This international workshop is to brainstorm on and to form a committee for the deployment of broadband Internet in Amazon, Brazil, with;

1. CampusNet which will connect 6 federal universities in Amazon region by broadband satellite Internet; and
   
2. Community Development Networks (CDNs) which will connect higher, secondary and elementary schools, libraries, hospitals, local government offices and NGOs, etc. in the cities of main campuses of the CampusNet affiliated universities by broadband wireless Internet.

Their deployment will utilize 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. This project will promote the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for economic and social development with special emphasis on the poverty and isolation reductions in Amazon region. This workshop will also initiate US/Brazilian joint research and development projects, e.g., a Globally Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming with globally distributed computer simulation system with the use of globally distributed and yet interconnected massive parallel mini-supercomputers through global neural computer network – as an extension of Beowulf Mini-Supercomputer Network with Access Grid Project both of which are now being funded by the NSF.

The resultant comprehensive documents out of this workshop will be submitted to the Japanese government’s “non-tied cultural aid.”

Dr. Utsumi of GLOSAS/USA helped the Japanese government pledge US$15 billion to close the digital divide in developing countries during the Okinawa Summit in July of 2000. Mr. Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan, made another pledge of US$2 billion to aid education in developing countries during the G8 Summit in Canada on June 26-27, 2002.

The Amazon projects will combine (1) the Japanese government's Official Development Assistance (ODA) funds and (2) electronic equipment (computer, tranceiver, dish antenna, etc.) of Japan with (a) the Internet technology and (b) content development of the north America to help underserved people in rural and remote areas of developing countries.

This is a joint project of the University of Amazonia (UA) in Brazil, the Global University System (GUS) at the University of Tampere, Finland, and the GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA).

GUS will emulate this project in other developing countries around the world (e.g., Nigeria, etc.) in the future.

I.

INTRODUCTION

The dawn of the twenty-first century came with a digital revolution and economic globalization with a New Economy. We are now moving towards a global knowledge society where information skills and competence become the driving forces of social and economic development. Effective learning requires upgraded multimedia educational materials, preferably distributed using broadband Internet applications. The use of these applications for global e-learning and e-healthcare (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. Internet will be the main telecommunication media of tomorrow. Broadband Internet holds great promise for improving multimedia e-learning and e-healthcare capabilities in global scale, especially in rural and isolated areas that are not well served by commercial network providers.

II.

POVERTY REDUCTION IMPACT

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 indications 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 compromising 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 people’s 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.

The opportunities that this activity will bring are;

• To contribute for the set-up of the Global University System/Amazon/Brazil in order to establish technological alternatives to promote access and use of the available technology for e-learning in the environmental, medical and educational fields.
• To promote the development of communities (universities, secondary and elementary schools, libraries, hospitals, governments and NGOs, etc.) on using high speed Internet wireless and satellite connections associated with contents development.
• Manaus, capital of the State of Amazonas -- which is the largest and less deforested Amazonian state -- is located in the very heart of the Amazon Region and has the potential to induce and disseminate principles and actions leading towards sustainable development.
• Based on activities developed in the Manaus community with high speed satellite and wireless connections, knowledge and experience can be expanded/transferred/received to/from other cities of Amazonia through initiatives like CampusNet Amazonia <http://www.fua.br/campusnet-am/index.htm> which is a consortium of all six Federal Public Universities of Amazonia (see APPENDIX I) and also UNAMAZ (a coalition of 77 universities in 8 Amazonian countries and their respective communities).

III.

BENEFICIARIES WITH SMART COMMUNITY APPROACH

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 region’s 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 consortium 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, and non-profit organizations, etc.) and secondly with for-profit organizations to have global E-Rate, thus all applicable groups are inclusive. The more participants can share the cost of expensive digital satellite trunk line better -- see also Section XI-B-3 below. The use of broadband wireless Internet for the Manaus Community Development Network (which similar ones will be constructed in the cities of main campuses of other CampusNet participating universities later) will make their participation easy so that the so-called "last-mile" problem to reach individual end-users and learners can more effectively be solved.

The community approach follows that defined by Prof. John M. Eger of San Diego State University (APPENDIX VIII-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 <http://www.smartcommunities.org/library_cyberspace.htm>.

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.

