Flashmeeting seems to be all the rage lately among some of the folks in my learning network. I agree, it’s a great service that I’ve had the pleasure to see in practice. It works well, and provides a free solution that works nicely.
I seem to recall having had a “booker” account that doesn’t work any more. I emailed Kevin and in his response was this paragraph. I am posting it because the information is also found on their website if you dig a bit, so I’m not violating any personal ethics.
Flashmeeting accounts on our server at the Open University are used for research purposes. Within this context all the accounts we host on our server have to fit within our research agenda with regard to use etc. and all activity (i.e. including video and audio) on the server is recorded for potential use in research publications etc.
Which makes me wonder what I’ve said will turn up in a research journal. Grant you, I may not make my display name my actual name, but there is still a clear record of it being me that said whatever was said.
Not sure I am actually concerned, but I did feel this was an interesting point to bring up, for those of us concerned with privacy.
I had to go through a rigorous process to get permission to use data from human subjects (surveys, interviews, usability tests) for my M.Ed. major project. Individuals had to sign consent forms for each of these.
What sort of consent process does Flashmeeting have (considering it is a university)?
Also during a Flashmeeting what prevents students from inviting anyone into the mtg? It’s not a perfect science…yet