Topic 10 of 52: Brighton Conferencing
Thu, Dec 4, 1997 (15:47) |
Mike Griggs (mikeg)
This is a topic for discussion of the possiblity of setting up a Brighton-based WELL/Spring conferencing system. Please feel free to contribute!
10 responses total.
Topic 10 of 52 [vc]: Brighton Conferencing
Response 1 of 10: Mike Griggs (mikeg) * Sat, Dec 6, 1997 (09:31) * 4 lines
OK. We have the hardware for the project, and more than likely the
software. The problem we have is creating a "core group" of people
to attract others to come in...any suggestions?
Topic 10 of 52 [vc]: Brighton Conferencing
Response 2 of 10: gribz (gribz) * Sat, Dec 6, 1997 (10:08) * 6 lines
Ok, for a start your going to need some sort of direction..
What are you going to focus the talks about, how many conferences are you going to have?
Who's going to start everything off?
Topic 10 of 52 [vc]: Brighton Conferencing
Response 3 of 10: Mike Griggs (mikeg) * Sat, Dec 6, 1997 (10:12) * 18 lines
Darn good questions :)
Focusing the conferences: I don't know. I'm unsure as to exactly
what people *want*. Here at Spring, the two or three busiest confs
have been Motorcycle and Drool I would say...Oh, and the Bronte conf
was ridiculously busy a while back. What links those three I don't
know! They just seemed to hit the right spot with a few ppl, which drew
a whole load more in!
As for how many conferences, I don't have a clue. I would guess that at
startup we would have probably two or three - we don't want to open
conferneces and then have them sit there unused, because then ppl will
think the place is deserted!
Starting things off? I don't know the best way to advertise it. We have
links with one of the Brighton Cyber-Cafes, and I could probably build
something up with the other one...
Topic 10 of 52 [vc]: Brighton Conferencing
Response 4 of 10: Phil Snell (gribz) * Sat, Dec 6, 1997 (10:19) * 8 lines
It's just occured to me, that most people dont tend to stick to the topic..
Well, on Usenet at least most people tend to talk about anything..
Getting a group of people who actually talk and not sit there staring will
be the difficult part IMO..
Topic 10 of 52 [vc]: Brighton Conferencing
Response 5 of 10: Mike Griggs (mikeg) * Sat, Dec 6, 1997 (10:24) * 11 lines
Well, the idea is not to have rigidly defined and strictly enforced
topics. People tend to ramble at tangents and stuff all the time.
One thing that conferencing software encourages is a conversational
form of posting - you don't need to quote someone else's response, since
everyone can read it just up the screen.
You've hit the nail on the head with the last point. We have to
invite the right people in at the start, and get them talking, if
we're going to attract anyone else.
Topic 10 of 52 [vc]: Brighton Conferencing
Response 6 of 10: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Thu, Jan 15, 1998 (06:43) * 3 lines
How many folks are you going to invite and how
are you identifying them, Mike?
Topic 10 of 52 [vc]: Brighton Conferencing
Response 7 of 10: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sun, Jan 18, 1998 (14:29) * 66 lines
Something relevant that I read on the WELL today:
Topic 320 [vc]: Publicising a vc
#28 of 37: Stoopid Jerk (silly) Sat Jan 17 '98 (22:43) 60 lines
Yes, what Brighton needs is a River-a-like, imho. The birthplace of
the English language is the ideal location for a text-only online
environment. Despite pervaisive cultural decline, the Brits continue
to be more literate than we Yanks.
Wow. They read books with no pictures in 'em.
From the River FAQ :
> Q. Does The River have direct dial-in access?
>
> No. Internet access is globally inclusive, and The River is
> dedicating its resources first to global access. The River will
> continue investigating other forms of access as they become
> technically and financially feasible, but we believe telnet access
> provides us with the best way to make ourselves reachable by people
> from all over the world. [...]
Especially Brighton. ;-)
> The River uses YAPP, which is very similar to the Picospan program
> used by the WELL and Grex. [...]
> The River is currently housed on a PC Pentium, using Free BSD Unix.
[...]
Radio Free Unix.
> Q. Do you have plans for a GUI interface?
>
> Yes. The River is experimenting with options that help users
> participate more fully and deeply in conversation with each other.
> A graphical user interface offers exciting possibilities for ease of
> use, inclusion of sound, pictures & video, and hypertext linking.
> The River provides options such as these while preserving the
> ability to conduct focused, ongoing conversations and maintaining
> accessibility to all users.
Uh-oh.
Has anyone looked into the possibility of individuals or small groups
of people running single conferences, each conference at its own
telnet site, each site run by different people? A central telnet site
would contain a directory listing all of the conferences at the other
sites. Scripted software would enable you to go from conference to
conference without manually entering telnet addresses. I mean, look at
all of the MUDs out there. Each conference could be run like a MUD, by
individual "wizards" for free.
Picospan is superior to usenet, imho. It's almost instantaneous. No
worries about propagation, forged cancels and the like. Spam is more
easily dealt with.
There are lots of forums on the web these days. I've posted at Cafe
Utne, Poets & Writers Speakeasy, Salon, Slate, NPR, The Atlantic
Unbound, and many others. There are also software-driven graphical
super-IRCs like The Palace. But is a web presence really necessary or
even desirable for text-only conferencing? A single URL could
announce the existence of the loose confederation of conferences.
Beyond that, who needs the web?
Topic 10 of 52 [vc]: Brighton Conferencing
Response 8 of 10: Mike Griggs (mikeg) * Fri, Feb 20, 1998 (12:53) * 2 lines
It's *ALIVE*!!! After a brief recess over the Christmas/Winter period, Brighton-based WELL-a-like (working title only ;) is breathing again. I am meeting with Simon Turner of Virtual Brighton on Tuesday of next week, to sort out some more stuff - keep your fingers crossed!
Topic 10 of 52 [vc]: Brighton Conferencing
Response 9 of 10: wer (KitchenManager) * Fri, Feb 20, 1998 (14:14) * 1 lines
will do...
Topic 10 of 52 [vc]: Brighton Conferencing
Response 10 of 10: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Fri, Feb 20, 1998 (14:49) * 2 lines
Fingers crossed, good luck! Glad to see a liftoff beginning.
vc conference 
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