Selected products should support an electronic whiteboard feature which allows discussion participants to share a real-time, text and graphics environment. Read and write ability for any participant should be at the discretion of the discussion leader. Selected products should support encryption of passwords and data as they travel on insecure networks. Strengths Conference participation can be restricted to a designated set of individuals. Conferencing uses familiar Web browsers.
Conferences offer near real-time discussion.
No additional load on campus electronic mail servers. Variety of media may be posted. Weaknesses Software to support private conferencing not yet deployed on campus. Uncertain use of server resources. Links to Other Resources Choosing Web Conferencing Software by David R. Woolley, November 1996.