1. Agora E-Collaboration tool/framework Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science Miguel Gonzalez Losa Adrian Fish

2. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Who we are We work for the Centre for e-Science (LUCeS) at Lancaster University in the UK We are currently funded, by the JISC, to develop an e-Research environment for UK scientists using Sakai We have been focusing on developing advanced collaboration tools that extend and complement the standard ‘out of the box’ tool set that comes with Sakai Manchester London Lancaster

3. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) E-Collaboration Definition –“Electronic collaboration (e-collaboration): collaboration using electronic technologies among different individuals to accomplish a common task” –“Any activity performed by means of/supported by electronic tools or infrastructure, aimed at reaching a goal and possibly involving human iteration” –“Working together using electronic means: collaboration among people or organizations made possible by means of electronic technologies such as the Internet, video conferencing and wireless devices” –Audio/video conferencing –Instant messaging –Whiteboard –Shared-desktop –Movie-casting –Recording People  Collaboration  Communication

4. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) What is Agora Software application –Ready to use software with basic e-Collaboration features Software framework –Software like Agora is not easy to develop –Existing software frameworks are not easy to use –Agora provides high abstraction level for developing new applications or developing new features –Agora makes it possible to develop specific solutions for your institution.

5. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) What is Agora (II) The Agora was the heart of ancient Athens, the focus of political, commercial, administrative and social activity, the religious and cultural centre, and the seat of justice.

6. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora as application

7. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Aims Useful: we want to provide tools which enhance the communication experience between people covering the most common cases. Simple: we want to provide simple tools ready to be used by non technical people. –Use –Requirements –Configuration –Installation & updates Extendable A powerful ……… The most complete.......

8. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Inside Agora: General view Agora Server. Sakai service: Light weight multicasting and messaging broker Agora Applet: Conference room. Agora tools Agora Web site. Sakai Tool: Login, Sites and Users admin Agora Web Site Conference Management

9. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Inside Agora: General view (II) Agora Web Site (Sakai tool) Agora Applet Agora Server (Sakai service)

10. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora Web Site

11. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora Web Site Currently: –Create conferences –View existing conferences where I am invited –Join a conference where I am invited –Destroy conferences created by me Coming soon: –Managing exiting conferences –Different conference configurations Scheduling Floor control Etc.

12. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora Web Site. Main page

13. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora Web Site. Creating a conference

14. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora Applet

15. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora Applet Conference room - This is where everything happens. The Agora Applet gives access to the tools: –Audio/video conferencing –Instant messaging –Whiteboard –Shared-desktop –Movie-casting –Recording –Playback. Also in off-line mode!

16. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora Applet (II) Menu Status bar Multiscreen panel with individuals screens

17. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora Applet. Automatic layout

18. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora Applet. Individual screen Detach button Context menu button Status panel Projection area Icon Audio/videoWhiteboardShared DesktopChat

19. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Video-audio conference

20. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Video-audio conference (II) Many to many. The number of concurrent participants depends of the bandwidth and the capacity of processing of the computers. If one participant does not have webcam he/she will be able to transmit audio and watch others. As reference, a user with a normal PC (Pentium IV, 2 GHz, 512 Mb) with ADSL (512kb/s) will be able to participate in conferences with 4 participants.

21. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) RTP Protocol Video –H.263 –Frames per second: Not all cameras allow you to change it. –Video quality = compression rate. More compression implies worse quality but less bandwidth use –Video size: 176x144 or 352x288 –TIP: Not all webcams are the same. Colour, sharpness, performance in low light environment. Frame rate and Resolution is not the most important feature! Audio –DVI at 8000, 11025 or 22050 Hz, 4 bits and 1 channel (mono) –TIP: To avoid echo it is highly recommended to use headphones with integrated microphone Video-audio conference. Technical Notes

22. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Video-audio conference. Technical Note (II) The echo problem Hello! The sound from the speakers goes through the microphone Hello! The echo is one of the biggest audio problems for users Echo cancelling hardware for video conference is very expensive (thousands of dollars) Some webcams have echo cancelling software Note: normal telephones and freehand telephones have very cheap echo cancelling hardware!

23. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Shared Desktop

24. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Shared Desktop (II) Allows broadcast images of one participant’s desktop to the rest of participants. Network friendly. Only the area of screen has changed is sent. Allows collaborative document editing or guidance in software use. –A participant can broadcast an Word document and the rest of participants can give opinions. –A participant can explain how to use a program broadcasting images of it. Only the participant that is transmitting needs to have the shown software installed. The rest are receiving an image.

25. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Chat & Whiteboard The whiteboard allows participants to collaboratively draw and manipulate shapes on a canvas. The whiteboard used with a digital tablet is the perfect medium to communicate mathematical formulas The Chat is a very simple Instant messaging tool. It is perfect to pass information like URL, numbers, foreign words, names…

26. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Movie casting Movie casting allows broadcast movie files to the participants in a conference. So far, few formats supported. Synchronization when paused, forwarding and rewinding is an issue.

27. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Recording / Playing back Agora is able to record all the information in a conference keeping the sequence and times Agora Applet can work off-line, so you can reproduce any recorded conference

28. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Requirements Installation & Updating Configuration

29. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora Client –Java & JMF: Windows, Linux and Mac OS (*) –Webcam and microphone: $35 –Graphic tablet (Optional): $70 –Broadband Requirements Agora Server –No special requirements in the equipment –The most important requirement is the Network connection Number of participants Upload bandwidth Download bandwidth 2160 kb/s 3 320kb/s 4160 kb/s480kb/s 5160 kb/s640kb/s In UK the most of the Internet Providers offer only 256 Kb/s in Upload bandwidth. Download bandwidth varies between 2 and 8 Mb/s (12-24 participants max )

30. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Technical Note. P2P vs. Multicasting Number of participants Upload bandwidth Download bandwidth 2160 kb/s 3 320kb/s 4160 kb/s480kb/s 5160 kb/s640kb/s Upload: 256 Kb/s, 512 Kb/s if you are lucky Download: 2Mb/s - 8 Mb/s Number of participants Upload bandwidth Download bandwidth 2160 kb/s 3320kb/s 4480kb/s 5640kb/s 100 Mb/s ≈ 300 users Any number of users

31. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Technical Note. P2P vs. Multicasting (II) Performance & Load balancing

32. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Technical Note. Java, JMF & Webcams Platform independent client Java Webcams Drivers (Platform specific ) Windows Linux Mac (Limited) Nice extensible architecture RTP Only maintenance Windows Mac New formats Quick Time For Java (Apple) Java Media Framework (Sun Microsystems) Bridge ?

33. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Installation & updating Agora Client –Install webcam –Install base software. Simple Windows Installer (JMF or JRE+JMF). –Automatic and transparent updating. It is a web page and an Applet! Agora Server –Sakai tool –Sakai service

34. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Configuration Agora Client Checklist –Audio and video working –Firewall –Pop-up blockers! –Allow applets! Agora Server –Firewall (5 UDP ports in the current version) –Agora is NAT friendly

35. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora vs. Other applications AgoraSkypeMsn Messenger * Access Grid ** Participants in audio Unlimited52 Participants in video Unlimited22 Calls to phonesNoYes No (Commercial version has voice IP) E-Collaboration tools Whiteboard, Shared desktop, chat, movie caster, Sakai Chat Shared files In commercial version: Whiteboard, file transfer, chat, Data sharing Open sourceYesNo Yes Recording/ playback YesNo Yes * Microsoft has a tool called Live Meeting with e-collaboration tools. Also there is a product called ConferenceXP, open source, with a very complete set of e-collaboration tools. Developed in.Net ** Access Grid works with multiples cameras

36. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Future of Agora New Features –Conference managing –Conference configurations (Floor control, time control, scheduling…) –Whispering mode –Interaction between existing tools Whiteboard – Shared desktop Whiteboard – Movie caster –Tray system alert application Full Mac Support Performance & Load balancing Security and encryption Agora available in more open source projects (Moodle, JSR-168,…) SIP compliant (Compatible with other applications, Telephone calls,…)

37. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora as Framework

38. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) Agora as Framework Not all the institutions have the same necessities Developing an application like Agora is not easy –JMF and QTJ don’t have good documentation –JMF is tricky Agora has high level abstractions that makes much easier to develop new features –JMF: DataSource, Processor, Player, RTPManager, RTPConfig… –Agora: Camera, Microphone, Participant, Conference… Agora framework: Skeleton, classes, solutions and DOCUMENTATION

39. Agora Lancaster University (UK). Centre for e-Science. Miguel Gonzalez Losa & Adrian Fish. Agora (2006) QUESTIONS & COMMENTS Please, be clear and… patient, I am Spanish!!! Agora (Athens) My City (Aviles) Lancaster