Web Conferencing with Adobe

Yesterday, 24 January, 2008, I attended a web conferencing workshop related to using Adobe Connect. The workshop, hosted by SurfNet, was very well organized and facilitated by Roel Martens and Frank Niesten, both affiliated with Fontys PTH in Eindhoven. Thanks to this event some earlier snags I had experienced in using the software were solved and I got a good idea of what is possible – and not possible – with Adobe connect. A large number of documents (in Dutch) from Fontys PTH on aspects of video conferencing are available here.

To begin on the positive side, Connect provides valuable possibilities for distant meetings, one-on-one or small group, in research and educational settings. I will be using it as supplement to face-to-face meetings I have with PhD candidates, seminar students, and members of various research projects in which I am involved. On the negative side, the software, accompanying hardware and conventional Internet connection do not always provide optimal synchronization between voice and image; further, some time investment is required before minor technical hurdles are overcome.

After the workshop I immediately put the experience to the test with students participating in a seminar in Ljubljana (I was in Amsterdam). It took us about half an hour to figure out solutions to basic matters like achieving sound and image reproduction. These problems were eventually solved and, in the process, one of the 'lessons' from the workshop became vividly clear: arrange a face-to-face training session **before** beginning to use Connect (which we didn't do). Four of the students in Ljubljana did eventually figure out the basics; three others, however, assumed computers in the university library would be equipped with microphones and speakers (which they are not). The most basic of all lessons was learned the hard way: ensure that the computer to be used with Connect is equipped to run the software, is connected to the Internet, and is able to provide sound and images.

During the workshop a short demonstration was given of a more advanced web conferencing system, called Polycom. The difference with Adobe Connect was immediate and striking: Polycom provides high-quality video, and the wide-angle lens of the camera enables all participants around a meeting table to be simultaneously included in the video image (Connect allows small, passport-size images). Further, a remote control devise similar to a television remote allows the camera position to be changed, both at the host meeting place as well as at a distant meeting place. The demonstration involved logging into a unit in Australia and demonstrating this control facility, all projected with striking clarity on a large wall screen. There are similar products on the market; this one by Polycom costs around 4000-5000 Euros. Such a system would be ideal for educational and research institutions separated by some distance that need to conduct frequent meetings among members.