I just read a great article by Ron Roszkiewicz titled GDSS: The Future of Online Meetings and True Digital Collaboration? In my opinion, this article was successful in communicating, in simple terms, how conferencing (and conferencing systems) differ from collaboration.
Mr Roszkiewicz defines collaboration as a "rich interactive relationship" between the participants which may or may not take place in real-time. Conferencing on the other hand is less interactive such as presenting a PowerPoint presentation or conducting training or holding webinars (web based seminars or virtual conferences) which is mostly one way. Conferencing is very useful for this purpose.
The distinction may be subtle to some. However, when you understand the value of each the distinction becomes more apparent. For example, a "conference" is an opportunity to communicate your message to others. Certainly there are questions and a dialog but the value (richness) of the conference is to get the message across. The value of a conference is not so much to retain and store for future reference as it is to deliver.
The value of collaborations are the "results" of the communication which is not strictly a "message". Rather, a collaboration is valuable because new information is collected whether it be knowledge, ideas, or decisions. As a result Mr. Roszkiewicz aptly calls this "Intellectual Property". As intellectual property it is import to retain it for use in making decisions whether the decisions are for business or technical in nature.
At VisualShare we offer image collaboration (although we might call them confernce ;) solutions to professionals involved in expert evaluation of images and pictures. Our customers include doctors, life scientists and engineers. As the use of microscopes and digital image capture increases so does the need for expert review and evaluation.
These professionals need to meet to discuss the images to form diagnoses, make scientific conclusions and conduct quality assurance on manufactured products. Their meeting however is not a "conference" as defined above; it is a collaboration. The collaboration itself and the subsequent decisions have value for medical diagnosis and treatment, scientific discovery and intellectual property, and the manufacturing processes.
At VisualShare our products support collaboration. This is why we record the collaboration and decisions. We understand the value.
