CONTENTS
1 Global Lecture Hall (GLH) videoconferences . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 GLH in July, 1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 GLH in October, 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 GLH in February, 1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 GLH in November, 1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.5 GLH in November, 1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.6 GLH in October, 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.7 GLH in October, 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.8 GLH in 1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.8.1 GLH on August 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.8.2 GLH on October 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.9 GLH in July, 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.9.1 Greetings by Dr. Colin Power of UNESCO/Paris . . . . 13
1.9.2 Premises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.9.3 Brief Evaluation and Comparison of Delivery Systems . 17
1.9.3.1 Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) Units . . . . . 17
1.9.3.2 TCP/IP Oriented Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.9.3.3 Other Delivery Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.9.4 Demonstrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.9.5 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.10 GLH in October, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.10.1 Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.10.2 Demonstrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.11 GLH in August, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.11.1 Summary of achievements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.11.2 Delivery systems used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.11.3 Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.11.3.1 Panel discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.11.3.2 Demonstrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.11.4 Remarks on organizing GLH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.12 GLH in 1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.12.1 GLH on June 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.12.1.1 Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
1.12.1.2 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
1.12.2 Mini GLH on October 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2 Teleconferencing for Electronic Distance Education (EDE) . . . 38
2.1 Synchronous Televideo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.1.1 Non-Internet Televideo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.1.2 Internet Televideo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.1.3 Experiences at Houston Community College . . . . . . 39
2.1.3.1 With Non-Internet Televideo . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.1.3.2 With Internet Televideo . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.2 Asynchronous Computer-Mediated Multimedia
Conferencing System (CMMCS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.2.1 Experience at Texas A&M University . . . . . . . . . 42
2.2.2 Virtual Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
REFERENCES: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
INSERTIONS (Images, graphs and diagrams, etc.): . . . . . . . . . 46
**************************************
„Global Lecture Hall (GLH)¾
"For the things we have to learn before we can do them,
we learn by doing them."
Greek educator and philosopher Aristotle
1 „Global Lecture Hall (GLH)¾ videoconferences
During the second decade of GLOSAS activities from 1986, Utsumi
realized that text-oriented e-mail was not enough for distance learning,
especially in engineering and medical education which requires graphics,
images and full-color, full-motion video. He then organized and
conducted a series of videoconferences what came to be called the
"Global Lecture Hall (GLH)"(TM). It originated at university campuses
in the U.S., Italy, Brazil and Hungary, and spanned the globe. It
employed inexpensive media accessible to less developed countries. This
type of event was characterized by the involvement of participants at
many sites, using several media to facilitate interactions among them.
Participants in several countries could hear, talk, and see each other
while using affordable methods for developing countries. Our GLH has
now been well established as an annual event.
* Technologies used:
This multipoint-to-multipoint, multimedia, interactive
videoconference used Internet-based desktop conferencing packages,
telephone-based conferencing (from slow scan TV, fully integrated color,
motion, audio and whiteboard packages), computer conferencing, and
audiographic conferencing, facsimile, etc. These were done with the
combined use of various inexpensive delivery systems, e.g., Plain Old
Telephone Services (POTS), digital switched lines, Integrated Service
Digital Network (ISDN), packet-switching networks, packet-radio and
packet-satellite, and analog, digital channels on U.S. domestic
satellite, INTELSAT and INMARSAT, and so on. By these means audio,
data, text, graphics, images and video could be sent at great distance
at an acceptable cost. Some of these methods were accessible to nearly
everyone. Recent configurations combining some of the mentioned media
seemed impossibly complicated on paper but proved workable in practice.
* Purposes:
Many less developed countries lack good analog voice-grade telephone
networks and, hence, lack Internet access. Subsequently, use of
electronic distance education, though an economic advantage to them, is
not realized. Therefore, the purposes of the GLH are;
1. To promote interest of educators and decision-makers in underserved,
less developed countries in implementation of affordable and
accessible global electronic distance education across national
boundaries,
2. To have participants view and compare various advanced (yet
affordable) delivery systems with technical and economical pros and
cons,
3. To apply later demonstration technologies for underserved students in
rural/remote areas of the U.S. and around the world.
* Objectives:
1. Demonstrate previously unexplored hybrid configurations of various
electronic distance education course delivery technologies,
2. Offer the participants a stage for meeting at a distance and gaining
confidence in the use of several means of communication, including an
opportunity for hands-on "collaborative experiential learning" about
the technologies and their applications,
3. Gain knowledge of the different participants' countries' regulatory
environment that have thus far made sophisticated electronic distance
education inaccessible to them,
4. Demonstrate the possibility of electronic networking and the
promotion of collaborative research and development among higher
educational institutions in participants countries and later around
the world.
* Remarks:
The series of GLH events have clearly demonstrated how people could
be linked across political and geographic boundaries for joint study,
discussion, research, global problem-solving, and political action. In
so doing, they have also helped foster a participatory spirit and a
sense of transnational identity amongst participants. Moreover, the
demonstrations of the inexpensive uses of telecommunications for
educational purposes helped GLOSAS learn how to deal with technical,
regulatory and financial impediments to the creation of a workable
global electronic university network. The GLOSAS projects have shown,
combining a variety of improved and presently more affordable and
accessible technologies, that global educational exchange via
international telecommunications is a feasible endeavor. They also
helped prepare the way for global peace gaming on the scale of
Pentagon's war gaming -- more later.
Similar to the motto of the Olympics, one of the basic principles of
our GLH is "participation" (or, at least "an effort to participate") in
a global project and the use of various telecommunication media. Even
if struggling to accomplish such a feat one gains invaluable information
as well as the confidence to engage in future trials. Incidentally,
some who took part in our previous GLH took advantage of the following
event to install new facilities or test a new videoconferencing
technology -- incidentally, some of those participants received hardware
and/or software donated from commercial firms which were necessary for
their participation in our GLHs. The second principle is to have each
participant contribute to, as well as draw from, the cooperative effort
to co-produce a learning experience which surpasses the simple sum of
its parts.
Many participants of our previous GLHs appreciated their involvement
with colleagues in various countries. Such collaboration further
ensures comradeship among colleagues, an important step toward world
peacekeeping. For example, CU-SeeMe videoconferencing via Internet can
be used without software and telecommunication costs and without an
expensive studio and dish antenna. Many colleagues (such as Dr. Everett
Koop, former Surgeon General, at Dartmouth College and Dr. Peter Knight
at the World Bank, and many in Australia, Latvia, Poland, etc.) began
using CU-SeeMe on the occasion of our GLHs -- photos of the former two
appeared in TIME, October 10, 1994, Page 24. Worldwide, they helped
each other via e-mail to set it up. This activity has not only fostered
camaraderie among our project members, but also promoted the use of
videoconferencing through Internet. In many countries, it has also
increased understanding of the need for high-speed Internet lines which
enable users to retrieve advanced information in many formats (MBone and
World Wide Web (WWW), among many others). The MAVEN audio conferencing
system of CU-SeeMe has also saved considerable telephone costs for K-12
children conversing with overseas counterparts on a real-time basis.
Our GLH demonstrations in the past decade have helped build a network
of leaders in the global electronic distance education movement in many
countries. The GLH demonstrations by the GLOSAS Project have been a
most effective illustration of the capabilities available in the
interactive multimedia environment.
We were deeply grateful for generous cooperation and superb technical
support of many parties and participants of our GLHs, particularly of
those organizations which provided us with „in-kind¾ services {1}.
Followings are the brief list of GLHs in the past decade {2}.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{1} None of the GLHs were financially supported, though grant
applications were submitted to many funding sources.
{2} As can be seen in this chapter, in the past decade or so, we
conducted a series of GLHs (large or mini scale) more than 15
times. However, when we submitted in 1996 a grant application for
our Globally Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming project to
the U.S. National Science Foundation/Partnerships in Advanced
Computational Infrastructure program, one of peer group members
declined it saying that he was skeptical with GLH.
This was another example how difficult to make "mind change"
even among prominent scientists working at a prestigious U.S.
governmental agency.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
1.1 GLH in July, 1986
The GLOSAS project began with a demonstration of global-scale
peace-gaming at the conference on "Crisis Management and Conflict
Resolution" by the World Future Society (WFS) in New York City, in July
of 1986. It was one of the largest and perhaps most successful
demonstration of global gaming/simulation organized so far. The event
was a global gaming simulation sessions on a crisis scenario involving
the U.S.-Japan trade and economy issues. The multimedia
teleconferencing sessions used voice, slow-scan TV [SSTV], computer text
and data, graphics, and a simulation model. Nearly 1,500 persons took
part, in New York, Tokyo, Honolulu and at the World's Fair in Vancouver,
B.C. Fred Campano of the United Nations wrote a game scenario, and
Akira Onishi of Soka University in Tokyo supplied his FUGI model of the
world economy {3} <[1]>.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{3} The fifth generation of the FUGI model was incorporating vari-
ous sectors of resources, population, environment, energy, re-
search and development in high-tech field, security, and human
right, etc. With socio-economic and political data from 140
nations, FUGI was used by the United Nations and various govern-
ments in Japan, Europe and Asian countries for economic forecast-
ing.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
Noted U.S. economists (Professor Lester C. Thurow of M.I.T., Provost
William Nordhaus of Yale, Mr. Keith Johnson of Townsend and Greenspan
Company) were panelists of this event and electronically interconnected
with Japanese counterparts (Professor Onishi of Soka University, and
President Shishido of International University) for three days of
computer-assisted negotiations. Several hypothetical policies were
examined. One question raised by Donald Straus (President Emeritus of
American Arbitration Association) was the effect of raising military
expenditures in Japan to the American level while lowering those of the
U.S. to the present Japanese level. Simulation ran overnight predicted
that the balance of trade would thus be even by the year 2000, with
necessity of cooperation, rather than competition, by both countries in
the future (Onishi, A., 1986, Nikkei Shimbun, Aug. 8, 1986). This
clearly indicated the cost and dilemma of American s nuclear umbrella
protecting Japan s economic prosperity, thus threatening American s
economic prosperity.
This gaming simulation lasted three evenings. At the end of each
session, Onishi executed new economic parameters on his FUGI model which
parameters were discussed and agreed by both parties in New York and
Tokyo, and sent his computational results back to New York at the next
session for continuing discussions. All participating sites had
Colorado Video s slow-scan image transceiver which were connected
through a telephone bridge so that all sites could receive/send their
images. Audio/voice could be sent through the same POTS line, except
while transmitting images. Onishi s computer outputs were sent to New
York by fax via another telephone line. As soon as it arrived, it was
copied to transparencies, and projected on to a large screen which was
then transmitted by the slow-scan transceiver to all participating
sites. We used real-time chatting feature of EIES for back-stage
coordination.
This event with combined use of inexpensive delivery systems afforded
an opportunity to see how academic departments might become linked
across national boundaries for the purpose of joint study, research and
planetary problem-solving without expending high cost for satellite
video. After this successful sessions, several former high ranking
officers of the U.S./Japanese governmental agencies expressed their
strong interest in a similar multi-media teleconferencing on a more
regular basis to establish an early warning system of the both
countries ever-closely interwoven economic and trade relationships.
Systems analysis for systemic change at the global level is a
precondition for any significant resolution to today s global-scale
problems, as has been advocated by the GLOSAS Project since it was
originated in 1972.
From this initial effort, a series of „Global Lecture Hall (GLH)¾
(TM) has commenced, spanning many countries around the world.
1.2 GLH in October, 1987
The GLH at the 1987 WFS/Education Conference held at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology encompassed fourteen sites linked together, from
the East Coast of the U.S. to Japan, and from Anchorage, Alaska, to San
Diego, California and Honolulu, Hawaii. This spanned 14 time zones and
two calendar dates!
In keeping with the WFS theme of "Education for the Twenty-First
Century," GLOSAS previewed the "classroom of tomorrow" with discussion
on "Globalization of Higher Education Around the Pacific Basin."
Lecturers and students at widely dispersed locations in the United
States and around the Pacific "assembled" to exchange ideas. The
panelists included Takeshi Utsumi from the headquarters of the National
Technological University (NTU, which is a consortium of engineering
schools, based in Fort Collins, Colorado) at Colorado State University;
James Grier Miller, chairman of the University of the World, from the
EDUCOM Annual Conference in Los Angeles; and Lionel Baldwin, president
of the NTU, from San Francisco; Robert Muller, Honorary Chancellor of
the United Nations University of Peace in Costa Rica (former Assistant
Secretary General of the United Nations); Hazel Henderson, economist and
futurist; Glenn Olds, president of Alaska Pacific University; and Parker
Rossman -- the last four of them from M.I.T. in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
All panelists were provided with an audio teleconferencing
connection. Their conversations were uplinked to a satellite from a
conference monitor center so that the conversation as well as panelists
video (full-motion or freeze frame) were downlinked at any other off-
site locations with their receive-only antennae. Slow-scan TV was used
in conjunction with NHK's (Nihon Hoso Kyokai = Japan Broadcasting
Corporation) leased INTELSAT satellite channel (Dambrot, Stuart M.,
1989, The Japan Times, Oct. 18) {4}. Some of panelists and off-site
participants who had a slow-scan TV unit could send/receive their
freeze-frame image via POTS to the monitor center at low cost which was
then uplinked to satellite. EIES was used for on-line, real-time
chatting for back-stage coordination to save valuable audio lines and
conference time. Facsimile communication was also used in parallel to
receive questions from off-site participants.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{4} After this event, GLOSAS arranged a donation of Colorado Video
TV unit by NHK to International University in Tokyo.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
1.3 GLH in February, 1988
This GLH was during the conference of the Pacific Telecommunications
Council in Honolulu, Hawaii, on „Distance Learning Around the Pacific
Basin.¾ The teachers in the „global classroom¾ included J. O. Grantham
(founder of the National University Teleconference Network (NUTN)); C.
Urbanowitz (associate dean of the Center for Regional and Continuing
Education, California State University, Chico); J. Southworth (College
of Education of the University of Hawaii); R. Mills (assistant vice
chancellor of the California State University System); D. Wydra
(Pennsylvania Teleteaching Project); L. Baldwin (President of National
Technological University); and T. Utsumi (Chairman of GLOSAS). This GLH
encompassed 14 sites ranging from the U.S. East Coast to the Republic of
Korea, from Anchorage, Alaska to Brisbane, Australia.
During this event, we connected about a dozen Lumaphone freeze-frame
units with an AT&T's Alliance audio bridge via POTS, and found that was
too many to be handled by the bridge. However, its lunch box size and
low price (less than $700/unit) was convenient for portable use through
the POTS at low cost compared with ISDN or satellite approach. We could
hook it to regular TV monitor and even uplinked its image to satellite,
albeit black and white.
We also had several Colorado Video TV units connected via POTS
through its bridge, many sites with receive-only dish antenna via U.S.
domestic satellites, and all of them connected with audio
teleconferencing bridge via POTS for clear voice during question and
answer sessions. EIES was used for coordination to prepare and check
the inter-connectivity of the audio, slow-scan TV, full-motion
teleconferencing, and back-stage coordination with its real-time
chatting which effectively eliminated wasting air time of expensive
satellite transmission.
Dr. Baldwin s description with full-motion video was recorded a few
days prior to our demonstration. However, he could provide his answer
to a questioning person at PTC/Honolulu site from Pacific Bell
Corporation/San Ramon Valley office (nearby Berkeley, CA) through the
audio teleconferencing bridge on his way back from a business trip.
This fact vividly proved the convenience and importance of the GLH's
multipoint-to-multipoint multimedia interactive videoconferencing
approach.
We fortunately had overwhelmingly enthusiastic endorsement and
support of this demonstration as well as for the Global (electronic)
University Consortium project and participation from many educational
institutions in the Pacific area, including the Dr. Arthur C. Clarke
research center in Sri Lanka (Clarke originated the idea of a
geosynchronous communication satellite), and from Dr. Paul Baran in
Cupertino, CA, (who originated the packet-switching technology).
