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Author Archives: msharpe

Evoca joins Global Network Initiative founded by Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft

May 8, 2012 in Business, Facebook, Freedom of Expression, International, Journalists, Media, Politics by msharpe  |  No Comments

In its recently published annual report, the Global Network Initiative [GNI] announced that Evoca, a leading global voice recording and publishing web service, became the first non-founding Company Member to join GNI, demonstrating that the GNI Principles – advancing freedom of expression and privacy rights – are relevant to early stage technology firms as well as larger, established multinationals such as its founding Company Members – Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google and its new Observer Status participant – Facebook. The Global Network Initiative [GNI] provides guidance to the information and communications technologies [ICT] industry and its stakeholders on how to protect and advance these human rights when faced with pressures from governments to take infringing actions.

Evoca CEO Murem Sharpe commented on Evoca’s purpose in joining GNI, “Evoca is a platform for free expression, and so GNI is a natural fit for us. As an early stage web services company, we employ software and web services of other companies operating in the cloud for customer service, telecommunications, data storage and streaming, payment, and other key functions. We look forward to engaging with these suppliers so that in turn we can assure our subscribers and licensees of our commitment to their rights to free expression and privacy.”

About The Global Network Initiative [GNI]

The Global Network Initiative [GNI] is a multi-stakeholder group of companies, civil society organizations, including human rights and press freedom groups, investors and academics, who have created a collaborative approach to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy in the information and communications technologies [ICT] sector. GNI provides resources for ICT companies to help them address difficult issues related to freedom of expression and privacy that they may face anywhere in the world. GNI has created a framework of principles and a confidential, collaborative approach to working through challenges of corporate responsibility in the ICT sector.

GNI participants include Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, Websense, the Berman Center for Internet & Society at the Harvard Law School, USC Annenberg School for Communications, Center for Democracy & Technology, Internews, Human Rights First, Committee to Protect Journalists, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Centro de Estudios en Libertad de Expresión y Acceso a la Información, Calvert Investments, Church of Sweden, and Trillium Asset Management.

Ten Tips to Improve Your Vocal Image

May 7, 2012 in "How-To" posts, Business, Interviews, Public Speaking by msharpe  |  No Comments

Every professional and business person has to do a lot of talking — in person, on the phone, and while giving presentations. You are called on to motivate staff, explain your product’s benefits, negotiate with prospects, speak to journalists, and pitch to investors.

But is your “vocal image” up to the job? There is more to our voices than meets the ear. Giving a poor vocal impression can lead to lost credibility, lost promotions, lost deals, and lost investors.

If you are not happy with your voice — or you’ve never really thought about how you sound to other people — check out 10 tips that could help you boost your vocal image. You can practice by recording your voice using Evoca and sharing the recording with a friend or mentor.

Vocal tip #1: How you sound is more important than what you say

It is worthwhile improving the impression we make with the sound of our voices. How we say things is much more important than what we say. Other people decide whether to agree with us or not, take our advice, or support us based on the sound of our voices.

Listeners on the phone and radio quickly jump to conclusions about our intelligence, education, expertise, credibility, likeability, and even what we look like, based on little more than the sound of our voices. Read more

Evoca Enterprise joins Amazon Web Services Co-Marketing Program

April 9, 2012 in Amazon, Business, General Announcements, International, Marketing, Skype by msharpe  |  No Comments

We are pleased to announce that the Evoca Enterprise voice-to-web services platform has entered the Amazon Web Services [AWS] Co-Marketing Program. Featured in the AWS App Catalog, Evoca Enterprise enables its users to rapidly integrate Evoca’s digital voice recording services into their web applications, configuring audio recording, management and publication features using its flexible, enterprise-class (RESTful) HTTP API (application programming interface). Amazon Web Services, a division of online retail giant Amazon.com, provides cloud computing, storage, and streaming services that enable Evoca Enterprise to reliably deliver and scale its web services to meet its global licensees’ digital content creation and management requirements.

The Evoca Enterprise software-as-a-service platform [SaaS] enables businesses and organizations to create voice recordings by phone, Skype, or online embedded recorder and incorporate the recordings into their branded applications. With digital voice recording capabilities, users can engage their fans, customers, visitors, and contributors by enabling them to create, listen to, and share voice content on websites, blogs, and social media sites. Voice recordings can be made using phones, Skype, or online recorder and incorporated into a branded application. Read more

Leslie Gordon writes what she records

March 27, 2012 in "How-To" posts, Authors, Business, Interviews, Journalists, Marketing, Oral History, Sports, Storytelling, Testimonials by msharpe  |  No Comments

We are delighted to feature outstanding Evoca subscriber Leslie Gordon of LeslieWrites — rainmaker, strategist, idea generator, and communications and marketing thought leader. She has been a creative force behind many successful public relations and marketing campaigns ⎯ from Walt Disney World’s Disney Dreamers Academy to Daddy’s Promise, a national initiative designed to focus national attention on the positive relationship that can and should exist between fathers and daughters. Her writing is utterly engaging, so beware when you start reading what Leslie writes!

