You Know What I’m Saying? Online Discussion Products
Online Discussion Products
The online discussion group, whether real-time or asynchronous, single-topic
or threaded, has become a handy tool for many instructors. These interactive
forums can serve as virtual office hours; as a venue for student-to-student
discussions; and as meeting places for students in distance learning situations.
Groups can meet with or without a hosting instructor in simultaneous chat or
threaded asynchronous discussion groups, and can be completely uncensored or
carefully controlled by the host administrator. The proliferation of products
and configurations available to users, however, is mind-boggling. We've surveyed
four of the products most widely used in higher education, ranging from fairly
simple freeware programs to more sophisticated, costly packages.
Discus
Available free of charge through its Web site, Discus charges a small fee to
install its software and test it on the local administrator's server. A "professional"
version, with additional features, is available for about $150. Currently used
by more than 50,000 hosts, Discus runs on Windows 95, 98, and NT, as well as
Unix systems. No special software or plug-in is required, since, like all of
these products, Discus runs on Netscape or Internet Explorer browsers.
Discus is not as feature-rich as some of its competitors, but it d'es provide
the basics. Users will appreciate the fact that they can search postings by
keyword and message date, post messages by e-mail, and organize the list of
postings. Both the free and professional editions allow for public and private
posting, "anonymous" posting by registered users, and e-mail notification of
new postings. Discus Pro also allows for message queuing, spell check, and administration
by e-mail. Discus gives the administrator more editing and control power than
some of its competitors. Consumers who are interested in having multiple user
profile options and customization tools will find Discus lacking. However, Discus
Pro offers many of the features of more expensive products, including giving
the user the power to edit messages and set up an account. www.discusware.com
WWWThreads
WWWThreads is a small company offering a highly customizable product for discussion
forums. Purchase of a site license for $100-$200 entitles the user to both the
PERL and PHP versions of the software, which is available in eleven languages.
This is a good product for someone who is not tech-phobic and wants an inexpensive
solution that is highly customizable. Users can search postings by topic, profile,
and date. An index lists each topic, and menus can be expanded or collapsed.
Administrators can configure postings in a variety of ways, by moving a branch
of a thread to its own new thread or deleting posts from a specific user, for
example. http://www.infopop.com/products/ubbthreads/redirect.html
WebCrossing
WebCrossing is the most feature-rich of the four products, and also potentially
the most expensive.
Features include bulletin boards, integrated newsgroups
and mailing lists, e-mail, calendar services, real-time chat, live events, and
Web application programming. WebCrossing boasts a high level of scalability
and customization. Discussions can be threaded or linear, and users can post
attachments and bookmark favorite topics. The product comes with a sophisticated
search engine and an array of sleek page designs or "skins." Administrators
also have many features at their disposal, including tracking, screening, and
archiving capabilities. WebCrossing can be purchased as either a site license
or company-hosted product. Either way, prices are set on a sliding scale. Hosting
options start at $50 a month and go up to $4,995 a month depending on features
and number of page views. Site licenses range from free to $34,995. For those
seeking less expensive options, WebCrossing offers two alternative products:
WorldCrossing, a free, advertising-supported version of WebCrossing, and Site
Crossing, a lower-priced product line geared toward small businesses setting
up an Intranet-based discussion forum for the first time. www.webcrossing.com
WebBoard 4
WebBoard, available for Windows or Oracle users, provides threaded discussion
and real-time chat via a site license ranging from $1,700 to $3,000, with no
fee per page view. The product features 255 boards, or forums, which allow the
purchaser to launch up to 255 simultaneous communities. The administrator sets
the security level for each board, allowing for varied levels of access. Although
users can also participate via e-mail, WebBoard stores all postings on the board
to create a complete archive. Able to run on several computers simultaneously
to provide redundancy in the event of system overload or failure, WebBoard also
allows for multiple customizable "skins," as well as sophisticated levels of
statistical tracking, password reminders, and attention messaging (alerting
the user to messages specifically sent to him or her). www.webboard.oreilly.com
