Considering Telematic Tools for Conferences

Participation in conferences is an elemental component of professional life throughout the world. Two problems offset the social synergy gained from attending a far-away gathering of like-minded people. The first is the highly pronounced carbon footprint from air travel, and the second is the expense involved to participate in a conference which may be on another continent. These factors prevent many from participating who could otherwise benefit as well as contribute. As videoconferencing becomes more common and more sophisticated, it will serve as an alternative that not only benefits constituencies, but will expand the reach of a conference to more communities. This paper outlines a rationale, ideas, and a blueprint for a video conferencing toolkit intended to merge both on-site and on-line participants, via tailored applications and best practices. These include high grade audio/video capabilities common to telematic artists, in addition to integral components and practices of online presence that address issues of event management, social networking, collaboration-communication, information exchange, and asynchronous presence