Proponents are asked to
submit this form electronically as a file attached to an email or as a file on
a 3.5 inch pc-formatted diskette mailed to infoDev. The
file should be in Microsoft World or a RTF. While no particular graphical form is required for an infoDev proposal, it should contain the information
requested below.
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infoDev MISSION "To promote innovative projects
on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for economic and social development
with a special emphasis on the
needs of the poor in developing countries" |
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1. Project Title
(maximum 12 words): Community Development
with E-Learning and E-Healthcare in Amazon, Brazil |
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Proposal ID number (to be
completed by infoDev): |
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2. Date of Proposal: January 25, 2002 |
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PROPONENT
INFORMATION |
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3. Proponent Contact
Information: |
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3.1 Principal
Investigator
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Name: |
Alexandre Rivas, Ph.D., Professor |
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Organization: |
Center for Environmental Sciences (CCA) Universidade Federal do Amazonas / Fundacao UNI-SOLan> |
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Address: |
Campus Universitário 3000Manaus, AM Brazil 69000 |
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Phone Number: |
+ 55-92-647-4066 |
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Fax Number: |
+ 55-92-647-4066 |
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Email: |
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Website of organization: http:// |
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3.2 Co-Principal Investigator |
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Name: |
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E. |
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Organization: |
President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and
Coordination of Global University System (GUS) Chairman, GLObal Systems
Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA) |
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Address: |
43-23 Colden Street Flushing, NY 11355-3998 U.S.A. |
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Phone Number: |
+1-718-939-0928 |
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Fax Number: |
+1-718-939-0656 |
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Email: |
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Website of organization: http:// |
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4. 4.1 Total
project cost (in $US): 300,000 4.2 Funding
Requested from infoDev (in
$US): 235,000 4.3 Project Duration
(one year, two years, three years or more) One year from the beginning of this fund available to the submission of a comprehensive document of systems design, feasibility study and market survey on the proposed CampusNet and Community Development Networks (CDNs) to appropriate Brazilian governmental agencies which will forward it to the Japanese government for their "non-tied cultural aid." The project duration of deploying the CampusNet
and the CDNs with this ³non-tied cultural aid² fund will be determined by the
committee which will be formed at the proposed workshop in Manaus, Amazon,
Brazil which workshop is to be held with this InfoDev grant. |
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5 Please elaborate on the role of each
intended partner in the project.
Please Letters of commitment by
the participating organizations are recommended. See APPENDIX X: List of Participants See also APPENDIX IX: Prospective Joint Programs and
Projects |
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CLASSIFICATION OF PROJECT |
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6 Please choose from the following ONLY ONE of the most relevant category for the proposed
project: (if necessary you may choose a second, but please mark as primary
and secondary). infoDev will not consider anything beyond the primary and secondary categories: |
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Telecommunications Infrastructure Development |
[ ] |
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Internet Infrastructure Development |
[ X] Primary |
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Education |
[ X] Secondary |
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Health |
[ ] |
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E-Commerce |
[ ] |
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Environment |
[ ] |
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Government |
[ ] |
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Other (please explain) |
[ X ] |
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This project with the Japanese government fund
(after the proposed workshop with the InfoDev fund) will be for community
development with all other interested parties involved in the order of
e-health, environment, government, and e-commerce. |
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7. Please indicate the type of
organization that would carry out the proposed project:
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Academic/Research
Institution |
[ X ] |
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Non Governmental
Organization |
[ ] |
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Private Enterprise |
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Government Agency |
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Regional, Bilateral or
Multilateral Organization |
[ ] |
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Other (please explain) |
[ X ] |
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This is a joint project of the University of Amazonia (UA) in Brazil and the Global University System (GUS) at the University of Tampere, Finland. |
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8. |
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Country(ies) please specify |
[ X ] Amazon Region, Brazil |
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Worldwide, Regional or Non
Country-specific |
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9. Proposal Executive Summary: Please give a brief description (maximum 100
words)
of the proposed activities. This summary will be posted on the infoDev website. This international
workshop is to brainstorm on and to form a committee for the deployment of
broadband Internet in Amazon, Brazil, with CampusNet via satellite and the
community development networks with wireless units. This is a community development approach with the
involvements of all schools, libraries, hospitals, local governments, non-
and profit-organizations to have global E-Rate. Joint contents development, teacher and general-public training for digital literacy will also be discussed for poverty and isolation reductions. The resultant comprehensive documents will be submitted to the Japanese government's "non-tied cultural aid." Global University System will emulate
this project in other developing countries around the world in the future. |
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10. Poverty Reduction Impact Describe the
technology components of the project and
how the application
of ICTs will reduce poverty and improve
the lives of the
intended
beneficiaries. Electronic means of communication is taking an
ever greater role in our societies. Internet business, for instance, is
expected to move money in the order of billions of dollars. Scientific
progress at universities is enhanced by accessing to databases via Internet.