The estimated population that will benefit from the Manaus Community Development Network project alone (which will be mentioned below) can be calculated in the following two categories, -- and similar benefits can also be envisioned in other cities of the main campuses of the CampusNet affiliated universities;

• Direct Population: One hundred (100) university professors will participate in the consortium of CampusNet/Amazonia, fifty (50) professors and a thousand (1000) elementary students and middle school students of the State and Municipal Network of Education of the State of Amazon, distributed remotely in the six (6) Urban Zones of the City of Manaus;
• Indirect Population: Professors and pupils of Amazonia International, through the transmission of the event for the Amazon Sat of the Amazonian Network of radio and television.

In summary, the following benefits for Manaus and part of the Brazilian Amazon Region can be expected;

• Public and private elementary schools will have the opportunity to use the technology providing more content and teaching alternatives for their students.
• Universities will have better opportunities for interaction with each other for course exchange and joint web-based teaching platform development and research (audio, video, data exchange, research, database sharing, etc.) and to contribute for developing economic alternatives for growth.
• Hospitals and clinics located in the periphery of Manaus (the poorest areas of the city) and smaller cities of the State will have the opportunity to access information and practice e-healthcare.
• The demonstrative effect will stimulate communities from the whole region to consider the use of the broadband Internet technology to help satisfy their needs.
• The need for knowledge will induce the creation of adequate contents for e-learning, which will promote the use of local human capital to support.
• Professors and students in professional secondary schools and universities will have opportunities for training and knowledge multiplication.
• To promote doctors and nurses training with continuing medical education (CME) and access to modern technology in order to offer better services for the communities.
• To promote e-health practices among universities hospitals, and among them and local public clinics in small towns or communities.
• To use natural resources from the region in a sustainable manner and benefit local and global populations.

IV.

ACTIVITY BACKGROUND

With the generous funds from the InfoDev of the World Bank (US$100,000), the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) (US$50,000), 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>.

This 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 Global University System (GUS)^TM (APPENDIX VI).

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 "education and healthcare for all," at anywhere, anytime and at any pace. The regional GUSs will be interconnected with Global Broadband Internet (GBI), (APPENDIX VII). See more at; <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Global_University/Global University System/Reference_web_sites.html>.

The Amazon project is the continuation of our Tampere event and is to establish CampusNet and Community Development Network (CDN) — see below.

B.

Workshops and Demonstrations in Manaus

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.

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:

• <http://lab-tiama.pop-am.rnp.br/cca/workshop/English/wksp_E.htm> and
• <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 via ISDN line at 384 Kbps, 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.

Each of Amazon TV and GLOSAS/USA contributed about $80,000 respectively, for the conduct of the above two workshops.

V.

PROPOSED TECHNOLOGIES

A.

Wireless Broardband Internet

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 region’s geographical constraints and their cost effectiveness.

They are for;

1. CampusNet which will interconnect Multimedia Resource Centers (MRCs) at the main campuses of all six Federal Public Universities in Amazon region of Brazil and at their branch campuses in the localities of their states in Amazon areas via broadband digital satellite Internet (APPENDIX I), and
   
2. Community Development Network (CDN) in the cities of main campuses of the CampusNet affiliated universities, which will connect universities, secondary and elementary schools, libraries, hospitals, state governmental agencies and NGOs, and even profit-organizations in the later stage of our development, etc., with the use of spread-spectrum wireless broadband Internet (APPENDIX IV).

   The first CDN will be in the City of Manaus, Amazon. We have already submiited our grant application for its construction to the Grass Root Fund of the Japanese government at the Japan Consulate in Manaus <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Manaus%20Workshop/Grass_Root_Fund/Application_Form/Appl_for_GRF_7-18-02.html>.

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.

B.

Cost Effectiveness of Wireless Broadband Internet

The cost effectiveness of deploying CampusNet and Community Development Networks are;

• The proposed activities provide the lowest cost-effective method to promote the use of advanced broadband Internet for the benefits of societies in remote/rural areas of Amazon.
• The wireless Internet requires (i) less regulations, (ii) less initial investments, and (iii) less operating costs.
  (After initial investments of tranceivers and antennas, expensive recurring monthly cost for leasing broadband Internet does not need to be paid.)
• E-learning and e-health can thus provide (a) more flexibility, (b) more enhanced contents and (c) more accessibility.
• One of the main participants of this initiative is a private non-profit foundation of a regional television network. This TV network already has a very important one-way infrastructure, which can be drastically reduce implementation costs. (They have already contributed substantial resources to our previous workshops and demonstrations held in 1998 and 2000 mentioned above.)

