There are two parts to this issue... depending on the desired nature of the website. We support three applications in this area.
1) Drupal and Plone : these are examples of Content Management Systems, which allow groups of people to contribute to the development and maintenance of a website, and largely through a browser-based interface. They can provide a visually rich environment for the site (so that it is pleasing to the eye, informative and content-rich) and are a good option when a collaborative and configurable site with a strong public-facing side is required. Site-member roles and permissions may be managed at a fine level.
2) Sakai : originally developed for the educational sector, Sakai is useful for developing group-maintained, information-rich collaborative sites. The emphasis is more on ways to organise groups of people and share information, than on producing visuallly-rich sites with a strong public face. A Sakai site is configured with a number of selectable Tools which have a collaborative theme- Calendar, Schedule, Announcements, Forums, Wiki, Resouces (file utility), and others- and the overall intent is that the site is an aid to effective research collaboration. There can be public display of content- but this is in a quite simple, textual format. As with Drupal, site-member roles and permissions may be controlled.
So- if you're after what is more generally thought of as a website, then Drupal or Plone may well be the preferred option. If you are after a site (a "project site", in Sakai parlance) that primarily will be used as an aid for organising your research group, then Sakai may be more applicable.
In the first instance, contact the Help Desk for more information.
Certainly. eRSA supports (and uses!) two applications in this area:
1) EVO http://evo.arcs.org.au
2) Access Grid http://accessgrid.org.au
Both applications allow simple face-to-face conversation with audio and video, but have extended functionality such as shared desktop, shared whiteboard, file transfer, text chat, multiple video/camera sources, and more.
It also is possible to hold meetings that are accessible simultaneously both to EVO and Access Grid users (so-called bridged meetings).
See the eRSA pages on EVO and Access Grid, and also for information on eRSA's Meeting Room. See here for the relevant booking form if you would like to make use of our video collaboration facilities.
eRSA provides Service Desk support to Australian research users of these tools, and can advise on getting the applications running as well as hardware requirements for various levels of installations.
Please contact the Service Desk for initial inquiries as well as user support.
The EVO video-collaboration tool has a facility whereby people may use a phone to connect to an EVO Meeting via audio only. This can be very handy when travelling, or when network or other issues preclude attending via EVO proper.
When one has joined the Meeting via the Phone Bridge (as it is called), one will hear the audio from all the other participants, and they will hear you.
To use the EVO Phone Bridge, follow these steps
Each EVO Meeting has a unique ID number. If a password has been set for the Meeting, it will also have a Phone Bridge password (actually a number). Thus, before being able to connect via the Phone Bridge, you will need to obtain the Meeting ID (and password/passnumber if required) from someone who has that information (such as the person who booked the Meeting, or someone who has EVO running and can see the Meeting information).
Note that it is possible to use EVO as a "hub" between muliple people joining via the Phone Bridge. This effectively makes an EVO Meeting into a conference call, but only at the cost of a local call for each participant (if they use a phone number which is local to their area). To do so, book an EVO Meeting and distribute the details to the intended participants. They can each then join the Meeting via the Phone Bridge, and have a multi-way phone conversation via the EVO Meeting's audio. The number of available lines is limited, so this approach cannot be scaled too far.
It is not actually necessary in this case for anyone to use EVO itself to join the Meeting, although this could provide a useful monitoring tool during the Meeting. Even if no-one joins the Meeting via EVO proper, the Meeting will open and the Phone Bridge can be used.
See here for further documentation on using the Phone Bridge.
Fundamentally, these video collaboration tools are intended to enable the same basic activity- online, video- and audio-based meetings between people who are in different locations. Both applications allow meeting participants to see and hear eachother.
Further, both applications have functionality beyond just "see and hear". There is text chat, the ability to send desktop content as a video stream, multi-way connectivity, the ability to use multiple cameras, file-sharing, etc.
Whilst either may be used in situations ranging from a single-user with a desktop/laptop to room-based installations for groups of people, EVO is intended to be straightforward for individual users to get running, and to do so with little or no support. Apart from ensuring that Java is on your machine, EVO does not need the user to install any software. A common example of use is for easy, rapid one-to-one or small group meetings, with the capability to share some or all of a participant's desktop as a video stream.
Access Grid, whilst requiring user installation and a slightly higher level of configuration, is Open Source, and consequently has a greater range of extra features that can be added and used. Whilst it certainly can be used on a personal basis, it is particularly well suited to meetings with larger numbers of participants. Items such as VNC, VPCScreenCapture and various Shared applications allow a high level of participation between AG users in a Meeting. Extended uses include remote teaching, online conferences, remote instrument control.
In short, EVO is quick to get going, and is very handy for convenient, frequent meetings. Access Grid can require more work for installation and configuration, but has a wider range of extra features and is more adpatable to a wider range of uses.