Video Teleconferencing: Here, There, and Everywhere

Video teleconferencing, also called VTC or videoconferencing, is an idea slightly ahead of its time and ahead of the technology, but not for long. It is not yet in “plug-and-play” mode, but its possibilities were considered in print as long ago as 1973, when Richard Chandler Harkness wrote a 600-plus page tome for the Department of Commerce Office of Telecommunications called Telecommunications Substitutes for Travel.

Video teleconferencing enables the transmission of image and speech back and forth between two physically different locations: it enables two or more people in different places to see and hear each other, and sometimes share work together on their computers, at the same time. Hardware, software, and bandwidth are all necessary to make this communication happen.

Why do it? And who is doing it?

Video teleconferencing is an elegant solution to a number of intractable problems. Perhaps the most obvious have to do with distance education. But video teleconferencing also enables meetings across campuses or among far-flung offices; counseling for people in areas inaccessible for reasons that range from distance to natural disaster; legal work for prisoners and suspects whose transport may be a security risk or where a victim may not wish to be in the same room as a defendant; and health and medical care where doctor and patient do not have to travel to consult each other or to receive care.

Other areas where video teleconferencing is proving valuable include observation of wildlife without disturbance; in nuclear facilities where it might be dangerous to be physically present, and to bridge cutting edge distances like communication with the space shuttle.

For public libraries, videoconferencing helps support lifelong learning for both staff and community. Looked at philosophically, it is yet another way to provide equity of access to information.

That’s all abstract. Here is what is being done with video teleconferencing in the here and now, in public life and business, and then in libraries.

A Catholic couple in Northern Ireland bring together Protestants and Catholics in the neutral zone of cyberspace by enabling them to talk to each other via videoconferencing from the safety and privacy of their own living rooms. “For many, this was the first time in their lives they spoke to someone holding different religious beliefs” America, May 8, 1999.
In Richmond Heights, Missouri, Denver, Colorado, and about 50 hospitals around the country, parents can show off newborns to relatives far away, homebound, or hospitalized themselves for a cost of about $70 for rental and shipping for videoconferencing equipment. American Medical News, Denver Post.
Staff from the New York Times printing plants in College Point, Queens NY and Edison, NJ, met via videoconference with their counterparts in Sydney, Australia and Zurich, Switzerland, where technical issues, automated systems, and pooled solutions were discussed and shared. Editor & Publisher, March 27, 1999.

According to Computer Dealer News, video teleconferencing is poised for a consumer breakthrough, not only for interviewing potential CEOs and sharing project work in corporate offices in multiple locations, but also for allowing “little Billy’s birthday party in Halifax into Grandma’s home in Vancouver.”

Academic libraries moving toward video commons

A query initiated on the Web4Lib online discussion list about video teleconferencing in libraries (not by this writer) brought a half-dozen or so responses. At Indiana University Libraries, systemwide meetings, promotion and tenure workshops, and brainstorming happen via video teleconferencing. Videoconferencing for teaching and for meetings is run by the library at the University of Western Sydney-Macarthur in Australia. At the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library, Donald A. Barclay asked how many webmasters were also videoconference facility managers. Washington State University Libraries in Pullman use videoconferencing to do long distance instruction. Janet Chisman, systems librarian, writes, “I think this capability [video teleconferencing], or something like it, will be a major component of library services in the future. Don’t wait for someone else to take the lead!”

Linda Bowen at Central Community College, Grand Island Campus noted in a private email that her campus uses what they call “V-tel” among the campuses and centers, and that classes are taught via video teleconferencing. There is a fair amount of literature available on the uses of video teleconferencing in distance education and for classroom use through such mechanisms as the ERIC database. About 158 documents published since 1996 dealt with “video teleconferencing” in a recent search (March 2000).

Scholarly organizations such as the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, which has been utilizing videoconferencing since 1995, are expanding their use of the technology to reach those who might not have the time or resources to come to Washington.

On an association level, library groups such at METRO in New York have a wired conference room available to METRO members for professional development. METRO is the Metropolitan New York Library Council, a nonprofit membership organization of 268 libraries and library systems in the five boroughs of New York City, and Westchester County.

Thus far, it seems that there is little documented activity in public libraries regarding video teleconferencing, but it is certainly appearing in technology plans and in pilot projects. For example, the city of Brownwood, Texas created a technology plan in July 1996 (no longer available on the web) that acknowledges the town’s need for an infrastructure that will support Net access, public library system requirements, educational institutions, and town government. Video teleconferencing was included as a technology to be supported in the plan. As the technology becomes cheaper and easier to use, public libraries will find videoconferencing a tool not only for staff training, development, and branch/agency communication, but also for community outreach, Internet classes, literacy training, etc.

