An online boardroom at your disposal

by Patricia Jordan

One unique feature of the CBABC Web site (www.cba.org/BC) is its online audio and video conference facility. Located in the Meeting Room, the facility gives members the opportunity to meet and collaborate on documents in real time via the Internet through a private and secure connection.

Facility Features include:

• Application sharing – review a PowerPoint presentation or jointly edit a document. Only the originating party needs to have the document’s program installed on their computer.
• Text discussion – record notes or action items from a meeting in real time as part of the collaborative process. Members may also use this feature to communicate privately with another participant without interrupting the audio communication of the meeting.
• Whiteboard capabilities – the whiteboard is a multi-page, multi-user drawing board for participants to project graphics, sketch diagrams or organizational charts.
• File transfer – using file transfer, a participant can send a file to one or all of the other participants – without disturbing the flow of the online meeting.

Using the facility requires more than a Commodore 64. The CBABC recommends that your computer have a large hard drive, a minimum of 128 MB random access memory (RAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a fast modem and a cable or digital subscriber line (DSL) service provider, rather than regular dial-up access. Since RAM determines speed, performance and to a lesser extent power, the more RAM you have, the faster your system will operate. Most computers are configured with a minimum of 64MB RAM. As RAM is relatively inexpensive you may consider increasing the RAM on your computer.

Unlike RAM, which is a computer’s memory, the hard drive stores all data, files, programmes and software. Hard drives are measured by their capacity and speed, and are measured in gigabytes – we recommend a minimum of six gigabytes.

Check with your telephone or cable company to see if they offer high-speed Internet access. High-speed dial-up access uses telephone lines to bring subscribers high-speed Internet access that is up to 30 times faster than 56K modems. Cable modems use the expanded bandwidth of TV cable to increase the speed of data transfer on the Internet. Note: Cable access slows with increased simultaneous users, whereas high-speed dial-up access remains constant, even during peak use.

New Documents Online

• Current Issues in Legislation and Law Reform (Library)
• Minutes of the Real Property-Vancouver Section meeting on the Law Society’s investigation of the Wirick situation (CBABC Newsroom)

Patricia Jordan is the CBABC Manager, Interactive Media. She welcomes your comments, questions, and suggestions. If you’re having difficulty finding a document online, need an answer, or would like something added to the site, contact her at pjordan@bccba.org or call 604.646.7861.

This article was published in the December 2002 issue of BarTalk. © 2002 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.