“Tele” doesn’t mean “phone”
These days, most people use the word “conferencing” when referring to all types of conference services (audio, video, web, …). They may clarify with “audio conferencing,” “web conferencing,” or “video conferencing,” but you don’t often hear “teleconferencing” anymore. A few years ago, we changed our name from ACT Teleconferencing to ACT Conferencing, and this seems to be an industry-wide change in terminology. Most conferencing providers don’t even have the word “teleconference” on their sites anymore.
So, why not call it “teleconferencing?” At the time we changed our name, it seemed like a natural progression to me. After all, “teleconferencing” implied “telephone conferencing” didn’t it? So, if you dropped the “tele,” you were actually broadening the meaning to include all types of conference calls. Seemed pretty obvious to me.
I had intended to write today about the two different words in terms of how conferencing as an industry has expanded to include many types of transmission methodologies and how new technologies were being added all the time. But, I decided to do a little research first. I started with Wiktionary. There was something strange there. There were two etymologies for the word:
1. a contraction of telephone conference - which fit in exactly with my thinking
2. from the Greek tele- (distance) and conference (a meeting of people who confer about a topic)
Wait a minute! That second etymology doesn’t say anything about “phone” – it just says “distance.” When did I decide that “tele” meant “phone”? In fact, it makes much more sense if “tele” means distance – there is no phone in “television” or “telepresence,” or even in “telecommunications,” for that matter. So, I’m back to why not “teleconferencing?” And I don’t really have an answer. Maybe the “tele” is just a victim of our society’s move towards a more mobile/text/chat language (LOL, brb, ttyl), and maybe some day we’ll just call it “conf!” Or maybe the word “conferencing” is less technical and sounds more adoptable to users. Or maybe the word was just too long. What do you think?