the field to all of us. A student could interview an expert on the field such as a teacher to explore meaning of concepts which are best illustrated with video and audio

=Shortcomings= Wetoku is lacking important functionality such as the ability to pause the interview. Once you start recording the interview you can stop it but you would need to start recording from scratch. Another feature I believe needs to be implemented is the capability of editing the video. In addition the audio quality. The audio quality is not terrible but you will note in some spots there is a lag time which caused audio overlap and it looks as if David and I were responding to different to different things.

=**Reflection**=

I've always been interested in video journalism and oral history so I was immediatly attracted to Wetoku. It reminded me to StoryCorps, a public service, which promotes the celebration of peoples lives by allowing people that care for eachother to record conversations about what they care about, family, history, key events in one's life, etc. Unlike StoryCorps, Wetoku enables both interviewer and interviewee to record these conversations in video and from a distance. Users do not need to wait until they get together to record their experiences and impressions.

Approaching this poject from an educational perspective encouraged me to think differently. I looked at many Web 2.0 tools before settling on Wetoku. Not used to thinking as an educator, I was approaching the project from the corporate perspective. I was reviewing tools based on my needs as a media producer rather than as a teacher. It wasn't until I forced on my teacher hat that I selected this tool. I had to force myself to think as middle school teacher and asked myself how I could use this tool if I were a teaching in a school. I though of possible projects that could be assigned to middle school students and tools that would be accessible to these kids. Wetoku seemed a good fit for this age group for its ease of use. As I mentioned before no software needs to be installed to use it and only the person leading the interview needs to login. All the interviewee needs to join is follow the link provided by the interviewer.

Using Wetoku as a tool for oral history projects can stress in a young student that all of us learn from eachother. An activity like this can encourage a healthy curiousity for others from an early age.

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