Mark Bryson, m.bryson@lancaster.ac.uk
This issue includes a discussion about choosing a conference system, some of the systems listed are Usenet News, Hypermail, CoSy, Novell Groupware, FirstClass, Lotus Notes, Conference+ and Microsoft Exchange. Other issues in this series include Issue 1 and Issue 2.
The CMC in HE project is exploring the potential of using Computer-Mediated Communications to support more flexible patterns of teaching and learning.
The BT CMC-in-HE Project is run by members of Lancaster University's CSALT team with funding from British Telecom's University Development Awards. We are working with other departments and institutions across the Higher Education sector to help them establish good practice in the use of CMC to provide more flexible patterms of teaching and learning, and to widen access to HE resources to currently under-represented groups of learners.
We have been running a series of on-site, regional & national workshops to establish effctive ways of using CMC systems. We are currently preparing for several workshops in the near future. If you are interested in attending one of these events please contact the CMC in HE team. Alternatively you may be interested in a similar event for your institution. Either way, please contact us.
Contact details are given at the end of this Newsletter.
Only a few years ago there were relatively few conference systems to choose from. In those days hardware platforms would often not support many host conference systems, so choice was often severely constrained by the hardware available. Systems ran as host and terminal (rather than server and client) and general purpose terminal software, available on virtually all types of computer could be used. Graphics and 'rich' text were not integrated in conference systems so communications consisted entirely of plain (ASCII) text and cross-platform file incompatibility issues were relatively unimportant. All these factors made choosing a conference system fairly easy, compared with the situation today.
There are many more conference systems available now and the amount of variation between systems is also much increased. Contemporary systems often operate only with dedicated client software which may not be available on many computer systems or support all connection pathways. Support for conference system functions will not be exactly equivalent on all client (or server) platforms though incompatibilities may not be significant in every situation. Dedicated client software makes conference systems easier to use and more functional but increases the cost of installation, training and updating. If your organisation uses more than one conference system or needs to communicate with other organisations, several different dedicated client software packages may be needed, which could be a significant problem for users and for support.
Connectivity is one area where the range of options (and acronyms) can be bewildering, this is compounded by the increasing popularity of local area (PC) networks. Remote access to a local area network is currently more problematic than remote access to a single host machine. The ever increasing power and popularity of notebook computers, packet radio networks, cheaper and faster telecommunications, trends in student demographics and emerging messaging agent technologies suggests successful conference systems will provide flexible connectivity!
Contemporary conference software can be flexible, extensible and do much more than simply provide a forum for group discussions, they can provide mail gateways (to various systems), form design and scripting ability (for customisation, validation and workflow), links to and from local databases (e.g. SQL), links to public data sources (e.g. Internet / Usenet News) and links to other client platform software (e.g. using a special programming interface or tools like Windows OLE and Apple's Publish & Subscribe). These and other facilities can significantly enhance learners' education opportunities, tutors' organisational and research opportunities and the opportunities of systems staff to integrate and manage conference activity within the organisation's wider data resources. Unfortunately all this flexibility makes for a more difficult choice.
A conference system used for some Higher Education courses could combine secure, on-line submission, archiving, marking and return of individual and group work with automatic collation, reporting and charting of marks. Other tools within the conference system, like outlining (collapsing and expanding sections of text), indexed text retrieval and hypertext links could help later cohorts of learners and tutors to make profitable, future use of conference discussions.
Perhaps as a reaction against the dedicated nature of conference client software many people are investigating solutions that combine some of the virtues of conference systems with some of those offered by electronic mail. Several market leading conference applications are increasing the role and significance of electronic mail, look out for conference systems with methods for 'interchange' between different conference systems, several already exist.
The conference / groupware scene is developing so rapidly and could become even more pervasive than electronic mail is now that concerns about compatibility of conference system software with future software is no less important than compatibility with existing systems.
The systems listed below all provide platforms for asynchronous conference activity but often integration with synchronous methods of communication is available, sometimes within the conference system itself, sometimes as a link to other applications software.
This list includes only some of the many potential solutions available and is not intended as a positive or negative recommendation of any of them or indeed as a direct comparison of their individual strengths and weaknesses. The systems described differ in many ways, this list is only an introduction to some of the issues that may help to inform decisions about which, if any, will best address a particular organisational need.
NEWS is a world-wide distributed conferencing and discussion system which is already used in most UK Higher Education establishments. News client software is available free for most if not all common computer platforms and host software is also common. News software has been written to a standard but not all of it adheres to the same version of that standard, so News clients are much more variable and idiosyncratic than clients of the systems described here, some World Wide Web (WWW) browsers can be used. News is not an inherently secure system, some access control is possible but limiting access to individual conferences by individual people in a secure and manageable way is practically impossible.
URL: http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/what-is-usenet/part1/faq.htmlHypermail is a program that converts a file of mail messages stored in UNIX mailbox format into HTML format to allow access via WWW browsers such as Mosaic & Netscape, messages can be organised by date, subject, author etc.. URLs (pointers to WWW documents) embedded in messages are interpreted as hypertext links so conference discussions can include hyperlinks to earlier documents and to other WWW accessible resources. Fine for text-only conferences on a UNIX (SunOS 4.1.3, Solaris 2.3, IRIX 5.2, OSF/1 2.0) hosts.
Email: Kevin Hughes, kevinh@eit.com
URL: http://www.eit.com/software/hypermail/hypermail.html
Price: All versions of Hypermail are available free of charge for noncommercial purposes under a license agreement.
CoSy 4.00 hosts run under Sun OS 4 and as clients on Windows and Macintoshes with system 7. CoSy is a long established system and is used throughout the world.
