It seems to me that we have a rather unusual problem. We have all this wonderful technology, and yet everyone is still using the most basic of things.
I had a series of teleconferences today. The objective was to get groups of remote meeting members together on a single subject. Teleconference. Simple chaining of phones together, it's nothing new, and it has some key advantages, but also disadvantages:
Advantages:
1. It's easy to do.
2. It's quick.
3. Anyone can initiate a teleconference (you don't need an IT person to setup a site or server, nor do you need a secretary to handle anything).
Disadvantages:
1. Phone communication isn't always clear, reliable, and stable.
2. It's hard to tell who's talking, sometimes. This is especially true when calling a large group of people you've never met or heard before.
3. If there are documents to discuss or slides to view, everyone has to get those individually.
4. Teleconferences void all the personable aspects of face-to-face communication.
So what's the deal? Technology exists out there that allows us to achieve excellent meetings, without us all being in the same place.
Whatever happened to the video phone? Why isn't video conferencing more common? We're not exactly at the dawn of these technologies, yet it doesn't seem like anyone's working on making these things happen. Why?
I should be able to video conference as easily as teleconferencing, but I can't.
I should be able to sit in front of my TV and have it like the "main screen" of the starship Enterprise. Incoming call, "Put it through!" and bam, I'm videoconferencing with my coworkers and clients at the push of a button, no different than picking up my cell phone and hitting "ANSWER".
And why not virtual meetings? No, I'm not talking about "virtual meeting" software. I mean, why hasn't the business world caught on to the advantages of communications that we see in online gaming?
Imagine, if you will, logging into the virtual realm of your business, and entering a room with the digitized characters that represent your coworkers and clients. On one side of the room, a presentation is being displayed. There's a virtual table that we all sit at (for psychological stability and comfort). Behind us is a digital model of the product that everyone can see and play with. When someone talks, a little icon appears above their head. Attendees would be able to log the entire session for later load and experience. The users themselves would have little heads-up displays around their screen, like some kind of business-oriented shooter. Calander, notes, attendee information, objectives.
It sounds far fetched, but the technology is actually already there and being used. It's just not being used in the business market.
So what is the reason why we don't do all this stuff?
I think the reason is because although the technology is there, it has yet to beat the interface of the phone.
Let's face it, which is easier? Picking up the phone and making a call? Or setting up a videoconference?
I believe a lot of technologies don't get used simply because they do too much, and don't do enough easily. People think in modules of action, not in whole packages. Fully-featured applications are great, because they put all the bells and whistles into one place, but the problem is that we don't like all those bells and whistles in one place when we work with the product.
Give me a product that allows me to video conference as quickly as I can teleconference, but which I can setup as quickly as I can setup a phone.
Don't give me a system that can organize everything in the office. I just want to organize my mailbox. That's it. Make the solution modular, so it can connect to other peices as I need them, but when I only want to organize my mailbox, that's all I see.
Okay, so I'm just rambling and ranting...but hey? Come on world! Let's get moving!
Now what did I do with my video goggles......
I had a series of teleconferences today. The objective was to get groups of remote meeting members together on a single subject. Teleconference. Simple chaining of phones together, it's nothing new, and it has some key advantages, but also disadvantages:
Advantages:
1. It's easy to do.
2. It's quick.
3. Anyone can initiate a teleconference (you don't need an IT person to setup a site or server, nor do you need a secretary to handle anything).
Disadvantages:
1. Phone communication isn't always clear, reliable, and stable.
2. It's hard to tell who's talking, sometimes. This is especially true when calling a large group of people you've never met or heard before.
3. If there are documents to discuss or slides to view, everyone has to get those individually.
4. Teleconferences void all the personable aspects of face-to-face communication.
So what's the deal? Technology exists out there that allows us to achieve excellent meetings, without us all being in the same place.
Whatever happened to the video phone? Why isn't video conferencing more common? We're not exactly at the dawn of these technologies, yet it doesn't seem like anyone's working on making these things happen. Why?
I should be able to video conference as easily as teleconferencing, but I can't.
I should be able to sit in front of my TV and have it like the "main screen" of the starship Enterprise. Incoming call, "Put it through!" and bam, I'm videoconferencing with my coworkers and clients at the push of a button, no different than picking up my cell phone and hitting "ANSWER".
And why not virtual meetings? No, I'm not talking about "virtual meeting" software. I mean, why hasn't the business world caught on to the advantages of communications that we see in online gaming?
Imagine, if you will, logging into the virtual realm of your business, and entering a room with the digitized characters that represent your coworkers and clients. On one side of the room, a presentation is being displayed. There's a virtual table that we all sit at (for psychological stability and comfort). Behind us is a digital model of the product that everyone can see and play with. When someone talks, a little icon appears above their head. Attendees would be able to log the entire session for later load and experience. The users themselves would have little heads-up displays around their screen, like some kind of business-oriented shooter. Calander, notes, attendee information, objectives.
It sounds far fetched, but the technology is actually already there and being used. It's just not being used in the business market.
So what is the reason why we don't do all this stuff?
I think the reason is because although the technology is there, it has yet to beat the interface of the phone.
Let's face it, which is easier? Picking up the phone and making a call? Or setting up a videoconference?
I believe a lot of technologies don't get used simply because they do too much, and don't do enough easily. People think in modules of action, not in whole packages. Fully-featured applications are great, because they put all the bells and whistles into one place, but the problem is that we don't like all those bells and whistles in one place when we work with the product.
Give me a product that allows me to video conference as quickly as I can teleconference, but which I can setup as quickly as I can setup a phone.
Don't give me a system that can organize everything in the office. I just want to organize my mailbox. That's it. Make the solution modular, so it can connect to other peices as I need them, but when I only want to organize my mailbox, that's all I see.
Okay, so I'm just rambling and ranting...but hey? Come on world! Let's get moving!
Now what did I do with my video goggles......
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