November Meeting Wrap-Up

Vasculitis Foundation in New Mexico
Albuquerque Chapter Meeting
November 18, 2010
Deli-Berry Restaurant

Present:
Joseph C. (CSS family)
Meaghan C. (CSS patient)
Dennis W. (WG patient)
Rupal P. (Family - WG suspected, mother still undiagnosed)
William C. (CSS family by telepresence in Skype)

We met at Deli-Berry. When I arrived, Dennis and Rupal had already introduced themselves and were busily sharing information. Rupal mother is still undiagnosed with a pending Wegeners diagnosis.

I initialized Skype and called William, who had indicated an interest in joining this months meeting. He remained connected throughout the meeting and as the only remote participant, he was able to use video and text chat. With multiple recipients, only voice connections are possible.

Most of the meeting was spent sharing links to sites that are already available on the Education page of www.nmvasculitis.org. We discussed the usefulness of www.uptodate.com, for those who can get access. Recent changes to that site allow for temporary memberships, so it is now affordable to most anyone. Rupal has two family members who are physicians, so she sends them the links for which she wants full text, and they send her the information.

We all shared the names of a few doctors, and a huge oversight was corrected. We learned that NM Arthritis Associates has several rheumatologists on staff who are already familiar with vasculitis. Those names will be added to the list soon. William used to be a board member for the NM Arthritis Foundation, so he and I may have more to talk about in terms of learning from that experience to advance the efforts of this chapter.

You are all encouraged to share the names of your good doctors who know about vasculitis on the Vasculitis Doctors Form. When you do, those names are made available to benefit other patients. If you do, then others will be more likely to also share and you will likewise benefit. So, sharing information is in your best interest.

Joseph discussed that it would be nice if access to full text articles was a membership benefit for paid membership to the Vasculitis Foundation. Then also placing them in an corss-indexed structured, database, like a WIKI. Imagine being able to search through articles on any topic that interested you. Just an idea at this point but leveraging the army of members to find and submit links and articles, then having it peer reviewed to validate the information. What a lofty but also worthwhile goal.

We did Skype at the meeting between about 6PM and 8PM. One person Skyped in and was able to participate more or less fully with the meeting.

I will use that technology again at the next meeting. You may also can find me in Skype from time to time. I am more often online in Google, but have access with Google, AOL, Skype, Yahoo, and even ICQ.

There were five at the meeting, including one remotely. Which was awesome.

Our next chapter meeting may be online as well as at Deli-Berry

[To view this video, you have to look at this post online in a web browser. Email probably will not play the video. I have been told the microphone for this webcam (Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910) is very sensitive so if this sounds loud to you, feel free to use the volume control in the video player to adjust it according to your preferences. Also, this video is hosted in my SmugMug account, so if you have a video you would like to 'share with the class', please send it to me and I can host it for you privately.]

I am figuring out some new webcam technology, so I may either record some stuff at the meeting, and then later post it, or if I can get WiFi, the webcam, etc, all working, I may broadcast the meeting itself in Skype, Google Voice, or whatever works.

This technology exists, so it would be silly not to try and use it. At least that is how I see it.

This is great news for Bonnie in Taos, if she can tune in, and Jamie, who lives in Las Vegas, plus a few in Albuquerque who find it hard to come to the meetings in person, but might be able to participate remotely.

The next meeting is on Thursday, November 18th at 6PM. The location for Deli-Berry is 2520 Juan Tabo Blvd NE. On Juan Tabo, just north of Menaul Blvd NE, on the right hand side. You will see the Deli-Berry sign, and it is located in between a Sprint store and FedEx Office.

Most likely, I will try to braodcast the meeting in Skype, so to participate you will need a free account, and possibly a headset and/or a webcam. Once you have a Skype account, send me an Email with your Skype ID and I will send you my Skype ID in reply.

Here is some information about headsets and webcams, assuming you do not already have this equipment already installed on your computer.

If you have a newer MacBook, or pretty much any really new laptop, you may already have a webcam built in. In most cases, Skype will find it and use it automatically. But since I cannot possibly support all of the possible variables, you are going to have to sort that out. You may also find that an external webcam gives you better quality. The MacBooks are pretty good, but all others you will have to try them to find out.

Here is what I know...

For a headset only, you can do much worse than a Logitech ClearChat Comfort USB Headset (Black). Sample prices:

• $31.99 on Amazon.com
• $33.44 at Sears
• $37.88 at Walmart
• $39.99 at Target

There are other brands, like Plantronics for example, that are also dandy, but I am familiar with Logitech, so that is why I choose mention them. go to a store and compare for yourself. Try them on, and see what fits better for you.

USB connection gives you easy setup and great sound quality. Mostly, you just plug it in and it works. You may need to tell some software which microphone or headset to use, but it is pretty straighforward.

WHY NOT GO ALL THE WAY WITH A WEBCAM?

Or for practically the same money, you can go for the full boat with a web camera.

I am a big advocate for all vasculitis patients to get some kind of camera to record their stories as a way of spreading awareness. Just tell the camera the cleaned up version of what you tell your friends and family. It will go a long way towards making the public more willing to contribute time and money for this worthy cause.

But which camera?

I did a lot of research, and many cameras will work well. I personally like the Logitech cameras, because their is a nice A great compromise between quality and affordable price, plus I like how easy their software was to install.

Prices vary depending on how good you want the camera to be.

For most people I recommend the Logitech C310 HD Webcam. Again, good picture, good sound, and a good price. There are more expensive models, but this one will do the job quite nicely with very few compromises. Sample prices:

• $39.99 at BestBuy
• $41.99 at Amazon.com
• $49.99 at Office Depot
• $52.98 at Staples

Just as with the headsets, there are other brands that are also good, like Microsoft webcams are pretty good. I just choose to promote Logitech because I am familiar with them, they are easy to set up, and I like the software.

If you want to mimic my research, to see the quality differences, try starting with the webcam reviews at http://cowboyfrank.net/webcams/index.htm

He puts a number of different cameras through their paces. His most recent reviews are dated September 26, 2010, so they are not too old.

After doing the research, I like Logitech best. I chose that to give webcams to my family so we could all be on the same software as well. The Logitech Vid software is pretty nice and makes connecting a snap.

The webcam will work with any application that calls the camera and/or the microphone.

• Google Voice/Video Chat
• Skype
• Logitech Vid software (Free to download and can be used with any webcam.)
• Microsoft Live
• Yahoo Messenger
• etc, etc, etc, yadda yadda yadda

They all pretty much will work with most any USB webcam.

These better Logitech microphones, like on the C310, are noise cancelling, so you can use them to talk to people hands free instead of using a headset. You just turn down the volume enough to stop the feedback, then you can still hear the other party easily, and they can hear you too.

You can turn the camera part on and off as you choose. You get to turn that on and off in the software. Logitech software even has a feature to allow you to put a picture of your chooseing in place of a live camera feed. Handy for those days when you just don't want to be on camera, but still want to talk with people. Or when you want to turn the camera off for a few minutes to do something off camera, but still hear the other persons voice.

These are great tools for keeping people in touch, and at these prices, most people can afford them. In some ways, since the long distance over the Internet is free, you almost cannot afford not to take advantage of this technology to stay in touch with distant friends and relatives.

I am not trying to tell you what to do, but I will encourage you to share what you know.

Joseph Carpenter
Albuquerque Chapter Leader
Vasculitis Foundation in New Mexico