Oct. 13, 2003

A Rensselaer researcher has developed a first-of-its kind Web-based videoconferencing system that allows groups to have virtual face-to-face discussions without being online simultaneously.

	Thomas Griffin
	James Watt

“TIC is a whole new form of communication,” says Watt, director of Rensselaer’s Social and Behavioral Research Laboratory. “It’s better than text e-mail because you can see a person’s facial expressions and gestures, which makes communication much more effective and personal.”

TIC has advantages over real-time, Web-based conferencing technologies, Watt says. Real-time video communication systems achieve immediate face-to-face communication, but they require wide bandwidth, not accessible to most. And, channeling such high volumes of information typically results in video that freezes and sound that fades.

Unlike video or text e-mail, TIC is a collaboration system. People are organized into specific discussion groups, and all video messages go to the full group. Using an inexpensive Webcam, individuals can post their video comments to the designated group discussion at any time. TIC software then combines the messages and plays them back, as if the conversations were taking place in real time.

With a click on a keypad, participants have a choice of whether they want to view the whole video stream or to listen and respond to a particular posted video clip. TIC then automatically organizes the response in the proper sequence.

TIC automatically indexes and archives all video comments so they can be replayed at any time. Like a search engine for video clips, this feature of TIC allows one to type in words to search whole discussions for certain names or topics, and to play back only the relevant messages. Watt expects the TIC to be ready to license for commercial development within about a year.