June 23, 2004
This Is How We Will Meet: SmartMeeting
Yesterday I took a group of five among industry experts, news reporters, and technology bloggers to a private demo of a new breakthrough conferencing and collaboration technology called SmartMeeting. This new, immersive 3D collaboration environment is truly a generation ahead of any other conferencing system available out there. People gather together in an actual three-dimensional space and can gather, discuss and hold effective meetings in front of a business table or while facing a panoramic giant projection screen. Each participant is represented by an avatar that she can customize before entering the meeting space, and which closely resembles a real human. Each avatar is capable of moving her lips as you talk live, and it integrates a number of visual expressions and body language movements that facilitate multiple forms of expression even when one is silent. Full-duplex, no-buttons-to-press VoIP is fully integrated and it is active by default. Quality is good and delay barely perceivable. The meeting space is equipped with all kinds of presentation facilities including co-browsing, text chat, document sharing, multimedia player, RSS/XML live news ticker, PowerPoint presentation, whiteboard, screen capture and more. The virtual meeting space is made up of multiple rooms, and participants can break up to work independently. Sound is also in 3D allowing you to hear sounds coming from the sides as people walk next to you, and disappearing altogether when people are too far away. All of this works in an SSL 128-bit secured environment which can be switched to 2D at a click of your mouse. The meeting space created can be made to be persistent, and when you come back to it after a meeting things, are just like you left them. Overall bandwidth required for all of this to happen: 28.8- 50Kbps. In-depth review coming up on Kolabora next. Free 30-day try-out available (PC only - 7.6 MB download). Price is $100/month for 5-user office, or $ 20/day for 20 persons max. This is a must-see (you need to have a recent PC with 3D card). (Check also Heike Philp personal report on this unique meeting environment).
November 25, 2008
The Best Online Collaboration Tools 2008, Collaborative Map is a live editable map of over 150 of the best free and low-cost online collaboration tools available, picked and selected by passionate users like you and me. Click the map to see the full, public, editable version That's ...read more
November 22, 2008
As more and more students begin to attend online courses, is the educational system well aware of the potential of outside-the-classroom approaches in learning? George Siemens - Photo credit: Injenuity The abundance and consequent fragmentation of information gives increasing opportunity to specialized forms of education that more ...read more
November 8, 2008
Pretty soon mobile devices will be used to stream live and on-demand, recorded training courses, engaging learners on the move even in the absence of traditional face-to-face approaches. But, would you attend a course via your mobile phone? Photo credit: lumigopereira Easy of access to high-speed networks ...read more
November 1, 2008
“New technologies offer new opportunities for educators to increase learner engagement and improve the overall value of the learning experience." (Source: George Siemens) George Siemens - Photo credit: Dean Shareski Is your university or college using Facebook, wikis, podcasts, or other social media technologies to communicate, interact and ...read more
October 30, 2008
Every wiki platform has its own advantages and disadvantages. There are tens of different wiki solutions out there, and it can be a daunting task to choose the wiki platform that will best suit your needs. What characteristics are most important when deciding on your wiki ...read more
October 25, 2008
How do you make sense of the huge quantity of the increasing amount of fragmented, separate, granular information you're exposed to when learning? George Siemens - Photo credit: Terri Brown "We make sense personally. No one makes sense for us." If you just rely on educational and academic ...read more
