Google Talk is Turned On!!!

Google Talk - instant messaging within PVLEARNERS is now on.  That means every student and teacher now have the ability to instant message or chat within their PVLEARNERS account.  The tool is accessible right beneath your email account (see picture to right for what Google Talk looks like in web browser - click picture).  So, let the communications begin.

Your Contact List (buddy, friend, etc.) shows who is accessible through Google Talk in the web browser.  You can set certain users up to "Always" show in the web Buddy List, or access new buddies through the interface.  You can have group chats, chats can be archived and pulled up for later use, "go off the record", etc..  The chat client is built right into the web browser, or (see below).

Two very interesting benefits are noted:

First, teachers (or students) can also use the iChat client to connect with PVLEARNERS users who are using the web client, or teachers and students can use iChat configured for a PVLEARNERS account (see picture to left to for a view of this window in iChat - click the picture).  "jbillings1" is another "Billings", not me.....;-)

Open your iChat client up and go to iChat/Preferences, create a new account using your PVLEARNERS account information - "username@pvlearners.net", filling in with pvlearners password and using the server name of "talk.google.com" - notes on configuring iChat in Tiger for Google Talk (pvlearners) is provided at this link.  Leopard OS version of iChat is very similar, but see below picture (click the picture) for example of how you and students would set the account up in Leopard.

So, if you already have your pCHAT (Jabber - pvschools.net) account open to chat with other PV employees, you can also have your PVLEARNERS (GoogleTalk) account open (Window menu and select pvlearners account option)  to be available and chat with students and others on pvlearners - your online status will show up in both pCHAT and PVLEARNERS.  If students are using the iChat application (instead of the browser), then yes, you can have A/V chats as well - cool - all done off the Google servers and PVLEARNERS account structure.  (Note -text chatting works always, and the A/V works from home to home and from school to school, but we haven't quite figured out how to easily translate the IP's from school to home to do A/V......but stay tuned).

Second - Google has released some 26 different "bots" to provide machine translation services through Google Talk - can anyone say World Languages and project REACH?  Connect and try to communicate in real time with someone chatting in a different language, using a translator "bot" open at the same time to translate words from the "live" person chat - see the second picture above of my PVLEARNERS account in iChat for example of "bots" in English to Chinese and vice versa.  Check out this link which explains how to implement language bots in Goggle Talk.  Adding "bots" as a buddy in your PVLEARNERS account is actually very easy - an English to Spanish "bot" would be added as a buddy using the account "en2es@bot.talk.google.com", an English to French would be "en2fr@bot.talk.google.com".  BTW, by adding the "bot" as a buddy in your PVLEARNERS window, you always have these services available for immediate translation.

This stuff is getting absolutely wild!!!  I know machine translation "ain't" perfect (yet), but it sure can help to begin bridging barriers of space, time, culture and language.  Imagine 3 years from now......