A PC, now more than ever, bases medical equipment, on digital equipment, a
fact that makes it quite immediate to send the acquired data via Internet, or
process it. In a word, anyone not capable accessing Internet in a way or
another will be in a great disadvantage with respect to their peers. South America is the home of one of the world's
unique environment, the Amazon rain forest. The region was considered as an
empty area in terms of human population density, particularly in the
Brazilian side. During the last years, the media called the world's attention
to the deforestation and biodiversity loss problems that were happening in
the region. The world was also concerned about the increasing problems
associated with drugs. Those problems were clear indication that the empty
area was starting to suffer the consequences of human activities. Those problems can be substantially minimized if
their isolation is addressed. Isolation makes people unaware of their
importance as citizens and increase impoverishing and degradation of the
environment and economic system. In situations like that, people will not
understand the importance to conserve the environment or how to benefit from
it without compromise their own future as well as the future of future
generations. Ultimately, such unawareness can perpetuate a cycle of economic
and social poverty and environmental degradation. The implementation of a modern communication
technology can drastically reduce the risks threatening the region. A
broadband or faster and more reliable communication network linking people
and institutions within and inter Amazonian communities will contribute for
the understanding of people¹s role and importance on the use of the forest in
a sustainable manner and, at the same time, to improve their quality of life
avoiding the cost of nature destruction. Community based programs in Amazonia have the
premise that exercises in the deployment and use of technology are not the
core for sustainable development in Amazonia, rather it is the promotion of
economic development, job creation, and increasing quality of life as the
final goal. Technological propagation is not an end in itself, but only a
means to a larger end with clear and compelling community benefit. The
development of such network will benefit communities living in remote areas
of other Amazonian countries in the future. In summary, the problems or opportunities that
this activity addresses are;
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11. Comparative Projects in
the Subject Area Please make clear how your project is
distinguished from other projects in the subject area The main focus of the proposed broadband Internet
is either or both of satellite and terrestrial (microwave and/or
spread-spectrum) wireless approach in viewpoints of the region¹s geographical
constraints and their cost effectiveness. At the main campuses of CampusNet affiliated universities,
the spread-spectrum with 802.11b protocol will save considerable fund for
their local area networking. The
community development network in the cities of the main campuses of the
affiliated universities will also be connected with this technology. Students of the universities and all
schools in the cities will then be able to access Internet at high speed
wherever they are within the coverage of its antenna. Some of the proposed joint program (e.g., English
as a Second Language [ESL]) will also utilize cutting-edge technologies; (1)
multimedia e-book, (2) web-teaching of pronunciation with audio analyzer, (3)
combined use of DVD with web access via narrow-band Internet to retrieve
multimedia contents previously stored in the DVD, as if it has been downloaded
via broadband Internet, (4) multimedia collaborating system via narrow-band
Internet with audio conferencing via Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)
network, (5) laptop with wireless Internet access to web and to conduct
smooth audio/video conferencings from anywhere within the range of the
wireless antenna, (6) well proven content (with hard track record of teaching
more than 20 million students in 5 years via terrestrial radio in the
Mainland China), which content will further be enhanced with globally
collaborative business gaming/simulation based on management case study
methods. This is to provide
e-learners with self-pacing, interactive, and customized courses that are
perfect fit to learner motivation and target language environment. The community development approach of this project
will include all interested parties in the cities of the main campuses of
CampusNet universities. This
will not only contribute to the problem of digital literacy among poor, but
also create new job opportunities to the graduates of the universities, and
even E-Rate with the involvement of profit-oriented organizations in the
later stage. |
BODY OF THE PROPOSAL
(Please read the Guidelines carefully) |
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A Formation of a committee at the proposed workshop for
deployment of broadband Internet in Amazon region with a Japanese
government¹s grant. |
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B This workshop is to brainstorm on and to form a committee for the planning of necessary telecommunication configurations, their systems design, feasibility study, market survey and action plan of implementing the infrastructures, and the construction of their cost estimates for dish antenna, transceivers and satellite segments, etc. They are for;
Possible joint projects with Brazilians, Americans
and Canadians will also be discussed on how to utilize the expected broadband
Internet. They are contents
development, teacher and general-public training for digital literacy,
English as a Second Language (ESL), nurse training, etc. The resultant comprehensive documents will then be
submitted to the Japanese government (through Brazilian Cooperation Agency)
for their ³non-tied cultural aid² grant. See summary slides at;
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C
C.1 Activities
C.1.1 Activity Background
C.1.1.1 Global University System (GUS)
With the generous funds from the InfoDev, the United States National Science Foundation (NSF), the British Council, the Ministry of Education of Finland, the Soros Foundation/Open Society Institute, the United States Information Agency (USIA), and many others, GLOSAS and the University of Tampere conducted a highly successful International Workshop and Conference on "Emerging Global Electronic Distance Learning (EGEDL#99)" in August, 1999 at the University of Tampere, Finland <http://www.uta.fi/EGEDL>.
