Sharing data interactively among several users in different locations. Data conferencing is made up of whiteboards and application sharing and are often used in conjunction with an audio or videoconferencing connection.
Whiteboards
A whiteboard is the electronic equivalent of the chalkboard or flip chart. Participants at different locations simultaneously write and draw on an on-screen notepad viewed by everyone.
Application Sharing and Application Viewing
Application sharing is the same as remote control software, in which multiple participants can interactively work in an application that is loaded on only one user's machine. Application "viewing" is similar to application "sharing;" however, although all users can see the document, only one person can actually edit it. See
whiteboard,
application sharing,
remote control software and
T.120.
A Whiteboard
In this example, two people are collaborating on a drawing that one of them pasted into the whiteboard while they were connected in a NetMeeting conference. Using the whiteboard's red marker, a particular area of interest was circled.