Week Three: Online Meetings

Tax season at the public library is an ordeal, as any public librarian can attest.  To make matters more challenging, the State of Kansas is not printing tax forms this year for budgetary reasons, and are pushing residents to file online.  Therefore my choice of online meetings to attend was painfully easy to choose.

I had missed the Kansas Tax webinar--I was probably napping--and decided to fortify myself against the deluge of anxious and irritated patrons, by learning more about the State's online system. 

The webinar was put on by Andy Coultis, WebTax Administrator for the State of Kansas, moderated by Laura DeBaun of NEKLS, and hosted by the State Library of Kansas through Webjunction.

I thought all parties involved did a good job of communicating the necessary information about how Kansas libraries can help their patrons transition to a paperless tax world. 

However, having used Wimba during graduate school and during other online meetings, I came to a few conclusions:

• As with any software, it is only as good as the person using it.  
• For whatever reason, when a meeting goes online, people suddenly forget all the rules/etiquette of meetings. It seems as though, because the meeting is online, people think it becomes this special, unique event. No--it is just another meeting; treat it is such!
• Individuals/organizations with slow internet connection speeds, i.e dial-up, are still at a disadvantage.
• Until people understand the proper way to create a PowerPoint presentation, online meetings will be tedious
• Technical restrictions placed on library staff must not be so cumbersome as to prevent them from easily using technologies.  You shouldn't have to call a computer tech to watch a Wimba presentation.

Overall, if the moderator and speakers are comfortable with technology, and do not let that technology distract them from the purpose of their discussion, then online meeting will continue to grow in popularity and expediency.  A few minor technology drawbacks, connection issues, etc., will only hamper the overall activity slightly.  As with any meeting, online meetings succeed or fail based on the participants. 


What do you think?