Videoconferencing Today by Bill Clark, ETC Room 117 of the library that used to be called the Television Studio, has been completely redesigned, decorated and equipped to handle a new medium called videoconferencing. Videoconferencing allows different parties in different locations to both see and hear each other through compressed video. This digital information system uses a rotating lens that is pre-focused at the participants' locations where seats and microphones are placed around the room. The ability of videoconferencing to allow participants to both see and hear each other has added realism to distance communication. It allows people to be at two or 22 sites and still talk to, and see, each other. Facial expressions, body language, and documents can be shared by the parties at different locations. So far the videoconferencing room has had some interesting applications. In one case, the videoconferencing room allowed an expert witness to participate in a courtroom in Ottawa. The courtroom occupants, lawyers and a judge, were able to examine the testimony of the witness without having him flown across the country. Canada Coast Guard used the medium to test the maritime knowledge of a prospective employee. The interviewee, currently a student at Malaspina, had charts of the St. Lawrence River spread before him and was able to graphically explain how he would conduct a maritime rescue operation. Malaspina's videoconferencing system saved the Coast Guard airfare and accommodations to Quebec City where the panel of Coast Guard specialists were located. Marshall Soules' media studies class made excellent use of the new medium; he conducted a class in Nanaimo and Powell River campus simultaneously. The course was about emerging technologies and actually used new technology to teach in two locations. The groups were able to interact with each other and even share documents across the system. Another example had several candidates in Nanaimo interviewed for a position in St. Johns, Newfoundland, by an interview panel at Memorial University. If you want more information on how you can use videoconferencing, or if you want to see our site, please contact Bill Clark at local 8761. ***