The event brought together about 60 decision-makers and leaders in e-learning and telemedicine from 14 underserved countries who discussed practical solutions for the implementation of affordable global e-learning across national boundaries. They brainstormed and the workshop recommended the formation of the following three interrelated organizations:
The group also formulated specific pilot projects focused on major regions of the world to reduce the growing digital divide between information-rich and information-poor populations, as realizing Òeducation and healthcare for all,Ó at anywhere, anytime and at any pace. The regional GUSs will be interconnected with GBI, which will be financed by GSTF (APPENDIX V to VIII). See more at; <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Global_University/Global University System/Reference_web_sites.html>.
This grant application is the continuation of our Tampere event and is to hold a workshop in Manaus, Amazon to establish CampusNet and Community Development Network (CDN, firstly in the City of Manaus and later in the cities of main campuses of the CampusNet affiliated universities). The former is to interconnect Multimedia Resource Centers (MRCs) at the main campuses of 6 Federal Public Universities and at their branch campuses in the localities of their states in Amazon areas via broadband satellite Internet (APPENDIX I). The latter is to connect a half dozen non-profit organizations in the City of Manaus, Amazon with the use of spread-spectrum wireless broadband Internet (APPENDIX IV).
C.1.1.2 Previous Workshops and Demonstrations in Manaus
C.1.1.2.1 1998 Workshop/Demonstration
A demonstrative conference on available new technologies for e-learning was held on August 21, 1998 in Manaus. See the following website for more detailed information: <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/GLH/10-21-98_Manaus_Brazil/Flyer_&_Program_10-3-98.html>
During this event, a professor at the University of Tokyo described via audio conference with PowerPoint slides, about his "Medical Information Network by Communication Satellite for University Hospital (MINCS-UH)" which connects more than two dozen university hospitals around Japan with two-way, broadband (45 Mbps) digital satellite channels for medical diagnosis with HDTV. Netmeeting videoconferences via narrow-band Internet were also made with Houston Community College and with colleagues in Ukraine.
C.1.1.2.2 2000 Workshop/Demonstration
A workshop to show the usefulness of the Internet as combining new technologies and contents was held on May 31, and June 1 and 2, 2000 in Manaus. See:
1. <http://lab-tiama.pop-am.rnp.br/cca/workshop/English/wksp_E.htm and 2. <http://tc1.hccs.cc.tx.us/hist/yr00/brazil/
During this workshop, telemedicine demonstration with the most advanced echocardiogram diagnosed a real patient by an expert doctor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which was televised throughout South America via BRAZILSAT.
These two workshops in 1998 and 2000 showed the possibilities of using cutting-edge telecom technologies even in the middle of rain forest jungle. They stimulated and promoted public awareness on e-learning and e-health, and initiated a core basis for forming the CampusNet coalition.
C.1.2 Objectives of Workshop
1. To configure the availability of e-learning courses locally through the currently available marrow-band Internet, 2. To form a committee which will discuss: a. how to refine and complete the current feasibility study of CampusNet (APPENDIX I) (current estimate at US$10 million -- the Brazilian government has already pledged US$2,800,000) and its action plan of implementing a broadband satellite Internet among major universities in Amazon area with other options and how to conduct a market survey, b. the same for the Manaus Community Development Network for e-learning and e-healthcare among non-profit organizations (i.e., high, secondary and elementary schools, libraries, hospitals, state governmental agencies, and NGOs) with spread-spectrum wireless broadband Internet unit in the city of Manaus, 3. To have the committee continue its task so that the final form of the study and survey will be produced in a reasonably short period after the workshop, 4. To configure and plan the strategy of fund raising, i.e., the steps of submitting the final forms and materials to appropriate Brazilian governmental agencies in such a way that the comprehensive results of the feasibility study and market survey will be forwarded to appropriate funding sources of various governments and others, e.g., Official Development Assistant (ODA) fund of the Japanese government and Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), etc. See also Section E below. 5. To plan technical support and administrative structure for the CampusNet and Manaus Community Development Network, 6. To plan the development of multimedia contents, 7. To promote and accelerate personnel training, in partnership with other institutions around the world like the Las Palmas University, Ibero-American Foundation, Cornell University and Houston Community College, and those listed in APPENDIX IX, etc., in order to soundly sustain the replication and consolidation of the initiative.
