The innovative initiative of TalkAndWrite for its application TAW for Skype was recognized by Fapesc, the Foundation of the State of Santa Catarina for Support on Technological Scientific Research. Now, TalkAndWrite is the most innovative company of the State, by Caspar Erich Stemmer Awards for Innovation in Santa Catarina.

"The award is recognition of our work and a motivation to expand our actions," says Bruna Rezende, partner of the firm.

In four years of work, TalkAndWrite reached the mark of 3 million downloads for TAW for Skype. The interactive meetings allowed by the application are used in numerous schools in Japan and Taiwan.

"We owe this to TAW for Skype users, who are collaborating with our tool and making it the best solution”, says Bruna.

The company will not stop there. The proposal is to develop new solutions for the field of education with initiatives that enhance the ability of communication among students and teachers.

TalkAndWrite is introducing a new initiative which is set to attract partners in Brazil: the Affiliate Marketing. In other words, those who choose to advertise the application TAW for Skype and bring new sales will earn a 10% commission.

"Our proposal is to increase the Brazilian share, and we are still providing bloggers and sites owners with a new way to earn extra revenue," says Bruna Rezende, the company co-founder. Very common in countries like the United States, the affiliate marketing can help companies increase their sales potential. Multinationals such as Apple, Toshiba and even Skype deal with this type of initiative.

TalkAndWrite affiliates receive commission on all sales generated from their customers, even if the customer upgrades the plan, or extends the license period, for instance. “Affiliates can participate in the program by promoting TAW for Skype anywhere like on social media sites, blogs, websites or forums”, reminds Bruna. Estevam Ghirotti Junior, a student from Computing Sciences at University of Contestado, Guarulhos, joined TalkAndWrite Affiliate Program. He explains that the registration process is quite simple for anyone who wishes to be part of this network. “When I was signing up for the program, I realized that I needed to have a PayPal account. So, I simply created an account and finished my registration at TalkAndWrite website, no mysteries”, he notes.

According to Estevan, TAW for Skype is quite intuitive and extremely simple to use. And, his expectations are great “I believe that with TAW for Skype we will be able to have an interexchange among students from several private universities abroad.” In order to register as a TalkAndWrite affiliate, visit www.talkandwrite.com.

On December 10, 2009 myself and Abi from Noire Digerati and nine of our DePaul University computer science classmates were at the Chamber of Commerce Brazil to meet the chamber president as well as hear presentations from members of their tech community/incubator ACATE. The first presenter was Rodrigo Lossio, a Technology Journalist who is also Executive Editor at TISC Technology and Santa Catarina who basically went over the history of CELTA and Brazil’s tech community. The second presenter was Ricardo Grassmann, the CEO of Way2technology, which develops technology for the energy sector.

While Ricardo presented, our third presenter, TalkAndWrite co-founder Bruna Rezende quietly slipped into the room. When her turn came to present, Bruna ran through several PowerPoint slides about TalkAndWrite, a technology startup she founded with her father. The company competes in the collaborative whiteboard space with the likes of Adobe, IBM, and Microsoft. Aside from having a female co-founder, TalkAndWrite stands out as one of the only companies within the space with a product certified by Skype and made for use collaborative whiteboard space.

We quickly transitioned to a Q&A. Not surprisingly, one of the first questions asked of Bruna literally went like this: “OMG, you’re a female co-founder of a tech startup, what are your experiences with sexism or discrimination in the Brazil tech incubator?” And her answer was?! Check out the video footage we captured: http://www.blackweb20.com

One person is fluent in English and the other, in Portuguese. Both settle on weekly meetings to talk, exchange information, and speak both languages alternately. This interaction and mutual interest in learning the other person’s language encourage students the acquisition of a foreign language through a reciprocal language learning method called “in-tandem”.

The group, coordinated by Professor Joao Telles Alves from UNESP (State University of Sao Paulo), campus of Assis and Sao Jose do Rio Preto, has incorporated the system into a distance learning technology, expanding the reach and possibilities for students to learn new languages.

Started in 2007 and scheduled for closure in April this year, the Thematic Project “Teletandem: foreign languages for all” supported by FAPESP, brings together postgraduate students from campus of Assis and Sao Jose do Rio Preto.

The experiment involves UNESP students and foreigners, who are interested in learning Portuguese. For this, UNESP has hired other Portuguese Departments from overseas universities.

Institutions from Germany, Argentina, Canada, United Stated, France, Italy, Mexico, Uruguay and Sweden are participating in the project. "A major problem we have found is that several Portuguese Departments abroad focus on literature but are not interested in learning the language", explains Telles.

