Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Cool Tools Episode 30 Podcast: Dimdim

The mission of Dimdim is “to become the leading provider of open source web meeting software.” With this cool tool you can meet with others online to show pdfs and slide presentations, use chat and audio to discuss, share your desktop, broadcast on a web cam, and collaborate on a whiteboard. It is lightweight with no download required for attendees. It is cross platform with Mac, Windows, and Linux and is quite easy to set up and use for both presenter and participants. How can libraries and other organizations make use of this tool? I offer some ideas in this podcast. For those of you out there who are looking to replace spending gas money and travel time with the convenience of meeting from your home or office, give Dimdim a try, and … meet freely.


6 comments:

Kevin Micalizzi said...

Kathy, thanks for the podcast about Dimdim. Agreed not everyone loves meetings, but we all need to attend them attend them.

-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing / www.dimdim.com
e: kevin@dimdim.com / twitter: @meetdimdim

David Gross said...

Nice job, Kathy. Yet another tool I did not know about, but it sounds very promising.

Jeffra Diane said...

Kathy, how do you think it differs from Elluminate? (And your voice is very easy to listen to.)

Unknown said...

Hi Kevin,
Thanks for taking the time to listen to my podcast. I think Dimdim is not only a great web conferencing tool, but a useful time management tool as well. It will improve the lives of many meeting goers who need to attend them and attend them and attend them.
-Kathy

Unknown said...

Hi Jeffra,
Well Dimdim is free for up to 20 people for one thing. In Ellum you get 3 for free. Also there's nothing to download with Dimdim (with one small exception. If you want to share your desktop, you have to download a plugin). Ellum allows many people to be Moderators at one time. Only one person can be presenting at a time in Dimdim. And only the host can stream on the web cam. Everyone can stream video from their web cams in Ellum. Those are the differences I can think of right now.
-Kathy

Unknown said...

One other thing ... with Dimdim you don't need to be a Moderator to host a meeting. Anyone can set up a meeting, and it can be done on-the-fly.
-Kathy