Abstract
One of the primary reasons large meetings utilizing group support systems (GSS) are more efficient and effective than traditional meetings is because the former are based upon typed comments and opinions while the latter are based upon voice input (Nunamaker, Briggs, Mittleman, Vogel, & Balthazard, 1997). Using a keyboard, participants can submit comments to the group anonymously and simultaneously, but in an oral meeting, participants must take turns speaking to avoid confusion. Further, group members in an electronic meeting can skim recorded typed comments easily, while most traditional meetings do not have complete transcripts available as the discussion progresses. Even analyzing new comments is more efficient with a GSS. Most people can read faster than they can listen, and in an oral meeting, the rate of input is limited by the current speaker’s voice.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Comment: A passage of text typed during an electronic meeting’s idea generation phase.
Electronic meeting: A meeting of individuals using Group Support System software to exchange ideas, vote, or collaborate in some other way.
Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR): or Speech Recognition (SR): Transcription of human speech to text by a computer.
Group Support System (GSS): A computer-based system that automates a meeting.
Voice-Based Group Support System (VGSS): A GSS with SR used to generate text.
Face-to-Face Meeting: A meeting of individuals within the same room, such that each group member is able to see every other group member.
Enrollment: The process of training SR software to recognize an individual’s distinctive voice patterns.