C.

Expected Utilization of Broadband Internet

Anticipated activities with the use of CampusNet and Community Development Networks are:

1. Use of broadband Internet connection:

1. Teleconferences, based on text
2. Videoconferences
3. Web-based instructions
4. Local experts assistance to medium size enterprises
5. Multimedia web-based educational course development
6. Scientific knowledge exchange

2. Two-way interactive use in e-health, environmental education and training:

1. Access to environmental databases and monitoring information
2. Access to medical data bases
3. Medical training
4. Remote diagnostics
5. Emergency support, like in floods and fire situations
6. Prevention care

3. Establishment of partnership with UNAMAZ and SIPAM:

1. Broadband connection among small towns and communities in Amazonia utilizing SIPAM and UNAMAZ's capabilities.
2. Exchange of environmental databases.
3. Environmental monitoring.

D.

Other Technologies

Some of the proposed joint program (e.g., English as a Second Language [ESL]) will also utilize cutting-edge technologies, such as;

• multimedia e-book,
• web-teaching of pronunciation with audio analyzer,
• 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,
• multimedia collaborating system via narrow-band Internet with audio conferencing via Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) network,
• laptop with wireless Internet access to web and to conduct smooth audio/video conferencings from anywhere within the range of the wireless antenna,
• 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.

VI.

GOAL AND OBJECTIVES OF WORKSHOP

We plan to organize a large workshop in Manaus, Amazon, Brazil in early month of 2003 with fund from Tinker Foundation and others.

A.

Goal

The overall goal of this workshop is to form a committee for the deployment of broadband Internet in Amazon region with a Japanese government’s grant.

B.

Objectives

The objectives of this workshop are 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.

Possible joint projects with Brazilians, Americans and Canadians will also be discussed and planned 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., for poverty and isolation reduction.

The resultant comprehensive documents will then be submitted to the Japanese government's "non-tied cultural aid" grant through appropriate Brazilian governmental agencies. The total estimated amount could be in the range of US$15 to 20 million. The Brazilian government has already pledged US$2,800,000 out of this total costs.

See summary slides at;

1. "Technological Feasibility for Distance Education and Promotion of Sustainable Development in Amazonia"
   http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Manaus Workshop/Alex_slides_11_28_01/CampusNet/WordBank_1-a.htm
   
2. "CampusNet Amazonia"
   http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Manaus Workshop/Alex_slides_11_28_01/CampusNet/CampusNet.htm

C.

Specific Objectives

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:
   1. 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,
   2. the same for the 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 cities of main campuses of CampusNet affiliated universities,
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 XI-B-4 below.
5. To plan technical support and administrative structure for the CampusNet and 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 VIII, etc., in order to soundly sustain the replication and consolidation of the initiative.

VII.

ACTIVITIES DURING WORKSHOP

A.

Overall Outline

1. Descriptions of current status of Amazon projects, i.e.,
   1. CampusNet
   2. Manaus Community Development Network, and
   3. Nucleus for Technology in Distance Education and Tele-medicine - NATESD (APPENDIX II);
2. Descriptions of GLOSAS projects, i.e.,
   1. Global University System (GUS) (APPENDIX VI),
   2. GUS/UNESCO/UNITWIN Networking Program
      <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Global_University/Global University System/UNESCO_NGO/UNITWIN/UNITWIN_Agreement/UNITWIN_Agreement.html>, and
   3. Global Broadband Internet (GBI) (APPENDIX VII);
3. Descriptions of prospective joint programs and projects mentioned in the APPENDIX VIII;
4. Formation of a committee (and sub-committees, if necessary) for the systems design, feasibility study and market survey on CampusNet and Community Development Network projects in the cities of main campuses of CampusNet affiliated universities;
5. Brainstorming on the strategies of the committee on;
   1. constructions of strategic action plan, time schedules, items for technical specifications, e.g., transceivers, dish antennas, satellite transponders, etc.,
   2. configurations how to incorporate the prospective joint programs and projects,
   3. 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,
   4. lists of contacts and liaisons at the Brazilian (local and federal) governments and the Japanese government,
   5. lists of additional funding sources, etc.

B.

