TinyChat is a web-based collaboration tool that integates video, audio, and text-based chat, plus some features such as collaborative whiteboarding and multi-user document authoring, similar to Google Docs. One of my gripes about Skype has always been that it doesn’t allow multi-video chat sessions. TinyChat is a good solution for those who require this, but don’t want to pay extra for something like ooVoo when they need larger video conferencing.
One of the strengths of online communication is having a variety of ways to converse. People have different comfort levels with different forms of communication. Some are more articulate in text, while others are better with voice. The two can be mixed together in the same session, with the same end result. Providing different options takes a step toward equalizing the playing field, empowering users with a stronger ability for communication.
On the other hand, I’m not terribly impressed with TinyChat’s inability to archive sessions, though this is perhaps something easily overlooked if someone is tech-savvy enough. A simple text copy/paste and Audacity recording can work well enough to overcome this. A screen capture with a tool like Camstudio can be used if video archiving is necessary.