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Methods and Technologies for Enabling Virtual Research Communities

Methods and Technologies for Enabling Virtual Research Communities. The Agora Online Meeting Tool. http://agora.lancs.ac.uk. Introduction. Agora:. Is an ancient Greek work meaning ‘meeting place’. Means ‘now’ in Asturiano and Portuguese.

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Methods and Technologies for Enabling Virtual Research Communities

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  1. Methods and Technologies for Enabling Virtual Research Communities Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  2. The Agora Online Meeting Tool http://agora.lancs.ac.uk Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  3. Introduction Agora: • Is an ancient Greek work meaning ‘meeting place’ • Means ‘now’ in Asturiano and Portuguese • Is an online meeting tool, developed by Lancaster University intially using JISC money and is now funded by the ESRC Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  4. Agora Overview • Agora is a online meeting tool aimed at the office or home user. • It was designed to help researchers make online collaboration an integrated part of their daily office routine • It has been designed with ease of use as the main target Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  5. Sakai Overview • Sakai is a web-based collaboration environment. • Open source, backed by a large community of developers, researchers and teachers. Scalable and modular. • Is an excellent complement for Agora’s features Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  6. Agora is Easy • Agora has been designed from the ground up to be simple to use. • The user interface is consistent and intuitive. • Installation is transparent to the user. The Agora software is installed in the background when the user first joins a meeting by clicking a webpage link. Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  7. Agora is Useful • Multi-way video conferencing with no limit on participants • Desktop sharing • Shared whiteboard • Movie-casting • Chat • Portal Integration (Sakai and Moodle) Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  8. Agora is Cheap to Run • The Agora server can be run on cheap hardware and free software • A server with 2 GB of memory and 1.5 TB of resilient storage costs approximately £1,600 • Such a server on a standard network connection will handle around 100 concurrent Agora conferences • Each Agora user needs a Java Runtime Environment (free) and a £20 webcam and headset. That’s all. Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  9. Architecture • Agora service: a web application, deployable in any servlet container, that actually holds the meetings. • Agora Console: another web application that serves up the meeting setup user interface • Agora Portal Plugin: These plugins form the integration points with portal frameworks. We currently have plugins for Sakai and Moodle • Agora Desktop: Using the Agora Desktop you can create meetings, manage contacts and get popup notifications of interesting events. Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  10. SAKAI Plugin Agora Desktop Alerts Console Launches Launches Agora Client Service Service VoIP / RTP Traffic Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  11. Agora Service • The Agora service is responsible for maintaining information about meetings in progress • The service provides the software multicasting functionality for routing video, audio and message data between participants • Can be installed in a Tomcat server by just copying a file and setting up a simple properties file Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  12. Agora Console • The Agora console is the area where users create meetings. The console interface is rendered in the portal plugin • The console is deployed into a webapp container as a standard WAR file. • A simple properties file, similar to Sakai’s, is used to wire the console to the service. Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  13. Agora Plugins • The Agora console is surfaced in portal tools using a plugin. • In the case of Sakai, this is a standard Sakai Tool, in the case of Moodle, this is a module. • The plugin passes user lists through to the console so the meeting initiator can pick from a list of their group members • The plugin also provides authentication services to the console Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  14. Agora Desktop • Works in a similar fashion to Microsoft Messenger • Runs in the Windows taskbar • Pops up a message when one of your contacts comes online, or when you are invited to a meeting. • Gives access to your portal group members. Just select and click one button to setup a meeting • Invite people who are not users of your portal system. Invitee just clicks a link to join, no login required Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  15. Open Source Timeline • 27/06/2007 - Re-architecture complete. V1 Feature set finalised. Apache 2.0 license applied. New binary release on Agora website. • 06/07/2007 - Agora CVS opened up, JIRA setup. Agora developers worksite setup at Lancaster • Sakai 2.5 integration Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  16. Current Work • Portal plugin architecture • Windows taskbar popups • Standalone version • Improved codecs for Mac. Wrapping of libavcodec libraries in JMF codec classes • Improved Linux support, V4L 2 support will open up many more cameras Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

  17. About us Adrian Fish: a.fish@lancaster.ac.uk Miguel Gonzalez: m.gonzalez@lancaster.ac.uk Adrian Fish, Miguel Gonzalez Losa - NeSC

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