The Meaning of Teleconferencing
Teleconferencing is the use of various technologies to allow discussions and meetings between multiple parties in different locations. The term was first used in 1953 as a contraction of “telephone” and “conference.” Today, though, it is better understood in terms of the original Greek meaning of “tele-”, meaning "at a distance,” as the telephone is only one means by which teleconferencing can be achieved.
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Audio Teleconferencing
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The earliest and still most common form of teleconferencing is the conference call, a telephone call including three or more parties. There are various ways of making such a call, ranging from basic conference calling available as part of consumer home or cellular phone services up to more fully featured systems that may be hosted on a company’s own servers. An example of a more advanced feature is the ability to allow some participants to speak and be heard while others may only listen.
Video Teleconferencing
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State-of-the-art teleconferencing equipment is produced by companies like Cisco, whose telepresence suites can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to install and thousands per month to run. As a result, they are generally used by major corporations, and even then may be leased rather than purchased. These systems feature high-definition video, spatial audio systems whereby each voice appears to come from a different position, the capacity for large numbers of participants and very high reliability.
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Internet Teleconferencing
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The Internet and the ever-increasing computing power available to homes and businesses have made teleconferencing vastly more accessible. Web cams and services such as Skype, iChat and GoToMeeting allow video calls that may not be as impressive as those offered by high-end telepresence systems, but easily meet the needs of most users. They may also allow users to view and control each other's computer screens, facilitating online collaboration.
Advantages
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A teleconference allows the inclusion of distant participants without the cost and disruption of physical travel. The elimination of travel time also allows teleconferences to be convened at much shorter notice than physical meetings should the need arise. Because participants can join in using anything from a full telepresence suite to a cellular phone, teleconferencing may be the easiest or only way to include all relevant parties.
Considerations
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Factors such as latency, especially over intercontinental distances, may complicate matters, as normal conversational cues are lost and one party can easily find himself interrupting another. As a result, forms of etiquette specific to teleconferencing are often adopted, with things explicitly stated which would not need to be in a physical meeting: for example, who is present, and when one has finished speaking. A further consideration for prospective buyers of high-end telepresence facilities is the rapidity of technological progress, which may make leasing more attractive than purchasing.
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- Photo Credit webcam image by Régis Verger from Fotolia.com