C.1.3 Activities during Workshop (see also Section D.1 below.)
1. Descriptions of current status of Amazon projects, i.e., CampusNet and Manaus Community Development Network, and Nucleus for Technology in Distance Education and Tele-medicine - NATESD (APPENDIX II); 2. Descriptions of GLOSAS projects (i.e., Global University System (GUS) and GUS/UNESCO/UNITWIN Networking Program, Global Broadband Internet (GBI), and Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF)); 3. Descriptions of prospective joint programs and projects mentioned in the APPENDIX IX; 4. Formation of a committee (and sub-committees, if necessary) for the systems design, feasibility study and market survey on CampusNet and Manaus Community Development Network projects and similar ones in the cities of main campuses of CampusNet affiliated universities; 5. Brainstorming on the strategies of the committee on; a. constructions of strategic action plan, time schedules, items for technical specifications, e.g., transceivers, dish antennas, satellite transponders, etc., b. configurations how to incorporate the prospective joint programs and projects, c. outlining technical and administrative organizational structures, not only for telecom infrastructures but also for contents development, e-leaning, e-healthcare and training (K-12 school teachers and general public) activities, d. lists of contacts and liaisons at the Brazilian (local and federal) governments and the Japanese government, e. lists of additional funding sources, etc.
Followings items are also to be intensively discussed during this workshop and the results should be included in the comprehensive document to the Japanese government.
1. Infrastructure: a. satellite earth station, b. microwave network, c. fixed wireless broadband Internet, d. Internet routers and servers, e. system engineers and technical support, f. computer, peripherals and multimedia devices, g. privacy and security software for e-healthcare, h. telecom traffic and Internet bandwidth analysis, I. regulatory and policy, j. acquisition and procurement.
2. Content Development: a. instructors, b. programmers, c. teacher trainers, d. facilitators, f. environmental scientists, etc.
3. Administrators: a. accountants, b. financiers, c. supervisors, d. librarians, e. fund seekers, etc.
The measurement of this workshop activities are;
See also Section C.1.5.3 and -4, and Section I below.
C.1.4 Joint Programs and Projects
At the workshop, we will brainstorm how to configure and incorporate following prospective joint programs and projects (see their brief description in APPENDIX IX) in relation with Amazonian Core of Technologies for Distance Education and Healthcare (NATESD) which is described in APPENDIX II.
C.1.5 Activities after Workshop
C.1.5.1 Broadband Internet Infrastructure (see also Section D.3 below.)
The committee's action plans and their time schedules will be set for the systems design, feasibility study and market survey from the viewpoints of;
C.1.5.2 General and Overall Considerations
The committee will also pay their attention to the following subjects; Part A: Material Base Sub-program I: Creation of the infrastructure of the network Sub-program II: Creation of logistics supporting the infrastructure and to create the educational software for e-learning. Sub-program III: E-health for Amazonia implantation of an inter-institutional e-health program for university hospitals.
Part B: The programmatic content Sub-program IV: Development of contents in different fields and levels.
The general structure will be materialized through a set of Practical Steps as follows:
The committee will also conduct preliminary actions according to guidance of the smart community development approach mentioned in the Section D.1 below and in APPENDIX IX.
The committee members will pool their interim reports of their activities at certain time intervals (preferably every half month). This will include comprehensive descriptions of selected joint programs and projects and their cost estimates.
The key committee members will then gather at the end of this activity period (which is to be specified at the workshop), and finalize all activities to put into a comprehensive document. This document will also include the followings for the CampusNet and community development networks in quantitative formats;
C.1.5.3 Measurements of Activities:
Internet usage rates, growth rates of web sites, coursewares, outreach students, number of occurrences of e-health events.
C.1.5.4 Evaluation of Outcomes:
Acceptance of this venture by local community members, increase of outreach students with e-learning methodology, acceptance of e-health by local community.
The committee will then obtain endorsement letters from appropriate Brazilian governmental (local and federal) authorities (e.g., ministers of education, health, telecommunication, etc.).
The committee will send the comprehensive document with those endorsement letters to appropriate Brazilian government agencies which will then pass it on to the Japanese Embassy in Brazilia, which will then forward it to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo for their consideration for the "non-tied cultural aid" grant.
The key committee members will follow-up each of those steps in Brazilia and Tokyo.
