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Optcom Internet radio useful for continuing education
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In mid-April, a totally new concept in optometric telecommunications was born. The first Internet "radio" broadcast was held with myself as the host and a small collection of optometrists from the United States, Canada and Australia in attendance. Optcom Internet radio was the culmination of much research and work. The result was better than expected and promises to be a productive platform for a variety of programming, including "talk shows" and continuing education.
What is Internet radio?
The term "radio" is really a misnomer. There is no true radio involved in Optcom Internet radio broadcasts. It really consists of the Internet broadcast of audio being encoded on-site in South Carolina, transmitted via a standard TCP/IP connection to a RealAudio server almost 1,000 miles away and then downloaded using streaming audio to listeners as far away as Australia and Israel. The amazing thing is that it works!
That's the short version. The long version is a bit more complicated. At 11 p.m. eastern time on the first and third Thursday of each month, I fire up a custom-built computer that resides in my home in Myrtle Beach, S.C. I connect to the Internet using my local Internet service provider (ISP). Once connected, I open up a number of different applications.
The first application listens to whatever audio source I tell it to pay attention to. Through a mixer board, I can direct the output of one or more microphones, a cassette deck, a CD player, incoming telephone calls on one or more of four lines, .WAV audio files from the computer or other sound sources.
A radio-station "talk-show" system with headphones, boom mike, inbound phone switching system and the mixer board integrate with software that ultimately determines what sound is encoded in the popular RealAudio format. The encoded audio stream is then transmitted to a commercial RealAudio broad cast server. Users can connect to the audio stream with their web browsers using simple URL addresses I provide.
What's required on the user end?
So just how do optometrists tune in for these broadcasts? All you need is a valid Internet account, a quality web browser and a streaming audio player.
While you can tune into these broadcasts using America Online as your ISP, you are not likely to have good results. You will probably have an excess of audio interruptions and broken sound.
I strongly recommend using a traditional dial-up account, such as Mindspring, AT&T or one of the myriad local providers. You must have at least a 28.8 kbps modem and connection running to take advantage of the audio stream. Modems running at 14.4 kbps are not sufficient. Connections faster than 28.8 are great!
Once you have a clean connection to the Internet, you must have a quality web browser. In my opinion, that means Netscape 3.0 or later or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.02 or later. If you try to use America Online, make sure to have the Windows 95 version of AOL running, and do not use the version of Internet Explorer that America Online recommends downloading from its service. Instead, visit Microsoft's web site at www.microsoft.com/ie and download Internet Explorer 3.02. You will have much better luck running this version.
Lastly, you will need a streaming audio player; RealPlayer 5.0 is required. RealPlayer can be downloaded from the Real web site at www.real.com. When you log onto the site, look for a button at the top of the page that says "downloads." You will find two versions of Real Player 5.0 available there. The first is a registered version that requires a small registration fee. The other is a free version. Download that one. It works just fine. If you find later that you have become an Internet radio junky, you might want the more advanced version, but you certainly do not have to use it to take advantage of Optcom Internet radio.
The biggest problem that optometrists routinely run into is that they really do not know how to download and install software. This is a stumbling block that prevents literally thousands of ODs from progressing very far in their Internet activities.
Downloading a plug-in or ActiveX control is not that difficult. All you have to do is find what you are looking for - in this case the RealPlayer 5.0 add-on file - then click on the button that triggers the download. The hard part is that most ODs do not know where the file is going.
At the time you start a download, Windows will always give you a dialog box where you can specify a destination for the file. Make sure you look at the destination folder (for example: c:\ aol30\ download) and note the file name, as well. Once the download is complete, you will need to find the file.
To find the file, simply perform a right mouse button click on the Windows 95 "start" button and select "explore." This will start the Windows Explorer application that allows you to browse all the drives and folders on your computer. Use the tree structure found here to locate the downloaded file.
If you do not feel comfortable doing this, check out the online help file or have a friend show you how. All Windows 95 textbooks also spend a lot of time teaching how to use this important utility. Beware: you can cause a tremendous amount of damage to your operating system and applications if you do not know what you are doing here.
Once you find the downloaded file, you will notice that it most likely ends in an .EXE extension. Just double-click on this file to start the installation routine, then follow the instructions. If the file ends in .ZIP, you will have to use WinZip or other decompression utility to open the file.
Again, if this sounds foreign to you, consult a friend or local computer guru. I made the above description of the download and installation routine rather generic for a specific reason. The steps you take are identical regardless of what add-on, plug-in or ActiveX control you are trying to add to your system.
Simultaneous chat room
During the broadcast, there are several ways in which listeners can become a part of the action. Callers are welcome. A lot of time, research and money were spent building a true call-in system that can deliver a quality signal to the audio encoder. The phone system is the same as used by radio stations for call-in shows. This allows callers as well as guest speakers and host to interact while doctors listen.
It is also possible to submit questions in real-time via e-mail. During the shows, I monitor two separate e-mail accounts. This makes it particularly easy to get your comments and questions on the air.
Up to 50 sign on
Last, but certainly not least, up to 50 listeners can be logged into the Optcom Meeting Street chat room at the same time the broadcast is taking place. Most computers can easily handle the load of running the Meeting Street chat room software at the same time the audio stream is playing. Having both up and running simultaneously is an experience you do not want to miss. You can send questions to the host and guest speakers. You can also see who else is listening and carry on text-based conversations with them as the show proceeds.
The two venues - chat and radio show - make for a very quick exchange. During recent shows, we have had doctors from the United States, Canada, Australia and Israel listening in as well as participating in the chat room during the broadcast. It all adds up to great fun!
Optcom Internet radio currently follows a "talk-show" format. Other formats are being developed, including live continuing education combining streaming audio, the chat room, e-mail, phone-in callers and clinical graphics made available in the chat room. The technology has been mastered; now it is just a matter of developing the content.
Imagine sitting in your house or office listening to Paul Ajamian lecture on anterior segment disease while you pull up photos on your web browser. Doctors around the world are commenting and asking questions in the Meeting Street chat room, while others call in on the toll-free lines to talk directly with Dr. Ajamian to clarify certain points and concepts.
Sound good? It should. I hope you will join us as these broadcasts expand. You can find out more by visiting www.optcom3.com/radio.html.
For Your Information:
- Walter A. Mayo, OD, is founder of the Optometric Computing home page (http://www.webcom.com/~optcom/) and a charter member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Primary Care Optometry News. He can be reached at Coastal Eye Group, 400 Marina Drive., P.O. Drawer L, Georgetown, SC 29442; (803) 546-8421; fax: (803) 546-1173; e-mail: waltmayo@aol.com.