Public libraries and videoconferencing

The topic of video teleconferencing in public libraries follows a traditional library editors’ theorem that states when stuff is new, no one is writing about it because everyone is too busy doing it. There is little to be found in print on the topic of videoconferencing as public libraries use it. However, a few glimmers came through via a request on PUBLIB, the public library listserve.

In California, San Francisco Public has used videoconferencing for meetings and staff development. Sacramento Public Library and Pasadena Public Library were demonstration sites for Pacific Bell’s Education First program, an offshoot of which is Videoconferencing for Learning discussed below.

Deborah M. McCabe of the Portage County Public Library, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, says that her South Central Library System purchased videoconferencing equipment to facilitate system board and committee meetings and continuing education programs for staff. As of this writing, it is used between the regional headquarters and Portage County PL. The board is planning to discuss whether to make the equipment available to the public, and what policies and procedures to put in place.

In Nebraska, several public libraries maintain rooms for videoconferencing scheduled through the state Division of Communication. Photographs of how the rooms are set up are included.

Let’s do this

There are various avenues available to a public library that wishes to investigate the possibilities of video teleconferencing.

An excellent, comprehensive, and very clear document, the Video Conferencing Cookbook (February 1999), is available on the web and easily printable into a 56-page document. Produced by SURA, the Southeastern Universities Research Association, it covers definition, standards, basic tools, how to determine needs and special applications, room diagrams, practical advice, a glossary, bibliography, and web links. Further, it discusses contractual issues with vendors, and how to choose equipment that will suit your needs, and how to set up the room.

Their recipe of “basic ingredients” for a video conference, based on the H.323 standard specifications recommended by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), includes cameras, microphones, speakers, workstations, high speed connections, and video clients. Further in the document, the cookbook describes the main camera, the video display, audio components, the codec (compressor/decompressor, algorithms used for compressing or decompressing audio and/or video information) and the user interface so that those new to the technology will have a working vocabulary in examining what vendors have to offer.

Perhaps the finest aspect of the Cookbook is the amount of handholding it offers through the process. It is hard to imagine a question about video teleconferencing that it does not answer.

Another excellent source about videoconferencing is at the Pacific Bell site called Videoconferencing for Learning. It provides a nifty description of the process, a list of benefits, and an outline of what videoconferencing can be used for in schools and libraries. Examples given include bibliographic instruction, research guidance, virtual field trips, multi-school projects, and community events such as town hall meetings and public health discussions. Pacific Bell offers libraries free workshops on videoconferencing as part of its program for California schools and libraries.

It has been said, perhaps facetiously, that the way to find where cyberspace is going is to look at what pornography sites are using. Note that a search using the words “video teleconferencing” or “videoconferencing” on Yahoo! produces a list that includes many pornographic sites. However, the possibilities for using this technology as life-enhancing and information-expanding for public libraries and their communities are vast. The indications are that the technology is poised to intersect with demand and desire.

Bibliography

There is a great deal of periodical and web literature that deals with videoconferencing, but very little deals directly with public libraries. Searches under “distance learning” bring up related education citations.

Video Conferencing Cookbook (February 1999). SURA, the Southeastern Universities Research Association. 56p when printed. Everything you ever wanted to know, arranged sensibly and with great clarity.

Videoconferencing for Learning, Pacific Bell. Includes examples of how to use videoconferencing in schools and libraries.

“Reconciliation through Cyberspace” in America, p6+, New York, May 8 1999 by Ray Hearn.

“Videoconferencing from the Nursery” in American Medical News, pA34, Chicago, April 12, 1999.

“Parents Share Joy via Baby-vision” in Denver Post, pA-01, May 29, 1999 by Eric Hubler.

“Big Customers in a Tiny User Group” in Editor & Publisher, p48, March 27, 1999, by Jim Rosenberg.

“Videoconferencing Set to Surge” in Computer Dealer News, p1 + 41, January 29, 1999, by Jennifer M. O’Brien.

“Cyber Scholars Build Virtual Bridges” in Communications News, p80–83, February 1999.

Prepared by GraceAnne A. DeCandido for the Public Library Association, July 12, 1999; reviewed April 2000. ladyhawk@well.com

The Public Library Association’s Tech Notes project grew out of the desire to continue the work of Wired for the Future: Developing Your Library Technology Plan, by Diane Mayo and Sandra Nelson, published for PLA by ALA in 1999. Each of the Tech Notes, written by GraceAnne A. DeCandido, is a Web-published document of 1,500–2,000 words, providing an introduction and overview to a specific technology topic of interest to public libraries at a particular point in time. Topics were identified by PLA’s Technology in Public Libraries Committee. Each Note is marked with the date of its completion and posting, and with the date, approximately one year later, when links and other information were reviewed.

The Technology for Public Libraries Committee is currently evaluating if the Committee should request PLA funding for additional Tech Notes. Readers’ comments and suggestions are welcome and should be addressed to pla@ala.org. Please use Tech Notes in your subject line.