Web Conference Reflection

I attended the web conference on July 21, 2011.  This was my first ever attempt at using a web camera.  The web conference was an interesting activity.  At first, I could not access the website.  I was frantically trying to get into the site before 8:00.  Whenever I clicked on the link, it said the meeting has ended.  Frustrated, I grabbed my sister-in-law’s computer and typed in the website and immediately gained access to Cohort 22.  Then I realized that the link I clicked on sent me to Cohort 21’s conference site.  After I was able to access the site, I had audio, but no video.  I asked if my video was working and suddenly, there was a button that said share video.  I clicked on it and everyone could see me.  I am not sure if the professor had a feature that allowed me to have access to that button or if it was merely coincidence.  After a short while, my connection timed out and I lost access to broadcasting audio and video.  Many people in the class also had trouble with connection and audio.  There was an eerie echo during the begging of the conference and the professor’s own internet cut out twice.  This is I believe the biggest limitation to technology.  When it works, great and amazing things happen.  When technology doesn’t do exactly what you want it to (like during the web conference) it can be frustrating and burdensome.