UNESP students had formed pairs with students from foreign universities who were interested in learning Portuguese. Each pair had committed itself to collaborate in at least eight virtual meetings of two hours each – one hour for each language.

The students collaborated through a Skype interactive software called TAW for Skype, which was developed in Brazil by the company TalkAndWrite, from Santa Catarina.

Skype provides the communication channel for audio and video, while the application TAW for Skype offers a virtual collaborative framework, in which both participants can write, draw and edit simultaneously.

Teacher presence

At Teletandem the teacher follows the entire process, mediating the learning through periodic meetings with the pairs. It can be virtual or live meetings.

According to Telles, the teacher presence is necessary because students often use only 30% to 40% of the learning resources. "Moreover, it is the teacher who helps the students on the language explanations and suggests strategies in order to accelerate the learning process", says.

Advice is the right word. Unlike traditional methods, in Teletandem the teacher does not determine the route of learning, but makes suggestions and the students decide what to do.

Some sessions can be recorded and these resources help teachers to find out students’ problems and difficulties. “The teacher acts as a mediator, in line with a constructivist and Vygotskian view of development. The student is the center of the learning process”, explains Telles, stressing the difference between the in-tandem context and traditional education given in the classroom.

Since it is focused on the student’s performance, the program is based on participants’ autonomy and reciprocity. "This is one of the reasons this method doesn’t work as a compulsory subject at graduation level", he noted.

Another difference is that the tandem curriculum emerges from pairs’ relationship and interaction, and only afterwards brought to the teacher. In traditional education, the program follows the opposite direction: it is predetermined by the teacher and later applied in the classroom.

Cultural shocks

For the learning to be successful, the program applicants must go through previous orientation sessions. “At this point, teachers instruct students in cultural shocks to be avoided”, tells the UNESP teacher.

On the other hand, when friendships are built, the results are often surprising. Several students have become fluent in the language after two years of program. Telles highlights the social aspect of the project. "Teletandem allows students to learn a language and meet people from other countries with few resources", he said.

According to Telles, tandem learning method can be applicable even to regular schools, as long as the institution provides appropriated expertise as well as minimal infrastructure. At UNESP, laboratories are opened from 9am to 9pm, and computers are equipped with appropriate softwares.

The project was so successful that UNESP will keep the development of the interactive software through a partnership with the company TalkAndWrite. The intention is to make the program also work as a communication tool among participants.

Telles has been visiting several countries in order to present the research results and also disseminate the project experiences and results. "Teletandem is a means of access for foreign languages and democratization through communication technologies. It helps those who cannot afford to travel to study a language, to make foreign friends and to have enriching cultural experiences", he said.

Teletandem: http://www.teletandembrasil.org

With a new design, the solution aims to attend more users and target the European market this year.

TalkAndWrite starts 2010 with a new version of the TAW for Skype, 5.0. New interface and modern design grant more dynamism to on-line meetings.

Among the few applications in the world that are certified by Skype, TAW 5.0 now makes faster file transferring, besides its effectiveness at almost any network situation. Bruna Rezende, TalkAndWrite co-founder, explains that the objective is to bring news to the tool. "We already have the mark of 3 million downloads and even with this number, we always look for new functionalities," she says.

She explains that one of the main niches of clients is on-line schools. For Mathematic Sciences, for instance, the company added the grid page tool, what is generally used by Mathematic tutors. “Who teaches Math through TAW for Skype often draws graphs and the grid page is very useful for formulating the Cartesian table. Therefore, we wanted to make it simpler for this kind of on-line meetings”, she says. Other features are already being studied by the company for distance learning courses.

Although TAW for Skype has new features, the price remains the same and old clients are already using the newer version.

TalkAndWrite reaches 3 million downloads for its application

The Brazilian company TalkAndWrite reached the mark of 3 million downloads during October. The application, which is now only 3 years old, is used worldwide for interactive meetings based on document sharing. Nowadays, TalkAndWrite is the only Brazilian company, together with another 14 companies across the globe which have been certified by Skype.

In order to celebrate this milestone, TalkAndWrite is re-releasing its website with new products and services. The biggest novelty is TAW Soft, a real time interactive software. “TAW Soft allows collaborative meetings on top of documents through a private chat, video, and audio channel, interactive whiteboard and file transferring, ensuring a lot more safety and agility to users”, says Bruna Rezende, TalkAndWrite co-founder.