1.4 GLH in November, 1989
The conference site of the World Future Studies Federation in Nagoya,
Japan, was connected with Wassily Leontief (a Nobel Laureate in
economics) at New York University to discuss the relationships between
„Environment and Development¾ with Colorado Video s slow-scan TV units
via POTS line {5}. The real-time chatting feature of EIES was also used
for back-stage coordination.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{5} Utsumi previously arranged the donation of the unit by NHK to
the International University in Tokyo. He also helped to estab-
lish a global communication research center (GLOCOM) at the Inter-
national University in Tokyo with about $1.5 million dollars from
Japanese industries.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
1.5 GLH in November, 1990
In order to support the efforts of Latin American distance educators,
GLOSAS/USA organized a demonstration of large scale interactive
satellite videoconference with the use of various inexpensive global
telecommunication media to show the possibilities of global education.
This was at the occasion of the XVth World Conference of the
International Council of Distance Education (ICDE) in November, 1990, in
Caracas, Venezuela, with participation of 1,300 persons from more than
80 countries. Our videoconferencing center was at William Paterson
College in New Jersey.
In this particular GLH, emphasis was placed on the use of various
inexpensive telecommunication media, particularly packet-radio and -
satellite, to show the possibilities of global education. The GLH was a
panel discussion on „Tools, Methodologies, and Principles for Global
Education in the 21st Century¾ with worldwide prominent scholars. The
event reached as far as the East Coasts of North and South America, west
to Japan, north to Fairbanks, Alaska, and south to Caracas, Venezuela.
More than 20 schools were interlinked for an interactive questions-and-
answer session.
The slow-scan TV (SSTV) videoconferencing could effectively send
images of panelists and their gathering rooms. Since most of
participating locations, particularly in overseas countries, did not
have satellite uplinking facility, SSTV was the most convenient and
inexpensive unit, and only means to broadcast their images to others.
One of significant events during this GLH was the presentation of
packet-radio and -satellite technology by Professor Gerald Knezek of the
University of North Texas. This enabled inexpensive telecommunication
for educational exchange at remote areas without use of wired telephone
networks or where the networks were poor quality, such as in Latin
American countries. With packet delivery protocols, 40 channels could
be programmed into a transponder where only one channel exited. The
major advantage was that „time-sharing¾ the same frequency by several
people (up to about 7) would reduce the cost of using the frequency with
an inexpensive transceiver at about $2,500 for each -- possibly on the
order of five or ten times less expensive than commercial communications
systems in place.
Professor Knezek demonstrated a file transfer from Western Samoa to
EIES via NASA s ATS-3 satellite free of charge. The message said that a
cyclone had interrupted most public utilities, including running water
and telephone services. The PEACESAT ATS-3 ground station, running on a
portable generator for a few hours per day, was one of the few channels
of communication to the outside world. Packet-radio allowed the memo to
be transferred to and captured in Texas, while the station at that site
was unattended. This example illustrated the potential usefulness of
packet-radio for low-cost social and disaster relief service
communications, including slow-scan TV image transmission. The system
could be especially useful in education for distributing assignments and
meeting agendas, submitting homework, and administrative activities such
as advising and enrolling students.
The other significant experience at this GLH was the clear reception
of satellite signal at Caracas gathering via a U.S. domestic satellite,
-- without going through INTELSAT satellite. Albeit one-way, this would
make it possible to send educational courses from North America to some
Latin American countries at low cost, since the former costs about one
half to one-third of the latter.
Audio and slow-scan TV videoconferencing via ubiquitously available
POTS enabled us to have participants from remote area where satellite
signal could not reach. Their use combined with the satellite was a
feature of our GLH, having enabled us to reach out to even „have-not¾
areas, i.e., not under the foot-print of the satellite. In a sense, our
demonstration was to enable the disabled (due to limitations in
equipment) to participate. We needed to face these situations as
challenges to maximize what they get from what they have. The full-
motion TV satellite systems often seemed to try to indicate that they
were the „only way to go¾ for distance education and telecommunication.
Until when prices dropped significantly, many people, especially those
overseas and in the most geographically isolated places, would have to
learn to appreciate, and make the best of, alternative forms of various
available telecommunication media.
This GLH demonstration indicated vividly the future of global
education. For example, a professor in Pensacola, Florida, received our
satellite signal at his home while he was feeding his dog and cat. He
could receive a lesson from a Japanese professor. He could raise his
question to the Japanese professor via audio or computer conference
immediately. For the same token, a person in a remote site in Venezuela
might have done similarly with his packet-radio or -satellite
transceiver. Global education could be done transcending parochialism
as well as national boundaries.
After the Caracas conference, Utsumi successfully conducted a
tutorial on the use of SprintMail -- a commercial e-mail service -- for
distance educators from various countries of the region at the Technical
Workshop on Training of Distance Education Trainers which was organized
by Universidad Nacional Abierta (UNA) and Regional Center for Higher
Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (CRESALC) of UNESCO.
The dramatic growth of distance education in Latin American countries
was in part a result of educational policies enacted at the national
level, and in part an outcome of the execution of the Organization of
American States (OAS)/PREDE Multinational Project for the Development
and Application of Distance Educational Systems. The multinational and
cooperative nature of this OAS project had another impact among the
implementing institutions: the development of an infrastructure and
expertise for cooperation, as attested by the creations of the Latin
American Cooperative Network for the Development of Distance Education
(REDLAED) in May of 1989 {6}, and of the Latin American and the
Caribbean Electronic Distance Education Consortium (CREAD) in the fall
of 1993 under the auspices of the Interamerican Organization of Higher
Education (IOHE) in 1990 with funds provided from the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA) {7} (Villarroel A., 1991) <[2]>.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{6} The REDLAED is a regional consortium of educational institu-
tions and professionals interested in promoting education through
the use of distance learning methods and techniques. REDLAED has
over 100 prominent college and university members. It devotes to
the planning and implementation of various forms of technical
cooperation and multinational activities to further the develop-
ment of this educational modality in Latin America and the Carib-
bean. REDLAED decided to give highest priority to four topics:
environmental problems, literacy, women's issues, and teachers
training. However, REDLAED still lacked the needed telecommunica-
tion capability to operate as a network.
{7} CREAD is also a regional consortium which allows for the par-
ticipation of North American institutions. It basically has the
same priorities indicated by REDLAED and has a permanent office at
Pennsylvania State University.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
GLOSAS joined efforts with REDLAED, CREAD, PREDE, CRESALC, and many
other colleagues in the region. As the result of Utsumi's demonstration
and tutorial, the decision was made as to declare a priority interest in
the development and participation in some pilot experiences in the use
of SprintMail telecommunications network that would link, by means of
electronic messaging services, the group of key coordinators of REDLAED
and CREAD members as well as their technical advisers from Organization
of American States (OAS) and UNESCO/Venezuela. GLOSAS/USA supported
their activities with the provision of SprintMail s e-mail and fax
services free of charge for the several years which amounted almost
$75,000/month usages in commercial rates -- this was thanks to the
generous offer of US SprintMail s returning a favor to Utsumi s effort
of helping their overseas expansion, particularly to Japan, as mentioned
above. Because of this efforts, GLOSAS/USA is founding members of
REDLAED and CREAD.
1.6 GLH in October, 1991
The World Association of the Use of Satellite for Education (WAUSE)
{8} <[3]> requested GLOSAS to conduct a joint GLH from the University of
Lecce in Lecce, Italy, at the occasion of the "Computer Architecture
Conference" held at the university in October, 1991. There were four
video teleconferencings, two of them as two-way between Italy and the
United States. The conference gathering discussed the parallel
processing architecture of the so-called sixth generation computer.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{8} The WAUSE aims to guarantee an ordered development of the
application of satellite in global education and of favoring
cooperation between organizations which are active in the fields
of education and satellites. The WAUSE will not concern itself
with the production of programs, but rather with the problems
associated to worldwide promotion of education and training pro-
grams delivered via satellites. It will be a forum where solu-
tions to the legal, administrative, regulatory, economic or tech-
nical problems of using satellites for education would be identi-
fied and actions taken to solve them for the benefit of members
and to facilitate access to education in general.
The WAUSE has a strong affiliation with the Community of Medi-
terranean Universities (CMU) which has members of over 120 promi-
nent universities in Europe, Mediterranean region, Africa, Arab,
and in North America. GLOSAS/USA is one of WAUSE's founding
members, and Utsumi is one of its board members.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
In the session Round-table on Satellites for Global Education,
Barry University in Florida uplinked to GALAXY-II satellite over North
America. The feed was then downlinked to an earth station of PANAM in
Florida and uplinked to the PANAM satellite over the Atlantic. It was
received by a small (2.5 meter diameter) VSAT antenna in Lecce. At the
University of Lecce, Florida s feed was mixed and uplinked to the
EUTELSAT over Europe. From there, it was downlinked in Belgrade,
uplinked to the PANAM satellite, downlinked to an earth station in
Florida and uplinked to GALAXY-II for distribution to North American
viewers. It was very complex scheme requiring the original signal to
travel a round trip of about 250,000 miles.
It connected many universities of the Community of Mediterranean
Universities (CMU) in Izmir in Turkey; Zagreb in Croatia; Budapest in
Hungary; Rome, Venice and Bari in Italy; Paris in France; etc., in
Eastern and Western Europe, Mediterranean countries and Ohio, New
Jersey, Florida, etc., in the North America. Panelists and participants
at Bell Laboratory in New Jersey and Barry University in Miami, Florida
also sent their voice or video images to the University of Lecce, so
that other downlinking participants could hear or view them (Utsumi
1991b) <[4]>.
American participants could send/receive their video and our signal
to/from PANAM satellite over the Atlantic Ocean and Europeans from a
EUTELSAT. A turn-round between them was made by Radio Televizja in
Beograd, Serbia whose service benefitted the presentation from Zagreb,
Croatia. This fact clearly showed the possibility of peaceful
collaboration with our GLH, in spite of war between Serbia and Croatia
at that time. (La Gezzetta del Mezzogiorno)
1.7 GLH in October, 1992
GLOSAS/USA organized two large scale GLHs at the occasion of the
annual international conference of International Council for Educational
Media (ICEM), a non-governmental organization (NGO) of UNESCO with
members from the Ministry of Education of over 30 countries {9}. The
GLHs were originated at the University of Central Florida in Orlando,
Florida, in October, 1992. The theme was "Global Education in the 21st
Century: Design and Delivery."
FOOTNOTES********************************
{9} ICEM was created in 1950 and is a non-profit organization which
has consultative Status A with UNESCO through the International
Council for Film and Television. There are presently over thirty
nations who belong to ICEM. Each participating nation is repre-
sented in ICEM through a designated member. In most instances,
this individual is affiliated with their nation's Ministry of
Education and is responsible for educational technology programs
within their country.
The above GLH events was held at the occasion of the ICEM
Symposium on "Design and Delivery of a 21st Century Technology
Base for Today's Learners: International Implications." The
choice of the theme reflected the concern with the disparity
between the advanced technologies being used by developed nations
and the very basic ones needed by the lesser developed.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
The GLH on October 12th covered the range of North, Central and South
America, Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Far Eastern and North
Eastern Asia, and the one on October 13th the range of North, Central
and South America, Africa and Middle East, Western, Northern, Central
and Eastern Europe, the Baltics as well as the Mediterranean. We used
thirteen channels on ten satellites over five continents during this
event.
During October 12th event, Dr. Joseph Pelton, Director of the
Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at the University of
Colorado, Boulder spoke on Global Satellite Education for Third World
Countries and examined the available alternatives for developing
nations and made suggestions on how to best harness the new
technologies. He was the Executive Director of INTELSAT, and during his
tenure there, he was a key person behind the development of Project
ACCESS {10}.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{10} Incidentally, the renowned Chinese TV University was created
about a dozen years ago under the provisions of Project ACCESS.
At that time, it had more than 1 million students and made use of
three transponders on INTELSAT.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
Dr. Lionel Baldwin, President of the National Technological
University (NTU), Fort Collins, Colorado, then talked about the NTU s
courses which employed digital video compression technology. He
provided evidence of how this technology was both cost-effective and
viable alternative to satellite two-way video and data transmission.
The drastic cost reductions which this technology permitted ushered in a
new era of truly global, universal, satellite education. NTU was
created by him about a dozen years ago as a consortium of engineering
departments of almost 45 colleges and universities in the U.S. At that
time, NTU had almost 4,000 master degree level graduate students, and
was one of the top ten largest engineering schools in the U.S.
Dr. Norman Coombs, a Professor at the Rochester Institute of
Technology, Rochester, New York, talked about Global Empowerment of
Impaired Learners: Data Networks which Transcend Both Physical Distance
& Physical Disabilities. His concern was how technology would affect
the impaired user. This had great significance to Dr. Coombs who is
blind himself. He was the winner of several awards and the author of
many articles on the subject of the effects of new education technology
on the physically impaired. He was conducting a distance education
course for the physically impaired students at Gallaudet University in
Washington, D.C., from Rochester via computer communication.
During October 13th event, Dr. Tapio Varis, former Rector of the U.N.
University of Peace in Costa Rica, made his greeting via POTS and with
photo slides from the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland, which
is located close to the Polar Circle, while he was viewing our sessions
from OLYMPUS satellite of Italy.
On behalf of Dr. Federico Mayor, Director General of UNESCO, Dr.
Colin Power, Assistant Director General for Education at UNESCO in
Paris, spoke on UNESCO and Global Education Imperatives and outlined
the international education agenda for the 21st Century. He answered
questions via overseas telephone line from Paris {11}.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{11} Dr. Power s involvement enabled us to receive the endorsement
from the United Nations in Manhattan, New York City, for us to
have INTELSAT satellite transponders free of charge under the
Project ACCESS.
Dr. Power s involvement was realized thanks to the support by
the UNESCO/Caracas, Venezuela, which officer was one of users of
SprintMail e-mail/fax services among many colleagues in Latin
American countries for which services Utsumi arranged free of
charge, as mentioned above.
Since this event, GLOSAS received the same favor from UNESCO/Paris,
the United Nations, and subsequently INTELSAT satellite
transponders free of charge at other GLHs -- with even 6 tran-
sponders at a later GLH which could be $75,000 worth.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
From the University of Lecce, Italy, Dr. Mario De Brasi, President of
the World Association for the Use of Satellites in Education (WAUSE),
and Dr. L. Ambrosi, President of the Community of Mediterranean
Universities, defined in specific terms, how the Mediterranean countries
might best avail themselves of satellite connections. Both cost and
logistics options and constraints were addressed.
In our final segment, Ms. Julie Stanfel, of the National Film Board
of Canada, and a research team from the Vivid Group in Toronto, Canada,
brought together school children from three very different locations
(Orlando/Florida, Ottawa/Canada, and Lecce/Italy) and asked them to
remotely enter and manipulate an electronically shared urban
environment. This was their newly developed "Virtual Reality" for the
joint design of a future city in the 21st century with children in
various overseas countries.
The National Film Board of Canada, in collaboration with the Canadian
Commission for UNESCO and The Vivid Group, was producing a series on
urbanization and the design of green cities. Entitled, URBAN UPDATE -
A REGIONAL DISCOVERY PROJECT, the program established a network of
groups of young people in a number of countries to investigate the
environmental and social effects of accelerating urbanization and the
need to establish strategies for sustainable cities, with greater
participation of local populations.
URBAN UPDATE was designed to provide students aged 12-17 with
opportunities to explore the cities in which they live, visually
document their findings and share them with young people around the
world using modern communications technologies.
With a unique human interface technology developed by The Vivid Group
in Canada and known as the MANDALA SYSTEM (TM), students would step into
and control virtual worlds of their urban ecosystems, live, without
physically touching anything! Viewing their own true video images
mirrored on televisions in front of them, the interaction would occur
when their images come into contact with visuals that surround them on
the TV screens, allowing the users to control and manipulate elements of
the urban environments around them, all in real time.
