b-involved is a multimedia platform that enables a small group of people to meet, through a internet connection, in a virtual room and have a focused discussion about a pre-defined issue.

1. Participation 4 all anywhere!
http://b-involved.jrc.it/
11th October 2007

2. Description
• Internet application that enables a small group of people
to have a focused discussion about a pre-defined issue.
• Each group has at least
one Moderator and
several Participants who
meet in a virtual room.
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3. Features
Participants Table
• Graphical representation of the people participating in
the event.
– Each person (participant or moderator) is
represented by an icon and a login name;
– The highlighted icons represent the people
online
– Moderators’ logins are displayed in blue, and
the participants’ in black;
– If you are a Participant, your own login is
displayed in red;
– Shows the user status.
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4. Features
Discussion Chat
• Area where the participants are able to write their
opinions about the issues in discussion.
– The Moderators should facilitate the discussion;
– The Participants should take in full account the Moderator’s
instructions;
– Participants should be familiarised to
write with the keyboard;
– The discussion is automatically stored.
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5. Features
Presentation Viewer
• Place where you can view a presentation about the issue
of concern.
– The presentation should be
short and simple;
– The Organizer/Moderator
of the focus group is responsible
for creating this presentation;
– Synchronized presentation.
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6. Features
Whiteboard
• Place where the participants can contribute with real
time drawings and schemes.
– Several people can provide
inputs to the same drawing in a
collaborative environment;
– Participants have at their
disposal several basic drawing
tools;
– Drawings are automatically
saved.
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7. Features
Virtual Library
• Shared space where everybody can view and send
different types of documents and links.
– The material should be relevant to the issue in discussion;
– The Moderators have the possibility to alter and delete any
material or link sent;
– Files accepted:
– Text files: .txt, .rtf, .doc, .pdf;
– Spreadsheet: .xls;
– Presentations: .ppt, .pps;
– Images: .jpg, .gif, .png;
– Animations: .avi, .swf.
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8. Features
Video
• Allows you to broadcast live audio and video to the other
participants.
– Moderator has the possibility to see and listen to all the
participants;
– Participants can only see (and listen) the moderator and a
participant of its choice;
– it’s possible to control what you broadcast.
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9. Features
Private Chat
• Allows the moderator to have a one-to-one conversation
with any participant.
– Feature available only to the moderator;
– The others participants can see the conversation.
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10. Main Advantages
• Allows remote and distributed e-participation sessions
• Effective in providing on-screen visual stimulate to
participants
• No need to install any specific software
• The discussion is automatically stored in a database and
can be saved and analyzed later on by the Moderator
• No cost associated
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11. Main Challenges
• Access: Requires an internet connection;
• Skills (Usability): one needs to be skilled to work with
computers;
• Accessibility;
• Person presence is partial lost: body language, tone of
voice and other visual signals might not picked up;
• Group dynamics as we know it, does change;
• Moderation.
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12. The (on-going) Future
• Integration of evaluation tools
– multi-criteria evaluation
– participatory scenarios building;
• Enhancement of moderation management tools (e.g.
monitoring and control features).
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13. More Information
• b-involved website
http://b-involved.jrc.it/
• Authors e-mails
Paulo Rosa: paulo.rosa@jrc.it
Ângela Guimarães Pereira: angela.pereira@jrc.it
Gonçalo Lobo: ggl@fct.unl.pt
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