C.2 Deliverables
Specific deliverables to infoDev from this activity are;
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D. Ultimate Beneficiaries of the
Project It is expected that broadband wireless and
satellite Internet, available to universities, elementary, primary and
secondary schools and hospitals, will promote the interaction among young
people from different areas of the Amazon Region with young people from the
rest of the world. As the infrastructure becomes a reality, there
will be a need for the development of contents (e-learning on environmental
education, rational use of the forest, techniques and methods for
implementation of suitable agroforestry activities, e-healthcare, etc.) and
of new uses of the technology (Internet telephony, distance medical diagnose,
access to information, etc.). In this process, the Manaus community will become
the closest, more capable and culturally identified with the Amazon region¹s
needs and problems. This will be a pilot project replicable of the activities
throughout the region. The replication and expansion will happen through
strong partnership with other institutions in Manaus and other states of the
region. CampusNet Amazonia will play major role in this initiative because it
constitutes the main federal universities network in the Brazilian Amazonia
and it is also active member of UNIREDE <http://www.unirede.br/>,
a consortium of all public universities in Brazil. In a second phase, this effort will contribute to
provide the necessary conditions for private initiatives such that more
resources will become available to more needed communities elsewhere in the
region. So, this project is a community development approach,
firstly connecting non-profit organizations (elementary, secondary and higher
education institutions, libraries, hospitals, local governmental agencies,
etc.) and secondly with for-profit organizations, thus all applicable groups
are inclusive. The more participants can share the cost of expensive digital
satellite trunk line better -- see also Section
H.3 below. The use of broadband wireless Internet for the Manaus
Community Development Network (which similar ones will be made in the cities
of main campuses of other CampusNet participating universities later) is also
to make their participation easy so that the so-called "last-mile"
problem to reach individual end-users can more effectively be solved. The community approach follows that defined by Prof. John M. Eger of San Diego State University (*) (APPENDIX IX-5), that is, a geographical area ranging in size from a neighborhood to a multi-county region whose residents, organizations, and governing institutions are using information technology to transform their region in significant, even fundamental ways. (*) John Eger, "Athens in the information age: How
will 'smart communities' change the way we live?," InterMedia, July 2001
<http://www.iicom.org/intermedia/july2001/eger.htm>. D.2 Replicability This activity is to be a model replicable to other localities and regions, as leading the use of the advanced Internet in various sectors of societies. Federal University of Amazonas has already developed an institutional mechanism called Amazonian Nucleus for Technology in Distance Education and Tele-medicine (NATESD) (APPENDIX II) to contribute in this process. The local higher educational institution
participants will have the broadband Internet satellite earth-station, and
will become the major Internet Service Provider (ISP) to the local community
of non-profit organizations. The higher education institution will then
provide teacher training to secondary and elementary schools and promotion of
digital literacy with training courses/seminars at public library, hospitals
and healthcare facilities, local governmental offices, etc., and also act as
facilitators and technical supporters to other non-profit organizations.
These teacher-training and technical support can be the on-the-job training
of the graduate students of the main universities, thus creating new job
opportunities after their graduation in local communities.
It is expected that interaction among the main
universities of the international Amazonia will contribute to disseminate
information about alternatives to promote sustainable development in
Amazonia, in later stage of this project development. At the same time, the
region's population will have better access to healthcare information, which
will contribute for a better quality of life. In addition, a number of
e-learning courses will be developed which will decrease isolation and offer
better opportunities for those living in the region. We hope the scheme of this project (CampusNet and
community development network) will be replicated with the members of UNAMAZ
(a consortium of 77 higher educational institutions in 8 Amazonia
countries). Incidentally, we
already have a preliminary inquiry from them to connect 5 centers of
excellence among their member universities with broadband Internet. D.3 Expected
Utilization of Broadband Internet Anticipated activities with the use of CampusNet
and community development networks are: 1. Use
of broadband Internet connection: a. Teleconferences,
based on text b. Videoconferences c. Web-based
instructions d. Local
experts assistance to medium size enterprises e. Multimedia
web-based educational course development f. Scientific
knowledge exchange 2. Two-way
interactive use in e-health, environmental education and training: a. Access
to environmental databases and monitoring information b. Access
to medical data bases c. Medical
training d. Remote
diagnostics e. Emergency
support, like in floods and fire situations f. Prevention
care 3. Establishment
of partnership with UNAMAZ and SIVAM: a. Broadband
connection among small towns and communities in Amazonia utilizing SIVAM and
UNAMAZ's capabilities. b. Exchange of environmental databases. c. Environmental monitoring. D.4 Cost Effectiveness of Wireless
Broadband Internet The cost effectiveness of this project of
deploying CampusNet and community development networks are;
D.5 Summary In summary, the following benefits for Manaus and
part of the Brazilian Amazon Region can be expected;
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Alexandre Rivas, Ph.D., Professor Center for Environmental Sciences (CCA) Universidade Federal do Amazonas / Fundação
UNI-SOL Campus Universitário, 3000 Manaus, AM, Brazil 69000 Tel/Fax: + 5592 647.4066 http://www.argo.com.br/~alex_mau/alex.htm Dr. Rivas is a male and a Brazilian citizen. He received a portion of the InfoDev
grant to attend the Tampere event mentioned above, in August 1999. Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E. Chairman, GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation
Association in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA) President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and
Coordination of Global University System (GUS) 43-23 Colden Street Flushing, NY 11355-3998 U.S.A. Tel: +1-718-939-0928 Fax: +1-718-939-0656 http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/ Dr. Utsumi is a male and a Japanese citizen. He initiated and organized the
Tampere event mentioned above, which received the InfoDev fund in 1999. E.3 Committee
Members The committee members will be selected at the
workshop. They will mainly be
chosen among the workshop attendees and those of prospective joint projects
who are willing to continue their participation to the completion of the
committee¹s task, i.e., the construction of a comprehensive document to be
submitted to the Japanese government as mentioned above. Their services will be assured with tight coordination by
email forum, periodical meeting and pooling of their interim reports. |
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F. Administration The University of Amazona will administer the
InfoDev grant with a special banking account for this project. Its expenditures will be controlled
jointly by Dr. Rivas and Dr. Utsumi.