Specifics

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:
   1. satellite earth station,
   2. microwave network,
   3. fixed wireless broadband Internet,
   4. Internet routers and servers,
   5. system engineers and technical support,
   6. computer, peripherals and multimedia devices,
   7. privacy and security software for e-healthcare,
   8. telecom traffic and Internet bandwidth analysis,
   9. regulatory and policy,
   10. acquisition and procurement.
2. Content Development:
   1. instructors,
   2. programmers,
   3. teacher trainers,
   4. facilitators,
   5. environmental scientists, etc.
3. Administrators:
   1. accountants,
   2. financiers,
   3. supervisors,
   4. librarians,
   5. fund seekers, etc.

C.

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 VIII) in relation with Amazonian Core of Technologies for Distance Education and Healthcare (NATESD) which is described in APPENDIX II.

1. The Environment, Economic Development and Quality of Life Nexus: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Undergraduate and Graduate Education
2. Global Seminar Project
3. Man and Biosphere (MAB) Program
4. Corporate Training with English as a Second Language (ESL) Program
5. Smart Community Approach
6. E-healthcare Education
   1. Project 1. Education of Health Professionals in Informatics
   2. Project 2. Application Software for Public Health Nursing Practice
7. Telecom Infrastructure Systems Design
   1. Hyperdynamics Corporation
   2. EcoSage and SkyStream
8. Beowulf Mini-Supercomputer Network with Access Grid Project

The following groups and teams will be formed during the proposed workshop;

1. Telecom Infrastructure Group
   
   This group will plan and configure the deployment of the CampusNet and the Community Development Networks (CDN). As to complement to the cost estimates of the Multimedia Resource Centers in APPENDIX I, this group will then produce a comprehensive document of system design for dish antenna, tranceivers, routers, etc., and feasibility study, market survey for sustainability with Global E-Rate (see Section XI-B-3).
   
   
2. NATESD Group
   
   This group will plan and configure the contents development project of the Nucleus for Technology in Distance Education and Tele-medicine (NATESD) – see APPENDIX II. This group is for mainly e-learning and e-healthcare programs and projects among CampusNet affiliated universities through the CampusNet and CDN.
   
   
3. Joint Programs and Projects Teams
   
   This group with sub-teams for each subject listed in the APPENDIX VIII will plan and configure joint research and development programs and projects among the CampusNet affiliated universities and the US counterparts through the CampusNet and CDN.
   
   
4. Organizational Structure Group
   
   This group will construct action plan and start designing the organizational structures for technical support, networks of facilitators and mentors, and administrations for e-learning and e-healthcare with the use of CampusNet and CDNs.

As utilizing the template of the grant application of the InfoDev of the World Bank < http://www.infodev.org/projects/apply.htm>, these groups and teams will produce the first draft of their project proposals by the end of the proposed workshop – see its brainstorming programs below. The proposals will then be completed during the two months of the follow-up period right after the workshop, and will be included in the comprehensive document which will be submitted to the Japanese government’s ODA fund.

E.

Workshop Programs

VIII.

ACTIVITIES AFTER WORKSHOP

A.

Broadband Internet Infrastructure

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;

• global connection with CampusNet,
• connections of main campuses of affiliated universities,
• connections of the main campuses with their branch campuses in each state, and
• connections of the main campuses to the Community Development Networks in each local city of the main campuses,
• connections of selected schools, libraries, hospitals, local governmental agencies, and non-profit organizations.

B.

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:

• To build a standard unit for reference and that can be replicated at a reasonable cost.
• To develop contents.
• Human resources training

The committee will also conduct preliminary actions according to guidance of the smart community development approach mentioned above and in APPENDIX VIII. 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;

Measurement of Activities

• Internet usage rates,
• growth rates of web sites,
• coursewares,
• outreach students,
• number of occurrences of e-health events.

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.

IX.

MEASUREMENTS OF WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES

The measurement of this workshop activities are;

1. The number of attendees and the presentations of prospective joint programs and projects could be a measurable indication of the success of this workshop.
2. The number of volunteers to join in the committee could be another indication, though it may better be limited to a dozen members in order to have tight coordination for our submitting the resultant comprehensive document to the Japanese government in a few months after this workshop is over.

X.

EVALUATION PLAN

A.

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.

B.

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 VIII.

C.

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.

D.

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.

XI.

SUSTAINABILITY PLAN

A.

