Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Technography Scenario & Implementation Thoughs
Author: Bernie DeKoven Posted: 3/26/1999; 11:07:53 AM Topic: [ANN] outline renderer for F6 HTML authoring Msg #: 4566 (In response to 4548) Prev/Next: 4565 / 4567
I think you are right on in your analysis.If everyone is in the same room, then the point is moot. We can just be using an outliner and accomplish everything we need. If we use Frontier's outliner, then there is the added advantage of being able to post the results periodically in a group-accessible browser. In some meetings, even if this were done only at half-hour intervals, it could still be of significant advantage. It could perform a function similar to that of a "copy break." Especially if there were a few machines scattered around the room that were connected to the internet. It would give people a sense of completion and an opportunity to review their progress. It could also give people who are participating remotely an opportunity to review, and through a DG interface, even kibbitz on the meeting's progress (of course, this would necessitate an additional effort -- people in the meeting would be have some kind of obligation to discuss and integreate the additional input). But, yes, there could be a real contribution to using Frontier as the outliner and web-publisher in the face-to-face meeting.
It's the distributed meeting that is both the problem and the opportunity. The implications and applications for on-line facilitation are enormous, and could serve groups engaged in everything from emergency response to determining the layout for tomorrow's newspaper. I haven't had the opportunity to explore this enough to reach a conclusion about minimal-acceptable-latency. But my assumption is that no-one will be really satisfied until the latency is whittled down to zero. Even though it may be OK to have the screen refresh every eight seconds, the "magic" really comes when you see your words on the screen almost as soon as they leave your head.
In the broadband environment, this zero latency might be best accomplished through some application of videoconference technology, where what we wind up having to do is broadcast an image of the T's screen, with the camera trained on the screen instead of the face of the T. But in today's environment, this is clearly an unsatisfactory and limiting solution.
I think what we need to do, and what I'm hoping our community will be inspired to do, is experiment. I think we have the opportunity to greatly extend the audience and applications for the technology we have at our disposal. We need to try a few different models: something that works within the limits of today's technology (and there are several directions to explore -- perhaps some application of NetMeeting or some javascripting or even requiring users to dial in to a special server), and solutions which rely on a broadened band (videoconference facilities, CUCme extensions...).
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