This is the same procedure taken for our Tampere event with the
InfoDev fund, which was shared by the University of Tampere and GLOSAS/USA,
and now this time, the University of Amazona and the Global University System
(GUS) at the University of Tampere will share the InfoDev fund. Its total expenditures will be reported with our
final report to the InfoDev. As have been done for the
Tampere event and the workshop/demonstration in Manaus in May/June of 2000, a
comprehensive web site for this workshop will be constructed and opened to
the public. |
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G. Budget G.1 Summary
G.2 Details See APPENDIX XII: Budget |
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H.1 Global University System (GUS) This activity in Amazon region will be sustained by
regional and local coalition members of the CampusNet and the community
development networks, and internationally by the affiliated institutions of
the Global University System. H.2 Brazilian Government The Brazilian government has already pledged
US$2,800,000 to cover a portion of the costs of Multimedia Resource Centers
(MRCs) of CampusNet. Major infrastructure equipment for the CampusNet
is to be financed by the Official Development Assistant (ODA) fund of OECD
countries, particularly of Japan. This is to follow the precedence of the
University of South Pacific in Fiji which received a major financial aid
(about US$13 million) from the Japanese government to connect a dozen nearby
islands, albeit narrow-band Internet via INTELSAT free of charge. We will
seek similar approach with BRAZILSAT of SIVAM, INTELSAT, Tachyon, WorldSpace,
or HISPASAT (which 70% capacity is not used, according to Dr. Federico Mayor,
former Director-General of UNESCO and one of Trustee members of GUS), etc. However, government funds usually do not last long, particularly to cover recurring costs of, say, expensive satellite segment. In order to cover this cost and to make CampusNet economically sustainable for the coming future, we will have the participation of for-profit commercial enterprises in the localities of those universities, preferably from the second phase of this project. They will undertake major portion of financial burden of this venture (e.g., digital satellite trunk line, etc.) -- see the list of Japanese companies in Manaus in APPENDIX IV to which we plan to approach for their support in lieu of our providing broadband Internet access to them -- particularly to the Japanese school for the children of their employees so that they can freely and easily communicate with their counterparts in Japan (e.g., with the use of NetMeeting videoconferencing and accessing webs in Japan via Internet, etc.). This is to follow the suit of the case at St. Thomas Island in Caribbean, where K-12 schools have broadband Internet access free of charge while high cost of broadband Internet trunk line between the island and the US has been incurred by profit-oriented organizations in the island. This is, in a sense, to create the so-called ÒGlobal E-RateÓ as proposed by Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF) (see APPENDIX VIII). To have their participation, the universities of
CampusNet will also provide them with training courses to the staffs of those
commercial enterprises in their localities. This training and technical
support can be the on-the-job training of the graduate students of the
universities. Such university
and industry connection will also create new job opportunities for the
graduates of the universities. H.4 Japanese ODA Since the spring of 1998, Dr. Takeshi Utsumi, one
of the GUS vice presidents, worked to have the Japanese government pledge $15
billion to close the digital divide in developing countries (5 years), during
the Okinawa Summit in July 2000. UNESCO in Bangkok and the Asia Development
Bank have already received out of this pledged fund, -- 170 million yen in
fiscal 2001 (about US$1.5 million) for the former and 1,270 million yen (about
US$10 million) for the latter. (The UNDP might have also received US$5
million, though not confirmed in August of 2001.). Dr. Utsumi has already given a copy of the
preliminary version of this application to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MOFA) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and
received their favorable responses to this project during his trip to Tokyo
last August. They will favorably review the resultant comprehensive documents
of this workshop's feasibility study and market survey when these documents
will arrive to them through appropriate Brazilian governmental agencies and
the Japanese Embassy in Brasilia. This project has also already received favorable
responses from the Brazilian Congress and the SIVAM of the Brazilian Air
Force, which has three transponders on BRAZILSAT for distance education. H.5 Grass Root Fund of the
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) By the kind introduction of the MOFA, we are now preparing a grant application of this fund (available up to approx. US$100,000). According to their suggestion, this fund (if granted) will be used mainly for the Manaus Community Development Network (MCDN) project, as connecting about a half dozen non-profit organizations. This includes Natural Science Museum (created and run by the Japanese community in Manaus), Josefina de Mello primary and secondary school (a Japanese community school in Manaus) and the Japanese Consulate in the City of Manaus, if appropriate -- see APPENDIX IV for the list of Japanese companies in Manaus. We plan to extend this MCDN to some of Japanese
