Professional Development
Internet Teleconferencing Activity Three
Using PowWow for Internet Teleconferencing
Brief Description
Teleconferencing represents the use of technology to
facilitate people meeting without having to be in the same location and the
same time. This activity describes PowWow, a PC-based teleconferencing tool
for the Internet. PowWow includes a chat window, shared whiteboard, Web
tours, and the ability to send/receive files over the Internet. This activity
describes where to find PowWow, how to download and install it, and where to
find additional information on using PowWow for Internet teleconferencing.
Objectives
- Learn where to download the PowWow software.
- Learn how to set up
and use PowWow.
- Learn where to get more information on PowWow other
Internet teleconferencing products.
Materials and Resources
In developing our lessons and activities, we made
some assumptions about the hardware and software that would be available in
the classroom for teachers who visit the LETSNet Website. We assume that
teachers using our Internet-based lessons or activities have a computer (PC or
Macintosh) with the necessary hardware components (mouse, keyboard, and
monitor) as well as software (operating system, TCP/IP software, networking
or dial-up software, e-mail and a World Wide Web client program, preferably
Netscape, but perhaps Mosaic or Lynx). In the section below, we specify any
"special" hardware or software requirements for a lesson or
activity (in addition to those described above) and the level of Internet access
required to do the activity.
- Special hardware requirements: none.
- Special software requirements: none.
- Internet access: High-speed (greater than 1 MBPS via network).
Activity Description
PowWow is an Internet teleconferencing tool for IBM PC's
that have Windows 3.1, Windows/95 or Windows/NT. PowWow supports basic
teleconferencing tools such as a shared whiteboard, chat window, and sending
and receiving files, plus Web tours, which allow a group of people (up to
seven) to visit specific Web sites that the tour guide specifies. PowWow, and
other Internet or Web conferencing tools, allow participants to have ongoing
discussions around topics of interest to them. These discussion can take place
synchronously, where everyone agrees to participate in a chat room or window
at a specific time, or asynchronously, where people send or receive messages,
or check an online discussion forum, whenever they have time.
- Downloading PowWow: You can download PowWow from the Tribal
Voice Website (see Internet Resources below). Using PowWow, you can set up
or participate in conferences with up to seven other people on the Internet.
Tribal Voice maintains a list of current public conferences, and you can easily
establish your own private conference with peers or other classrooms. For
example, there is an existing PowWow conference on education, the Education
Station, which is managed by Monty Carlton at Tribal Voice.
- Installing PowWow: After you have downloaded the PowWow
software, you run the .EXE file under windows to unzip the files. This creates a
PowWow icon in a program group.
- Using PowWow: Using
PowWow requires that you establish your Internet connection and start up
your Web browser, then start PowWow. When PowWow opens for the first
time, you are asked to supply local information, such as your PowWow address
(if you are going to host a PowWow conference, you need an address for others
to connect to), your e-mail address, a password, and optional information (real
name, home page, and JPEG file of your choice which other PowWow users will
see on their screen). Be sure to enter a password, something you will
remember, and click on the Keep Password button. Next you will see the
PowWow window on your screen. To join an existing PowWow conference, use
your Web browser to visit the PowWow conference page (see Internet
Resources below) and find the PowWow address of the conference there. Get
back into PowWow and select the Conferences option under the Connect menu.
You will be prompted for whether you are joining a conference in progress or
hosting your own conference. Assuming you wanted to join the Education
Station (a conference already in progress), you would type
"digicity@pinsight.com" as the PowWow address and then press the Connect
button. Now you will see the chat window for an ongoing discussion about
education. You can type comments and send them, view the current
participants, send files, etc. You can also use the shared whiteboard by
clicking on the "draw" icon. For more information on using PowWow or setting
up your own conference, see the PowWow documentation.
- Alternatives to PowWow for Internet teleconferencing: There is a
variety of alternative Internet teleconferencing tools available, with most of
them requiring a Unix computer for operation. Discussion Web is a
PC/Windows/NT-based product and Interaction/IP is a Macintosh-based
product (see Internet Resources below). There are also more structured
Internet discussion tools developed for learning, such as eWeb and the
SpeakEasy, which can be used for similar purposes (see Internet Resources
below).
Internet Resources
- Tribal Voices Website
[http://www.tribal.com/powwow/].
PowWow is a PC/Windows-based
Internet teleconferencing system that supports up to seven people with a
shared whiteboard, chat window, Web tours, voice, and conferencing.
- Conferencing on
the Web
[http://freenet.msp.mn.us/people/drwool/webconf.html]
"A guide to software that powers discussion forums on the Web." Includes
links to "free" Web conferencing software.
- Discussion Web
[http://dweb.waikato.ac.nz/dw/]
A Windows/NT-based Web group
discussion product.
- eWeb
[http://www.meltec.hamilton.edu/ewebindex.fcgi]
eWeb is an interactive
learning environment for discussion on the Web.
- Global
Chat
[http://www.globalchat.com/help/mac/gcmac-netscape.1.0.html]
Information on configuring Netscape Navigator for chatting.
- Interaction/IP
[http://www.ifi.uio.no/~terjen/interaction/]
A Macintosh-based Web
conferencing tool supporting threaded discussion forums and customizable
chat rooms.
- Internet Relay Chat
Information
[http://www2.undernet.org:8080/~cs93jtl/IRC.html].
A complete resource for learning more about Internet Relay Chat (IRC).
- The
SpeakEasy
[http://needs.me.berkeley.edu/se/MM95/cgi-bin/mfn.cgi]
The SpeakEasy is
a Web-based forum for discussion that is under development at the University
of California, Berkeley.
- Web-Based
Conferencing
[http://nickel.ucs.indiana.edu/~smalikow/confer.html]
Examples of
Web-based conferencing for learning.
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Internet Teleconferencing Module
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