Tel: (604) 727-6522, Victoria, British Columbia, CanadaGroupware from Novell can be run from some UNIX servers as well as from Netware 3 & 4. Clients can be Novell, OS/2 & UNIX but not Macintosh. Good calendar and schedule facilities with comprehensive network support.
Tel: 01344 724001FirstClass is currently available for Windows and Macintosh clients, though additional interfaces must be purchased for VT100 clients and Windows clients. At the moment a FirstClass server must be a Macintosh PC though an NT server is scheduled for release this year. The Mac client allows a graphic to accompany rich-text messages though the current Windows client (version 2.6) is less capable and requires a server supplement for IP connection. Access control is good and dial-up connection is possible but at the moment all work must be done while connected to the server, you can't store FirstClass conferences on a client machine and work while disconnected except using certain third-party products which in general are available only for Macintosh PCs. A synchronous chat facility is provided.
Tel: 0181 561 1993 (Eurosource)Price: £229 (25 licences) with educational discount but excluding VAT. Server costs £69. Windows i/f £229, TCP/IP server support £369
Lotus Notes is a long established 'groupware' application with several distinctive features, perhaps the most important of which is client-server replication. Replication is a process by which clients can selectively copy conferences (also known as databases or applications in Notes-speak) from the server to the client. Users can work on the local replica while not connected to the server. Client connections to the server tend to consist of automated exchanges of updates to those conferences the two machines have in common, this results in much reduced load on connection mechanisms and much reduced cost for remote clients. Notes provides multimedia capability, is available on several platforms as both client and server, is very easily customised, has excellent connectivity, supports a whole industry of complementary products and is really the yardstick against which other groupware applications are measured. Notes complexity can mean that system administration and user training needs are significant though this is normally an issue only when database customisation or development is required. A new version of Notes (4.0) is scheduled for release later this year with support for MAPI 1.0.
Tel: 0990 203000 ext. 2394Price: Education price 20% of commercial, for 20 users (inc. VAT) £1362 (with design capability) £766 (without design capability), further discount for larger numbers of licenses. Media price is currently not discounted, it is £435 +VAT for each supported platform.
MESA Conference+ is a conference system for Windows PCs using Microsoft Mail (required). Additional products provide bi-directional links to established conference environments including Lotus Notes and Usenet News but these are not available commercially in the U.K at the moment. Conference+ is closely integrated with Microsoft Mail, there will be a new release following shortly after Microsoft's Exchange server.
Tel: 0171 731 7200, Tony Bekon, James GordonPrice: £50 per licence (10 licences), £20 per licence (3000 licences). Licenced per 'seat'.
Microsoft Exchange server is scheduled for release towards the end of this year. The server will only be available under NT, client software will be available under Windows '95 and is promised for Windows for Workgroups and certain Macintosh platforms too. Some local workgroup 'exchange' functionality was to have been included in Windows '95 but at the moment it is unclear exactly what will be possible with and without the server.
Tel: 0345 002000http://www-iwi.unisg.ch:80/delta/links/groupw.html
Computer Mediated Communication Studies Center : http://www.rpi.edu/~decemj/cmc/center.html
Journal of Computer Mediated Communication : http://cwis.usc.edu/dept/annenberg/vol1/issue1/index.html
Expanding Your BBS, David Wolfe 1995. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-11566-5. As the author says in his introduction, this book and CD-ROM are intended for people already involved in running a Bulletin Board System (BBS) using IBM-PCs. The book is certainly a valuable resource for anyone in this situation but anyone with an interest in BBS systems may also enjoy reading about topics (like ANSI & RIP graphics, QWK mail, Doorways, Fossil drivers etc.) from a behind the scenes perspective.
Most of the book deals with specific hardware and software solutions to BBS issues, these descriptions will rarely be generally applicable but sometimes even technical descriptions may interest a wider audience, in particular the chapters "The Internet and You", "Business Applications in the BBS World" and "Getting Users to Call Your BBS" may interest anyone following issues surrounding current 'Information Superhighway' hype or managing a BBS-style system of their own. The CD holds about 233 Mb of compressed (ZIPped) files, mostly applications software, not many are dated 1995 but even so there is a lot here to interest any one with a BBS and particularly anyone thinking of starting a new one. Software includes BBS systems (DOS and Windows), BBS add-ons, utilities of many sorts and even a replacement DOS compatible command processor ... any DOS user could find this useful whether or not they are interested in communications. Directories include 'contents' files to describe the compressed software both in text format and in a form to allow easy mounting of the CD on a BBS.
Groups Interacting with Technology, Joseph E. McGrath and Andrea B. Hollingshead, 1994. Sage Library of Social Research. ISBN 0-8039-4898-0. This book is one of the outcomes of a U.S. National Science Foundation research project whose objectives were to review and integrate the research literature on the effects of technology on the flow of work in groups and to construct an agenda for future research in that area. There is a well annotated bibliography of the research literature on electronic technology in work groups and sections summarising empirical research, a taxonomy of technologies applied in work groups and some conceptual formulations about the effects of electronic technology in work groups. The book concentrates on the U.S. research literature and avoids technical details.
Implementing Computer Supported Cooperative Learning, David McConnell, 1994. Kogan Page. ISBN 0-7494-1237-2. This book derives from the author's long experience of collaboration in the design and management of computer mediated learning experiences, particularly a computer mediated MA in Management Learning. Some sections are derived from previously published work. There is discussion of existing technological solutions (conference systems) and recent research projects together with an exploration of the benefits of the computer mediated approach for learners and tutors and the role and experiences of course managers and tutors in supporting learners' learning cooperatively. There is an extensive bibliography.