TELECONFERENCING
ONE OF THE GROWING USES FOR COMMUNICATION IS IN TELECONFERENCING EMPLOYEES OFA SINGLE COMPANY OR THOSE OF SEVERAL COMPANIES.
A METHOD OF USING TECHNOLOGY TO BRING PEOPLE AND IDEAS TOGETHER DESPITE GEOGRAPHIC BARRIERS. ALLOWS USERS TO SIT IN A CONFERENCE ROOM AND TALK TO ANOTHER GROUP OF USERS IN ANOTHER CONFERENCE ROOM THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY. PARTICIPANTS ARE ABLE TO SEE AND HEAR THE OTHER PEOPLE WHEN THEY SPEAK, AND THE SYSTEM CAN FOCUS IN ON SPECIFIC DOCUMENT AND ALLOW EVERYONE TO READ IT AT THE SAME TIME. THE DOCUMENT CAN EVEN BE COPIED EITHER END OF THE TELECONFERENCING LINK. TELECONFERENCING ALSO CAN BE SET UP AS A MULTIPOINT NETWORK IN WHICH SEVERAL CONFERENCE ROOMS IN VARIOUS CITIES ARE INTERCONNECTED.
* THE PRIMARY REASON FOR USING TELECONFERENCING IS TO SAVE TIME AND GET A WIDELY DISPERSED GROUP OF PEOPLE TOGETHER WHEN THEY NEED TO DISCUSS A COMMON PROBLEM. IT CAN ALSO SAVE CONSIDERABLE AMOUNTS OF MONEY BY REDUCING TRAVEL COSTS.
* TELECONFERENCING HAS THE ADVANTAGE OF BEING ABLE TO TRANSMIT DOCUMENTS, PICTURES, CHARTS, VISUAL, GRAPHS, OR ANYTHING WLSE THAT CAN BE SENT OVER A STANDARD TELEVISION SET.
* A TELECONFERENCE INVOLVES AUDIO COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE LOCATIONS, BUT MAY ALSO INVOLVE VIDEO, GRAPHICS, OR FACSIMILE.
TYPES:
1. TELESEMINAR - IS UTILIZED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES; IT IS PRIMARILY ONE-WAY COMMUNICATION TO MANY DESTINATIONS FROM ONE SOURCE. A TELESEMINAR ALMOST ALWAYS USES AUDIO COMMUNICATION, AND MAY ALSO USE VIDEO AND SOME FORM OF GRAPHICS. A MEANS IS PROVIDED FOR THE RECEIVING LOCATIONS TO ASK QUESTIONS OF THE INSTRUCTOR VIA MICROPHONES OR TELEPHONE HANDSETS.
2. TELEMEETING - IS OFTEN CALLED AN AD HOC TELECONFERENCE, WITH THE AD HOC REFERRING TO PLACES, TIMES, PARTICIPANTS, AND PURPOSE. AUDIO AND VIDEO ARE ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY USED TO COMMUNICATE AND, AS WITH A TELESEMINAR, A MEANS IS USUALLY PROVIDED AT THE RECEIVING LOCATIONS FOR QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED OF THOSE AT THE TRANSMITTING LOCATION.
3. COMPUTER CONFERENCING - IS A METHOD FOR PEOPLE TO COMMUNICATE BY USING COMPUTERS. BASICALLY, IT INVOLVES TYPING A MESSAGE ON A COMPUTER TERMINAL AND TRANSMITTING IT TO ONE OR MORE DESTINATIONS ELECTRONICALLY.
