Web Meeting tools

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... part of the technology for communities project,
started off by the authors of [Digital Habitats], Etienne Wenger, Nancy White, and John D. Smith.

Contents

Definition

Also known as web conferencing for live meetings or webinars, Web Meeting tools are usually a platform aggregating a set of tools for synchronous online group interactions. Some have limited asynchronous resources such as recordings for later use. They are ideal for meeting-oriented communities, although they usually have a presentation style of meeting which may not necessarily match the style of all community meetings.

Uses in communities of practice

  • community meetings of various sorts (mostly including presentations, but also conversations)
  • working on a task together that may include talking, shared whiteboarding, or application sharing
  • share community learnings out to the wider world through recorded sessions

Polarities

  • Together/apart, Synch/Asynch: these tools are designed primarily for synchronous interaction, but most of them will make a recording for later use.
  • Participation/Reification: the great virtue of these tools is to allow people to participate in an event at a distance. Although participation in a synchronous event can be quite varied, participation afterward is usually limited because the recording allows only passive participation (that is there's no facility for commenting or contesting what was presented).
  • Individual/group: they specialize in one-to-many or communication among a small group that can be heard by a much larger group.

Key features

What's included

A web meeting tool might include:

Tool integration

  • Single logon to a complete featureset Authorization and access permissions to a complete set of tools.
    • Participant vs host logon
    • Integration with registration software
  • Cost: most tools require a broadband connection and rely on a substantial computer. For large-scale events, the cost of a webinar is small compared to travel, but is not free.
  • Tools work together effortlessly. Tools are designed to work together and they all share menus and functionality.

Management and access control

  • Pre-registration
  • Sharing control
  • Follow-on contacts

Separability of media

  • Audio recordings Frequently Audio and screen recordings are stored in one big recording system. ** To support re-use, it's helpful to have access to the audio only, or the screen images only.
    • Help people decide whether to listen to the whole webinar

Related tools

Because these platforms are comprehensive, they tend to be free-standing and not have a lot of features intended to integrate or connect with other platforms.

See also:

  • a platform like [Skype] supports screen-sharing that provides web meetings for just two people.

Examples

Resources

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