Handbook of Local Area Networks, 1998 Edition:Applications of LAN Technology Click Here! Search the site:   ITLibrary ITKnowledge EXPERT SEARCH Programming Languages Databases Security Web Services Network Services Middleware Components Operating Systems User Interfaces Groupware & Collaboration Content Management Productivity Applications Hardware Fun & Games EarthWeb sites Crossnodes Datamation Developer.com DICE EarthWeb.com EarthWeb Direct ERP Hub Gamelan GoCertify.com HTMLGoodies Intranet Journal IT Knowledge IT Library JavaGoodies JARS JavaScripts.com open source IT RoadCoders Y2K Info Previous Table of Contents Next Types of Dataconferencing Presentation A presentation-type of dataconference is a broadcast event where a single presenter has an electronic slide presentation electronically distributed to multiple remote computers. The participants view each slide at approximately the same time the presenter displays them. Slides can be broadcast to attendees at individual workstations or to groups using a room-monitor system. A voice conference accompanies the presentation dataconference. (See Exhibit 5-3-3.) Exhibit 5-3-3.  Presentation Slides Moving from the Presenter’s PC to the Attendees’ The combination of an audioconference call and presentation-type dataconference is similar to being in an auditorium for a live presentation. The slide presentation is prepared in advance. The presenter controls the slides while the participants are in a view-only mode. Through an audio connection, audience members ask questions and receive immediate answers. An example of a business application for a presentation-type dataconference is the annual report conference call. Public corporations hold an audioconference call during which the CEO and CFO discuss the company’s financial results and strategy with analysts and stockholders. By adding a dataconference presentation, attendees can view graphs showing: •  Earnings and revenue by quarter. •  Costs per business unit and plant. •  Share price over the last year. •  Pictures of the company’s latest products. •  Diagrams of the company’s strategic direction. Graphs and pictures convey these messages better than a verbal description. A company can also use a presentation when announcing a merger, acquisition, or a new product. Another application for the presentation-type of service is distance learning. An instructor prepares a slide show that is displayed on conference attendees’ computers as the instructor discusses material over an audioconference call. The experience is like a live classroom, except that the students could be spread across the city, state, or even country. Dataconferencing is useful for both public education and intracompany training. Collaboration Collaboration is at the opposite end of the spectrum from presentation. In a collaborative-type dataconference, participants change a shared document such as a spreadsheet, text document, or graphics image. Collaboration implies a small conference of usually 3 to 10 participants; presentations include very large audiences. As with presentations, a voice conference call accompanies the collaboration dataconference (see Exhibit 5-3-4.) Exhibit 5-3-4.  A Dataconference Includes an Audioconference Call and the Document Link There are two types of collaboration: whiteboarding and application sharing. Whiteboarding. Whiteboarding software allows participants in a dataconference to make text and graphical notes on white background pages that are displayed on every computer in the conference. The software is designed to mimic a whiteboard in a conference room—everyone writes on it, and everyone views what the other participants have written. Several companies offer whiteboard software based on the T.120 standard. Whiteboarding software allows the user to load slides from other applications into the whiteboard space; everyone in the conference can see and write on those slides. For example, a design engineer loads a blueprint into a whiteboarding application and conducts a conference with a manufacturing engineer and a support engineer who are in different locations. All participants see the blueprint and make notes on it. Whiteboarding applications support multiple sheets or pages so that they can be used to give presentations. A presenter builds a series of slides in advance, loads them into a whiteboarding application as separate pages, and “shares” these pages one at a time with the other conference participants. Previous Table of Contents Next Use of this site is subject certain Terms & Conditions. Copyright (c) 1996-1999 EarthWeb, Inc.. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of EarthWeb is prohibited. Please read our privacy policy for details.