She explains that TAW Soft allows several participants to transfer files, talk to each other, use a webcam, exchange instant messages and even write, draw, and highlight texts on top of the same document, while all users see these effects in real time.

An additional launch product from TalkAndWrite is TAW On-Demand, which is a development service that allows companies to choose new features and tools in order to better suit their specific needs. “TAW On-Demand is based on a communication system that involves VoIP, video, text chat and files collaboration; this service provides integrations to other systems, customizations or even inclusion of new functions”, clarifies Bruna.

TAW for Skype, the program which has reached the 3 million download mark, simulates the interaction of up to 10 participants working together on top of the same file, while talking via the text, and utilising video and voice channels. The application is available in 27 languages and it is most used in European and Asian countries.

In addition, the new website allows customers to login and access their purchase history, visualize active and inactive licenses, as well as utilize an on-line communication channel in order to communicate directly with a TalkAndWrite representative.

Last Monday, eight technological-based companies from Santa Catarina participated in Seed Forum Progressus in the city of Florianopolis, which is one of the biggest technological poles of Brazil.

Companies made presentations to investors in order to obtain resources to increase competitiveness. Promoted by the Santa Catarina incubators CELTA/CERTI, MIDI/ACATE, CRIE/Unisul, IEB/UFSC, and CITeB/Univali, through the project Progressus, Seed Forum was supported by the Financier of Studies and Projects - FINEP (Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos).

The following eight companies attended the Forum: Anima Acústica, Biokyra, Chaordic, Código, Fazion, Kombo, TalkAndWrite e Umwelt. The companies submitted their projects and growth projections for the coming years.

A major difference of the event was the diversity of expertise areas of participant companies: solutions for acoustic simulation; less invasive medical devices; recommendation systems, cell phone softwares, Human Resources systems, interactive whiteboards, as well as biotechnology devices for wastewater treatments.

Renato Marques, (the New Businesses Department Manager at FINEP), believes that companies have stood out due to their high level of innovation and growth potential. “Besides the level of innovation, companies presented strategic postures, showing not only the technological aspect, but their focus on business”, explains Marques. “Our companies proved that they are not behind any other start-ups. The culture of capital is growing in our market and The State of Santa Catarina will certainly become more prominent in this scenario”, analyses Jamile Sabatini Marques, coordinator of MIDI Tecnológico incubator and executive director of ACATE, Santa Catarina Association of Technology Businesses.

The company expectation is to grow 90% in the Brazilian market

TalkAndWrite, the company which has the only Brazilian plug-in that is certified by Skype, is now seeking commercial partners in order to expand businesses in Brazil. The tools developed by TalkAndWrite have already registered 2 million downloads worldwide. Most TalkAndWrite users are located in the USA, UK, Japan, and South Korea working in the corporative and educational areas. “Over 90% of our client base is from other countries. Now, it is time for Brazilians to know our solution, which is national and has already conquered the Asian giants”, says Bruna Rezende, Managing Director at TalkAndWrite.

The proposal is bold and the company will offer commissions from 20% to 30% for Brazilian sales. “Our goal is to make the company grow 90% in the domestic market”, declares Bruna. The software, developed at MIDI incubator in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, allows real time collaboration on digital files, and users can write, erase, and highlight on it simultaneously, while talking on Skype. The application is part of the selected group of 12 Skype certified extras, from a universe of over 250 applications. TalkAndWrite can be downloaded in 27 different languages and the license of use allows up to 10 participants per meeting. “TalkAndWrite proposal refers to its simplicity and effectiveness”, evaluates Bruna. She explains that the tool was carefully projected in a way that users can easily understand the entire process and the program functionalities.

Profile

TalkAndWrite is a technology-based company, which is connected to the incubator MIDI Tecnológico: MIDI is supported by The Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises - SEBRAE, managed by The Santa Catarina Association of Technology Businesses – ACATE and was considered the best technology-based incubator of Brazil by the National Award for Innovative Entrepreneurship 2008.

China is the center of attention for most the small and medium size companies that plan to globalize – whether importing inexpensive components, or exporting their products and services to the huge Chinese consumer market. However, communication is still a barrier to businesses.

TalkAndWrite, a small company headquartered in Florianopolis, has developed a program for Skype that may overcome this obstacle. The software allows several people to work together and in real time, while talking to each other.

The program can be used to discuss possible changes in design projects or even while reviewing contracts together - especially when collaborating with Asians, in conversations where you often have to draw ideograms on a text document. The software can be downloaded at www.talkandwrite.com.

The BASIC version is free. The professional version costs $18.00 US per month.