Nationally, interactive conferencing is bringing experts together. In the world of medicine, special surgeons oversee procedures as they take place onscreen from operating rooms situated hundreds of miles away. Others benefit from the technology as well. Children separated from their imprisoned mothers are reunited onscreen on home computers through interactive technology now available in some of our federal prisons. The possibilities are endless.
Educators recognize the potential as well.
Faculty in the Department of Communication have kept pace with these advances and have implemented a new set of initiatives to take advantage of them. Through video conferencing, geographically dispersed students are brought together to explore the structural and social impact of new communication technologies with international experts from industry, government, and academia. Faculty and student responses are optimistic but mixed. For example, I was involved in a small group project last week in class that was to give a presentation on social movement protesters' use of the internet. While we researched and studied the protesters organizing themselves on the internet, we were doing the same within our small group.