Web conferencing
Web conferencing is used to hold group meetings or live presentations over the Internet. In the early years of the Internet, the terms "web conferencing" and "computer conferencing" were often used to refer to group discussions conducted within a message board (via posted text messages), but the term has evolved to refer specifically to "live" or "synchronous" meetings, while the posted message variety of discussion is called a "forum", "message board", or "bulletin board".
In a web conference, each participant sits at their own computer, and is connected to other participants via the internet. The most basic feature of a web conference is screen sharing, whereby conference participants see whatever is on the presenter's screen. Usually this is accompanied by voice communication, either through a traditional telephone conference, or through VoIP, although sometimes text chat is used in place of voice.
Features
Other typical features of a web conference include:
- Slide presentations (often created through PowerPoint)
- Application sharing, in which participants can cooperatively manipulate (say) a spreadsheet on the presenter's computer
- Web co-browsing
- Annotation (allowing the presenter to highlight or mark items on the display)
- Text messaging
- File sharing
- Polls and surveys
Some web conferencing software allows conferences to be recorded for later playback.
There is a growing trend for web conferences to incorporate VoIP (voice over internet) and live video via webcams. Hence, the boundary between web conferencing and video conferencing is blurring and may eventually disappear.
Web conferencing is most often sold as a service, hosted on a web server controlled by the vendor, either on a usage basis (cost per user per minute) or for a fixed fee (cost per "seat"). However, some vendors make their conferencing software available as a licensed product, allowing organizations that make heavy use of conferencing to install the software on their own servers. Also, some conferencing software operates on a peer-to-peer basis, eliminating the need for a server; however, this tends to be viable only for small group meetings.
History
Real-time text chat facilities such as IRC appeared early in the internet's history. Web-based chat and instant messaging software appeared in the mid 1990's. In the later 1990's, Microsoft introduced a true web conferencing application, NetMeeting, a free download that used peer-to-peer communication. However, WebEx (established in 1996) took an early lead in the commercial web conferencing market with a much more robust product. For Linux desktops, Workspot introduced a live desktop-sharing service in 1999, based on Virtual Network Computing.
Dozens of other vendors have since entered the conferencing market, including Netspoke, Placeware, Genesys, IBM, Macromedia, Raindance, Centra, WebDialogs, Intercall, iLinc, WiredRed, Linktivity, Citrix Online, and many others. In 2003, Microsoft acquired Placeware and renamed it Microsoft Office Live Meeting, phasing out support for NetMeeting.
The market continues to expand rapidly as web conferencing becomes a more widely accepted alternative to face-to-face meetings requiring travel, and as a richer form of communication than voice-only telephone conferences.
External links
- Thinkofit Guide to Web Conferencing: Comprehensive listing of conferencing software and services
- Workspot is a web service providing Linux desktops, which can be shared in real-time through a browser.
- Free Conference Calls
- e-symposium Ltd, Pioneer of International Web Conferences
- ReadyTalk: A fully feature web conferencing solution which works for Linux, Mac OS and Windows.
- Voxwire Web Conferencing: A complete web conferencing solution for Online Meetings, Seminars and Group Meetings.