Collaborate on projects in Internet meetings<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id<\/p>\n
A 24-hour broadband connection to the Internet is definitely a
\nboon for home workers. For one thing, there is no meter running,
\nso we can calmly work on things that take hours to finish. With a
\ndial-up connection, this can be done, too, of course, but there
\nis always an urge to get offline immediately because the longer
\nwe stay online the more we will have to pay -- both to the ISP
\nand the telephone operator.<\/p>\n
One of the things that can be done if we have always-on access
\nto the Internet is to work together with one or more people
\npersons on a project. If you have a multimedia PC, complete with
\na Webcam, you can also hold video conferences to facilitate your
\ncommunication.<\/p>\n
Paid or Free Services?<\/p>\n
I grew more interested in finding ways to hold a meeting over
\nthe Web when I was in charge of coordinating a research project.
\nOne of my team members happened to be in Vancouver, Canada.
\nBesides, I have become so inundated with other work that having a
\n\"real-world\" meeting increasingly seems to be an time-consuming
\nactivity. An online meeting, where everyone can participate and
\ncontribute without having to brave the traffic of Jakarta, is an
\nalternative that we all should pursue.<\/p>\n
I was quite surprised to discover that there are several paid
\nservices that allow people to collaborate online. The fees they
\ncharge still vary, as this is obviously a new type of Internet
\nservice. Needless to say, after the 9-11 tragedy a lot of people
\nchose to video conference rather than fly to meetings, and this
\nsituation might have been one of the impetuses of the Internet-
\nbased meeting solutions offered by these companies.<\/p>\n
Some of the paid services are Webex (www.webex.com), Obidicut
\n(www.obidicut.com) and eBLVD (www.eblvd.com).<\/p>\n
Webex offers a free trial service if you want to get a taste
\nof Internet meetings. It also offers a pay-per-use service for
\npeople who need to hold Internet meetings quickly.<\/p>\n
One of the free services is Microsoft NetMeeting. I explored
\nthis one and thought it had all the basic tools for a fairly
\neffective meeting. As more and more free Web services become
\ncommercial services, though, we may expect that even Microsoft
\nwill eventually charge us for this service.<\/p>\n
A Hands-On Trial<\/p>\n
I used both my wife's HP Pavilion and my own PC to learn how
\nNetMeeting worked. I downloaded Microsoft NetMeeting applications
\non both computers, which were connected to the Internet.<\/p>\n
I initiated a NetMeeting session from my wife's PC. The reason
\nwas that it still runs on Windows Me (I still have not saved
\nenough money to buy the upgrade version of Windows XP for it). I
\nfigured initiating the NetMeeting from an older OS would create
\nless hassle, as Windows XP has sometimes told me to upgrade the
\nother computer to XP before I can use certain home network
\nfeatures.<\/p>\n
Then I clicked on NetMeeting's \"Find Someone in a Directory\"
\nbutton, and my wife's computer then accessed Microsoft's Internet
\nDirectory. After a few seconds, it showed my name as one of my
\nwife's contacts. I clicked on my name and moved over to my own
\nPC. There, the NetMeeting was loaded. It told me that my wife was
\ninviting me to have an online meeting with her. I accepted the
\ninvitation, and the two computers were connected via the Web.<\/p>\n
I then moved back and forth between my wife's and my PC,
\ntyping the questions and answers as if there were two people
\nchatting over the Web.<\/p>\n
By the way, a Benq pocket digital camera was also attached to
\nmy wife's Pavilion, and the video was shown on the NetMeeting
\npanel on my PC. If my wife were there to assist me in this
\nexperiment, we would have had a real audio-video conference.<\/p>\n
The essential part of the NetMeeting is the Whiteboard, which
\nis also a common feature offered by all the paid services. Using
\nthe whiteboard, which in the Microsoft NetMeeting looks exactly
\nlike the Paint applet, I created a diagram to illustrate the
\nassumption of the research I was involved in. As I added the
\nboxes, circles, text and lines on my PC, the same elements of the
\ndiagrams also appeared on my wife's PC. Conversely, if I made
\nsome modifications to the diagram using my wife's PC, the
\nmodifications appeared on my PC. The update was instantaneous.<\/p>\n
During the online meeting, I was also able to send files back
\nand forth. All I needed to do was click on the Transfer Files
\nbutton. We can actually send multiple files at once. NetMeeting
\non Windows XP-based PCs also allows application sharing. This was
\nnot possible during my test, though, as one of the PCs was not on
\nXP.<\/p>\n
Various Possibilities<\/p>\n
Microsoft NetMeeting is not always available. Sometimes I get
\na warning that it will be shut down for maintenance. I guess it
\nis the continuous availability of the online meeting services
\nthat we pay for if we subscribe to paid services such as Webex
\nand Obidicut.<\/p>\n
Other things that these commercial services offer include more
\ntools such as scheduling and calendaring, message boxes and
\nonline storage space for your team's work. Some more advanced
\nservices also offer 128-bit encryption for security.<\/p>\n
Meeting on the Internet may not be as crucial as it was in the
\nperiod immediately following 9-11, as people return to the skies,
\nbut the possibilities are still compelling. Seminars (one-to-many
\nconferencing), sales presentations, collaboration and, certainly,
\njoint research activities are good candidates for this type of
\nWeb service. E-Learning, which allows people to enrich their
\nlives through remote education, is another.<\/p>\n
By the way, as we are getting closer to 2004, when the next
\ngeneral election here will be held, and we could avoid a lot of
\nloss -- lives and property -- if political party leaders would
\ncampaign through Internet conferencing. At the same time, it
\nwould educate more people -- including the country's power elite
\n-- about all the marvelous things the Internet can do.<\/p>",
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