Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

114 conferencing systemsFeldman, Michael. “Our Manycore Future.” HPCWire. Availableonline. URL: http://www.hpcwire.com/hpc/1295541.html.Accessed June 24, 2007.Lea, Douglas. Concurrent Programming in Java: Design Principlesand Patterns. 3rd ed. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Professional,2006.Merritt, Rick. “Where Are the Programmers? Enrollment WanesJust as Computer Scientists Grapple with Problem of Parallelism.”IEEE Times, March 12, 2007. Available online. URL:http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197801653. Accessed June 24, 2007.Steele, Guy, and Jan-Willem Maessen. “Fortress ProgrammingLanguage Tutorial Slides.” Sun Microsystems. Availableonline. URL: http://research.sun.com/projects/plrg/PLDITutorialSlides9Jun2006.pdf.Accessed June 11, 2007.conferencing systemsConferencing systems are online communications facilitiesthat allow users to log in and participate in discussions ona variety of topics. Although this is a rather amorphous categoryof software, some distinguishing characteristics canbe identified. Conferencing is distinguished from chat orinstant messaging systems because the messages are asynchronous(that is, one person at a time leaves a message,and there is no real-time interaction between participants).Unlike Netnews newsgroups, conferencing systems such asSan Francisco Bay Area–based The Well tend to have userswho are committed to long-term discussions in conferences(topical discussion areas) that tend to persist for weeks,months, or even years. Conferencing systems are oftengrouped under the umbrella term of Computer-MediatedCommunications (CMC).HistoryIn the 1960s, researcher Murray Turoff at the Institute forDefense Analysis decided to adopt for computer use a discussionmethod called Delphi, developed at RAND corporation.This method was a collective process by which newideas were discussed and voted on by a panel of experts.After he implemented Delphi as a system of messages passedvia computer, he began to generalize his work into a moregeneral method of facilitating online discussions. His ElectronicInformation Exchange System (EIES, pronounced“eyes”) was designed to facilitate discussion within researchcommunities of 10–50 members.The emergence of topical online discussions can be seenin the development of the Usenet (or Netnews) newsgroupsin the early 1980s, the development of communicationsor memo systems within large offices (particularly withinthe government), and the emergence of bulletin boards andonline services for personal computer users. Most earlynews and bulletin board software had only rudimentaryfacilities for linking topics and responses. A more sophisticatedapproach to conferencing emerged within the PLATOeducational computing network in the 1970s, in the form ofPlato Notes. This system began as a simple way for users toleave messages or help requests in a text file, and evolvedinto a structure of “base notes” and linked response notes, atopic-and-response structure that became the general modelfor conferencing systems.In the mid-1980s, the Well (Whole Earth ’Lectronic’Link) began to provide online conferencing to anyone whosubscribed. It used a text-based system called Picospan.With its improbable eclectic mix well salted with GratefulDead fans and computer “nerds,” the Well became asort of petri dish for cultivating community (see virtualcommunity). Long-term friendships (and feuds) and occasionalromances have been nurtured by such conferencingsystems.Typical StructureA typical text-based conferencing system is divided intoconferences, which are generally devoted to relatively broadsubjects, such as UNIX, pop music, or politics. Each conferenceis further divided into topics, which usually reflectparticular aspects of the general subject (such as a particularUNIX version, a pop music group, or a political issue).Most conferencing systems have a person or persons whoact as a moderator (sometimes called a “host”) who triesto encourage new users, keep discussions more or less ontopic, and discourage personal attacks or vehement statements(“flames”).A user signs onto the system and “joins” one or moreconferences. Each time the user visits a conference that heor she has joined, any topics (or responses in existing topics)that were posted since the last visit are presented. Theuser can read the postings and, if desired, enter a reply thatbecomes part of the thread of messages. (Users are also generallyallowed to start new topics of their own.)Web-based ConferencingText-based systems such as Picospan are driven by the userentering command letters or words. While this paradigmis familiar to people who have experience with operatingsystems such as UNIX or MS-DOS, it can be more difficultfor users who are used to the point-and-click approachof Windows programs and the World Wide Web. Manynew conferencing systems use Web pages to present conferencetopics and messages, with buttons replacing text commands.(The Well continues to offer both the text-basedPicospan and the Web-based Engaged.)Although the Well and other conferencing systems suchas The River continue in operation, conferencing systemshave been largely supplanted by newer forms of onlineexpression (see blogs and blogging, social networking,and wikis and Wikipedia). (Note that “conferencingsystem” can also refer to video-based software such asMicrosoft Live Meeting for facilitating meetings betweengeographically dispersed participants.)Further ReadingHafner, Katie. The Well: A Story of Love, Death & Real Life in theSeminal Online Community. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2001.Rheingold, Howard. The Virtual Community: Homesteading on theElectronic Frontier. Rev. ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press,2000.Thurlow, Crispin, Laura Lengel, and Alice Tomic. Computer MediatedCommunication. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications,2004.