No special hardware.

The only hardware required for VTF is that every participant have a phone and a computer with a Web browser. Also necessary of course is the capability to operate both at the same time (will mean two phone lines for modem based Internet connections).

High speed Internet connections like ISDN are convenient but not required. The structure of meeting maps      mostly text and white space with small drawings      is conducive to fast transmission even over 28.8 modems.

No special software.

Telemeeting participants merely need a modern Web browser like Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Explorer. And as for the telefacilitator's tool, there are many Web page editors available entirely adequate for the real time generation of meeting maps.

Existing Web tools archive meeting maps for review

The output of the telemeeting is the meeting map, which is already in html format. Because each member of the telegroup has read access to the meeting map, everyone at the meeting can simply write their own copy of the text and graphics as html and GIFs to local storage.

And because the meeting maps are in html format, existing Web search programs, on the Internet or in Intranets, can then be used to locate particular items of interest in large collections of meeting maps.

   
© 1997, 1999 PGC