 This tutorial will cover the basics of Skype. It assumes that you have already downloaded and installed the program, but if not, go to skype.com in order to download and install it for free. Once you have started the program, you will see this login screen. The Skype name and password will be on the left-hand side as you see, and if you have not yet created an account, you can do so by clicking on create an account next to the sign-in button. You will be asked to provide some information, and your first and last name, email address, the country where you reside, the language that you prefer, and creating your Skype name and password is required. You will also be asked to provide your birthday, gender, the city where you live, a mobile phone number, and how you intend to use Skype. However, this information is not required. Once you have created an account or four returning users, go ahead and enter your password and username and click sign-in. Once you sign-in, your screen will change to the one you see before you. Your contacts will be on the left-hand side in a list. Notice the buttons above your contact list. The home button is on the far left. Next to it, you see the button to call mobile phones and landlines from your Skype program. Then you see the button to start a new chat. And finally, the button to add a contact. Let's go here first. In order to add a contact, you can search by a person's actual name, their Skype username, or their email. Just enter in the method that you want to search by in the search box, and it will automatically find all the people that fulfill that requirement. Because a person's name may be matching to somebody that you are not intending to find, you may want to use the Skype name or email of that person since these two items would be unique. Once you find the person that you want to add to your contact list, simply click on their name and then click the blue button that says add to contacts. In order to leave the search page, simply click the X button right above your search results. You'll be taken back to see your contact list. And no matter what screen you are currently looking at, the way to get back to your contact list at any time would be to go to the top of your screen and click view and then contacts. And that will bring up your contact list no matter what screen you are currently viewing. You may also notice some status icons. Next to your name, you can actually select your status icon. There's a separate icon for somebody who is online as I am currently, someone who is away, someone who does not want to be disturbed, somebody who's invisible or offline, and somebody who you can also set up call forwarding. The contact status icons that you see next to your name are used also for your contacts in your contact list. So as you can see, I have one person that is online and two contacts that are offline. To make a call, simply select the contact you wish to call and in the screen to the right, click the green call button and you'll automatically be connected to them via a call. Offline users may have additional call options and you can see these on the other green buttons that are available. For example, this contact you can also call an actual phone. One of the great things about Skype is that you can also have conference calls. Up to 25 people can join the same call with you. It's a perfect alternative to Blackboard I am or for collaborating with people outside of SLIS. Video calling, webcam or camera is required, can also be used however you must upgrade to a premium service in order to use video conference calling. You can also instant message the people that you talk to simply by clicking on their name and talking to them in the text box to the bottom right. For other tutorials and help, you can also go to the support for Skype page at support.skype.com