Web conferencing is used to conduct presentations or live meetings over the Internet. In a web conference, each participant is situated on a place near his or her own computer and is connected to other participants via the internet. The connection is established and maintained by a downloaded application on each of the attendees computers or a web-based application where attendees have to simply enter a URL to enter the conference.
To a specific type of web conference is referred to as a webinar. A webinar is typically one-way, from the speaker to the audience with only limited audience interaction (such as it is usual in a webcast). A webinar can be very interactive and include polling and question & answer sessions. This allows a full participation between the audience and the presenter. In some cases, the presenter is speaking over a standard telephone line. He may be then pointing out information being presented on screen and the audience is responding over their own telephones (preferably a speaker phone). There is a audio technology called VoIP that is incorporated by some web conferencing technologies on the market. This allows them to maintain a truly web-based communication.
In the very beginnings of the Internet, the terms "web conferencing" was very often used to describe a group of discussion in a message board and therefore not live. Since then, the term has evolved to refer specifically to "synchronous" or live meetings.
|
|
