Dimensions of sharing in multimedia desktop conferencing

Concerns desktop conferencing systems which support cooperative work activities by allowing users located in their own offices to work together in real-time through interaction with shared workstation applications. Conferees need to discuss and coordinate their joint interactions, and this is typically achieved through audio or video connections integrated into the workstation interface. In some systems, conferees are able to use their favourite single-user applications for tasks such as text editing and drawing. These conference-transparent applications are adapted for multiple users by a shared-window system, which intercepts inputs and outputs and broadcasts them to all the workstations participating in the conference. An alternative approach to conferencing is to develop multi-user programs that are designed specifically to support collaboration (collaboration-aware)