\begin{center}
{\bf Abstract\vspace{-.5em}\vspace{0pt}}
\end{center}
\quotation
%\begin{abstract}
%\normalsize
As computers and computer networks become commonplace, electronic
communication is rising in importance and utility.  The challenge is
to take a large, distributed computing environment and build a system
which allows its users to communicate effectively and efficiently with
each other.  This paper compares and contrasts several common types
of electronic communication, focusing on electronic conferencing.  We
describe the implementation of such a system, {\it Discuss}, for
the computing environment found at MIT.  Issues covered include the
basic model of an electronic meeting, the currently implemented user
interfaces, separation of user interface from underlying operations,
splitting the workload between client and server, communications
issues created by the heterogeneous environment, authentication and
authorization, notification, and unification of the numerous
subordinate UNIX\footnote{UNIX is a trademark of AT\&T.}
libraries into a coherent whole.
The paper next summarizes the {\it Discuss} system's current usage,
then closes with
a discussion of its possible future development.

%\end{abstract}
\endquotation
