Implementing an Interactive Discussion Forum

An Interactive Discussion Forum (IDF) is a tool for supporting interactive discussions involving video and audio communication. A forum is a form of structured discussion, more purposeful than informal communications, such as chats or mailing list; moreover it has an important role in achieving a sense of community and participation in the audience. During a forum the participants debate a pre-defined theme, within bounded time limits. A moderator organises the discussion by establishing the argument structure and ordering the interventions, ensuring that the discussion converges to a decision. We outline the key features of our IDF and illustrate several implementation issues and how we solved them. The project is implemented in pure Java using various media and sharing libraries. Moreover we are using handheld computers to test its suitability in a wireless network. “Now, dialectics allows us to do three things: mental training, conversations, philosophic science research” Aristotles, Topics I.2