NetMeeting

Using NetMeeting

As has been mentioned in the other guides, you can use NetMeeting for a number of different purposes: chat, audio/video conferencing, file sharing, and desktop sharing. This document will explain how to use the functions of NetMeeting, assuming that you have looked at the Starting NetMeeting guide and have opened a meeting.

Starting NetMeeting

If you are interested in having a remote speaker work with your class, or if you’d just like to electronically collaborate within the classroom, the way that has been set up for this contingency is Microsoft’s NetMeeting, with help from Microsoft Windows Messenger. This guide will allow you to open a meeting. Other guides will teach you how to run text, voice, and video chats, share files between laptops, and even share desktops.

To begin, set up the main computer as well as any laptops you will be using (see Basic Laptop Usage and The Main Computer for details) and make sure all of them are actively connected to the network by checking a webpage or something similar.

Next, open MSN Messenger (or Windows Messenger if you are using Windows XP). It will ask you for a username and password.

Main computer:
Username: sh1415main
Password: 1415main

Laptops:
Username: sh1415laptop# (# between 1 and 10)
Password: 1415lap (standard for all the laptops)

The computers should then connect to the Microsoft Network.

After this, on the main computer that you will be using (assumed to be the instructor's console), you will want to invite others to a NetMeeting

Who you invite first is extremely important, as that will be the only other user who will be able to enjoy audio/video chat privileges. For example, if you have a remote speaker, you will want to make sure that you and the remote speaker are the first two users in the NetMeeting This means that you and your remote speaker will have to be coordinated in advance, with the remote speaker having her/his own MSN Messenger username and password (they are free and available at http://www.hotmail.com), as well as NetMeeting, which is included on every Windows machine from Windows 98 onward. If this is to be an audio chat, your remote speaker will also want to have a microphone and a pair of headphones if possible, as there will be some issues with reverb.

[If you are having a video chat, please consult the guide Setting Up Video Chat Capabilities, as you and possibly your speaker will have to set up a web camera/digital camera.]

To invite a user to NetMeeting, you will click on his/her username on your friends list in Windows Messenger (another reason you will need to have a remote chat event set up in advance) and choose the option of inviting him/her to a NetMeeting NetMeeting should open up automatically at that point, and you will hear a sound like a phone ringing once your speaker has agreed to join the meeting. Allow the user to join the NetMeeting, and make sure you have the video and audio feeds correct before inviting the laptops to join the meeting.

Once everyone has accepted your invitation to the NetMeeting and you have accepted those users into the NetMeeting, you are ready to start using NetMeeting Please see Using NetMeeting for further instructions.

Text Chat

You may have a text chat within NetMeeting with all of the laptops, your remote speaker, and anyone else that is in the NetMeeting (for example, if students have laptops that they have brought and wired into the meeting). This is actually quite simple to do; you can either select the “Chat” option from the Tools menu or click on the chat button (which looks like a speech bubble) on your NetMeeting console.

Once you have done either of the above, a new window will open with the title of “Chat.” You may then begin a text chat with the speaker or the students. All you will have to do to send a message is to hit Enter after you have finished it. You can also press the button next to the text input area.

If you want to save the chat, go to the File menu, and select Save As. You may then save the chat.

Audio/Video Chat

In some ways, audio/video chat is even easier than text chat, because if you have opened the meeting properly, with the instructor as the meeting giver, and the remote speaker as the first person added to the meeting, NetMeeting will automatically pick up your audio/video feed (AKA the microphone and the web camera) and the remote speaker’s audio/video feed. At this point, we are still working on a way to save the audio/video from these chats.

If you are interested in doing an audio/video chat, please look at the guides on how to use the microphone and the web camera.

Whiteboard

The whiteboard feature is actually quite useful in sharing quick snapshots of a desktop, or an image, or whatever is on the computer at a particular moment that doesn't require desktop sharing. For example, a graphics file or a webpage can be looked at via Whiteboard, and issues pointed out.

To begin, the user that is going to share her/his screen will take a screen shot using the PrintScreen/SysRq button. Then, within NetMeeting, press the Whiteboard button (the button to the immediate right of the Text Chat button) to open the Whiteboard program.

Paste the screen (either using CTRL+V or the Paste command in the Edit menu), which should appear. Other users should then open their Whiteboard programs.

At that point, students and the instructor may highlight aspects of the work using the tools within Whiteboard (which works much like Paint). After everyone’s finished, the student can save the Whiteboard contents to file.