CONFER (software)
Highly sophisticated for its time, it was developed in 1975 at the University of Michigan by then graduate student Robert Parnes.
[3] CONFER was developed in the mid-1970s when University of Michigan experimental psychology graduate student Bob Parnes attended a seminar where Professor Merrill M. Flood discussed aspects of electronic mail and conferencing on group decision making.
[5] With encouragement from Fred Goodman and LeVerne Collet at the School of Education and Karl Zinn at the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT), CONFER was developed.
Parnes' vision of the system was one where the individual group participant would alternate between being a producer and being a consumer of information.
By this time, U-M, WSU, and the University of Alberta had moved from the Michigan Terminal System to distributed computing environments and several newer digital technologies replaced the functionality provided by CONFER.
[7][8] A Unix version, known as CONFER U, was created by the University of Michigan's Information Technology Division and used at U-M and at the Research Libraries Group.
A version for the DEC VMS operating system, known as CONFER V, was created and used at Western Michigan University (WMU).
Conferences are accessed using terminals from various locations, allowing discussion without having to meet physically or participate at the same time.
Bulletins, notices that are displayed when a conference is entered with no responses allowed, are another less frequently used form of communication.
CONFER also provides a "meeting" mode to allow real-time discussions and includes facilities to support "simulations" as described below.
Not only did CONFER offer the opportunity for various forms of group discussion, it also served as the first widely used e-mail system on the Michigan campus.
[9] It provides a modern user interface (menus, icons, windows, and buttons) that can be used to check electronic mail, participate in CONFER II conferences, access the MTS User Directory, and create, edit, and manipulate files.
InfoX adds Macintosh-style word processing features to the more traditional editing functions available from the CONFER command-line interface.
One cannot use the program to enter organizer-defined commands, post or read bulletins, hold meetings, use polled or numeric responses, enter pseudonymous or anonymous responses, change entries, access the index or summaries, or send or receive CONFER messages.
CONFER provided a new opportunity for group discussion and is credited for playing a "tremendous role in enlarging the electronic community" at the University of Michigan.
[2] Those providing user support for the Merit Network in Michigan, particularly Chris Wendt, were excited by the potential for CONFER, and they created the statewide MNET:Caucus conference to help Merit users get quick answers to their questions and take some of the load off their consulting staff.
For many on the Michigan campus and elsewhere, the benefits of CONFER included meeting new people with similar interests, engaging in group discussion, and communicating outside the normal parameters defined by time and space.
[2] CONFER played a tremendous role in enlarging the electronic community at the University and in removing the traditional geographic borders of the classroom and campus.
