FBIRN:TuesAftNotes032205

1) Charlotte Lee, Cal-(IT)2 --review of the VTC survey (see slides)

2) Polycom presentation of WebOffice/VTC augmentation: On Windows and IE we can have 5 people interacting on an application (e.g., Slicer) and swapping control back and forth, while numerous other sites watch. Simultaneously IM and Powerpoint displays can go on.

Given this discussion and the results of the survey on VTC issues, though, augmentating the Polycom is not as important as updating every sites' Polycom software and getting appropriate training. E.g., in working with the UCI system, the Polycom representatives discovered that the operating software had never been updated; we didn't know it was supposed to be updated. A key issue is making the VTC as easy to use as the telephone, but that requires familiarity on the part of the users.

Action items: Charlotte and the Polycom representatives will develop a series of best practices so that the Polycoms are maintained and updated, communication between and among FBIRN, Polycom, and the MCU maintainers at UCSD is opened, and users are trained most appropriately in the use of the current systems.

3) Ray Klefstad's demo of MARCo and real-time synchronous interaction