MCS  FUTURESLABARGONNE  CHICAGO Rick Stevens, Terry Disz, Lisa Childers, Bob Olson Argonne National Laboratory The Access Grid An Introduction

MCS  FUTURESLABARGONNE  CHICAGO Ambient mic (tabletop) Presenter mic Presenter camera Audience camera Physical Node Design Spaces for small groups Wide field of view Comfortable Persistent connection

MCS  FUTURESLABARGONNE  CHICAGO Audio Hands free –No click to talk –No searching for microphones –Never have to think about microphones Interactive –Interrupt other speakers –Multiple conversations at the same time –Full duplex Clear –No background noise –Rich-sounding speech No feedback No echo

MCS  FUTURESLABARGONNE  CHICAGO Video Scale of imagery life-sized Highest quality, but affordable Multiple video streams –Presenter close-up –Audience view –Audience close-up –Display wall

MCS  FUTURESLABARGONNE  CHICAGO Data Shared –Powerpoint –VNC –Visualization Archived –Voyager

MCS  FUTURESLABARGONNE  CHICAGO Network Hardening multicast infrastructure – Large-scale networking testbed –Higher bandwidth –QoS Networking people active members of the AG community

MCS  FUTURESLABARGONNE  CHICAGO The Muds Two muds are used in the AG community –Access Grid Hangout Room Character generation is controlled Characters reside there permenantly Long-term social relationships have developed –Access Grid Venue Character generation is automatic Characters come and go Usage is event-driven

MCS  FUTURESLABARGONNE  CHICAGO Virtual Collaboration Spaces A persistent location on the grid Not a physical space A dimension in which several physical spaces can be co- located A place that can be entered and exited Supports multiple interaction modalities Text, audio, video graphics, animation, VR A scoping mechanism to support multiple concurrent meetings A resource that can be reserved Virtual Venue