By exploring the elements of their own urban environments and then
defining with their peers from other countries the parameters of
habitable urban spaces, the interdependence of urbanization issues at
the global level was unfold. Then, using a virtual world telephone,
MANDALA PHONE (TM), young people in separate parts of the world was
able to step into a single virtual reality together, and interact with
one another to design the cities of the future -- together.
This was truly a great show in a Global Theater aided by the shiny
satellites as chandeliers. Children in Orlando/Florida, Ottawa/Canada
and Lecce/Italy demonstrated the use of a newly developed Virtual
Reality technology via satellites. They were the stars, the actors,
and the directors of this great show!! (TeleMedia MONITOR, November-
December, 1992)
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education) *
* President, Global University in the U.S.A. (GU/USA) *
* 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: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676 *
* http://www2.champlaincollege.qc.ca/ljutic/glosas.htm *
* http://library.fortlewis.edu/~instruct/glosas/cont.htm *
* http://cwis.usq.edu.au/electpub/e-jist/vol2no1/klemm/caadehom.htm *
* http://198.64.57.10/tgcccc/HCCS/glh.htm *
**********************************************************************
--Boundary_(ID_3BW5NRtoS2cSqQXeCWd4Ow)
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1.8 GLH in 1993
1.8.1 GLH on August 21
GLOSAS/USA organized "Global Lecture Hall (GLH)" (TM)
videoconferences on August 21st at the occasion of TELETEACHING'93 in
Trondheim, Norway. It was the first attempt for our U.S.-Russian
Electronic Distance Education System (EDES). The main purpose was to
demonstrate compressed digital video technology which drastically reduce
satellite transmission costs and therefore represented a major step
towards global electronic distance education. The Teleteaching 93 was
the third international conference on the applications of
telecommunications to enhance human knowledge and skills organized by
the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP).
(Utsumi, T., 1993a, Diagram and Footprint of GLH/Norway in 1993)
(Utsumi, T., 1993b, Summary and Videotape of GLH/Norway in 1993)
The videoconferencing center was at the studio of National
Technological University/Colorado State University in Fort Collins,
Colorado. This covered North, Central and South America; Western,
Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, including the Newly Independent
States and the Baltic -- with 7 satellites.
Utsumi described the philosophy of Global (electronic) University
System -- more later.
Mr. Ori Bar-zemer described his innovative digital video link between
Brown University and Moscow Space Research Institute via Intersputnik.
His video was transmitted with his PictureTel via Sprint Meeting Channel
in Atlanta, GA, to a CLI equipment at California State
University/Sacramento, which uplinked to a satellite, which video was
then downlinked at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, which
video was then uplinked to another U.S. domestic satellite which was
then turned around to international satellites for worldwide viewing.
A panel discussion on "Compressed Digital Video, Its Quality and
Applicability to Instructional Television" was held with the use of
multi-channel on the satellite of National Technological University
(NTU), Fort Collins, CO. The moderator was Dr. Tom McCall, Director of
R & D of the NTU and panelists were Professor F. Lawrence Bennett, P.E.,
Head of Engineering and Science Management of the University of Alaska,
Fairbanks, AK and Professor Russell Mersereau of Electrical Engineering
Department of Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.
Videos of the panelists from Georgia and Alaska were simultaneously
uplinked to a single satellite transponder using compressed digital
video (CDV) technology. Their videos, video from studio at Colorado
State University, and slow-scan TV image of TeleTeaching'93 via ordinary
telephone line were put into four split windows. All of windows were
broadcast via analog satellite as a composite video to all participants
around the world.
Professor Kevin Jeffay at Computer Science Department, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, demonstrated the potential of the new
color, full-motion videoconferencing technology via a packet-switching
data communication network, without use of satellite nor dish antenna.
His presentation via slow-scan TV described his current campus-wide
videoconference system with which several participants could show their
videos while discussing a same application program on either MS/DOS or
Macintosh computers.
CU-SeeMe s black and white videoconferencing system with Macintosh
via Internet was demonstrated by Mr. Scott Brim, Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY; Mr. Steve Cisler, Apple Library, Cupertino, California; Ms.
Kathy Fernandes, California State University, Chico; and Ms. Jean Armour
Polly, NYSERNet, Inc., Syracuse, NY. This was our first time of its
use, and ranged from the West Coast to New York, with parallel use of
ordinary audio teleconference. The computer screen was broadcast via
satellite for worldwide viewing. This was a historical event, as
revolutionizing videoconference technology, which could lead to
personalizing education in worldwide. (Apple/Moscow also successfully
received their video, though we did not receive their video back due to
bandwidth problem between the U.S. and Russia.)
A video of NASA's "Advanced Communications Technology
Satellite"(ACTS) described its advanced capability of digital satellite
technology with 1 giga bits per second high speed transmission with on-
board processing and switching, using multiple high-powered spot beams
and small, low-cost ground terminals.
Dr. Pierre Patry, President of Tele-university, Montreal, Canada,
presented his project to coordinate leaders of distance education
worldwide. This was conveyed via a Canadian satellite, and Dr. David
Johnson, Chair of Fulbright Association Task Force on East Central
Europe and the Former Soviet Union at the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, TN, made a presentation with a photo of Senator Fulbright
which was also sent via another U.S. domestic satellite to our
videoconference center at Colorado State University for worldwide
viewing.
1..8.2 GLH on October 6
This GLH was held at the occasion of the 15th Annual Satellite
Communications Users Conference in San Jose, California. California
State University (CSU) in Sacramento hosted our videoconference center.
The GLHs ranged from Tokyo/Japan, Melbourne/Australia,
Fairbanks/Alaska,
San Jose/Costa Rica, Cartagene/Colombia. It was our excitement to
incorporate the most advanced desktop videoconferencing through Internet
and ordinary audio telephone lines (without the use of a satellite and a
dish antenna), with the conventional analog satellite videoconference
technology (Utsumi, T., 1993c, Diagram of GLH/Japan in 1993). We
accomplished several significant milestones.
California State University (CSU)/Sacramento had a unique technical
advantage of having both CLI digital video equipment and Ku-band
uplinking facilities with well equipped studio and competent personnel.
PictureTel in Tokyo was linked with the CLI unit via ISDN line which
demonstrated much less cost than satellite route over the Pacific. The
CSU could become an important gateway to Japan and to the Pacific at
much less cost than the satellite route. This would benefit
particularly Australia and New Zealand, since there was only costly
INTELSAT available in the Southern Pacific at that time.
Originally, Keystone Communications kindly donated two INTELSAT
transponders for our videoconference over the Pacific. However, because
KDD of Japan could not absorb the costs of down- and up-linking in
Japan, we could not use the INTELSAT for two-way video satellite
communications. Then Fujita Corporation in Tokyo rose to the challenge
and managed to link their PictureTel with CLI unit at CSU/Sacramento via
Sprint Meeting Channel in Atlanta, GA. Fujita's PictureTel was
successfully connected just 30 minutes prior to the start of our
session! Of course, this alternative involved video of lesser quality
at 64 Kbps than that with satellite. Nonetheless, it proved, as always,
wise to have an alternative back-up system. Also, the low cost of the
alternative provided a good example of how the Americans and the
Japanese can cooperate to help developing countries in Asia and the
Pacific achieve better communications.
Speaking of alternatives, the Japanese government gave us their
permission to send our signal to users of Engineering Test Satellite-V
(ETS-V) in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, etc. Utsumi
requested PEACESAT at the University of Hawaii to relay our signal
downlinked from C-band U.S. domestic satellite to their uplinking
facility of the ETS-V. Unfortunately, codec equipment at PEACESAT
malfunctioned recently and we could not have the connection to ETS-V.
CU-SeeMe videoconferencing with Macintosh was made by video
exchange
via Internet and by audio exchange via POTS line. Each window of four
active (send/receive) participants, including Royal Melbourne Institute
of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, was positioned at four corners of
a TV monitor which screen was broadcast via satellite for worldwide
viewing. Ms. Andres of Global Schoolnet Foundation and her school
children described their impressive global environmental project with
the use of CU-SeeMe and e-mail. Officials of several Melbourne area
universities observed this historical event.
A question was also raised from Deakin University in Australia, one
of the receive-only CU-SeeMe viewers, even though they installed it just
a few days prior to this event. The Universidad de Costa Rica also
received its video successfully. Although the video quality of such
transmissions was still relatively limited, they demonstrated growing
availability of videoconferencing tools among educational communities in
the U.S. and the countries of the Pacific Rim countries, without use of
satellite nor dish antenna. This could be of particular interest to
K-12 educators.
Another significant event was Mr. Jim Miller's (of SYNECTICS, Ltd. in
Seattle, WA) demonstration of another desktop computer based
videoconferencing technology, i.e., ShareView (the predecessor of
ShareVision of Creative Labs) videoconferencing system. He demonstrated
it as connecting successively via POTS line, a Macintosh at
CSU/Sacramento with the one at the San Jose State University, the one in
Seattle, and the one at the Distance Delivery Consortium in Bethel,
Alaska, (with additional two satellite hops). ShareView operated over a
standard POTS line (capable of data transmission speed of 9.6 Kbps to
14.4 Kbps), and transmitted voice, color video, and data over the same
line. The video speed was typically 5-10 frames per second (fps).
Although only a point-to-point connection system, it delivered full
color, full-motion video which was very clear. Both connected parties
could draw or write using different colors on a whiteboard, swap stored
annotated images (such as X-ray pictures) and manipulate spread sheet
parameters, while seeing each other and discussing the subject matter at
hand.
ShareView videoconferencing with inexpensive equipment and
telecommunication line would be very valuable in developing countries
where Internet data communication networks (with TCP/IP nodes) had not
been well established yet. It was previously tested from a shop in
Baring Sea for medical application via INMARSAT. The University of
Hawaii recently succeeded to test it with the University of Guam via 9.6
Kbps channel of GOES-3 satellite.
Professor Heisuke Hironaka, Chairman of Japan Association for
Mathematical Sciences in Tokyo (Field Prize Laureate, which is an
equivalent to Novel Prize in mathematics), gave an impressive talk on
distance education in Japan via PictureTel at Fujita. A video clipping
made by CSU/Sacramento vividly envisioned the future of electronic
distance education using a laptop and flat screen display. Mr. Spencer
Fruend of CSU/Sacramento provided an excellent explanation of DELTA
(Direct Electronic Learning Teaching Alternative) project of the
California State University system.
We prepared Colorado Video's slow-scan TV (CVI/SSTV) units as
back-up; one was loaned from the International University of Japan to
Fujita, the other from Colorado Video to CSU/Sacramento and to San Jose
State University. We succeeded in connecting Sacramento and Tokyo a day
before, though the adaptor for the Japanese telephone system was
difficult to figure out. In the end, we did not use the CVI/SSTV since
PictureTel/CLI connection was successful. However, ShareView
connection
between Sacramento and San Jose malfunctioned during our panel
discussion session, and we had to rely for this connection on a robust
CVI/SSTV unit via POTS.
After this event, we assisted the demonstrations of ShareView
desktop
videoconference system between Tokyo and Los Angeles; at School of
Visual Arts in New York City; at the World Bank in Washington, D.C.;
between the University of Hawaii and the University of Guam, and so on.
Incidentally, the University of Guam has been using it to connect with a
college in Palau Island for nurse training via GOES-3 satellite. Fujita
Corporation in Tokyo demonstrated its use with their Los Angeles office
at the annual conference of the Association of Global Electronic
Networking Educators in Tokyo. Our experiences with the desktop
videoconferencing are now leading our projects in several interesting
directions.
1.9 GLH in July, 1994
This GLH with the theme of "Compare and Evaluate Available
Technologies: Learning Through Using" was held at the occasion of the
First International Conference on Distance Education in Russia which was
taken place in Moscow with theme of Distance Learning and New
Technologies in Education. The University of Tennessee in Knoxville
(UTK) hosted our videoconferencing center to celebrate the bicentennial
anniversary of the university. The conference in Moscow was held by the
Association of International Education {12}.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{12} The Association of International Education (AIE) was created
under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Science, Higher Education
and Technological Policy of the Russian Federation and GLOSAS/USA
in 1993. Its status and goal are same as those of GLOSAS/USA.
AIE is a consortium of higher education institutions, companies,
international associations and foundations.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
1.9.1 Greetings by Dr. Colin Power of UNESCO/Paris
Among greetings made by many prominent dignitaries from the UTK and
Moscow conference site, following is the excerpt from the one made by
Dr. Colin N. Power, Assistant Director General for Education of
UNESCO/Paris office.
As a specialized agency of the United Nations, UNESCO, which
presently comprises 182 Member States, has a universal mandate and
commitment to the provision of education for all.
The organization has early recognized the important contribution that
open and distance education can make in this respect. UNESCO's General
Conferences, Conferences of Ministers of Education and the 1990 World
Conference on Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand have stressed the
need to make greater use of distance education delivery systems.
Due attention to new delivery systems is also given within the
framework of the International Commission on Education for the 21st
Century. Our concern is to adapt educational structures, contents and
methods to the requirements of the next century. Also the "Learning
without Frontiers" programme envisions worldwide networks of open
learning and distance education to reach those who until now have been
deprived of learning opportunities.
What gives urgency to these concerns is the rapid development of
information and communication technologies which presents a global
challenge to all education. Indeed, the means of communication have
developed more rapidly than education's capacity to make use of them.
Therefore, the central issue is how to ensure that the new
communication means are available while reducing the costs involved.
These are vital problems especially to the newly independent countries
of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and in other less affluent Third World
Countries.
UNESCO is fully aware of the challenges ahead. At its 1980 General
Conference, the Organization adopted a resolution recommending that
member States apply special tariffs to press agencies and other media in
the developing countries for the transmission of press bulletins and
television news. This led to further work by UNESCO and ITU to examine
and decrease the economic constraints to the effective use of
telecommunications in education, science, culture and in the circulation
of information. The recent ITU/UNESCO Telecommunication Development
Conference was properly based on a study: "The Right to Communicate - at
what price?"
Therefore, there is a need for improved dialogue between governments,
telecommunication systems and educators, in general, and in the Third
World, in particular. The shared use of communication technologies
deserves to be singled out as an important policy issue among
decision-makers. The "information superhighway" should not be narrowed
to a village path, because there are no opportunities for participation.
The question, therefore, is how to bring together those who provide
education for all and those who possess the technologies to reach all.
lt is precisely this capacity of reaching new groups of potential
learners, without the constraints of time and space, that makes
telecommunication media an attractive and increasingly indispensable
partner to education. If a wider access to them can be ensured,
electronic distance education will undoubtedly be expanded to all
regions, and before long they will become as normal a part of education
systems as are now textbooks, calculators and computers.
While the space is being turned into a global network of
communication, the actual human needs continue to be down-to-earth,
peace being the most obvious one. The use of communication networks to
foster international understanding and cooperation towards a global
citizenship is very much within the framework of UNESCO's mandate as an
organization of peace.
Education, science and culture through which UNESCO's founders aimed
to pursue peace are all affected by new communication technologies. The
former one-way traffic, whereby learners physically had to go to
institutions of education, culture and science if they wished to profit
from them, is giving way to a two-way traffic, whereby education,
science and culture will go to learners if learners cannot go to them.
This historically significant development towards greater mobility of
delivery systems, which frees learners from the constraints of time and
place, will open up a number of structural and methodological
possibilities for learning.
I believe that still more bridges need to be built, electronically
and otherwise, to cope with the challenge caused by numerous conflict
situations, problems of hunger, economic recession, unemployment,
environment and others. All these have their impact on the form and
content of education. The question is then not only how to communicate
but also what to communicate. The ultimate aim goes beyond
communication itself to generate a communion, the sharing of universally
accepted values based on peace and international understanding.
