No. 11 

December 3 1999

 

Technology:

Centra 99 and CentraNow

Centra's Symposium is a Cadillac of Internet conferencing tools: loaded with features and ridiculously expensive; like Cadillac, it also has lost some of its lustre to aggresive newcomers (WebEx and Placeware in Centra's case). Its interface seems a tad dated and Centra's developers haven't added any major new features (well, to be fair: it was loaded from the very beginning), but there are still things that keep it a bit ahead of the competition.

One is Centra's staunch and consistent support for IP audio. While some vendors - most notably Placeware - chose to backpedal away from the challenge and started feeling schizophrenic about it ("We support IP audio but discourage people from using it"), Centra never flinched, boldly and stubbornly bundling two-way voice capability with its conferencing tool, until very recently known as "Symposium". It's hard not to admire them for pushing the technological envelope where few dared to tread.

The other is its content production facilities, which allow inclusion of almost any type of content (PowerPoint slides, MS Word pages, audio, video, images, charts, screenshots, ect.) in the presentation. In many respects the new Centra 99 collaboration suite is the same old Symposium, with the same, exhorbitant price tag of $25,000 for 50 seats (concurrent users). It still offers: multiway audio conferencing, application sharing, whiteboard, collaborative Web browsing, floor sharing, group breakout sessions, textual chat, polls and quizzes, post-session surveys, threaded discussion, virtual hand raising, and a slew of useful but smaller features. All these goodies are available, as previously, in the full-fledged, Windows-based client, now known as "Symposium". However a new, Java-based client named "Conference" offers a cross-platform, browser access to a subset of Centra's features. In fact, the subset is so small that the client would have been more aptly named "Presentation", as it  limits the interaction to slideshow viewing, chat, polling, and hand raising. (In silence, unless one falls back on phone conferencing).

However, neither Symposium nor Conference are the main reason for reviewing Centra's software in today's Spotlight; it is CentraNow, a free service available to anyone with a Java-enabled browser, and offering a set of features nearly matching that of the Symposium client, including audio! The only, but potentially significant, limitation, is that only four participants may be invited to the free meeting by its host. (Well, there had to be a catch - otherwise, who'd pay the 25 grand...?). Thus, if 5 people in a meeting is all you need, I'd strongly recommend that you give CentraNow a try - you won't find anything better or cheaper. Otherwise, stay tuned to this newsletter, and I'm sure you'll eventually find something that will suit your requirements (and your budget) like a glove. :-)

Centra 99 screenshots (click on a thumbnail):
Symposium client
Conference client

For more information please visit Centra's site or search the ACT database of Groupwork Tools.

Online reading:

Detailed comparison - in table form - of four leading tools for real-time Web conferencing: WebEx (ActiveTouch), Placeware Conference Center (Placeware), Centra 99 (Centra), and CU-SeeMe Pro (WhitePine).

Initiatives:

The Eastmont Computing Center, a project of OCCUR, is community technology organization that:

  • Provides direct training, education and computer access to over 300 East Oakland residents per week.
  • Delivers high-quality, technology-focused employment training to members of Oakland's under-served communities.
  • Provides technical assistance designed to create community technology centers throughout Oakland.
  • Links Oakland's under-served communities to advanced technology applications and infrastructure to enhance community building and economic development.
  • Catalyzes action on community technology issues in Oakland.
ECC operates computer access labs in Oakland, delivers technology literacy training to all segments of community, delivers employment certification (CNA, MCSE, A+) to underserved communities, designs and implements digital community building solutions, provides technical assitance around community technology center start up and ongoing operation

Funding is provided by the TIIAP Model National Informaiton Infrastructure site, corporations (Microsoft, Cisco, Hewlett Packard, etc.), and the City of Oakland

More information about ECC can be obtained by calling (510) 382-0555 , faxing (510) 382-1050, sending e-mail to ECC's Director David Geilhufe at david@eastmont.net , or writing to:

Eastmont Computing Center/ OCCUR
7200 Bancroft Avenue #209
OAkland, CA 94605

Conference:

Digital Divide Summit
  • Held December 9, 1999 at the US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC
  • Focused on expanding access to information technologies for underserved populations and areas. Secretary Daley will lead the dialogue among participants from the Federal Government, technology industry, civil rights and non-profit communities, grassroot community organizations, and the general public. The participants will examine existing public and private initiatives aimed at closing the technology gap and will discuss how to expand upon and coordinate these efforts. Closing the digital divide is an essential part of President Clinton's New Markets Initiative, which seeks to bring America's prosperity to economically-underserved areas.
  • The Summit will include an address by Secretary Daley, a roundtable discussion with representatives from the public and private sectors, and six breakout sessions. The topics of these smaller sessions include Technology and Economic Development in Underserved Areas; Sustainable Public Access Points; Lowering Barriers to Access through New Product Development; Marketing to and Content for Underserved Populations; Rural Communities -- Targeted Solutions; and Workforce Development -- Training and Education.

Online event:

AVATARS '99 V-Learn Track

  • Part of the 4th Annual Conference on Inhabited Cyberspace, a real-time, online event taking place in 3-D, virtual-reality environment.
  • Held 1:30pm to 4:45pm EST on Saturday, December 4, 1999
  • Location: Avatars '99 World in the Active Worlds Universe - V-Learn Virtual Discussion Room AV99vdr2
  • Presentations and panels in this track include:
    • Introduction to CCon's V-Learn Initiative and Virtual Worlds in Education
    • AWEDU - An Overview of New Active Worlds Education Universe
    • Avatar Inhabited Virtual Worlds: Assessing and Evaluating their Performance
    • Virtual Worlds in Education - Lessons from the Field
  • Registration fee: none
  • Technical requirements:

She said, he said:

"I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them." - Isaac Asimov.


©1999 Vlad Wielbut and the Alliance for Community Technology