Subject: Real-Time Conference

From: [email-masked] (Andrew D. Fant)
Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 16:24:35 -0400 (EDT)

Greetings Again:

In looking over Steven Bacharach's announcement of the Electronic
Computational Chemistry Conference, I had an idea that I would like to
put out as a trial balloon.  While I think the idea of an electronic 
conference is wonderful, and I am jealous that I didn't have the time to
propose something like it first, I wonder how well WWW will provide for 
interactive discussion and feedback.  I know that there can be forms support
and comment fields, but this is a far cry from a non-virtual conference where
the contacts and conversations are a primary reason for attending.  What I 
would like to know, is if there is any interest in setting up a mechanism
for real-time adjunct discussions to the WWW exhibitions?  There are several
programs that could be used to provide this degree of support.  Anyway, this
is not meant in any way to cast aspersions or attempt to undermine what
Steven and his colleagues are doing, but just an honest attempt to see if
the idea could be extended into real-time interaction.  Any comments, ideas,
and suggestions are welcome.  And I'll don nomex underwear, as well.

			Andy

--
Andrew D. Fant              Applications Analyst             [email-masked]
NCI-Frederick Cancer Research Facility        Biomedical Supercomuting Center
(301)846-5764             Me?!? Have an official NCI or Dyncorp Opinion? HAH!
"I'm just one too many mornings and a thousand miles behind" -- B. Dylan

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From: [email-masked] (Steven Bachrach)
Date: Wed, 25 May 94 15:40:03 -0500

With regards to Andy Fant's recent post:

> interactive discussion and feedback.  

We have been concerned with this issue as well, and will provide some 
solution though (a) it is not real time and (b) I didn't mention it in the 
preliminary announcement. But here goes, in conjunction with the WWW 
conference, we will run a listserve for all the registrants. This listserve 
will distribute mail to all the registrants, and it is hoped that mail will 
serve as the avenue for discussion of the papers at the conference. The 
advantages of mail over IRC or some other real-time alternative is decreased 
bandwidth usage and the need for all people to be connected at the same time. 
While this means that there is no immeadiate give-and-take, it does allow for 
relatively quick responses that everyone can read and everyone can participate 
when their schedules allow. I am not married to this idea (though I think it 
is a good solution requiring minimum work for me :), I am open to any 
alternatives.

Steve
Steven Bachrach				
Department of Chemistry
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, Il 60115			Phone: (815)753-6863
[email-masked]			Fax:   (815)753-4802