APPENDIX V
GLOSAS
Projects for Closing Digital Divide
GLOSAS
Projects for Closing Digital Divide
by
Takeshi Utsumi, Tapio Varis,
Peter Knight, Francis
Method, Joseph Pelton
Published in
InterMedia (April, 2001,
Vol. 29, No. 2, Pages 4 to 8) with title of
³Using broadband to close
the digital divide²
International Institute of
Communications (IIC)
Westcott House, 3rd Floor
35 Portland Place
London, W1N 3AG
United Kingdom
January 15, 2002
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E.,
Chairman, GLOSAS/USA
(GLObal Systems Analysis and
Simulation Association in the U.S.A.)
V.P. for Technology and
Coordination of Global University System (GUS)
43-23 Colden Street,
Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A.
Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax:
718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email)
Email: mailto:utsumi@columbia.edu; http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/
GLOSAS
Projects for Closing Digital Divide
The dawn of the twenty-first
century comes with a digital revolution and economic globalization with a New
Economy. We are moving towards a
global knowledge society where information, skills, and competence become the
driving forces of social and economic development. Effective learning can be greatly facilitated by upgraded
multimedia educational materials using broadband Internet applications. The use of these applications for
global e-learning and telehealth/telemedicine must be efficient and
cost-effective, enabling educational institutions to foster global citizenship
and achieve "education and healthcare for all" at anytime, anywhere
and at any pace. The Internet will
be the main telecommunication media of tomorrow. Broadband Internet holds great promise for improving
multimedia e-learning and telehealthcare capabilities in global scale, especially
in rural and isolated areas that are not well served by commercial network
providers.
A true revolution in
e-learning and telemedicine requires high-speed access to the World Wide Web,
and the flexibility to offer a variety of media. These might include two-way audio, full-motion
video-conferencing up to MPEG2 quality, television-quality netcasting, and
high-resolution image transfer for telemedicine. Such capabilities require medium to broad bandwidth. Developing countries need broadband
Internet via international satellite and fiber-optic cable. The objective of increasing quality of
audio/video delivery, high interactivity, and system throughput can be seen as
a global objective of closing digital divide for improving e-learning and
telehealth services.
As a result of the G-8 meetings held in Okinawa, Japan, in July 2000, important initiatives have been started, and the GLOSAS projects described here fall clearly within the suggestions for action in the Okinawa Charter on Global Information Society <http://www.g8kyushu-okinawa.go.jp/e/documents/it1.html>.
The GLObal Systems Analysis
and Simulation Association in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA) is a publicly supported,
non-profit, educational service organization -- in fact a consortium of
organizations -- 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 deregulating Japanese
telecommunication policies for the use of e-mail through ARPANET, Telenet and
Internet (thanks to help from the Late Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldridge) --
which is now called "closing digital divide." This triggered
the de-monopolization and privatization of Japanese telecommunications
industries. This liberalization of
the telecommunication industry has now created a more enabling environment for
economic and social development in many other countries. Now over 180 countries have Internet
access and more than 377 million people are using e-mail around the world. American and other countries'
university courses now reach many under-served developing countries.
GLOSAS has contributed by
conducting innovative distance teaching trials with "Global Lecture Hall
(GLH)" (TM) multipoint-to-multipoint multimedia interactive
videoconferences using hybrid delivery technologies. Thanks to these efforts, Dr. Takeshi Utsumi, one of authors,
received a 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 is Sir
Arthur C. Clark, the inventor of satellite.
With the support of generous funds from Alprint, the British Council, Finnair, Finnish Broadcasting Company, the Ministry of Education Finland, Sonera, Soros Foundation/Open Society Institute, the United States Information Agency (USIA), the United States National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Information and Development Program (infoDev) administered by the World Bank, and many others, GLOSAS and the University of Tampere conducted a highly successful International Workshop and Conference on "Emerging Global Electronic Distance Learning (EGEDLÕ99)" 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;
A.
Global University System (GUS) (TM),
B.
Global Broadband Internet (GBI),
C.
Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF) (TM).
The group also formulated specific pilot projects focussed on major regions of the world to reduce the growing digital divide between information rich and information poor populations, as realizing "education and healthcare for all," at anywhere, anytime and at any pace.
IV.
Global University System (GUS)
The goal of the GUS is to
improve the global learning and wellness environment for people in the global
knowledge society where the global responsibility is shared by all. A central theme is the sharing and exchange
of knowledge among educational, research, industry and trade sectors. The GUS will (1) seek open, egalitarian
and culturally transparent methods to achieve improved learning and healthcare
worldwide, cooperating closely with people around the world, (2) harness the
emerging technologies of broadband Internet connectivity among institutions of
higher learning in developing countries to provide learners of all ages with
global e-learning across national and cultural boundaries, (3) nurture the
intellectual development of youngsters around the world through creative
competition for excellence with affordable and accessible broadband Internet,
(4) coordinate and facilitate national and international regional systems which
will support and complement the traditional institutions of learning and
healthcare, by using conventional methods in tandem with advanced electronic
media.
The GUS has group activities in the major regions of the globe. They are developing their pilot projects in;(1)
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 which to be financed by the Global Service Trust Fund
(GSTF) -- see below.
The major officers of the
GUS are: P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D., Acting President, (University of Tampere,
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 of UNESCO); Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., Vice President for
Technology and Coordination, (Chairman of GLOSAS/USA); Pekka Tarjanne, Ph.D.,
Trustee member, (former Director-General of the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU)).
V.
Global Broadband Internet (GBI) (Figure 1)