TELECONFERENCING

Teleconferencing can be described as interactive group communication between two or more people between two or more location through an electronic medium. In general terms, teleconferencing can bring people together under one roof even though they are separated by hundreds of miles.

TYPES OF TELECONFERENCING:-

Audio Teleconference: locationVoice-only; sometimes called conference calling. Interactively links people in remotes via telephone lines. The audio bridges tie all lines together. Meetings can be conducted via audio conference.

Audiographics Teleconference: Uses narrowband telecommunications channels to transmit visual information such as graphics, alpha-numerics, documents, and video pictures as an adjunct to voice communication.

Computer Teleconference: Uses telephone lines to connect two or more computers and modems. Anything that can be done on a computer can be sent over the lines. It can be synchronous or asynchronous

Video Teleconference: Combines audio and video to provide voice communications and video images. Can be one-way video/two-way audio, or two-way video/two-way audio. It can display anything that can be captured by a TV camera. The advantage is the capability to display moving images.

Web conferencing: as compared with four examples provided at the top, web conferencing is the best type of teleconference and there are many reasons for that. Unlike regular phone line conferencing, web conference brings a whole lot more dimensions to the mix. Instead of just being able to hear audio, participants and presenters of a web teleconference are able to interact with each other, see each other, as well as make adjustments to the projects they are working on. The main reason is because of the video feed that is available. Even though typical messaging systems like MSN or Yahoo are great programs for collaborating with each other on projects, these programs usually have several components missing that are available with web conferencing programs. Another advantage by using this type of conferencing, participants are able to make adjustment and work on the same project together. Besides that, screen sharing is provided and enables one person who is responsible for making modifications to the project while the other participants are able to view of the one person since they can look at the screen of the moderator.

THE ADVANTAGES OF TELECONFERENCING

• It is its potential to reduce the cost of group meetings.
• Teleconferencing reaches large or sparsely-populated areas.
• Teleconferencing provides broader access to public meetings, as well as widening the reach of public involvement.
• Audio interaction makes dialogue more lively, personal and interesting. Teleconferencing provides an immediate response to concerns or issues.
• Teleconferencing saves an agency time and travel costs.
  
• Saves people’s money by saving the costs of travel, transportation costs and lost work time.
  
• It can save time by reaching more people with fewer meeting.

THE DISADVANTAGES OF USING TELECONFERENCING

• Teleconferences are somewhat formal events that need prior planning for maximum usefulness
• A large number of people is difficult to manage in a single teleconference, with individuals attempting to interact and present their points of view.
• Costs can be high.
• Teleconference take time to organize.
• Reduces opportunities for face-to-face contact between participants and proponents of plans or projects.

THE COSTS OF TELECONFERENCING

Firstly is, teleconferencing costs vary, depending on the application. The costs of installing a two-way telephone network are diffident.

Secondly is, higher costs are associated with higher performance levels of equipment, more transmission facilities, or more locations

it is also possible to share teleconferencing costs among organizations.

DOES TELECONFERENCING HAVE SPECIAL?

The discussion focuses around fleshing out and sharing ideas so that practitioners in different locations can learn from the experiences of others around the world. It is also does helps increase the number of participants. People may be unwilling to travel to a meeting because of weather conditions, poor highway or transit access, neighborhood safety concerns, or other problems. Teleconferencing offers equal opportunity for people to participate, thus allowing more points of view to emerge, revealing areas of disagreement, and enabling people to exchange views and ask questions freely. The significant use of teleconferencing is used for training. It opens up training hours and availability of courses for people unable to take specialized classes because of time constraints and travel costs. Lastly, teleconferencing is used for networking among transportation professionals on public involvement and other topics. For example, North Carolina State University sponsored a national teleconference on technologies for transportation describing applications of three- and four-dimensional computer graphics technologies. They have been found helpful in facilitating public involvement and environmental analysis.