The ePresence Interactive Webcasting and Archiving System: Technology Overview and Current Research Issues

In contrast to video conferencing, webcasting supports scaleable Internet visual communications, yet it is typically viewed as an ephemeral one-way broadcast medium. We have developed a system design to support interactive webcasts that are accessible in real-time by remote viewers and retrospectively by archive viewers who can browse and search for what they want to see. ePresence is an open source system implemented using .NET technology that currently works with Windows and Linux servers and supports a wide variety of machines, operating systems, browsers, media engines, and bandwidths. We discuss current features of ePresence, its architecture and implementation, research intended to provide new capabilities, and the motivation for an open source release. Further details about the system's functionality, interface, and applications may be found in the companion paper "ePresence: An Open Source Interactive Webcasting and Archiving System for eLearning" by Rankin, Baecker, and Wolf.