Live Webcasting - Watch Your Favorite Event As It Occurs

Following the example set by TV live shows, live webcasting is being used by different kind of providers as a mean to give their clients some way to interact with them. For example, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a company may want to announce the fiscal year results to all the employees and after that, responds questions from the audience.
Live webcast television is another case, in which non mainstream programming can have access to the public. In the last years, live TV webcast has given the opportunity to hundreds of communicators to access their niche markets without suffering the high costs of traditional television. Imagine! If you have a beach house, you can even make a live home webcast and show the world what a magnificent view you have.

How Does It Work?

Actually, it's quite simple. You only need a computer and your internet connection. Find a webpage with interesting programming, make a few clicks with your mouse and that's it. You will be watching your chosen program in no time.

Is It Different From Demand Webcasting?

Yes. The big difference with demand webcasting is that a free live webcast is following a prearranged schedule. That means that the viewer or listener knew, in advance, that that determined program was going to be "aired" in the Internet. In the case of on demand webcasting, the user chooses when to watch a prerecorded webcast from a series of options.

Can Live Webcasts Be Useful For Distance Education?

It depends. The main benefit of education is the capacity of the student to interact with the teacher and the rest of his fellow students. If the webcast is going to be used as a means to maintain occupied a group of children under the excuse of education, it will not accomplish its goal. Students will loose interest and will fall asleep or start thinking about something else.

But, if the student is going to be able to make questions to the teacher, then a webcast can be very useful for him. The only problem with this it is that the students require an internet connection with a high bandwidth, most probably a direct connection with a satellite. Considering the meager resources available at the rural areas of the world, this is very unlikely.

Some people propose a mixed formula, in which the webcast is shown to the students but the class is directed by a physical teacher. That could work, especially with new information and discoveries the local teacher wouldn't have access either.