Although this work is concerned with conferencing, we have tried to
avoid duplicating work buy other researchers in the area of shared
workspaces and multi-destination delivery protocols.
A brief survey found that most of the work falls into these two areas,
and little into the areas either of structuring exchanges of text between
humans, or of distributed floor control algorithms (although mechanism
is often discussed).
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Sarin and Grief [SaGr85] discuss computer mediated analogue voice
conferencing. Windows/Panels are used to indicate speakers and chair,
and to control access. The communications model is message
passing/distributed.
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Ahuja, Ensor and Horn [AhEn88] studied the networking requirements for the
Rapport multi-media conferencing system. Unix sockets are the
communication mechanism. Voice is carried separately (i.e. not on the
same LAN).
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Bonfoglio, Malatesta and Tisado describe a framework for real-time
conferencing in [BoGi]. A prototype was implemented under a Unix
environment.
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Egido describes video conferencing support for group working in [Egid88].
The paper reviews the teleconferencing literature and reasons for the
comparative failure of video-conferencing compared with other
networking services.
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Suzuki, Taniguchi and Takada discuss Unix kernel support for
conferencing between users of window based workstations [SuTa86]. Their model
incorporates existing (single user) applications for multi-user
without modification of the application. They discuss a 4 phase
structure of a conference: Planning (invitations to join), Setting-up
(chair selection), progress (changing rights/windows), and Completion(minutes
circulation).
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Crowley and Forsdick describe the BBN Real Time multi-media
conferencing system in [FoCr89]. The mmconf facility based on
Diamond/Slate, and its integration with the Wideband network
conferencing system is described in a collection of BBN technical
reports. It includes some floor control, but with a fixed policy.
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Other work includes: [Palm88], [Ches87] and [Pand90].