A multimedia collaboration system has multimedia document marking and searching capabilities such that a user can rapidly access desired selected portions of stored multimedia documents. The mark and search feature can be context-based, content-based, time-based, or event based. The multimedia documents can be a collection of individual components in multiple media combined with an overall structure and timing component. The multimedia collaboration system itself integrates separate real-time and asynchronous networks--the former for real-time audio and video, and the latter for control signals and textual, graphical and other data--in a manner that is interoperable across different computer and network operating system platforms and which closely approximates the experience of face-to-face collaboration, while liberating the participants from the limitations of time and distance.