PalTalk -- a free voice chat alternative for distance education and business

The following article is based chat sessions that were held May 17, 24, and 31, 2001. Thanks very much to the participant-experts.

To connect to our weekly chat sessions about Business on the Web go to  www.samizdat.com/chat-intro.html Transcripts are available from www.samizdat.com/chat.html

This article was heard on the radio program "The Computer Report," which is broadcast live on WCAP in Lowell, Mass., and is syndicated on WBNW in Boston
and WPLM in Plymouth, MA.

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We tested PalTalk in three consecutive chat sessions and found very useful. (See www.samizdat.com/chat.html for details about our weekly chat sessions).

www.paltalk.com has both voice and text chat. Their text chat is barebones, but savable. Their voice chat is excellent, and easy to manage, but cannot handle Macintosh.

Paltalk is a bit complicated to get setup. You have to download and install software. It runs as a separate app, not through a browser. And your chat room does not have a URL for quick connection: rather you have to go through a lengthy process to get to the right room. Despite all the barriers we had 32 people participate in one session, and the great majority were very favorably impressed.

The free version is powerful, and the paid service is incredibly inexpensive.

A few quick observations about the capabilities of this application:

•  There is no time limit on the use of your free chat room. And individuals and the room itself do not time out due to inactivity.
• As long as you are in the room you see all the text content and you can save it all; if you disconnect and come back, you only see the new  stuff
• The administrator can turn the voice of individual participants off and on.
• Participants can request to speak by raising their hands (with the Request button)
• If you might want to get in touch with any of the participants after the session, jot down their nicknames. Then at any time, you can go to the first Paltalk screen, click on Add Pal and search for that nickname (case sensitive). You'll see the person's full name and email address.
• "Pal" communication (like instant messaging) is separate from the chat room (and you can do both at once). If you want to have a private conversation with someone who is in the chat room, just right click on that person's name, and then click on Private.
• You can also send video, photos, or files to individuals you see in the chat room. Once again, the first step is to right click on the person's name.
• Keep in mind that only one person at a time has control of the microphone. Please be polite and raise your hand (Request Talk) if you want to speak, and tell the next person in line (with hand raised) when they can start speaking. (The handraising list is sequential -- like taking a number in a store.)
• Don't hold your control key down unless you are speaking.

• When both voice and text are available, voice dominates -- that's where all the action is.
• Paltalk makes it easy for you to save the text chat dialogue (starting when you connect), but little of substance is likely to be found in that raw transcript.
• For the most part, people without microphones just lurked, rather than posting comments and questions in the text chat area.
• But good inexpensive software (like Total Recorder from High Criteria) can record the audio, which you then can post on the Web for anyone to hear later. You can hear the 5/24 session at www.samizdat.com/audio/chat0524.mp3
• For groups as large as 2-3 dozen people, protocol works fine for managing the discussion. We did not need to use the handy force-style admin tools (whereby the administrator can shut off and turn on microphones). Everyone who wanted to speak clicked on the Request Speak button, which generates a raised hand icon, and waited politely until called upon.

The speed of Internet connectivity did not seem to be a significant factor in voice quality. People with 28.8 modems sounded about the same as others with cable connections. But a headset-style microphone helps, by keeping the distance from the microphone to your mouth constant. Also, some people found that lowering the settings on their Norton Antivirus software improved voice quality.

The second time around I set up a "permanent chat room" rather than one that only existed for as long as I was connected. You can choose to set up such a room so that it is password protected (still a no cost), and that would be natural if you were using this capability to deliver an online course, to avoid interruptions by random uninvited Paltalk users. But for our public chat session that was not necessary. By the way, random visitors can be a benefit for public discussions -- I had some very good conversations with individuals in China and on the island of Mauritius while waiting for the scheduled chat time to begin.

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