As in the past fifty years, UNESCO is now more determined than ever
to contribute to that aim, towards a unique culture of peace.
1.9.2 Premises
Followings were the premises underlying our GLHs which set it apart
from conventional videoconferencing.
1. Education is fundamental for any society and nation building.
2. Globalization of society is the trend of the 21st century.
3. Communication is the key component of education.
4. Application of high technology, especially "tele"-communication
with computers, to education is an inevitable trend; thus global
electronic distance education is inevitable.
5. Information needs to be disseminated widely with the use of
telecommunication, which implies global scale. Thus a Global
Information Infrastructure is a vital necessity for fostering
global citizenship with "participatory democracy."
6. The value of information increases with wider dissemination, which
in turn requires a low-cost delivery system. An "old" economy
based on "tangible" and "visible" manufacturing of commodities is
different from a "new" economy based on "in-tangible" and
"in-visible" information and knowledge in which "creativity" is
highly valued, and toward which our global society, particularly
the United States, is now heading.
7. Possible uses of the information superhighway are in (1)
education, (2) business, and (3) entertainment. Education is
social investment, business is for return of the investment,
entertainment is for relaxation. This is the order of importance
for building a new nation and a new global society in the 21st
century {13} (Utsumi, Benkyo).
FOOTNOTES********************************
{13} Japanese two Kanji characters Benkyo for study or learn-
ing consist of Ben and Kyo. Ben is for striving to learn
and Kyo to force yourself; thus Benkyo is to learn and acquire
new knowledge with sweat and toil -- which is far from relax-
ation.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
8. Acquiring knowledge is a joy, and sharing knowledge is an ultimate
joy {14}.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{14} "In my country, only 13 people in 100 obtain an education. In
this century, the accumulation of material possessions has sig-
naled wealth, but in the 21st Century, it may be the attainment of
knowledge that differentiates the classes." -- Dr. Juan Camilo
Ruiz, deputy director, Colombian Institute for the Development of
Higher Education (Quoted from CREAD flyer)
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
9. Asynchronous, "just-in-time," individualized education is the most
ideal system of education and training.
10. The order of importance for electronic distance education delivery
system is (1) voice, (2) documents (text, graphs, diagrams,
freeze-frame pictures, photo, computer capabilities [such as
spread-sheet, simulation, etc.], whiteboard, etc.), and then
finally (3) video {15}.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{15} There are three components in electronic distance education:
audio/voice, content material and video (in order of its impor-
tance). Experiences of distance educators show, if these three
components can be separately controlled by students, they often
cut out the instructor's video in order to concentrate on hearing
his/her voice and viewing and improving the delivery speed of
other content materials (e.g., text, graphs/diagrams, images,
etc.). Given these student preferences, shifting the delivery
system to digital Internet from analog -- and expensive -- cable
television or satellite makes sense. This shift also encourages
use of advanced Web technologies to develop superior instructional
materials rather than reliance on talking-head style presentations
that resemble traditional lectures. Advanced Web technologies are
excellent vehicles for providing creative, experiential distance
education. For example, Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML)
holds substantial promise as a simulation environment for instruc-
tional delivery via the Web. In particular, the ability to model
molecules, chemical compounds, biological structures and physical
phenomena in three dimensions offers a level of interaction and
visualization that is usually not possible with traditional labo-
ratory equipment. The high speed, broad-band Internet approach
combines the advantages of advanced Web technologies with improved
audio and video quality at a reduced cost, especially compared to
Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN), cable television and
satellite approaches. This approach also allows for a "just-in-
time," asynchronous, demand oriented, two-way interactive, ancient
Greek style small group mentor education system, rather than a
Hollywood style, one-way, broadcasting, instructional television,
mass education system.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
11. The word "video-conference" may not be appropriate to use for
electronic distance education, since it emphasizes "video" rather
than "audio," and "conference" is not appropriate either for
situations in which "experiential learning" is taking place -- it
should be something like "globally collaborative learning platform
(GCLP)." Conventional videoconferencing is for collaborative
discussion. GCLP with computer through TCP/IP oriented Internet
or POTS line is for collaborative, synergetic learning and
creation of new alternatives based on facts and figures.
12. Socialization is an important factor in education. Once met,
people remember the faces of instructors and fellow classmates --
the amazing power of the human brain, a factor often not taken
into account in the application of telecommunication media and in
electronic distance education. Thus, once met, video (or its
quality) may not be of major importance.
13. Acquiring knowledge is an individual matter, but collaborative
experience with learning will enhance it. Knowledge gained
through interaction becomes wisdom. This is the so-called
"experiential learning." Interaction on simulation model, etc.,
on computer with fellow classmates will enhance this learning.
14. Major portion of funds for electronic distance education should be
applied to tuition/scholarship and courseware development -- which
will eventually come back to course providers as their
compensation, and will in turn increase the number of students,
and thus contribute to the spread of global electronic distance
education -- rather than spending a major portion of the funds on
costly telecommunication media and equipment.
15. Computer screens are better than analog TV monitors. When the
computer screen is transmitted via satellite, resolution of the
monitor (and recorded video tape with it) is degraded. Also, when
we use an analog TV monitor (via satellite or via digital high
speed line), we cannot have immediate access to computer
capabilities (such as spread sheet) or simulation model exercise.
16. Equipment at local receiving sites should be in full use for other
purposes -- such as teaching aid, administrative uses, etc. --
when it is not in use for receiving electronic distance education
courses via telecommunication media. This is especially important
in underserved overseas countries, and can only be accomplished
with inexpensive desktop videoconferencing systems. On the other
hand, satellite downlinking facilities and digital video equipment
require a large initial investment with additional high operating
costs for their telecommunications; they are idle while not in
use. Also, if the computer is used with Internet, it can retrieve
a variety of various databases, World Wide Web, Gopher, etc.
giving access to libraries throughout the world. This cannot be
done with satellite or with switched digital and ISDN.
17. The ultimate goal of the GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation
Association in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA) is to establish a Globally
Distributed Decision Support System with distributed interactive
computer gaming simulation system, for problem analysis, policy
formulation, and assessment, to be used for training of would-be
decision makers in conflict resolution and negotiation. This is
to be done with integrated use of distributed computer
conferencing, database and simulation systems among various
countries -- globally distributed peace gaming simulation focusing
on environmental issues.
Several systems will be interconnected to form a global neural
computer network [a term coined by Utsumi in 1981 and used by
Vice President Al Gore in his speech] of a global brain -- in
such a way that the total system will act as a single system
with parallel processing of those subsystems in individual
countries. Here each game player with his submodel and
database corresponds to a neuron, TCP/IP oriented node to a
synapsis, and packet-switching Internet the nerves of a global
brain.
1.9.3 Brief Evaluation and Comparison of Delivery Systems
Because of the dynamic nature and rapid advances in technology, we
must constantly test and demonstrate various delivery systems, and
choose the appropriate one or combinations thereof, depending on
distance education courses, their target/recipients/students, and their
surrounding environment, such as language, culture, economy,
telecommunication regulation and its technical standpoints, etc.
1.9.3.1 Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) Units
There are as yet no advanced telecom networks in most of developing
countries, particularly those of such a high-tech nature as satellite
dish antenna, last mile of switched 56/64 Kbps or ISDN lines, or TCP/IP
oriented Internet. Thus, whenever we conduct GLH type videoconferencing
-- particularly with overseas countries -- or global electronic distance
education exchange, it is always wise to use a backup delivery system
with the almost universally available Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)
line around the world -- usually at lowest telecommunication costs
compared with other telecommunication media {16}.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{16} Our well planned GLH in August, 1993, had the misfortune of
losing OLYMPUS when it was struck by a meteorite, but the event
was saved by the use of a Colorado Video's slow-scan TV unit
through POTS line, connecting a conference site in Trondheim,
Norway, with the studio of Colorado State University in Fort
Collins, Colorado.
At GLH in Oct. 1993, we also had Colorado Video's slow-scan TV
units via POTS as a back-up which worked, but was not needed since
the connection between PictureTel at Fujita Corp. in Tokyo and CLI
unit at California State University/Sacramento worked through
Sprint Meeting Channel.
This GLH on July 7, 1994 was also saved with the successful use
of ShareView through POTS. They are "fail-safe nets," in a sense.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
* Slow-Scan TV Units Without Computer Capability
Lumaphone (not used during this GLH) is the most inexpensive portable
unit, with a small black and white freeze-frame image (although it can
be blown up with regular TV monitor for large viewers) which can also be
readily printed out. Up to about half a dozen units can be hooked up
through an ordinary telephone bridge. No computer capability. Good for
small group of K-12 educational community on a global scale.
Colorado Video' slow-scan TV units (black and white as well as color)
(not used during this GLH) are standard, with medium to high price tag
(around $4,000 to $10,000). The unit's freeze-frame images can appear
on a regular TV monitor -- about 30 seconds per frame of image
transmission speed. About up to a dozen units can be hooked up through
an ordinary telephone bridge. No computer capability. Voice is
interrupted while image transmission takes place.
There are now several units similar to the above from AT&T, Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Corporation, etc.
* ShareView with Computer Capability
ShareView units with 2 boards and a camera (for Macintosh IIci up and
for IBM compatible with Window 3.1) are priced around $4,000 (at that
time but now less than $400), in addition to the computer platform
costs. ShareView gives complete computer capability (data, text, graph,
diagram, freeze-frame image, photo, application and simulation programs,
whiteboard, etc.)
A freeze-frame picture sent from Moscow to UTK was superb!! And its
transmission took only a few seconds. Its real-time, live video window
in color is small, and crude at 10 to 15 fps. However, its freeze-frame
image in high resolution can be supplemental to the real-time video,
with good audio quality through POTS line -- and most importantly,
saving lots of telecommunication costs. Voice is not interrupted during
freeze-frame image transmission or while the application program is
interactively executed.
If the computer of ShareView has two telephone lines, one can be used
for the connection with other ShareView via POTS, and the other
telephone line to access various databases and World Wide Web, etc., via
Internet. This enables to grab web page to send it to the other
ShareView with the use of its whiteboard. Its greatest advantage is the
use of POTS at the low speed of 9.6 to 14.4 Kbps anywhere in the world,
usually available at the lowest telecommunication costs.
Disadvantage of ShareView is still for one-to-one interactive
connection, although it is an ideal education methodology, but not
feasible from economical viewpoint. There is a need to achieve economy
of scale, in which it would be one-to-many.
1.9.3.2 TCP/IP Oriented Internet
Telecommunication costs of Internet are usually the lowest (or nil)
compared with other media. Accessibility to Internet can provide e-mail
for coordination, interaction among instructors and students, and
various databases around the world, in addition to the following
videoconferencing capabilities.
* CU-SeeMe
Software is available free of charge for Macintosh and for IBM
compatible from Web of Cornell University. Its black and white video in
a small window is crude, but good enough for daily conversation. The
voice quality of its associated MAVEN for audio conversation through
Internet is still crude -- it is wise to have an audio teleconferencing
system through POTS as a back-up. White Pine version of CU-SeeMe is in
color, has better capabilities than Cornell version with better audio
quality.
* World Wide Web
This would be ideal for one-to-many, asynchronous, "just-in-time,"
individual education on a global scale with all text, data, graph,
freeze-frame, audio, video, etc., computer capabilities. Its hypertext
enables retrieval from any computers hooked with Internet around the
world. However, this requires a connection with TCP/IP oriented
Internet, which is not yet readily available in overseas countries.
* MBone
Color video in large window and voice quality are better than with
CU-SeeMe. MBone can also have computer capability (including execution
of simulation models) with accessibility to various databases of
Internet. However, this requires a high-priced workstation. Multiparty
interactive videoconferencing can also be done around the world wherever
Internet has been extended with more than 256 Kbps bandwidth.
* ShowMe
When ShowMe is available with 3 to 4 Mbps (which is almost equivalent
to using spectrum-saver of CLI on a satellite) through Ethernet of Local
Area Network (LAN), it gives high resolution video in a large window
with near perfect voice quality. It also gives full computer
capability. However, it requires Sun Microsystems' SPARC-10 at around
$10,000 to 15,000 range. Its performance through Internet is still to
be seen.
1.9.3.3 Other Delivery Systems
* Switched Digital and ISDN
Telecommunication costs of these lines are higher than POTS, but less
than satellite. High-cost equipment is also needed. Digital video
equipment through these lines gives good voice and video quality at near
30 fps. Versions with computer capability are now appearing on the
market, but they cannot interconnect with Internet. Although major
cities in developed countries have now been equipped with these lines,
the so-called "last mile" problem always exists not only in overseas
countries but also even in the U.S. Analog TV monitor for the equipment
does not convey the high resolution of a computer screen. As same for
satellite, the equipment through these lines is good for "talking-head"
type presentation for large number of students, but not for
"experiential learning" with computer application or simulation model
executions.
* Satellite
Telecommunication cost for satellite, especially over oceans, is the
highest compared with others, but it gives the best analog quality
video, although not suitable for reading a computer screen. Satellite
route usually requires large initial investments for satellite segment,
up- and down-linking facilities, studio, turn-around services, their
scheduling, etc. Satellite is good, especially for one-to-many,
"talking-head" type presentations to large number of dispersed viewers.
NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) would give
computer capability, although its footprint covers only the North
American continent yet.
1.9.4 Demonstrations
In spite of some technical difficulties, this GLH was full of
exciting demonstrations of advanced desktop videoconferencing
technologies that seemed to indicate the future direction of global
electronic distance eduction. This particular GLH was the most complex
one organized in the past decade, with demonstrations greatly
appreciated by viewers around the world. (Utsumi, T., 1994a, Diagram of
GLH/Moscow in 1994) (Utsumi, T., 1994b, Summary and Videotape of
GLH/Moscow in 1994)
Technology demonstrated during this GLH were advanced web with
audio
and video annotations, CU-SeeMe, MBone, ShowMe, etc., through TCP/IP
oriented Internet for the realization of asynchronous, just-in-time,
individualized education, and of one-to-many multimedia ShareView
(predecessor of ShareVision) system. Japanese Kanji character teaching
was demonstrated during this GLH with the use of ShareView s whiteboard
capability via POTS by Nebraska Educational TV to students in Illinois
which was broadcast worldwide via INTELSAT. Followings are brief
accounts of them.
* "Friends and Partners" World Wide Web (WWW) Server:
By Mr. Greg Cole of UTK and Ms. Natasha Bulashova, Institute of
Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms, Russian Academy of
Sciences, Pushchino, Russia, -- mixed media (text, graphics, image,
audio, and video) information exchange via Internet, as integrating
information from all of the best Internet-based tools and utilities --
Listserves, Gophers, WAIS databases, FTP archives, etc. -- a forerunner
of asynchronous, "Just-In-Time," individualized education.
* CU-SeeMe via Internet:
By Mr. Richard Cogger of Cornell University, Prof. Jose Brenes of the
University of Costa Rica, Prof. Marc Eisenstadt of the Open University
in U.K., Mr. Allyn J. Radford of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
in Australia, -- a black and white video (10 to 15 frame per second
[fps]) with Macintosh -- also audio conferencing with MAVEN via
Internet. (Screen capture of CU-SeeMe)
Albeit crude video quality yet, this showed readily available
videoconference among educational communities around the world with
TCP/IP oriented Internet, even including passive participation of Warsaw
University in Poland, without use of satellite nor dish antenna -- and
even without use of overseas telephone calls.
* MBone via Internet:
By Messrs Mike McCann, Donald Paul Brutzman, and Mike Macedonia of
the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, -- text,
graphics, image, whiteboard, audio, and video (1 to 3 fps) via 256 Kbps
bandwidth -- with scientific visualizations with a simulation model of a
global ocean current circulation, particularly with three dimensional
analysis of equatorial Pacific for El Nino effect.
* ShowMe via Ethernet LAN of UTK:
By Mr. Greg Cole of UTK and his student -- text, graphics, image,
whiteboard, audio, and video (near 30 fps).
