COMPUTER-BASED REAL-TIME CONFERENCING SYSTEMS

Several prototype real-time conferencing systems were examined and guidelines for the design and implementation of future real-time conferencing systems were presented. Two contrasting approaches to constructing real-time conferencing systems have been identified: (1) sharing existing single-user interactive programs by means of virtual terminals; and (2) writing new application programs that interact with multiple users able to treat each one differently (in terms of command context and access control). The former approach is easy to implement but limited in functionality, while the latter can provide better functionality and performance, but requires more work to implement. Some systems may be able to use a mixture of the two approaches. It is concluded that for the immediate future, it is probably more important to build some real-time conferencing systems quickly than to ensure that they have broad-based functionality; that way users will have an opportunity to experiment with this new technology.