companies in the City of Manaus in the second stage of this project, in order
to initiate the Global E-Rate mentioned above. H.6 UNESCO The GUS at the University of Tampere (Professor
Tapio Varis) has received an approval from UNESCO for becoming a UNESCO Chair
member of the UNESCO/UNITWIN Network program <http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/unitwin/index.html>
which was initiated by Dr. Marco Antonio Dias, one of the GUS vice
presidents, while he was at the UNESCO.
Basing on the hard track records of previous, highly successful
conduct of two workshops in Manaus in 1998 and 2000 mentioned above (which
subsequently formulated the CampusNet coalition), the GUS invited the
Universidade Federal do Amazonas (Professor Alexandre Rivas) to become a
counterpart UNESCO Chair of this program. We then expect to have support of
UNESCO for our approach to the Japanese government. |
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See Section
12.C.1.3, 12.C.1.5.3 and -4 above. I.1 Program Effectiveness This workshop is to have very intensive
brainstorming, so that total attendees of less than 50 are preferable. During 5-day workshop, they may also
be divided into two to three sub-groups in the field of telecom
infrastructure, e-learning, e-healthcare, etc. Each half-day session will start with a keynote speech (30
minutes) of their field. The
sub-groups will then brainstorm on the strategies of the committee, and
periodically summarize and pool their discussion results with other
sub-groups. At the final
session, all of them will be summarized with which the committee will start
its tasks after the workshop is over. The evaluation of the effectiveness of this workshop will
be made with the facts how smoothly those procedures were conducted. I.2 Inputs and Partnerships The six federal universities in Amazon region have
already signed their agreement to participate in the CampusNet project. We will have official agreement of non-profit organizations listed in APPENDIX IV for their participation in the Manaus Community Development Network by the time we will complete our document that will be submitted to the Japanese government. The document will also include comprehensive joint project proposals of those participants listed in APPENDIX IX. I.3 Context
and Implementation Evaluation of these can only be made with satisfaction
of attendees and the effective activities of the committee formed at the
workshop. I.4 Output
and Impact The complete success of this workshop will be shown when
the comprehensive document for funding the CampusNet and community
development networks will be accepted and the Japanese government grants the
fund for their deployment. |
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K. See below. |
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L. L.1 The University of Amazonas
(UA) The University of Amazonas is a federal public
university and has about 20,000 students. The university is the main high
education in west northern Brazil. Among its strengths we highlight its strong
presence in many inner areas of the State of Amazonas. Amazonas represents
about 42% of the Amazona region, which is composed by seven states and
occupies 52% of the Brazilian territory. For the sake of comparison, Amazonas
is bigger than Texas in the USA. Having the responsibility to cover such a huge
geographical area, the University of Amazonas has invested in what is called
"interiorization." This means that it is physically present in nine
inner cities of the state. The university has developed important projects in
sustainable development funded both by private organizations (e.g.: Kellogg
Foundation) and Brazilian Government. To make its operation more
bureaucracy-free, the university has created a Foundation, Fundação Uni-sol,
which is now responsible for significant source of revenue. Pursuing the implementation of this project, the university, through the Center for Environmental Sciences, has embarked in a very aggressive regional building up capacity. As a result, we succeeded in having approved US$2,800,000 by the Brazilian Congress for a part of the financial resources required for this CampusNet Amazonia project (see APPENDIX I). We also were able to have all six federal universities of the region signed a protocol for the CampusNet (APPENDIX I and III). L.2 Global University System (GUS) The Global University System (GUS) is a network of
networks formed in particular by higher education institutions, but also by
other organizations sharing the same objectives of developing a co-operation
based on solidarity and partnership aiming to:
GUS has group activities in the major regions of
the globe, i.e., Asia-Pacific, North, Central and South Americas, Europe, and
Africa to establish pilot projects. Each of these regional groups, with partnerships
of higher learning and healthcare institutions, will foster the establishment
of GUS in their respective regions, with the use of an advanced global
broadband Internet virtual private network that would be financed through the
Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF). They will then become the GUS counterparts
of the UNESCO/UNITWIN Networking program. This project of helping establish CampusNet and
Community Development Networks in Amazon region with the Japanese
government¹s funds is the forerunner of this approach of GUS. Namely, the GUS will combine the
Japanese funds and electronic equipment and hardware with the expertise of
telecom and content development of North America to help closing the digital
divide in developing countries.