* ShareView via Plain Old Telephone (POT):
By Mr. Jim Miller of SYNECTICS -- text, graphics, image, whiteboard,
audio, and video (10 to 15 fps) via 9.6 Kbps bandwidth. Video of
instructor, handwriting in color on an electronic whiteboard, freeze-
frame exchange, image/graphic with annotation, dynamic graphic
presentation by real-time execution of an application program/simulation
model, etc., were demonstrated in windows on computer screen at both
sites. They were seeing each other while discussing the subject matter
through the same POT line.
ShareView videoconferencing with inexpensive equipment and
telecommunication line can be very valuable in developing countries
where Internet with TCP/IP node has not been well established yet.
* "MultiMedia of America (MMOA)" (TM):
Interconnection of two ShareView units via terrestrial POTS line was
demonstrated by Mr. Timothy Cook of Nebraska Educational TV and
students
of Niles High School in Michigan at Governors State University. Each of
them uplinked analog signals which were downlinked at the UTK. Teaching
on Japanese Kanji brush stroke sequences was demonstrated on
whiteboard
of ShareView units.
These demonstrations were toward the development of a one-to-many,
receive-only multimedia system via inexpensive narrow-band channel of
satellite (i.e., our MMOA project), for those students in rural and
remote areas where there is no Internet node yet.
1.9.5 Remarks
The demonstrations were greatly appreciated by viewers around the
world, not only in the U.S. and Canada, but also in Russia, Costa Rica,
Colombia, Italy, Poland, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, etc. Thus, we successfully
attained our goal of comparing and evaluating various delivery
technologies for global electronic distance education exchange, which is
one of the most important uses of the Global Information Infrastructure
(GII) {17} The GLH was also a clear example of cooperation of
international and domestic, governmental, industrial and academic
organizations for a global scale project. (Virtual, December, 1994, in
Italian) (Read, Jean, 1994, "Global Classroom," The Computer Paper,
September, 1994)
FOOTNOTES********************************
{17} A term coined by Vice President Al Gore at the Conference of
the International Telecommunication Union held in Buenos Aires in
March, 1994. GLOSAS/USA helped him to extend his original concept
of National Information Infrastructure (NII) to GII.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education) *
* President, Global University in the U.S.A. (GU/USA) *
* 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: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676 *
* http://www2.champlaincollege.qc.ca/ljutic/glosas.htm *
* http://library.fortlewis.edu/~instruct/glosas/cont.htm *
* http://cwis.usq.edu.au/electpub/e-jist/vol2no1/klemm/caadehom.htm *
* http://198.64.57.10/tgcccc/HCCS/glh.htm *
**********************************************************************
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1.10 GLH in October, 1995
GLOSAS/USA organized a "Global Lecture Hall (GLH)" videoconference on
October 25, 1995, on the occasion of the VIth International Conference
on Distance Education: "Technology and Distance Education: Sharing
Experiences around the World," (October 24, to 27, 1995, in San Jose,
Costa Rica). The GLH with the theme Affordable and Accessible Global
Electronic Distance Education was from Ohio University. Its signal was
sent from our videoconference center at Ohio University to Central and
South America, to Scandinavia and Japan using several INTELSAT channels
and via Internet (Utsumi, T., 1995, Diagrams of GLH/Costa Rica in 1995).
Individuals involved in the conferences included prominent educators and
government officials (e.g., Dr. Federico Mayor, Director General of
UNESCO) as well as individuals from both the private and not-for-profit
sectors. This GLH also connected student group in Helsinki with the
support of local universities and telephone companies.
1.10.1 Greetings
Followings are excerpts of greetings from some of prominent
dignitaries;
* Dr. Federico Mayor, Director General of UNESCO (video tape
from UNESCO/Paris headquarters)
Greetings to the participants in the 1995 "Global Lecture Hall"! On
behalf of UNESCO, I wish to say something on this year's theme -
Technology and Distance Education: Sharing Experiences around the World
- since I believe educational development through the sharing of
knowledge to be one of the keys to a more equitable and peaceful world.
Distance education has progressed a great deal in recent years, and
UNESCO can claim to have made some contribution to this process. As the
UN specialized agency responsible for international cooperation in
education, communication, science and culture, it is particularly well
placed to play a role in this area, where inputs from a variety of
disciplines are required.
The "new media" have demonstrated their potential to contribute to
effective learning. But it has become clear that their effective use is
crucially dependent on good instructional design. Experience has also
shown that imagination and political will are essential if inertia is to
be overcome and educational alternatives are to be properly exploited.
This is why one of the aims of UNESCO's Learning Without Frontiers
programme is to change the policy environment so that the technology of
the classroom is no longer seen as the only option available to
educational planners.
We need to explore all possible means to reach out to the massive
numbers of people around the globe who are deprived of opportunities to
learn. There are still almost one billion illiterate people in the
world. One hundred thirty million children of primary-school age do not
attend school. The demand for learning opportunities is constantly
rising, but the cost of delivering education by conventional means makes
it impossible for many countries to satisfy the growing demand.
The largest proportion of the unreached live in parts of the world
that are difficult to reach by any means - conventional or modern. To
solve problems in these areas, we need solutions that are both
affordable and accessible. If appropriate measures are not taken, there
is a risk that the developing global information infrastructure will
bypass the 600,000 villages without electricity and simply widen the
knowledge gap still further. While it is important to explore the
potential benefits to education of the emerging information
superhighways, we must also think about creating the infrastructure that
reaches out to remote communities which have so far had little contact
with modern technology. As we move rapidly into the information age,
old divisions between the haves and the have-nots are being replaced by
new ones - between those who are and are not connected. The challenge
is not simply to find suitable hardware solutions, but also to prepare
communities to become technologically literate. Alternative energy
technologies, such as solar powered communication devices, have an
important role to play here.
The search for media solutions to educational problems must not be
dissociated from the learning context itself. What is required is the
creation of examples of good educational practice, using the
technological solutions in question. This is what impresses
policy-makers and decision-makers. It is also important to show that
significant cost savings will result from such applications.
Together with the International Telecommunications Union, UNESCO is
currently involved in developing technologies within relevant
educational contexts. For example, we are currently setting up a pilot
project on the Educational Application of Interactive Television for
implementation in South Africa. Partnerships among countries are
important for the dissemination of innovative approaches. They allow
countries to learn from each other, to collaborate on developments and
to create unprecedented economies of scale for applications such as
satellite communication. This is the rationale behind UNESCO's
involvement in the Joint Initiative on Distance Education of the Nine
High-Population Countries. Like the Interactive TV project, this
nine-country initiative is part of UNESCO's "Learning Without Frontiers"
programme. The participating countries - Bangladesh, China, India,
Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Nigeria, Brazil and Mexico - make up half
the world's population and include almost three quarters of its
illiterate people. By cooperating, these countries have created an
excellent environment for new technological applications to achieve
global impact.
Finally, one of the most important features of emerging technologies
is their potential to make the learning environment more interactive and
flexible. Dialogue is one of the most powerful stimuli for the
development of the mind. It is probably the main area in which
traditional distance education has been found wanting. Thanks to recent
technological developments, we are finally capable of making a real
breakthrough in this area and of creating an effective global learning
environment to which everyone will have access, anywhere, at any time,
at any age, in any circumstance.
Lifelong learning for all - this is the goal. We are delighted to be
associated with partners such as the Consortium for the Advancement of
Affordable Distance Education (CAADE) and the Global University in
promoting our shared objective.
* Mr. Charles W. Fox, Director of WORLDNET Television and
Film Service, U.S. Information Agency (video tape from
Washington, D.C.)
One true test of a society is its power to inform and educate.
Distance learning through satellite communications expands the impact of
that power, and in order to succeed, a world wide satellite broadcasting
system such as WORLDNET must communicate to its viewers information that
is both new and relevant. Although WORLDNET does not use the virtual
classroom to teach, it has established a virtual seminar. Some of the
following WORLDNET programs that can be easily adapted to professional
level distance learning include American Business English, Computer
Literacy, American Business History, Law, Mathematics, Science and
Health.
Another part of the WORLDNET Seminar focuses on a lively exchange of
ideas among experts establishing the airwaves as a bridge to
understanding and learning. We call this "interactive programming." In
many industrial societies, vast resources are devoted to education.
That capability can be put to great use in developing nations.
WORLDNET Television, at the United States Information Agency, has
been in the business of international communications for ten years, and
I can speak with authority on the potential of making university and
professional training available globally. In the United States distance
learning benefits those who are working, disabled, and for whom travel
time is prohibitive.
The United States benefitted enormously from the wholesale education
of its people, and I believe that these initiatives for university-level
distance learning will further advance the principle of global access to
education.
Universal access to education is key to participatory democracies.
History will recognize the pioneers of distance education as the ones
who turned that key to opening the door to democracy-building world
wide.
Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts with you. I look
forward to hearing about your continued success in this exciting
endeavor.
* Dr. Tapio Varis of the University of Art & Design, Former
Rector of the U.N. University of Peace in Costa Rica and
Executive Advisor of GLOSAS/USA (with PictureTel via
digital switched service from Helsinki Telephone Company
Ltd. in Helsinki, Finland)
We are now celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations.
According to the UN figures there are 1,000 million illiterate people in
the world - two thirds of them are women. There are also 800 million
unemployed people.
Today the education field everywhere lags seriously behind other
areas in the use of technology and telecommunications even though the
emerging global information society will depend on knowledgeable
citizens. As pointed out by the Deputy President of South Africa, Mr.
Thabo Mbeki, "the debate about the information society is of relevance
to all humanity and therefore cannot ignore the position, the needs and
role of the developing world."
Without knowledgeable people who also are computer literate with
enough communication competence and media skills in the new media
environment there will be no information society, stability nor peaceful
and sustainable development.
In this occasion, I want to inform you of our planned Conference on
"Emerging Global Electronic Distance Education" in Helsinki in 1996
which we are preparing here with the international team and my
colleagues from the University of Technology. This is to discuss and
set strategy of the practical application of available technologies for
establishing a collaborative system of global electronic distance
education across national boundaries.
The purposes of this conference will be [1] to learn about the needs
and conditions from motivated enthusiasts in underserved countries who
can communicate with e-mail, [2] to connect these enthusiasts with
decision-makers of their countries, who can finance their
demonstrations, [3] to identify pilot projects and [4] to have a
convention on global distance education policies and regulations for
standardization of course exchange, credit transfer and accreditation,
for forming an institutional network on a global scale and for
institutionalizing global electronic distance education activities.
We hope that step by step following the examples of telemedicine and
telecommunications training we can create a new Global University as
envisaged by Dr. Tak Utsumi.
1.10.2 Demonstrations
* Multicast Backbone (Mbone):
By Dr. Donald Paul Brutzman, U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (from
Monterey, CA)
A demonstration of the Multicast Backbone (Mbone) -- text, graphics,
image, whiteboard, audio, and video -- via Internet with a new video
tool named "vic" delivered high-quality live video to viewers using H261
encoding. The demonstration also included uses of the MBone for
distance learning, as in the presentation "Learning to Learn: the Future
of Science and Engineering." An "MBone Unplugged" rig combined standard
video gear, an inexpensive Indy workstation, wireless microphones and a
wireless bridge to create a mobile Internet-based Mbone station.
* FORUM:
By Dr. Bill Klemm, Texas A&M University, (live satellite from Austin,
TX)
A demonstration of simulated asynchronous computer-mediated
multimedia conferencing (CMMCS) with FORUM via Internet took place
between two geographically separated sites in a brief academic exercise
dealing with the topic of epilepsy. "Student" and "teacher" interacted
with some instruction on the mechanisms of epilepsy and provided each
other with in-context links to World Wide Web sites that contained
useful reference material on epilepsy.
* Global Telecommunications University (GTU):
By Dr. Renato Cortinovis, Training Officer of the Human Resource
Development Division of the International Telecommunications Union
(ITU)
This presentation involved a computer slide show given from Geneva,
Switzerland.
* ShareVision:
By Professor Jose Brenes; Lic Marta Salazar, Professor at the Nursing
School of the Universidad de Costa Rica; Ms. Lucrecia Vasques,
student at the Nursing School of the Universidad de Costa Rica; Dr.
Kathleen Rose-Grippa of Ohio University and Mr. Jim Miller of
SYNECTICS, Inc.
A nurse training course exchange was demonstrated using ShareVision -
- with text, graphics, image, whiteboard, audio, and video (10 to 15
fps) -- via POTS at 9.6 Kbps in a two-way, interactive mode between Ohio
University and the Costa Rica conference site.
* Global School House project
By Mr. George Brett, Director of the Clearinghouse for Networked
Information Discovery and Retrieval (CNIDR) in Research Triangle
Park, NC
A presentation of the Global School House project -- sponsored by the
US National Science Foundation -- was given with CU-SeeMe (black and
white video, 10 to 15 fps, with Macintosh and IBM compatible machines).
The presentation included MAVEN audio conferencing via Internet.
* KarlNet
By Dr. Doug Karl, Director of Networking and Communications, Ohio
State University (from Columbus, OH)
A demonstration of KarlNet's 2 Mbps wireless telecommunication
technology (spread spectrum) also took place with CU-SeeMe via Internet
providing a one-to-one connection for high resolution video and audio.
1.11 GLH in August, 1996
Our highly successful, 10th anniversary GLH for "Spreading Spirit of
Global Understanding to Every Corner of the World" was held on August
16, 1996, which focussed on environment protection and telemedicine with
electronic distance education. It was on the occasion of the
International Conference "The Spirit of Global Understanding" for
celebrating the 50th anniversary of Fulbright exchange program and the
1100th anniversary of the Nation of Hungary. The face-to-face
conference was organized by the Hungarian Fulbright Association and the
Hungarian Fulbright Commission and held in Budapest, Hungary {18}. The
GLH viewing site in Budapest was at the auditorium of the Central
European University. Norwalk Hospital in affiliation with Yale
University/School of Medicine and World Health Organization
Collaborating Center for Health Informatics in Norwalk, Connecticut
hosted our videoconferencing center. This GLH covered the entire globe
and had the largest number of participants in the past ten years.
(Yomiuri America, July 5, 1996) See also
.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{18} The face-to-face conference in Budapest was for the dissemina-
tion of the Fulbright spirit even under the altered conditions of
Central Europe. The main subjects were [1] the role of the
Fulbright Program in fostering the mutual understanding among
nations through cultural and scientific collaboration; [2] the
prospective role of the Fulbright Program, regarding the challeng-
es of the 21st century.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
1.11.1 Summary of achievements
Albeit some technical difficulties, this GLH accomplished to
demonstrate (Brightful Outlook, Vol. I, Issue 2, Oct. 1996);
1. inexpensive way of organizing a global scale videoconference,
2. technology and know-how transfer of organizing such a videoconference
to overseas,
3. indication of the future direction for Fulbright exchange program,
4. possibility of "Education for All" from anywhere to anywhere with the
use of computer-mediated multimedia system via one-way, non-
interactive broadcasting satellite and two-way, interactive
satellite,
5. a step toward to realize GLOSAS/USA's ultimate goal of establishing a
Globally Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming through a Global
Neural Computer Network with quantitative simulation model for
sustainable national development and the use of inexpensive
videoconferencing system via Internet for normative and qualitative
gaming,
6. setting a stage for our future collaboration with telemedicine field.
1.11.2 Delivery systems used
Various models of PictureTel units were connected to a video bridge
at the PictureTel Headquarters in Massachusetts through ISDN line (128
Kbps), i.e., from Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, the
University of Tennessee/Knoxville (UTK), Michigan State University (MSU)
in East Lansing, Michigan, and the Central European University in
Budapest, Hungary (through a video bridge in the United Kingdom). The
computer screen of PictureTel/Live 100 model (on Hewlett-Packard machine
with Window95 operating system) at the UTK was uplinked to a GE
Americom's U.S. domestic satellite (Ku-band), which signal was
downlinked at other locations (GLH/Hungary/Diagram 1).
