[AG-TECH] [SEMINAR] Wed 11/13: "Challenging Five Common Assumptions about Videoconferencing"

[Lawrence A. Rowe]

       BERKELEY MULTIMEDIA, INTERFACES, AND GRAPHICS SEMINAR

Title: Challenging Five Common Assumptions about Videoconferencing
Speaker: Milton Chen (Stanford)
Day/Date: Wed Nov 13 12:10-1:30 PM (PDT)

		      ABSTRACT

A user's videoconferencing experience often parallels that of the
videoconferencing history: the vision and expectation at first is 
invariably followed by frustrations and disappointments. A set of 
common assumptions has emerged from these collective experiences. By
designing, implementing, and evaluating a multiparty videoconferencing
system, we provide evidence to challenge four common assumptions about
videoconferencing: 

  1. high-fidelity AV requires expensive hardware, 
  2. extensive training is required for installation and operation, 
  3. life-size displays of remote participants are ideal, 
  4. effective floor control requires interactive frame rate, and 
  5. eye contact is not possible. 

Next, I will demonstrate the world's first software-based TV-quality
videoconferencing system. The software embeds as a web component to 
transform Internet Explorer into a videoconferencing portal; as a
consequence, the software can be used as easily as surfing the web. 
Lastly, we predict that near term advances in computing, networking, 
and human factor understanding will finally make videoconferencing
ubiquitous.

More information on connecting to the webcast, including a copy
of the slides, will be posted at the following URL shortly before 
the seminar:
  http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/bibs/instance?prog=1&group=25&inst=855

-- 
Professor Lawrence A. Rowe          Internet:  Rowe at BMRC.Berkeley.EDU
Computer Science Division - EECS       Phone: 510-642-5117
University of California, Berkeley       Fax: 510-642-5615
Berkeley, CA 94720-1776            URL: http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/~larry