SOPHISTICATED NETWORKS ARE REQUIRED TO ACCOMPLISH COMPUTER CONFERENCING IN REAL TIME BETWEEN MANY USERS, OR A SIMPLE DATA MODEM AND TELEPHONE CIRCUIT CAN ALLOW TWO PEOPLE AT A TIME TO CONFERENCE. THE NETWORK ARRANGEMENTS ALSO ALLOWS NON-REAL-TIME CONFERENCING TO OCCUR, WHICH IS LIKE AN ELECTRONIC MAIL BOX. COMPUTER CONFERENCING IS NOT WIDELY USED AT PRESENT, BUT IT IS EXPECTED TO BECONME WIDESPREAD AS OFFICES BECOME MORE AUTOMATED.
4. AUDIO COMMUNICATION - AS A MINIMUM, TELECONFERENCING AUDIO SYSTEMS UTILIZE A DEVICE SUCH AS A SPEAKERPHONE TO ALLOW HANDS-FREE OPERATION. MORE TYPICALLY, MICROPHONES ARE EITHER CLIPPED TO PEOPLE OR ATTACHED TO A TABLE OR CEILING, AND LOUDSPEAKERS ARE MOUNTED IN A WALL, CABINET, OR CEILING. SCRAMBLING IS USED IN SOME SYSTEMS TO ASSURE COMMUNICATION'S PRIVACY.
5. VIDEO AND VIDEO GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION - VIDEO SYSTEMS USE ONE OR MORE CAMERAS AS IMAGE SOURCES, AND TELEVISION RECEIVERS, MONITORS, OR LARGE-SCREEN PROJECTORS AS A MEANS OF DISPLAY. CAMERAS MAY BE USED TO VIEW PEOPLE, OBJECTS, CHALKBOARDS OR EASELS, SLIDES, TRANSPARENCIES, OR TEXT ON PAPER; VIDEO TAPE PLAYERS ARE ALSO USED AS SOURCES. AGAIN, AS A FUNCTION OF THE COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT AND CIRCUITS USED, THE NATURE AND QUALITY OF THE VIDEO IMAGES MAY RANGE FROM THAT OF BROADCAST TELEVISION TO THAT OF SLOW SCAN OR FREEZE FRAME. HIGH-SPEED DIGITAL COMPRESSION CODECS ARE ALSO USED TO TRANSMIT IMAGES, WHICH ARE NEAR FULL MOTION, OVER TELEPHONE TRUNKS. AUDIO AND GRAPHIC INFROMATION MAY ALSO BE SENT THROUGH THESE CODECS, THUS ALLOWING ONE CIRCUIT TO BE USED FOR ALL FORMS OF COMMUNICATION.
6. GRAPHIC COMMUNICATIONS - NUMEROUS DEVICES ARE AVAILABLE THAT ALLOW NONVIDEO GRAPHICS TO BE USED IN CONFERENCING. THESE INCLUDE ELECTREONIC BLACKBOARDS AND WRITING TABLETS WHICH DIGITIZE, TRANSMIT, REPRODUCE AN EXACT REPLICA OF THE SOURCE AT THE DESTINATION. COMPUTER ARE ALSO USED TO GENERATE GRAPHIC MATERIAL FOR CONFERENCES. THE MATERIAL CAN BE CREATED BEFIRE A MEETING, AND WITH THE COMPUTER CONNECTED INTO THE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM, THE MATERIAL CAN BE TRANSMITTED TO A SIMILAR COMPUTER AND DISPLAYED AT THE DISTANT END.
7. FACSIMILE COMMUNICATIONS - EQUIPMENT OF THIS TYPE BASICALLY CONSISTS OF OFFICE FACSIMILE UNITS THAT ARE USED IN TELECONFERENCES TO SEND STANDARD- SIZED PAGES OF TEXTUAL MATERIAL BETWEEN SITES, EITHER OVER TELEPHONE CIRCUITS OR THROUGH CODECS OVER HIGH-SPEED CIRCUITS. THERE ARE MORE ELABORATE VERSIONS OF THE EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE WHICH ALSO ALLOW THE TRANSMITTED PAGE TO BE DISPLAYED VIA A MONITOR OR PROJECTOR AT BOTH THE TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING LOCATIONS.