Supporting partially distributed groups in electronic meetings

Electronic meeting systems (EMS) have been employed to enhance meeting processes and outcomes. Electronic support for same-time, same-place meetings is now evolving to include other kinds of meetings, including geographically and temporally distributed meetings. To date, research involving geographically distributed meetings has focused on those wherein all participants are isolated from one another. Partially distributed meetings may include only one, or a few, remote participants, while the majority meet together. This paper describes an exploratory study involving partially distributed electronic meetings with groups of four participants meeting in two locations-three in one location and one in the other location. Preliminary results are presented and discussed. Despite successfully completing the experimental task, participants expressed dissatisfaction with the simple video, audio and software communication links provided. In order to appropriately support partially distributed meetings, better communication links may be required. Possible enhancements to software and communication facilities are suggested