When asked how she uses Evoca to capture fresh, compelling content from her interviews with shakers and movers, Leslie offered these positive words: “I am a public relations/marketing professional and a writer. I contribute feature articles to a health and fitness magazine for women of color and I am in the process of writing my first book.”

She continues, “I interview high profile entertainers and celebrities, professionals in the medical and educational fields and CEOs of leading investment firms. I have found that using Evoca along with Skype is the best way to facilitate the many phone interviews I conduct each week.“

Leslie points out, “Using Evoca to record and manage my interviews is an easy process and completely user-friendly. I am able to access my interviews as digital voice recordings on the Evoca website in a matter of minutes after recording them. It has made my interview process SO much simpler and I have told all of my fellow writers and journalists about what a great service Evoca provides.”

Interested in becoming a featured Evoca subscriber in our email campaigns, blogs and social media? Contact the Evoca team with your story. Because: Everyone’s voice counts.

 

 

Go Global! Evoca’s advice to companies new and established

March 15, 2012 in "How-To" posts, Business, International, Savannah, Skype, Testimonials by msharpe  |  No Comments

Murem Sharpe, Evoca CEO, was invited to be a guest blogger for The Creative Coast to write about How To Make Your Savannah Business Global. Her advice, based on Evoca’s successful experience, applies to any business – new or established – in any city around the world.

Visualize your company as being global.

With Savannah’s location as a cultural and tourism hub and international port, it can be. No matter what our product or service, all of us can serve a global market. According to Visit Savannah, the city hosts 11.4 million visitors a year. That means that business people, professionals, and tourists from all over can learn about your product and bring it back to their home countries and cities. Establishing an online presence to tap into these visitors both before and after they head to our Hostess City is important. Communicate the story about your Savannah-based business every chance you get.

Always consider potential opportunities to partner with larger, international companies, because they have a wider audience and more resources.

We have nurtured the opportunity to integrate Evoca’s voice recording web service with Skype, which has given us access to its 650+ million users. Leveraging your company this way can build connections and give your products a good reputation in your industry, which can be a great way to grow. To do so, you always have to consider the benefits you offer to partner organizations. Will you help them meet a previously unmet need for their users? Will you help solve a problem? Will you help them generate revenue? Which leads to our next tip. Read more

Evoca Call Recorder featured in Skype Shop

February 25, 2012 in Authors, Blog, Business, Education, Facebook, Journalists, Oral History, Skype, Social Networking, Storytelling, Twitter by msharpe  |  No Comments

Skype is featuring the Evoca Call Recorder for Skype in its global Skype Shop! Evoca is also featured in the Skype App Directory main page and in its Evoca Call Recorder app page. The Skype Shop special deal doubles the new Evoca subscriber’s recording storage time upon sign up.

Evoca, a 100% cloud-based voice recording service, uniquely provides everything a Skype user needs to record free Skype calls and post digital audio recordings online with a 360-degree set of features: web-based Skype call recording, saving recordings in MP3 format, managing recordings from within the subscriber’s secure online account, publishing recordings online – to websites, blogs, Facebook and Twitter, and inviting audio playback on any smartphone, tablet or computer. Because Evoca is web-based, no software downloads or updates are required. Evoca subscription Plans are available, including acquiring a custom Skype call recorder and custom local or toll-free dial-in phone number. Skype users can start with a 15-day Free Trial and upgrade at any time.

Read more

A Valentines gift for loved ones: capture their stories

February 14, 2012 in Authors, Education, Interviews, Oral History, Skype, Storytelling by msharpe  |  No Comments

Valentine’s day is a great time to begin capturing the stories of your loved ones to share with family members now and with future generations. Maybe your grandfather immigrated from Poland or Mexico or Japan and needs someone to help him remember his days “in the old country.” Perhaps your aunt not only has interesting personal stories to tell, but also served in the Kennedy or Reagan administrations and has valuable public oral history information to share.

Here are three methods to capture your family’s memories and share them with other family members. They all require some preparation, such as sending a letter or email message with suggested topics and questions.

Method # 1 – Meet with your family member in person. Take written notes or record the conversation. This is often the most desirable approach, especially if you have a close relationship with this family member. You can ask questions and takes notes or better yet, record the conversation as audio or video. We recommend recording in-person interviews using Evoca’s phone or online recorder methods. Evoca enables you to organize recordings in your online account by setting up Albums to which you assign the recordings. You can email links to individual recordings or Albums for playback, all while keeping the recording and Album settings at private. Transcription of audio recordings is possible using Evoca’s transcription service or by hiring another service or getting other family members to volunteer.

Hand-held digital audio recorders can be used, although there can be file formatting issues when later trying to share or manage. And recording into a computer is possible with the free software called Audacity or if you are a Mac user, Garageband. You can email individual files but run the risk of losing or misplacing the recordings if not well organized.

