ABSTRACT
Teleconferencing involves the use of telecommunications links to conduct a “meeting” with one or more people at one or more remote locations. At its simplest it is merely a telephone call between two people, but the term is usually confined to situations requiring more sophisticated telecommunications facilities. This may involve the use of loudspeaking telephones; the use of a special conference bridge to connect more than two parties; the addition of facsimile or graphics to facilitate the exchange of documents or the use of wideband links to provide closed circuit TV pictures between the different locations. At its most complex it may involve the use of a computer controlled message system and may be spread in distance over a number of continents and in time over days, weeks or months. Clearly the use of telecommunications necessitates the sacrifice of certain facilities which are present in face-to-face meetings, but research has shown that these facilities are not always necessary for a successful meeting and that a narrowband link (audio) is capable of substituting for about 40% of civil service meetings and that a further 20% could be substituted using a wideband link (video) (Reid).3 A number of facilities for audio, video and computer mediated teleconferencing are already available, both in this country and overseas, and whilst usage is by no means widespread it has been increasing gradually.