As for conducting This Workshop

Additional funds will be sought from the following sources to accomplish the tasks of the aforementioned workshop and committee.

1. The US National Science Foundation (NSF)

Cornell University will submit a travel grant application to the US National Science Foundation for Americans attending the workshop. We have already visited them in the fall of 2001 on the procedures of the application.

2. InfoDev Conference Scholarship Fund

The InfoDev suggested us to submit our travel grant application for the attendees from developing countries, when we visited them in the fall of 2001.

3. ITU

Upon the suggestion made by a staff of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), we plan to submit our grant application to Mr. Yoshio Utsumi, Director-General of the ITU, with the support of Dr. Pekka Tarjanne, former Director-General of the ITU and one of the truseee members of GUS. Mr. Yoshio Utsumi was the counterpart at the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications when Dr. Takeshi Utsumi extended Telenet (the predecessor of Internet) to Japan and deregulated the Japanese telecom policies for the use of email, and worked on the demonopolization and privatization of Japanese telecom industries in early 1980s.

B.

As for Overall Project including CampusNet and CDNs

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.

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.

This project has also already received favorable responses from the SIPAM of the Brazilian Air Force, which has three transponders on BRAZILSAT for distance education.

3. Global E-Rate

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 SIPAM, 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 APPENDIX IV for the list of Japanese companies in Manaus 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 "Global E-Rate."

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.

4. Japanese ODA

The budget for deploying CampusNet and CDNs will be included in the comprehensive document which will be constructed by a committee mentioned above, to be submitted to the Japanese government's non-tied cultural aid.

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.). Mr. Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan, also made another pledge of US$2 billion to aid education in developing countries during the G8 Summit in Canada in June 2002.

Dr. Utsumi has already given a copy of the preliminary version of this application for the InfoDev of the World Bank (mentioned above) 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 in August of 2001. 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.

5. Grass Root Fund of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)

By the kind introduction of the MOFA, we have submitted a grant application of this fund (available up to approx. US$80,000) — see a copy of the application accompanied herewith. 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.

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.

XII.

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.

XIII.

WORK PLAN

Depending on the formation of the committee members at the workshop, the above work plan and subsequent budgetary designations may be altered.

XIV.

ANTICIPATED RESULTS OF THE PROJECT AND DELIVERABLES

Specific deliverables to Tinker Foundation from this activity are;

1. Formation of project teams,
2. Direction for collaboratively furthering global e-learning,
3. Complete plan for the deployment of CampusNet and Community Development Networks, including systems design, feasibility study, market survey, action plan, etc.,
4. Conference report for public dissemination,
5. Strategy of joint fund raising for the projects,
6. Final report to Tinker Foundation with complete web site, including a copy of comprehensive document, which will be submitted to the Japanese government.

XV.

DISSEMINATION OF THE RESULTS

Due to the nature of this proposed project, there will be no specific plan for the dissemination of the results other than stated above.

However, as have been done for the Tampere event and the workshop/demonstration in Manaus in May/June of 2000 (see Section IV above), a comprehensive web site for this workshop will be constructed and opened to the public.

Also, as same as during the both workshops in Manaus in 1998 and 2000, our telemedicine demonstration with the University of Rondonia in Porto Velho and videoconferencing with Japanese children in Japan will be broadcast via BRAZILSAT throughout South American continent.

A.

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).

B.

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:

• improving the global learning and wellness environment for people in the global knowledge society, where the global responsibility is shared by all;
• sharing and exchanging knowledge among the sectors of education-related research, industry and trade;
• giving priority to actions improving learning and healthcare world-wide;
• harnessing the technologies of broadband Internet connectivity among institutions of higher learning in the developing countries, in order to provide learners of all ages access to global e-learning across national and cultural boundaries;
• fostering youngsters around the world in a creative competition for relevance and excellence through affordable and accessible broadband Internet;
• supporting systems which complement the traditional institutions of learning and healthcare by using conventional methods together with advanced electronic media;
• improving learning and health of the disadvantaged by increasing their access through the utilization of new technologies, basing its long-term orientations on societal aims and needs and reinforcing the role of service to the whole society.

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. 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 government’s 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 mission of our Global University System program is not the mere enhancement of job skills with e-learning, but the creation of youngsters for the world peace for the eradication of borderless terrorism by reduction of poverty through the use of advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in remote/rural areas around the world.