The signal received at the MSU from the PictureTel's video bridge was
fed into CU-SeeMe for worldwide dissemination via Internet. A CU-SeeMe
reflector at Yale University was connected to this CU-SeeMe at MSU for
further worldwide dissemination among medical colleagues through
Internet. Houston Community College and several other universities also
connected to the CU-SeeMe at the MSU.
The involvement of UNESCO's "Learning Without Frontiers" program
assured us to obtain the endorsement of the United Nations for 6 free
INTELSAT satellite channels that enabled the GLH to be extended to
overseas. We also obtained "in-kind" services of a U.S. domestic
satellite (Ku-band) of GE Americom which covered North America.
Videoconferencing via TCP/IP oriented Internet (e.g., CU-SeeMe, etc.)
and ISDN (e.g., PictureTel, etc.) also enlarged its coverage around the
globe.
1.11.3 Programs
1.11.3.1 Panel discussions
Panel Discussions on international educational exchange and
experiences in encouraging global understanding was moderated by Dr.
Huba Bruckner, Executive Director of Hungarian Fulbright Commission.
This GLH had great honor and privilege of having excellent greetings and
discussions by distinguished delegates and panelists from the U.S. and
Hungary, including Mrs. Harriet Mayor Fulbright, Mr. George Soros, Dr.
Michael D. McDonald (on behalf of Dr. C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon
General), and many others. Mr. George Soros sent his greetings from his
home in New York to audiences in Budapest via POTS line, which was
distributed by satellite, PictureTel via ISDN and CU-SeeMe via worldwide
Internet.
1.11.3.2 Demonstrations
The objectives of these demonstrations were:
1. to show the feasibility of using it to promote the interest of
educators and decision-makers in rural/remote areas of less developed
countries for their installation of a Very Small Aperture Terminal
(VSAT) for their permanently accessing Internet later, which will
lead to the possibility of interactively accessing rich Internet
information (environmental, telemedicine, agriculture, etc., to name
but a few) from anywhere around the world (even where there is no
adequate POTS);
2. to lead to the availability of web oriented global electronic
distance education (e.g., international economics course from the
University of Colorado or art course from Pennsylvania State
University, etc.), which can be exported to anywhere around the
world;
3. to lead to the realization of Globally Collaborative Environmental
Peace Gaming with massively parallel processing of distributed
databases and simulation models through global neural computer
network -- i.e., the ultimate goal of GLOSAS project. This project
is to develop basic educational coursewares for environmental
protection and sustainable development, including crisis management
and conflict resolution, etc. Brazilian environmentalists and other
expert professionals can join to develop them autonomously for their
own use as well as for education of youngsters, in cooperation with
participants of other countries with the use of telecommunication
technologies.
* Telemedicine via Inexpensive Telecommunication:
by Mr. Sunao Miyazaki of Noguchi Medical Research Institute and Dr.
Khalid Moidu of Norwalk Hospital in affiliation with Yale University
School of Medicine.
A wrist-watch type blood pressure gage and cardio-phone for
cardiogram (Yomiuri America, Sept. 13, 1996) were demonstrated via
inexpensive narrow-band POTS at 9.6 Kbps in two-way, interactive mode
between the University City Science Center in Philadelphia, PA and
Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, CT. Each of them can complement, yet using
only inexpensive, ubiquitous POTS which data can be sent from patient
anywhere around the world to his/her doctor. The demonstration was made
with the use of ShareVision for high resolution image via POTS, which
computer screen was then broadcast worldwide with PictureTel via ISDN
line, CU-SeeMe via Internet and satellite (GLH/Hungary/Diagram 2).
* The combined use of ShareVision with their cardio-phone via POTS
can provide visual clue to the doctor which can be a great help to
him.
* However, there are three fields of telemedicine, i.e., medical
consultation, diagnosis, and education. The resolution of
ShareVision is good enough for consultation and education, but not
for diagnosis. This is why we are now forging ahead to examine
the use of high speed wireless telecommunication for telemedicine
diagnosis.
* On the other hand, the use of broad-band, high-speed commercial
data telecommunication network is still expensive for telemedicine
alone, as it is a fledgling field yet. It would be beneficial to
both of telemedicine and electronic distance education fields when
such broad-band network will be used jointly, thus sharing its
cost. This is because both fields require high-speed data network
for high resolution images and graphics, and 3D web-sites, etc.
After all, "sharing" is the basic principle of Internet, and the
"sharing" of information and knowledge is the basis of education.
* GLOSAS/KNOWLEDGE BASE:
by Professor Anton Ljutic of Champlain College on behalf of Dr.
Andrey S. Narvsky of St. Petersburg University of Ocean Technology.
A prototype version of GLOSAS/KNOWLEDGE BASE was demonstrated from
Budapest conference site. It is of GLOSAS members about their course
offerings to less developed countries via inexpensive multimedia
telecommunications networks across national boundaries. This
demonstration was a three dimensional (3D) display of a rotating globe
in a head with blinking locations of the members in various countries
with their audio and video greetings, -- a metaphor of the global brain
with global neural computer network, which leads to World Wide Web (WWW)
home page design. The page will be hypertexted with audio and video
greetings, and many information, reports, papers about GLOSAS, GU, GLH
video clippings, CAADE projects and GLOSAS NEWS.
* Such 3D display with the use of Virtual Reality Markup Language
(VRML) is an example of World Wide Web teaching materials in the
near future.
* "Education for All" from Anywhere to Anywhere with the
combined use of ShareVision and CU-SeeMe via POTS,
satellite and Internet:
By Mr. Jim Miller of SYNECTICS in Seattle, WA, Mr. Roger Carter of
Arizona State University, Mr. Gary Blievernicht and Ms. Lih-Er Wey of
Michigan State University, Mr. Roger Boston of Houston Community
College and Mr. Allyn Radford of RMIT University in Melbourne,
Australia.
"Education for All" is the motto of UNESCO.
Our mini-GLH on July 17, 1996, dubbed as "MultiMedia of America
(MMOA)" (TM) Project #1 (one-way, interactive broadcasting of
ShareVision via U.S. domestic satellite) (GLH/Hungary/Diagram 3), had a
pseudo-teacher (active or retired at his/her home) in Seattle who
described his Teacher's Instructional Mapping & Management System
(TIMMS) in multimedia ShareVision system. He sent to a ShareVision unit
at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, AZ, his video (color,
motion) in a small window and voice via ubiquitously available POTS
line. He also sent stored freeze-frame, high-resolution images and
graphics (which could be the ones retrieved from web-sites of Internet).
TIMMS is a useful tool for integrating curriculum design and
planning, school administration, student performance and portfolio,
resource identification, student tasks, student outcomes and assessment
records into a cohesive management system.
* This proved that education can be available from anywhere.
Teacher can be even retired one to provide his/her teaching from
his home with a telephone. He/she does not need to have expensive
studio set-ups. He/she can include rich information of Internet
as retrieving and storing them beforehand of his transmission to
students with ShareVision via POTS.
The ShareVision computer screen at the ASU was then uplinked to a
channel of the National Technological University's (NTU's) satellite
(1/17th of its full transponder). The signal was downlinked at Michigan
State University (MSU) and fed into a Sharevision unit.
* This proved that ShareVision can be used for one-to-many
distribution (albeit non-interactive, broadcasting mode), --
ShareVision had previously been conceived that it was only for
one-to-one videoconferencing via POTS. ShareVision's images and
graphics are in higher resolution than analog TV monitor.
Sharevision's computer capability can also easily include any
application programs and simulation models, thus, their execution
results in graphics and 3D representation can be sent and
disseminated to a large number of students in wide areas (even
where there is no Internet yet), thus reducing its delivery cost.
* The NTU has already been saving its satellite delivery cost with
the use of CLI's SpectrumSaver which divides one transponder
bandwidth into 17 channels, thus the 1/17th cost of one
transponder per channel (i.e., class). The cost of one
transponder of the U.S. domestic satellite on on-demand,
occasional, commercial basis is currently priced at around
$1,000/hour for Ku-band satellite (3 times for international
satellite). This translates to about $1,000/17 =
$59/channel/hour. If there are 10 students in a class, this will
be $6/channel (or class)/hour/student. This figure may be halved
when the transponder is leased.
* Corollary to this is to have more channels per one transponder,
e.g., 250 channels of DirecPC with a small dish antenna (about 2
feet diameter) and a receiver at around $200/unit cost.
Furthermore, since the 100 to 1 digital video compression ratio of
ShareVision enables to utilize the POTS line at even 9.6 Kbps
speed, the required bandwidth for the speed is also very small.
Therefore, it is possible to envision of having 1,000 channels per
transponder, thus nullifying satellite delivery cost for distance
education. Also, the so-called "Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI)"
of analog or digital satellite or terrestrial TV channel are
usually in light use with about $500 to 600/month lease fee.
There is a possibility to utilize this frequency bandwidth with
ShareVision, particularly the one of terrestrial TV channel, since
it can be received with existing Yagi TV antenna (about $35 to
50/unit) on home TV unit. These technical possibilities will be a
substantial benefit to students in developing countries for
affordable and accessible electronic distance education {19}.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{19} WavePhore of Arizona recently announced the use of VBI of
terrestrial TV transmission. Personal computers which have
Microsoft Internet Explore version 4.0 and TV tuners can receive
variety of free information services of Internet -- see
.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
The received signal with ShareVision at MSU was transferred to CU-
SeeMe for students around the world via Internet.
* This proved that various videoconferencing with the so-called
incompatible software can easily be connected each other, albeit
one-way, non-interactive broadcasting mode. This also enables
widening of the areas of teacher's reach to students, not only
within the foot-print of a satellite but also around the world via
worldwide Internet, as far as the student can have a SLIP/PPP
connection to the Internet at the speed of 28.8 Kbps.
* A CU-SeeMe reflector at Yale University was connected to this CU-
SeeMe at MSU for further worldwide dissemination among medical
colleagues through Internet. This cascading of CU-SeeMe
reflectors enabled more participation from wider range without
congesting one reflector and Internet trunk line to it. This was
to mirror the original CU-SeeMe reflector at other dispersed
locations on real-time mode through global neural computer
network. In a sense, this could be a forerunner of distributed
computer simulation system of our planned Globally Collaborative
Peace Gaming.
The received signal with ShareVision at MSU was also transmitted to a
ShareVision at Houston Community College via POTS, where a large number
of students watched it with 50 inch TV monitor.
* In spite of a series of digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital
conversion and of compression-and-decompression along the way from
Seattle to Arizona, to Michigan and to Houston, voice, image and
graphics were very clear. This proved the high fidelity of
digital transmission over analog.
The received signal at Houston Community College was further
transmitted to a ShareVision unit at a disabled student s home via POTS.
* He could also receive teacher's (in Seattle) voice and materials
very clearly. This proved that student can be anywhere.
This demonstration successfully accomplished the following
objectives;
1. to test feasibility of global electronic distance education delivery
system with ShareVision via combined use of POTS, satellite and
Internet;
2. to show the feasibility of teacher (active or retired) at their
home/office teaching students anywhere around the world (particularly
in rural and remote areas where there is no Internet yet) through
POTS and without use of expensive viewing room with high speed
digital switching and/or ISDN line or without use of expensive studio
set-up for satellite;
3. to demonstrate the worldwide dissemination of the teaching through
cross-platform -- e.g., ShareVision and CU-SeeMe in this case;
4. to make the first and initial step towards the use of inexpensive
Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) of analog terrestrial TV and
satellite (domestic and/or international) in the near future;
5. to have future possibility of multiplexing satellite transponder for
multichanneled one-to-many broadcasting, thus nullifying distance
education delivery cost per head of student.
* Interactive Satellite with the combined use of ShareVision
via a portable dish antenna for INMARSAT satellite in two-
way, interactive mode:
By Dr. Jan Visser at UNESCO/Paris and Mr. Mauricio Manhaes of
Terravista in Florianopolis, Brazil.
In spite of major advantage of wide coverage by satellite, its
disadvantage is the one-way, non-interactive broadcasting nature. On
the other hand, videoconferencing requires, by its nature, two-way
interactivity. Electronic distance education is also increasingly
toward the utilization of computer capability.
Our mini-GLH on July 26, 1996, dubbed as "MultiMedia of America
(MMOA)" Project #2 (GLH/Hungary/Diagram 4), accommodated those two
features, as connecting ShareVision unit at SENAI in Florianopolis,
Brazil with the one at UNESCO/Paris/"Learning Without Frontier" distance
education project for the description and demonstration of CATARINA
educational CD-ROM program of Terravista in Florianopolis, Brazil {20},
and next with the one at Houston Community College, both via INMARSAT-A
with a portable dish antenna. INMARSAT is the only commercially
available satellite of this capability in international arena.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{20} CATARINA is a powerful and innovative educational resource
which couples scientific rigor with the attractiveness of video
games by permitting students to navigate easily through course
lessons by means of videos, texts, graphics, audio and animation.
Three dimensional display of electron spinning of molecules asso-
ciation/dissociation was shown with ShareVision via an analog
INMARSAT-A, in two-way, interactive mode between SENAI in
Florianopolis, Brazil and UNESCO in Paris, France. The software
also allows students to interact with the experience or demonstra-
tion being presented -- an "experiential learning" in a virtual
laboratory where students can observe changes frame-by-frame at a
specified rate or velocity and even "rewind" the animated sequenc-
es and repeat them. Projected mainly for the teaching of the
natural sciences such as Chemistry, Physics and Biology,
CATARINA's main advantage is to replace traditional segmented
static images and graphics with animated sequences, demonstrating
processes as they occur in nature. CATARINA not only personalizes
learning process, but also enriches the fundamental topics of each
unit of the school programs with text, sound and dynamic animated
sequences. It is geared to the satisfaction and participation of
the student thus serving as a positive reinforcement and promoting
the continuation of studies.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
* Voice, video (color, motion) in small window and exchanged freeze-
frame image and graphics were very clear. The received computer
screens at SENAI were projected to a large screen for a number of
audiences in an auditorium.
* This demonstration showed the possibility of two-way interactive
global electronic distance education from anywhere to anywhere
around the world, e.g., from office (or home) of instructor
(active or retired) to students at location where there is no POTS
nor Internet. The interactivity enables them to jointly annotate
text, images and graphics, and to change parameters of application
program and/or simulation model.
* This scheme of ShareVision connection via INMARSAT can be a
significant demonstration tool to stimulate/promote interest of
educators and decision-makers in underserved remote/rural areas of
developing countries, in implementation of affordable and
accessible global electronic distance education across national
boundaries.
* In this most sophisticated demonstration, the costs were $25,000
for the satellite terminal, $1,500 for the PC and video system and
US$6 per minute for the telephone call to and from anywhere in the
world. Of course, the equipment costs are amortized over the
useful life. For calls that can be placed on local telephone
systems, the incremental cost is the price of a long distance
call.
Following objectives were accomplished by this demonstration;
1. to lead our (SENAI and GLOSAS) joint project assisting UNESCO for the
realization of any retired teacher (or active) at their home (or
office) teaching students anywhere in Brazil (or between Brazil and
Portugal, or anywhere around the world) in the near future {21};
FOOTNOTES********************************
{21} UNESCO's Learning Without Frontier" program has "Distance
Education Initiative in Nine High Population Countries (DE9)"
project.
"In December 1993, at the Education for All Summit in New
Delhi, the leaders of nine selected high population countries -
Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nige-
ria and Pakistan - launched the Joint Distance Education Initia-
tive (DE9). Covering half the world's population and almost three
quarters of its illiterates, the nine giants identified distance
education as an important modality through which the countries
could make significant advances, working collaboratively, in major
educational issues, i.e. training of teachers, addressing learning
needs of neo-literates and out-of-school youth.