Method #2 – “Meet” with your family member by phone or Skype. Take notes or better yet, record the interview. It should not come as a surprise that many people, especially the elderly who do not get out much, really enjoy talking on the phone. Read more

Oral History Ode to Savannah Preservationist Lee Adler

February 13, 2012 in Humanities, Interviews, Journalists, Oral History, Savannah, Storytelling by msharpe  |  No Comments

In 2006 Evoca was honored to provide the technology and funding to record the oral histories of leaders in the Savannah historic preservation movement. These recordings were donated to the Georgia Historical Society. Notable among these leaders were Emma and Lee Adler, spearheading the Savannah movement with innovative methods and a persistent spirit that they generously shared with preservationists worldwide. Savannah mourns the loss of Lee Adler, who  passed away on January 29th at age 88. We were fortunate to have recorded Emma Adler, Lee Adler’s wife and long-time partner in the preservation movement.

Among the many citizens and professionals who have memorialized Lee Adler is David J. Brown, chief preservation officer at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington.”There’s not a preservation group in this country that doesn’t owe some debt of gratitude to the work of Lee Adler.” The recordings of Emma Adler are streamed below by Evoca. The entire collection of oral history interviews is available for listening at the Georgia Historical Society online profile.

In the February 1 AP news article about Adler, reporter Russ Bynum wrote, “Born into a wealthy Savannah family that owned a local department store, Adler’s passion for protecting the 18th and 19th century homes of Georgia’s oldest city was passed on by his mother. Elinor Grunsfeld Adler was among the seven women who launched the [Historic Savannah] foundation that her son would later lead. The women started the group in 1954 to show their outrage after the downtown City Market, where farmers sold their crops, was razed to make way for a parking garage.”

Daniel Carey, Foundation president and friend of Lee Adler, credits him with pioneering the use of a revolving fund to purchase and resell historic properties instead of raising funds one building at a time. Historic preservation organizations around the world has since used Lee Adler’s effective techniques.

Murem Sharpe, Evoca CEO, offered, “Evoca is ideal for capturing public oral histories, such as those we helped create and now archive and stream for anyone to listen and learn. In addition to in-person recording with the historian using the phone as a digital recorder or using our online computer recorder from their Evoca account, interviewers can record phone and Skype interviews.” These four interview methods are popular with both professional oral historians as well as family genealogists.

 

Capturing the Artist’s Voice: Robert Claiborne Morris

February 11, 2012 in Art, Education, Events by msharpe  |  No Comments

The Telfair Academy, one of the three Museums of the Telfair Museums in Savannah, Georgia, is hosting an outstanding exhibition of the Slavery by Another Name: Paintings and Assemblages of Robert Claiborne Morris through March 4, 2012. Morris, a Savannah-based artist, was inspired by the landmark book of Doug Blackmon, his friend and former colleague at the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Murem Sharpe, Evoca CEO, interviewed Mr. Morris at the Telfair Academy, using Evoca’s phone recording service, turning her mobile phone into a web-based digital recorder simply by dialing any Evoca public phone number available to all subscribers worldwide. The recording was instantly saved online to share online on any computer, smartphone, or tablet.  Recording phone interviews of people in different locations is also easy to accomplish.

 

The following is an excerpt from the Telfair’s exhibition description: Robert Claiborne Morris began to re-examine his understanding of race in America after reading an early proof of Douglas A. Blackmon’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, “Slavery by Another Name.” The revelation that slavery continued until World War II changed the way he saw his native South.

Morris began an odyssey in search of the images, objects and artifacts related to this obscure chapter in American history. From Georgia to North Carolina, he examined the junkyards, flea markets and historical societies, hunting and collecting, in the hopes of finding a medium that could both incorporate found objects and project images to better understand the spiritual darkness of re-enslavement.

Read more

Simple English News streams audio on iPhones, iPads and Androids

July 29, 2011 in Blog, Business, Education, Facebook, Humanities, International, Interviews, Journalists, Language, Skype, Social Networking, Twitter by msharpe  |  No Comments

Simple English News [SEN] publishes interesting English language news articles with audio recordings to help ESL [English-as-a-Second Language] learners around the world to read English, listen to the pronunciation, and practice it.

Using Evoca’s universal Evoca smart audio player, a listener can playback audio recordings with any smartphones or tablets – including iPhones, iPads, Androids, and BlackBerrys, and any computer. The Evoca smart player automatically detects the listener’s browser type and streams the right audio player – Flash for Androids and other devices or HTML5 for Apple devices. Three other player widget types are available: Flash, iFrame, and HTML5.

Simple English News Founder Sam Margolis launched the website to make the news accessible to people learning English. Sam operates his global website from his new home country of Hungary with this mission: “Simple English News hopes to be what it says it is. Our desire is to make the news more understandable for those who are learning English.”  Margolis is a journalist, language educator, and former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the small city of Papa, Hungary, where he taught English to high school students. His articles have appeared in The Independent, The International Herald Tribune, Wired Magazine, United Press International, The Globe and Mail, and other publications.

Listen to a Skype interview with Sam Margolis about how his career led to founding and growing Simple English News. Spread the word about how to learn English by posting Sam’s interview to your website, blog with the Evoca smart player and Post to Facebook profile or fan page and Post to Twitter features.