MBONE Schedule

The keynote address, panel I, panel II, and track A (Sessions sec:1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9A, 10A ) will be multicast worldwide via the MBONE.

How to Participate Remotely

Before participating, you must ...

1. have a multicast-capable workstation directly connected to the Internet (or through a multicast-aware firewall)
2. be connected to the MBONE; if you are not already, you must contact your Internet provider. Infocom'95 staff cannot help you with this. This step may take several days or weeks -- prepare early!
3. have installed the requisite MBONE software (sd, vic, and vat/nevot) on your own UNIX

Important Notes About the Limitations of MBONE Conferencing

As a remote participant for the multicasts, we ask that you bear in mind that numerous factors influence the quality of the program you receive, many of which are out of our control. MBONE multicasting is an experimental technology, and does not ensure reliable reception of transmitted materials. It is not equivalent in quality to traditional satellite video transmissions such as those used to broadcast pay-for-view sporting events. However, it is generally quite adequate for technical conferences. Please be prepared to participate in the session in a spirit of relaxed collaborative experimentation.

In particular, using a television camera to transmit from the projection screen at the front of the room can result in a received image that is difficult to read. Audio may break up, so that you will have to listen carefully and sometimes rely on context to understand the speaker.

MBONE communications are multi-way. During question periods, we will solicite questions from remote participants, and try to interleave them with questions from the local audience. Please wait to ask your question until the chair explicitly asks for questions from MBONE/Internet listeners. The person sitting in front of the workstation which is doing the MBONE transmission, whom we call the ``MBONE moderator,'' will act as your stand-in in the conference hall, and collaborate with the chair to handle incoming questions smoothly. To avoid everyone politely waiting for everybody else, please jot a short note (like simply your name) on the current whiteboard page. The MBONE moderator will then explicitly ask you to proceed with your question by announcing your name and location. At that point, you should start speaking, beginning your question by stating your name, affiliation, and geographical location. If your audio sounds badly broken up, it may be best to simply type the question on the whiteboard rather than trying to use the microphone.

(Derived from the Chicago WWW conference).

Notes for Session Chairs of Track A

Please be aware that the session you are chairing is going to be transmitted live over the Internet via a technology known as MBONE (Multicasting backBONE). This will allow people from around the world to view and hear the session, and to participate during question periods.

Multicasting will be a new experience for many meeting participants. Success of a multicast session requires the active and skillful collaboration of the chair. Please note the following:

1. The reaction of the audience to the multicasting activity depends largely upon the attitude evinced by the chair. If you remain relaxed and patient, the audience will also. It is also important to set realistic expectations for all of the participants at the outset of the session, so please read the document "Multicast Chair Remarks to the Audience" at the beginning of the session, slowly and clearly.

2. The person sitting in front of the workstation which is doing the multicasting is known as the "MBONE moderator"; it is part of this person's job to interact with you concerning multicasting details. Introduce yourself to this person before the session and write down his/her name, so that you can introduce him/her in the opening remarks.

3. The principal challenge for you, the chair, is to keep things moving smoothly by means of verbal cues; remember that many of the participants are listening in remotely and require explicit cues in order to interact with the hall constructively rather than disruptively. The sequence of events during question period should proceed as follows:

   Begin by saying something to this effect: "I'd like to begin the question period by entertaining questions from listeners on the MBONE. We realize it may time for you to turn on your microphones, so we'll wait a few moments. While we wait, people in the conference hall who want to to ask questions can line up at the microphone."

   Pass the floor to the MBONE moderator, whom you should regard as a local representative of the remote participants. The MBONE moderator will have access to a microphone, and will speak out the network address of any would-be questioners, to recognize them (their voices will then be heard over the speaker system in the room).

   The MBONE moderator will interrupt the questioner, if necessary, to remind him/her to state his/her name, affiliation, and geographical location. If the incoming audio is not sufficiently clear, the MBONE moderator will break in with something like: "I'm sorry, your question could not be heard clearly; please repeat it slowly."

(From the Chicago WWW conference).

Remarks to the Audience

Please read the following remarks at the beginning of each multicast session:

Please be aware that this meeting is being sent out live over the Internet using the multicasting backbone (or MBONE). Remote participants sitting in front of their own workstations, will be receiving live audio and video from this session. Keep in mind that MBONE technology is experimental; audio and video quality may vary widely.

We will try to take questions from remote sites after any local questions, time permitting. If you are participating remotely, please state your name, affiliation and location. Please use the whiteboard tool to announce your intention to ask a question. The MBONE operator will then raise her hand for you and ask you to speak.

We ask the speakers to repeat the question into the microphone. This makes it easier for both local and remote audiences.

Credits and Acknowledgements

The conference organizers gratefully acknowledge the help of the following individuals and organizations in making this multicast possible:

Sun Microsystems:

SPARC-5 workstations

Jim Kurose (Univ. of Massachusetts):

video camera and IPX workstation

GMD Fokus:

video camera

Maya Yavnik (Univ. of Massachusetts at Amherst):

camera operator