talkshoe.com
About TalkShoe
TalkShoe is a Web 2.0 Internet radio/podcasting site that uses a Java chat client in conjunction with a conference call bridge to allow users to host or participate in live on-line talk radio shows called "community calls" or simply a "call" for short. A call can be syndicated and downloaded after the live show ends as a podcast. Community call hosts were paid a monthly fee based on the quantity of listeners their shows received until the abrupt end of the revenue sharing in May 2008.
TalkShoe's name is a play on "talk show," using Ed Sullivan's pronunciation of the word "show" as "shoe."
Calls
All TalkShoe hosts are required to register at the TalkShoe.com site in order to participate, however guests can listen to a show via the web client without registration. Through the registration process, a user chooses a screen name and a 10-digit unique PIN. TalkShoe suggests the registrant use his own phone number for ease of remembering, but registrants with privacy concerns may use any number they wish as long as it has not been taken. The purpose of registration is so that the chat client can display the correct screen name to represent each dialed-in user.
A community call is started by using TalkShoe.com's web-based interface to create and categorize the show. A call may cover any subject matter the host desires, but may not include forbidden content such as pornographic material. The call is assigned an ID number that is used by participants to dial in. The host may then schedule a session of the show and optionally send email or SMS text notifications to invite guests. Once a session is scheduled, the host and callers may dial in up to 15 minutes before the show is scheduled to begin. Callers may connect to a show using the TalkShoe Live! chat client, telephone, or both.
There are two components to a call experience: Chat and Voice. Calls were previously called Talkcasts.All TalkShoe hosts are required to register at the TalkShoe.com site in order to participate, however guests can listen to a show via the web client without registration. Through the registration process, a user chooses a screen name and a 10-digit unique PIN. TalkShoe suggests the registrant use his own phone number for ease of remembering, but registrants with privacy concerns may use any number they wish as long as it has not been taken. The purpose of registration is so that the chat client can display the correct screen name to represent each dialed-in user.
A community call is started by using TalkShoe.com's web-based interface to create and categorize the show. A call may cover any subject matter the host desires, but may not include forbidden content such as pornographic material. The call is assigned an ID number that is used by participants to dial in. The host may then schedule a session of the show and optionally send email or SMS text notifications to invite guests. Once a session is scheduled, the host and callers may dial in up to 15 minutes before the show is scheduled to begin. Callers may connect to a show using the TalkShoe Live! chat client, telephone, or both.
There are two components to a call experience: Chat and Voice. Calls were previously called Talkcasts.
Chat
TalkShoe allows users to use one of two available clients. One is a Java-based chat client called TalkShoe Live! Pro, currently available for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms (though a Linux native version is promised soon). The client requires Java 1.5. The other is a Web-based client known as TalkShoe Live!.
The software allows hosts to start or stop the recording of their podcast, and to mute or unmute the text and/or voice chat ability of callers to the show. It allows callers to listen to the show in streaming audio if they have not phoned in (the stream is automatically muted when the software senses a voice connection from the same user), or to set a flag indicating they wish to be unmuted (that is, allowed to speak "on the air") if they have phoned in. It allows both host and callers to chat via text-message to each other, and to see who is currently and no longer connected to the show.
Unlike most chat/instant messaging applications, which follow a vertical scrolling paradigm, The TalkShoe Live! Pro client text chat scrolls horizontally, placing chat bubbles in a row next to the screen name of the person who typed them. It also uses threading in which responses to a given chat message take on the same color as that chat message. This is intended to allow easy tracking of conversations by users who are not able to give the text conversation their full attention. The Web-based TalkShoe Live! client uses a more traditional vertical scrolling paradigm.
The text chat is usually used for out-of-band conversations among show participants, the exchange of URLs related to show content, and questions or responses to the host or guests from listeners who are muted or unable to call in. It is not necessary for listeners or guests to use the chat client in order to connect by phone; however, they will be unable to use the chat client's features such as text chatting or requesting to be unmuted.
Rating system
TalkShoe features a voluntary rating system for its talkcasts; a talkcast may be rated A for All Audiences, PC for Parental Control, or EL for Explicit Language. Hosts are given the responsibility of rating their own shows; shows that are improperly rated may be reported to TalkShoe by its users.