UNESCO (ED/LWF) was asked to facilitate networking between the
nine participating countries and has, within this framework,
supported the organization of several workshops and study tours in
participating countries (India, Indonesia), and provided technical
assistance at request (Brazil, Egypt).
The five Asian DE9 countries benefit from a Asian Development
Bank funded Regional Technical Assistance (RETA) project: "Primary
School Teacher Training through Distance Education." Within the
context of this project, UNESCO organized a Regional Seminar in
Bangkok from 21 to 25 October 1996. UNESCO facilitated the par-
ticipation of the other four countries in the Seminar. The meet-
ing resulted in a proposal for DE9-wide training in key areas of
distance education development.
In February 1994 UNESCO organised an informal planning meeting
on distance education in the nine high-population countries in
Manilla, resulting in a DE-9 Concept Paper."
See more information on the Learning Without Frontier" pro-
gram and DE9 at
.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
2. to show the technical feasibility of exporting excellent educational
software and courses from any countries (even without adequate POTS
nor Internet) to students across oceans and continents. ShareVision
videoconferencing with inexpensive equipment and telecommunication
line can be very valuable in developing countries where high speed
Internet (with TCP/IP node) has not been well established yet.
* Collaborative Gaming Simulation for Sustainable Environment
with ShareVision via POTS from The World Bank in
Washington, D.C. to SENAI in Florianopolis, Brazil:
by Dr Gerald Barney of Millennium Institute in Arlington, VA, with
WWW page of the program;
During "MultiMedia of America (MMOA)" Project #3 session
(GLH/Hungary/Diagram 5), we had following two presentations;
1. Presentation on the Information for Development (InfoDev) Program of
the World Bank by Dr. Peter Knight {22};
FOOTNOTES********************************
{22} The infoDev is a global program to help developing economies
fully benefit from modern information systems. The infoDev Pro-
gram awards small-scale grants (usually $250,000 or less) to
"jump-start" activities which show significant innovation in using
information technology in sustainable development. This can
include projects from any kind of proponent -- private sector,
development agencies, non-governmental organizations, governments
-- and in any sector -- health, education, environment, infra-
structure etc.
The infoDev [1] shares worldwide experience with, and dissemi-
nates best practices to, governments and key decision-makers, both
public and private, on the economic development potential of
communications and information systems; [2] channels policy advice
and other technical assistance to governments in developing econo-
mies on privatization, private entry and competition in the commu-
nications and information sectors, and on improving the policy,
regulatory and business environment for investment; [3] conducts
feasibility and pre-investment studies, and prepares experimental
applications in communications and information systems.
The infoDev's key method of intervention is through specific
activities in the following areas: [a] Consensus Building, [b]
Information Infrastructure Development Strategies including Knowl-
edge Assessments, [c] Telecommunications Reform and Market access,
[d] Demonstration Projects.
All activities are designed to support workable strategies and
can include workshops, assessments, demonstration projects, feasi-
bility studies, or other approaches. They can cover one or many
countries; and address one or many sectors.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
2. a presentation of "Threshold 21" computer simulation model for
national sustainable development with ShareVision connection between
SENAI in Florianopolis, Brazil and the World Bank in Washington, D.C.
via POTS {23}.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{23} "Threshold 21" is a systems dynamics simulation modeling pro-
gram for policy analysis of national sustainable development with
environmental protection. It is a user-friendly PC-based model
that enables decision-makers to assess the long-term (50 - 100
years) effects of alternative investment, tax, subsidy, other
relative price factors on national development indicators. So-
cial, economic, and environmental implications are analyzed endog-
enously. It includes sectors for demography, health care, educa-
tion, nutrition, goods, trade, agriculture, fuel resources, ener-
gy, pollution, military, technology, debt, national accounts, and
"rest of world". It is for policy analysis and crisis management
to train would-be decision makers for win-win cooperation.
The Systems Dynamics methodology was originated by Professor
Jay Forrester of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The main
purpose of the methodology is not on the forecasting capability of
the simulation model, but rather on the analytical understanding
with rational and critical thinking basing on reliable facts and
figures, of the interwoven and interdependent relations among
various societal factors.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
* GLOSAS/USA intends to foster the capability of young students in
developing countries for constructing such models and associated
databases of their own countries and expertise. The models and
databases are then to be tied together through Global Neural
Computer Network of Internet for conducting a Globally
Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming -- more later.
* European Union Negotiation Gaming:
by Dr. Colette Mazzucelli and Professor Peter Szollos of Budapest
Institute of Graduate International and Diplomatic Studies (BIGIS),
Dr. Janos Tolgyesi of ELTE University and Ms. Rita Galambos of Civic
Education Project in Budapest, Hungary.
Our Hungarian colleagues presented their plan to incorporate the use
of CU-SeeMe televideo with the European regional version of the
International Communication of Negotiation with Simulation (ICONS) at
the University of Maryland (GLH/Hungary/Diagram 6).
* Slide-window feature of CU-SeeMe can be used for group discussion
as showing tables, images and diagrams with joint annotation on
them. This step can then be followed with the incorporation of
numerical, quantitative simulation model (e.g., Threshold 21), so
that normative, qualitative gaming can become more solid and
tangible.
* Furthermore, when those game players are from the countries (or
regions or sectors) of simulation, and the models and databases
are the ones constructed by them, the gaming and simulation would
have high fidelity to the reality. When they are tied together
via Internet, it would become distributed, collaborative gaming
simulation system -- similar to the one of our proposed Global
Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming. This will lead the
future direction of international affair study toward the combined
use of normative, qualitative gaming with quantitative simulation
model for better understanding among people of countries for world
peace keeping {24}.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{24} Note Utsumi's discussions with Professor Bob Noel of the Uni-
versity of California in Santa Barbara in the summer of 1972 which
was mentioned in Chapter 1.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
1.11.4 Remarks on organizing GLH
Previously, the videoconference centers of our GLHs were held at well
equipped studios where a variety of electronic distance education
delivery systems were demonstrated mostly live (real-time) basis during
the event.
This centralized format was changed to a distributed mode with
division of functions and labors with collaborative effort, thus
lessening the load and burden of individual demonstrators and
participants. This helped to have voluntary and "in-kind" contributions
of each party. This also enabled us to utilize less equipped studio as
the videoconference center.
Also, instead of having live demonstrations at one occasion, we had
two mini-GLHs on July 17 (for MMOA Project #1) and 26 (for MMOA Projects
#2 and 3), which edited video tapes were broadcast worldwide on the main
GLH on August 16. This approach gave us more time to prepare and
examine the demonstrating delivery systems.
The mini-GLH on July 26 was held at SENAI in Florianopolis, Brazil.
We connected ShareVisions at SENAI, UNESCO/Paris, Houston Community
College and the World Bank in Washington, D.C., one at a time
respectively, either via INMARSAT or POTS line. This was our first time
to have a videoconference center outside the U.S. This was, in a sense,
our first step for the technology/know-how transfer of organizing and
conducting GLH to colleagues in developing countries. We hope that they
will organize and conduct similar GLHs by themselves and at their
convenient locations in the near future. We also hope that a series of
our cooperative effort with SENAI will lead to the movement of
establishing a model city of global electronic distance education in
Florianopolis, Brazil.
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education) *
* President, Global University in the U.S.A. (GU/USA) *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A. *
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Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 01:05:45 -0500
From: Tak Utsumi
Subject: Part I/Chapter 2/#4 of 4 of our proposed book
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1.12 GLH in 1997
1.12.1 GLH on June 19
Our GLH was held during Utsumi's workshop Low Cost Teleconferencing
for Affordable and Accessible Electronic Distance Education. This was
held on the occasion of the International Conference "Information Tech-
nology for Competitiveness - Experiences and Demands for Education and
Vocational Training. This face-to-face conference was organized by the
International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group
9.4/Information Technology in Developing Countries in Florianopolis,
Brazil on June 19, 1997. The Centro de Tecnologia em Automacao e
Informatica (CTAI/SENAI) in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil hosted
our videoconference center. This GLH covered the entire globe with
Iphone and CU-SeeMe via Internet.
Internet is now becoming the future of multimedia telecommunications
at the lowest cost. It started in academics. Distance education is one
of its major use. In the distance education, the priority is (a) voice,
(b) content (i.e., text, image/photo, animation, application
program/simulation model, web), and (c) video, in the order. Internet
can now handle all of them fairly well; (a) by telephony, (b) by
whiteboard, etc., and (c) by CU-SeeMe, etc.
Our next task is how to combine them for effective modality of dis-
tance education, and this GLH was to test/demonstrate it. This task is
to be followed by our Secondary School Teacher Training Program (SSTTP)
project -- more later.
Participants joined in this GLH with their personal computer without
use of satellite nor dish antenna. They firstly downloaded demo version
(free of charge) of following software; (a) White Pine CU-SeeMe (30 day
limitation) at ; (b) Cornell University CU-SeeMe
(permanent) at ; (c) VocalTec's Iphone
(Internet telephony) (14 day limitation) at .
With CU-SeeMe, they could send/receive video. Those people who did no
have camera could still receive other participants video, thus, partic-
ipating passively -- i.e, receive-only.
As mentioned above, we tested the use of CU-SeeMe at every GLH since
the summer of 1993, and encountered with poor performance of its MAVEN
audio conferencing system via Internet. We then had to use ordinary
analog telephone audio conferencing system as its back-up with its port
cost of $45/hour/person in addition to its line charge per person to
connect with the audio bridge. With our good experiences of using
Iphone with colleagues in Japan, Israel, Finland, etc., Utsumi ventured
to rely on it as an alternative to CU-SeeMe s MAVEN audio system during
this GLH.
1.12.1.1 Programs
* Lecture on Low Cost Teleconferencing for Affordable and
Accessible Electronic Distance Education
by T. Utsumi, Global University in the U.S.A., New York, NY, USA
T. Utsumi described; (a) low cost teleconferencing, (b) GLH, (c)
Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education (CAADE), (d)
Secondary School Teacher Training Program (SSTTP) with video-clipping
show of previous GLHs (e.g., wireless telecom network during GLH in
October 1995 and CATARINA with a portable dish antenna via INMARSAT
between SENAI and UNESCO/Paris during mini GLH in July 1996). He also
showed following web accessing;
1. About GLH with Hungarian Fulbright Commission in Budapest on August
16, 1996;
2. About CATARINA;
3. About CAADE;
4. About GLOSAS NEWS;
* Presentation of FORUM Computer-Mediated Multimedia
Conferencing System (CMMCS) with web accessing and audio
annotation.
by T. Utsumi, Global University in the U.S.A., New York, NY, USA
(On behalf of Dr. Bill Klemm of FORUM Enterprises, Inc.)
FORUM is an asynchronous ("just-in-time") computer-mediated multime-
dia conferencing for document authoring and multi-way interaction with
dynamically evolving document databases. An evolving FORUM database can
organize and integrate information from the Web with audio/video clip-
pings. FORUM creates an environment that encourages student groups to
DO things, to produce educational deliverables and support the major
pedagogical paradigms of constructivism and collaborative learning.
For more information, see
.
* Tele-Lecturing on Brazilian Environmental/Socio-Economic/Political
Simulation Model with CU-SeeMe and VocalTec s
Iphone and web accessing.
by Bruce P. Chadwick, Columbia University, NY, USA
Bruce Chadwick described his model with Iphone and sent his video
with CU-SeeMe through Internet, while SENAI/technical support accessed
his web according to his instruction and projected it to a large screen
at SENAI.
For more information, see
* Presentation of Houston Community College s Experience with
Low Cost Videoconferencing.
by Roger Lee Boston, Houston Community College, Houston, TX, USA
Roger Boston made his presentation of PowerPoint Slide Show with
streaming audio from web site.
For more information, see
* Internet and Electronic Distance Education in Finland
by Pekka Tapio Varis, Ph.D, University Of Tampere, Finland
Finland is a high-tech country and the capital of Internet, with most
of her populations and schools hooked with Internet, and as having
almost twice many host computers than the U.S.
Tapio Varis presented his talk from his computer to a computer at
SENAI in Brazil via Internet.
* Greeting
by Paulo Melo, Coimbra University, Portugal
Paulo Melo presented his greeting on GLOSAS/Portugal from his comput-
er with Iphone which received by a computer at SENAI in Brazil.
* Demonstration of Virtual City with web accessing
by Andrey Narvsky, St. Petersburg Marine Technical University, Russia
Andrey Narvsky presented his talk via POTS while SENAI/technical
support accessed his web.
For more information, see
or .
* Hands-On Demonstration of ShareVision by Participants
Two computers with ShareVision and telephone hook-up were available
for their trial use, as sending/receiving from/to each other, including
screen capture, file transfer, whiteboard exercise, etc.
1.12.1.2 Remarks
Iphone s performance was not much as expected -- probably due to a
compounded bottleneck congestions of international Internet lines be-
tween Brazil and the U.S. and between the U.S. and Europe. Although
Utsumi tried to use Iphone at the beginning of every presentations,
Utsumi had to switch to ordinary analog telephone for their voice trans-
mission -- as mentioned above, the voice is the primary and foremost
important factor of any videoconferencing.
1. CU-SeeMe (or Internet telephony) can be used effectively within a
country if the country has a broad-band Internet backbone network,
2. We still need to wait for the advent of robust data compression
technology which can accommodate clear voice communication via
Internet even when it is heavily congested, particularly for interna-
tional Internet arena,
3. We need to wait for the advent of a new router switching for the
Quality of Service (QoS) guarantee and reservation system,
4. We need to wait for the advent of broad-band international Internet.
However, presentations with web accessing went fairly smoothly,
albeit some technical difficulties. It showed that if there was good
voice with web, it was sufficient presentation without video.
Our future plan is to test CU-SeeMe and Internet telephony in the
environment of free line congestion, say, within the local network with
high-speed (2 Mbps) wireless Internet units, which network may then be
tied with similar ones through broad-band Internet back-bone network --
see more about our wireless Internet project later.
1.12.2 Mini GLH on October 12
On Columbus day (a U.S. national holiday), the Benjamin Franklin
Institute of Global Education in San Diego, California conducted a very
intriguing, unprecedented Web event, "Global Learn Day"
that was attended by people from over 75 different
countries. As soon as the day began at Guam, the conference sessions
which were grouped in longitudinal regions were shifted west ward. As
the conference travelled around the world so did the Web page for each
session. Presenters and panelists of each session called into the audio
bridge at the institute via POTS, which were then broadcast through
Internet around the world. Anyone who had RealPlayer plug-in in their
Internet browser with 14.4 Kbps (or up) dial-up modem could hear their
voices.
On this occasion , T. Utsumi had a privilege of organizing and moder-
ating a mini GLH "Emerging Global Electronic Distance Education" with
Peter T. Knight of Knight, Moore in Washington, D.C. who spoke on "Real-
ization of Global Electronic Distance Education," Roger Lee Boston of
Houston Community College on "Low Cost Teleconferencing," and Claudio
Menezes of UNESCO in Brazilia, Brazil on "UNESCO s role in
information/knowledge age in Latin America and the Caribbean."
All of them were connected with CU-SeeMe through its reflector at
Houston Community College. They were also connected through an audio
teleconferencing bridge at the institute in San Diego, so that we could
secure high quality and reliable audio among the session panelists --
rather than relying on unstable audio of MAVEN conferencing system of
CU-SeeMe through Internet. This audio was also broadcast through
Internet worldwide from the web at the institute.
* Presentation of "UNESCO s Role in Information-Knowledge Age
in Latin America and the Caribbean"
By Claudio Menezes, Regional Informatics and Telematics Adviser,
UNESCO in Brazilia, Brazil
* Introduction
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) is mandated inter alia to promote the free flow of ideas by
word and image and to foster international cooperation in the fields of
communication, information and informatics. UNESCO's strategy for 1996--
2001 foresees a special focus on the application of communication and
information technologies for development, democracy and peace. In 98-99
a strong effort will be put to stimulate the access to public domain
information not protected by copyright. Support also will be given to
Member States willing to take advantage of telematics to improve their
administration and public services.
