Introducing the web conferencing facility for EBU
EBU has bought web conferencing facilities from Talking Communities, a US-based organization to provide virtual conferencing facilities over the internet with accessibility for the blind and partially sighted in mind.
This short document will attempt to make it easy for EBU members to use these facilities to improve communication among its different branches. This document addresses general users of the virtual conferencing feature, a similar document will be made available to virtual conference room coordinators.
We are assuming at this point that you are a Windows user, facilities for Mac users or other plattforms are also available.
To join a virtual conference, follow these easy steps:
1. You will have received an e-mail message inviting you to a virtual conference. This e-mail message includes a URL (web address) to go to in order to join the conference, as well as information about date und time.
2. Click on the link in the message or paste the URL into your browser in order to go to the site specified.
3. Check on the website to find a link that prompts you to download a small plug-in (a piece of software) that prepares your computer for participation in our virtual conferences. This is a one-time process only. We will also make this plug-in available on the EBU website as well as with this document, so you can install it at your leisure.
4. When installing the plug-in from the website, choose the “run” or “open” option in your browser. This will download the plug-in and start the installation process at the same time.
5. For the installation you need administrator privileges on your computer.
6. If you see firewall and security prompts, you should choose the option to always allow - or similar statements.
7. Wait for the completion dialog and click “Finish”. The plug-in is now installed and ready for use.
8. Find the link to Enter the conference room and click on it.
9. Enter your name and the password specified in the e-mail invitation message. Most likely you can leave the password field blank since the moderator will not have issued one.
10. Click Log On and you are ready to use this great communication tool.
For any future conferences you can start at step 8.
In order to easily use the conferencing utility, a headset connected to the computer is recommended. Speakers and a microphone work as well. Before attending your first virtual conference, you should make certain that the speaker and microphone options are turned on in the control pannel of your computer. If you need help with these settings, the Moderator of your conference or people at the Paris office will try to assist.
In the file menu of the application (alt-f) you will find options to adjust microphone and speaker settings.
Once you are in the conference room, press and hold down the control key to talk. When you are done, release the control key. In order to leave the conference altogether, press alt-f4 or choose the exit option from the file menu.
Wit these instructions we have just barely touched on the many features of this easy-to-use yet powerful conferencing software. As time goes by, we will publish furhter documents highlighting particular features of the software. In the meantime we encourage you to play around with the menu options of the software and to check out the helpful documents available on the talking communities website. These documents can be found at
http://www.talkingcommunities.com/helpdesk/knowledgebase.php
An informative video presentation of the features of the software can be found at
http://talkingcommunities.com/tcuman/tutorials/tour_0211
Practice makes perfect, so I encourage you to make use of this wonderful facility in your commissions and working groups. And I am sure that pretty soon you will come to like this tool as much as we do in the EBU commission on technology. And I hope that this will become an indispensable tool in our efforts towards improvement of the lives of blind and partially sighted people in Europe.
Peter Brass
Chair EBU Commission on Technology