A year ago: Open University plans virtual lecture theatre

The Open University has struck a deal with audio compression specialist Voxware in its attempt to build a real time virtual lecture theatre over the Internet.

The University, through its Knowledge Media Institute (KMi) is already exploring ways to host voice-intensive events, discussions, tutorials and Webcasts on the Internet. KMi plans to use Voxware codecs and development toolkits to build voice-enabled research prototypes for delivering real-time synchronised audio and multimedia experiences to very large audiences.

"We envision our experimental environment, called KMi Stadium, as a way to host events of various types, from small chat rooms to enormous Webcasts that may rely on linked servers distributed across several continents," said Professor M. Eisenstadt, director of Open University's Knowledge Media Institute, commenting on the deal with Voxware.