When broadband Internet will be available and interconnect member schools of our GUS/UNESCO/UNITWIN Networking Program, we can expect followings;

• Coalition member universities will be able to build the network of facilitators for support of e-learners,
• Learners may take one course from a university of different country, in Japan, Canada, Brazil, Finland, etc., to get his/her degree from the GUS, thus freeing them from being confined with one philosophy of a university,
• The broadband Internet will enable web-based teaching with more interaction among/between learners and instructors compared with less interaction in replicating class-room teaching via satellite, -- thus stimulating global dialogues among them to attain world peace,
• Learners and faculties at the member universities can promote exchange of ideas, information, knowledge and joint research and development of web-based teaching materials, community development, and many others locally, regionally and even in global scale,
• Researchers in even developing countries can perform joint collaborative Hi-Tech research and development on various subjects, e.g., Globally Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming, micro-biology, meteorology, chemical molecular study, DNA analysis, 3D human anatomy, design of space shuttle (a NASA project for training high school students around the world), etc.

In a sense, our GUS/UNESCO/UNITWIN Networking Chair program is to construct global scale knowledge forum with advanced ICT, e.g., with the use of massive parallel processors of globally distributed and yet interconnected mini-supercomputers around the world through Global Broadband Internet (GBI) of the global neural computer network – see more about the Access Grid Project in APPENDIX VIII-8.

The global peace gaming system is a computerized gaming/simulation to help decision makers construct a globally distributed decision-support system for positive sum/win-win alternatives to conflict and war. The idea involves interconnecting experts in many countries via global Internet to collaborate in the discovering of new solutions for world crises, such as the deteriorating ecology of our globe, and to explore new alternatives for a world order capable of addressing the problems and opportunities of an interdependent globe. Gaming/simulation is the best tool we have for understanding the world's problems and the solutions we propose for them. The understanding with scientific and rational analysis and critical thinking would be the basis of world peace, and hence ought to be the basic principle of global education for peace.

Along with the establishment of GUS/UNESCO/UNITWIN Networking Program with the GBI and E-Rate for K-12 schools, we will forge ahead to spread and proliferate the System Dynamics methodology (which was invented by Professor Jay W. Forrester of Massachusetts Institute of Technology), in order to realize the Globally Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming through Global Neural Computer Network — particularly and hopefully, with the participation of K-12 youngsters around the world. They can perceive the inter-relatedness of the world affairs with the capabilities of critical analysis and rational thinking. They can then exercise collaboratively on system analysis, policy makings, crisis management and negotiation skills for global socio-economic and environmental issues via global Internet.

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.).

C.

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.

XVII.

NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF THREE INDIVIDUALS FAMILIAR WITH THE PROPOSED PROJECT

P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor
Acting President, Global University System
Chairman, GLOSAS/Finland
Unesco Chair on global eLearning
Professor and Chair of Media Education
Media Culture and Communication Education
Hypermedia laboratory
University of Tampere
P.O.Box 607
FIN-33101 Tampere
FINLAND
Tel: +358-3-215 6111
Tel: +358-3-614-5247--office in Hameenlinna
Tel: +358-3-215 6243--mass media lab in Tampere
GSM: +358-50-567-9833
Fax: +358-3-215 7503
tapio.varis@uta.fi
tapio.varis@helsinki.fi
http://www.uta.fi/~titava

Marco Antonio Rodrigues Dias, T.C.D. (Third Cycle Diploma)
Vice President, Global University System
Consultant of United Nations University
Former Director, Division of Higher Education of UNESCO
36, Rue Ernest Renan
92.190 Meudon
FRANCE
Tel: +33-1-45 34 3509
+33-1-45-68-3009 (UNU office in Paris)
Fax: +33-1-45 34 3509
mardias@wanadoo.fr

Dr. Joseph N. Pelton
Board member of GLOSAS/USA
Director
Space and Advanced Communications Research Institute
George Washington University
2033 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20052
202-994-5507
Fax: 202-994-5505
ecjpelton@aol.com
jpelton@seas.gwu.edu
Or,
Acting Executive Director of CITI
Vice-Chair of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation of the U.S. (ACCFUS)
Arthur C. Clark Institute for Telecommunication and Information (CITI)
4025 40th Street North
Arlington, VA 22207
(703) 536-6985
ecjpelton@aol.com
http://clarkeinstitute.com/
http://www.clarkeinstitute.com/