The document discusses various internet communication technologies including Voice over IP (VoIP), instant messaging, video conferencing, and data sharing. It provides examples of how these technologies are used for communication between colleagues in different locations and for professional meetings. Requirements for these technologies such as hardware, software, bandwidth, and technical support are also outlined.
Short for Voice over Internet Protocol, a category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls by sending voice data in packets using IP rather than by traditional circuit transmissions of the PSTN. One advantage of VoIP is that the telephone calls over the Internet do not incur a surcharge beyond what the user is paying for Internet access, much in the same way that the user doesn't pay for sending individual e-mails over the Internet. There are many Internet telephony applications available. Some, like CoolTalk and NetMeeting, come bundled with popular Web browsers. Others are stand-alone products. VoIP also is referred to as Internet telephony, IP telephony, or Voice over the Internet (VOI)
Conducting a conference between two or more participants at different sites by using computer networks to transmit audio and video data. For example, a point-to-point (two-person) video conferencing system works much like a video telephone . Each participant has a video camera , microphone, and speakers mounted on his or her computer . As the two participants speak to one another, their voices are carried over the network and delivered to the other's speakers, and whatever images appear in front of the video camera appear in a window on the other participant's monitor. Multipoint videoconferencing allows three or more participants to sit in a virtual conference room and communicate as if they were sitting right next to each other. Until the mid 90s, the hardware costs made videoconferencing prohibitively expensive for most organizations, but that situation is changing rapidly. Many analysts believe that videoconferencing will be one of the fastest-growing segments of the computer industry in the latter half of the decade.
Typically, services combine IM, VoIP, DATA SHARING, and Video streaming into one application
To take part in a Breeze meeting, you need the following: An Internet connection One of the supported operating systems listed at www.macromedia.com/go/breeze_sysreqs One of the supported browsers listed at www.macromedia.com/go/breeze_sysreqs Macromedia Flash Player 6.0.65 or later as a browser plug-in Note: Macromedia Flash Player is standard in most browsers. You can find out what version of Flash Player you have at the Test Macromedia Web Players page at www.macromedia.com /software/flash/about/ . (Optional) A sound card and speakers to hear audio broadcasts from other meeting participants (Optional) A microphone to broadcast audio to other meeting participants (Optional) A web camera to broadcast video to other meeting participants
Look into the camera, rather than the monitor, when speaking to remote sites. If not, it may appear on their monitor that you are looking above, below or to the side. Use natural gestures when you speak, but try to avoid too much movement, such as swiveling in your chair or twirling your pen. Try to wear both light and dark clothing. Wearing all light or all dark clothing can trick the camera's automatic brightness control. Avoid very "busy" patterns on clothing, such as small checks or narrow stripes. These can cause distracting visual effects on the screen. Avoid bright colors. Light pastels and muted colors look better on the screen than very intense colors or bright white. Keep jewelry to a minimum. Don't place papers or objects on in the way of the microphone. Don't rustle papers or tap on the microphone. If possible, ask frequent questions of all sites to make everyone feel involved in the session. Organize materials in advance. Have all handouts delivered to all sites prior to the conference. Paper copies for the document camera work better than transparencies. Use at least 16 or 18 point bold typeface in landscape mode for camera documents. If you plan on broadcasting a videotape presentation, preview it first over a videoconferencing system. Some videotapes do not lend themselves well to this type of broadcasting, primarily due to the amount of movement recorded.
To take part in a Breeze meeting, you need the following: An Internet connection One of the supported operating systems listed at www.macromedia.com/go/breeze_sysreqs One of the supported browsers listed at www.macromedia.com/go/breeze_ sysreqs Macromedia Flash Player 6.0.65 or later as a browser plug-in Note: Macromedia Flash Player is standard in most browsers. You can find out what version of Flash Player you have at the Test Macromedia Web Players page at www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about/ . (Optional) A sound card and speakers to hear audio broadcasts from other meeting participants (Optional) A microphone to broadcast audio to other meeting participants (Optional) A web camera to broadcast video to other meeting participants