GUS will emulate this approach in other developing countries around
the world in the future, e.g., Mexico, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, etc., from
which GUS has already received preliminary inquiries and requests. The GUS at the University of Tampere, Finland is
the headquarters Chair of the GUS/UNESCO/UNITWIN Networking Program. The GUS
has invited the University of Amazona to be its counterpart Chair, and expect
to have similar ones elsewhere around the world. The officers of the GUS are: P. Tapio Varis,
Ph.D., Acting President, (University of Tampere, and a former rector of the
United Nations University of Peace in Costa Rica); Marco Antonio Dias,
T.C.D., Vice President for Administration, (former director of Higher
Education at UNESCO); Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., Vice President for Technology
and Coordination (Chairman of GLOSAS/USA). The trustee members are: Dr. Pekka
Tarjanne, (former Director-General of the ITU) and Dr. Federico Mayor
(President of the Foundation for Culture of Peace and a former
Director-General of UNESCO). The special advisors are: David A. Johnson,
Ph.D. (Professor Emeritus, University of Tennessee) and Fredric Michael
Litto, Ph.D. (President of the Brazilian Association of Distance Education at
the University of Sao Paulo.). L.3 The GLObal Systems Analysis
and Simulation Association in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA) The GLOSAS/USA is a publicly supported,
non-profit, educational service organization - in fact, a consortium of
organizations -- that is dedicated to the use of evolving telecommunications
and information technologies to further advance world peace through global
communications. GLOSAS fosters science- and technology-based economic
development to improve the quality of life. Over the past three decades, GLOSAS/USA played a
major pioneering role in extending U.S. data communication networks to other
countries, particularly to Japan, and in the deregulation of the Japanese
telecommunications policies regarding the use of e-mail through ARPANET,
Telenet and Internet (thanks to help from the Late Commerce Secretary Malcolm
Baldridge) -- this is now referred to as "closing the digital
divide." This contribution of GLOSAS/USA triggered the de-monopolization
and privatization of Japanese telecommunications industries, and the
liberalization of the telecommunication industry has now created a more
enabling environment for economic and social development in many other
countries. This type of reasoning has since been emulated by many other
countries; at present, more than 180 countries have Internet access, and more
than 500 million people are using e-mail around the world. Academic programs
of universities in America and other industrialized countries now reach many
under-served developing countries. Another major contribution of GLOSAS towards
fostering global dialogue and creating learning environments has been the
innovative distance teaching trials conducted in our Global Lecture Hall
(GLH)TM - multipoint-to-multipoint multimedia interactive videoconferencing,
using hybrid delivery technologies. Thanks to these efforts, Dr. Takeshi
Utsumi, its Chairman, received the prestigious Lord Perry Award for the
Excellence in Distance Education in the fall of 1994 from Lord Perry, the
founder of the U.K. Open University. The two-year senior recipient of the
same award was Sir Arthur C. Clark, the inventor of satellite. L.4 Resumes See key personnel of the above institutions and others, and of the prospective joint programs and projects in APPENDIX XI.
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M. Previous infoDev Grant See above Section 12.C.1.1.1 and 12.E.1 and -E.2. |
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Please discuss how intellectual property rights would be managed in
this project. Not applicable to our
workshop. If any arises, we will
consult with the InfoDev, by case-by-case basis. |
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By submitting an activity
proposal to infoDev, proponents authorize the infoDev Program to make public
the information in fields 1- 9, for the purpose of promoting contacts between
proponents and other interested parties. Please EMAIL your proposal to infodev@worldbank.org infoDev Work Program Administrator The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 U.S.A. Phone: (202) 458-5153 Fax: (202) 522-3186 E-mail: infodev@worldbank.org |
This proposal can be retrieved at ;