* New opportunities for Development
The economic and commercial opportunities of information highways are
certainly significant, but the impact of information technologies on
sectors of public concern is perhaps of even greater significance. Of
particular interest and relevance to UNESCO is the impact of information
highways and multimedia on "intellectual" areas which are at the core of
the development process.
In the field of education, information and communication technologies
are viewed as a means of complementing traditional educational tech-
niques enabling education systems to adapt to the different learning and
training needs. Computer simulation, tele-conferencing,
video-conferencing, alongside with educational and TV or radio, have
great potential to reach larger audiences than the traditional process-
es, and to make learning more effective, attractive and stimulating.
These tools provide an unparalleled opportunity for 'reaching the
unreached', particularly the 900 millions of illiterates in the world
and the 130 million children unable to attend primary school. They also
can make lifelong education for all feasible. Modern distance education
systems, of which UNESCO's 'Learning without Frontiers' initiative is a
forerunner, cannot only give learners access to knowledge available in
different parts of the world, but also ensure dialogue - the main
factor in effective learning - both among learners and between
learners and sources of learning.
Scientific research, where computer networks originally developed,
remains one of their most active consumers. For scientists, the major
advantage of information highways is the possibility to access, dissemi-
nate scientific information and share research facilities more quickly
and in a more interactive way. Research groups in the natural and
social sciences will increasingly become 'virtual' - in fact, a real
team composed of interconnected specialists working on the same problem
in different parts of the world. Electronic publishing will provide
faster and cheaper access to the scientific literature. These trends
will be particularly beneficial to scientists in developing nations.
They provide new opportunities to collaborate with colleagues elsewhere
in the world, and mitigate, if not solve, the problem of South-to-North
brain-drain.
In the field of culture, multimedia technology already offer tremen-
dous possibilities for the promotion and sharing of physical and
non-physical cultural heritage. The availability of multimedia cultural
products and services on information highways will provide limitless
possibilities for everyone to enjoy the world's culture in all its
diversity. At any time, one will be able to listen to a concert or
visit a museum in a virtual mode without the necessity of travelling or
queuing. On the whole, these technologies have an immense potential for
enhancing cultural identities, promoting intercultural dialogue like we
do in this very moment though this video-conference and stimulating
artistic creativity.
Interactive television and multimedia open up yet unexplored perspec-
tives not only for entertainment, but also for educational and cultural
programmes and for the popularization of science, and are likely to
enhance the role of public service broadcasting. If the rapidly devel-
oping media technologies are made available over a truly universal
broadband network, the media's capacity to provide information and
entertainment will increase almost beyond imagination.
Libraries - whether school, university, public or specialised - are
certainly destined to play an ever greater role in the dissemination of
knowledge. Computerized and interconnected, they will be able to pool
their resources and provide to their clients access to immense stores of
information. Moreover, they are ideally placed to serve as public
gateways to information gateways, providing as they do both access and
guidance and training to users. Archives will adapt their storage and
preservation function to the impermanence of digital information which
in many cases will replace paper documents. They will also become
increasingly involved in electronic information provision to their
clientele in government, research and the general public. Computing
centres and specialists will mainly provide assistance to professionals
in other fields on how to make use of national and local information
infrastructures (NII and Lll). Community tele-centres offering library,
information and media access, social services like education and
tele-medicine and fora for participatory democracy, as well as personal
communication facilities, will become possible.
* New challenges to society
The title of this Mini "Global Lecture Hall (GLH)" is "Emerging
Global Electronic Distance Education". For this reason it is
important to insist on the concept of universal service and how a 'right
to communicate' will evolve in a digital world where the basic services
required by all citizens are becoming more extensive and complex. An
important facet of the 'right to communicate' concerns the access to
telematics facilities at affordable cost by the 'intellectual' sectors -
education, science, culture, media, libraries and archives - which have
a crucial role to play in the development.
Another important issue is the maintenance of linguistic and cultural
diversity. Technology-induced globalization is seen by many as threat
to local customs, values and beliefs, as exemplified by the fact that,
today, 90% of the databases on the InterNet are in English. Technology
also offers possibilities for the development of specialized services to
cater for diverse cultural needs. There is every reason to suppose that
these will flourish where legitimate cultural, educational or scientific
demand exist.
Other relevant aspects like the need to guarantee adequate national
content to knowledge circulating on networks, privacy, computer piracy,
regulation against computer crimes and violation of human rights are
only a few among other quite complex issues brought up by the informa-
tion society.
The United Nations Systems and in particular the International Tele-
communication Union (ITU), the United Nations University (UNU) and
UNESCO have promoted many projects, studies, publications and debates on
these complex issues {25}, {26}.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{25} "The Right to Communicate - At What Price ? Economic Con-
straints to the Effective Use of Telecommunications in Education,
Science, Culture and the Circulation of Information". ITU and
UNESCO, Paris, May 1995 (UNESCO/CII-95/WS/2).
{26} "Information and Communication Technologies in Development: A
UNESCO Perspective", UNESCO, Paris, September 1996 (UNESCO/CII-
96/WS/6)
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
* The Role of UNESCO
It is true that economic and commercial interests now seem to be the
main driving force for the building the information highways, which can
make difficult to perform our tasks. It is however also obvious that
culture, education and science, as a distinct and integral part of our
civilization, cannot be left totally at the mercy of market forces.
Information highways must have large spaces for knowledge and value
sharing, artistic creation and public debate. New electronic networks
must transmit the widest possible variety of opinions together with
information which may not be commercially profitable or may interest
only minority groups.
In this context, UNESCO in collaboration with other United Nations
organizations and other international institutions will:
as part of its international intellectual cooperation function
* encourage and facilitate the analysis of the societal impacts of
communication and information technologies;
* contribute to the conception and promotion of international policies
for the development of information highways to avoid new types of
exclusion within nations due to economic or other barriers;
* facilitate international debate on the human rights issues of the
coming information age, including the rights to information access
and to information privacy;
* promote international reflection and major ethical and cultural
issues concerning information highways, including those related to
content, in particular the cognitive dimension and the social re-
sponsibility of information on intolerant, racist, violent or porno-
graphic nature;
* participate in the process of reviewing copyright and intellectual
property conventions;
* catalyze reflection on the issue of artistic integrity and moral
rights;
* encourage the development of dissemination of methods of handling
and accessing information on the fields of education, science, cul-
ture and communication;
* reaffirm the mission of the public service media to meet the very
basic educational, scientific and cultural needs of people in the new
technological environment;
and, as part of its technical assistance function
* assist Member States in elaborating national policies and regional
strategies for optimum use of and access to information through
modern technology, and in creating conditions conducive to the devel-
opment of electronic cultural industries;
* promote, for example, through pilot projects and training, the use of
information networks and innovative multimedia technologies to foster
development in the Organization's fields of competence, in particular
as regards:
* the flow of information in the fields of education, science,
culture and communication, and the new role of libraries, espe-
cially public libraries, as gateways to electronic information;
* distance education and innovative approaches to non-formal and
lifelong education and learning;
* virtual scientific laboratories, in which researchers from devel-
oping and developed countries can collaborate through telecommuni-
cations and telematics on common projects;
* production and dissemination of diverse cultural products as a
contribution to intercultural understanding and dialogue.
This strategy is designed to enable UNESCO to play its moral and
intellectual role vis-a'-vis the emerging Information Society, taking
account of the educational, scientific and cultural needs of all nations
and individuals and promoting a genuine symbiosis of cultures based on
mutual respect and enrichment. Indeed, the challenge goes beyond to
promote information highways: UNESCO should contribute to the actual
development of information and knowledge highways in all countries and
in Latin America and the Caribbean in particular.
* Annex
Recent activities in Latin American and the Caribbean took place in
the following countries: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa
Rica, Cuba, Colombia, Chile, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Additional information can be found on UNESCO's home-pages:
http://www.unesco.org and
http://www.education.unesco.org
1.12.2.1 Technical achievement
Roger Boston devised an ingenuous scheme during our session; (a)
firstly, slides of presenters were previously stored in his web
, so that any participants
around the world could click on the slides (in the right frame of the
web browser) to advance from one slide to the next as they heard the pre-
senters' voice instruction from the web of the Benjamin Franklin Insti-
tute in San Diego; (b) secondly, the CU-SeeMe video of presenter were
captured and posted (with every 15 second refreshing mode) in the left
frame of the browser from the web at Houston Community College so that
anyone around the world could also see the image of the presenters.
This feature could also make a composite of all presenters with split
screen mode, and pan and zoom a specific presenter.
As same as MAVEN, the streaming audio quality of RealPlayer was not
stable all the time for both of the U.S. domestic and international
speakers, due to the congestion of Internet trunk line. On the other
hand, the captured image from the web at Houston Community College was
clearer than the one from the CU-SeeMe reflector at the college.
Because of congestion on CU-SeeMe computer screen, the number of
active (send/receive) participants had to be limited up to about 8.
Therefore, even though Roger Boston's CU-SeeMe reflector had the capa-
bility to have total 50 participants, 50 - 8 = 42 participants had to be
in the passive (receive-only) mode. Therefore, this web scheme could
transcend this barrier, so that unlimited number of people could partic-
ipate, albeit still passively -- and they could get even better image
than the one through CU-SeeMe.
This approach, together with RealPlayer audio, makes possible an
effective global video address to countless participants, and from
multiple presenters who may be in different parts of the world -- each
speaker being seen in close-up, slowly updating images in the web brows-
ers of the far away participants and requiring no intervention on their
part. The novelty here was the combined use of CU-SeeMe and the trans-
ferring its video to web site as refreshing captured CU-SeeMe video
every 15 seconds. It was even combined with the real-time audio through
RealPlayer. Both of them could be heard/viewed with a 28.8 Kbps (or
even 14.4 Kbps) dial-up modem through Internet. This was made with
Internet with such a low bandwidth modem, and the Internet can now be
accessed in almost every countries.
As Arthur C. Clarke, the inventor of satellite communication and two
years senior to Utsumi for receiving the Lord Perry Award, originally
postulated to have three geosynchronous satellites to cover entire
globe. This means that if we uplink to a satellite, it has to be
downlinked east and west sides, and uplinked to other satellites on both
sides to reach to other side of the globe. This means that we have to
arrange, at least, three satellites, one uplinking, two turn-around (for
downlink and uplink) stations. This is an ideal or minimum configura-
tion, but actually, we would need many more satellites and turn-around
stations because each satellite has its special, so-called "foot-print."
This, in turn, means that we would need many, many arrangements to be
made to reach the other side of the globe -- this increases the costs,
too!!
On the other hand, just think of the near future when broad-band
Internet would be available to every desktop computers -- as U.S. Presi-
dent Bill Clinton advocated in his Union speech of 1997 to have 10 Mbps
line to those computers. The refreshing speed could be every 1/30th
second, i.e., 30 frame per second which is the same as ordinary TV unit
nowadays, and the audio would be crystal clear with CD quality as we saw
a superb demonstration of ShowMe through Ethernet LAN during our GLH in
1994 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. If such broad-band
would be available to the every corners of the world (with Internet VSAT
approach), we just do not need any analog, broadcasting type satellites,
and hence no arrangements for such configurations -- which can be appre-
ciated by anyone who have ever organized videoconferencing with satel-
lites -- even without spending any substantial costs!! Therefore, as
seeing the near future, this scheme was a real novelty and a significant
technical achievement.
Furthermore, this scheme would not need to have elaborate studio set-
ups which are usually very expensive. Since many of personal computers
nowadays can provide web server function, we can envision any teachers
(active or retired) who have similar set up (less than $1,500) with
connection to the Internet can provide their electronic distance educa-
tion from their offices or homes, thus, creating Greek style mentor
system (as teaching only a half dozen or so students, rather than 200 to
300 in a large auditorium). Millions, millions retired teachers around
the world may be mobilized, and they can enjoy their life mission of
teaching youngsters and also have their additional revenues at their
home. {27}
FOOTNOTES********************************
{27} "This is one of those great turning points in business history:
telecom companies fear being left behind at a time when data and
Internet traffic has begun to surpass the volume of voice calls.
Data traffic is expanding at a rate no one predicated just a few
years ago. How fast? E-mail, video and other data could account
for 99% of all telecommunications traffic by 2004." TIME, October
27, 1997
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
2 Teleconferencing for Electronic Distance Education (EDE)
{28}
FOOTNOTES********************************
{28} This section is a modified excerpt from;
Utsumi, T., W. R. (Bill) Klemm, R. L. Boston, J. Miller, "Low Cost
Teleconferencing for Affordable and Accessible Electronic Distance
Education," A paper presented at the workshop conducted by T.
Utsumi during the International Conference "Information Technology
for Competitiveness - Experiences and Demands for Education and
Vocational Training organized by The International Federation of
Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 9.4: Information
Technology in Developing Countries on June 19, 1997 at Centro de
Tecnologia em Automacao e Informatica (CTAI/SENAI) in
Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
Electronic Distance Education (EDE) with one-way, non-interactive,
broadcasting instructional TV via ISDN, Cable TV, terrestrial TV and
satellite {29} is now increasingly replaced with two-way, interactive,
collaborative EDE with low cost teleconferencing by the use of desktop
personal computers through world wide Internet. Teleconferencing has
two fields: televideoconferencing (hereafter "televideo") and computer-
mediated multimedia conferencing, though their boundaries are now get-
ting blurred. The former stems on real-time, synchronous
videoconferencing, and the latter on non-real-time, asynchronous, text-
oriented conferencing, e.g., Electronic Information Exchange System
(EIES) of New Jersey Institute of Technology which was mentioned in
Chapter 1.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{29} It is said that the use of conventional analog satellite for
distance education has now dropped to the one third of the peak-
time usage in the U.S.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
2.1 Synchronous Televideo
The appearance of televideo capability via Internet with CU-SeeMe of
Cornell University in 1993, electrified thousand Internet subscribers,
particularly in EDE field {30}. This software now makes possible multi-
party and multi-platform exchanges in synchronous, real time televideo
with effective audio and video, remote interactive presentations, point-
to-point private conferences, and even for "broadcasting."
FOOTNOTES********************************
{30} CU-SeeMe software have been acquired by over one million users,
though its constant, daily, regular use is not certain.
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
Soon after the development of this software, other approaches by many
different groups were made known to Internet {31}, and we were awash
with options for collaborative exchange via Internet, melting barriers
and dissolving distance overnight.
FOOTNOTES********************************
{31} Some of web-sites of televideo and Internet telephony are;
BeingThere: http://www.beingthere.com
CineVideo: http://www.cinecom.com
Connectix Video Phone: http://www.connectix.com
CoolTalk: http://www.netscape.com
CU-SeeMe: http://www.wpine.com
(free of charge for demo version
with 30 day limitation)
http://cu-seeme.cornell.edu
(free of charge for permanent
use)
FreeTel: http://www.freetel.com
FreeVue: http://www.freevue.com
Picturetel: http://www.picturetel.com
PowWow: http://www.tribal.com
Proshare: http://www.intel.com
RealAudio: http://www.realaudio.com
ShareVision at Creative Labs: http://www.creaf.com
Vidcall: http://www.intercon.net/~elite/
VideoPhone: http://www.specom.com
VisionTime: http://www.specom.com
VivoActive Producer: http://www.vivo.com
VocalTec's Iphone (Internet telephony):
http://www.vocaltec.com
(free of charge for demo version
with 14 day limitation)
Von Coalition: http://www.von.org
VoxWare: http://www.voxware.com
More comprehensive listing can be obtained at;
http://www.visc.vt.edu/succeed/videoconf.html
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/vidconf/
***************************FOOTNOTES ENDS
2.1.1 Non-Internet Televideo
It is fair to point out that the arrival of such tools was preceded
(albeit at high cost) by a wide range of similar products which worked
point-to-point and multi-point through POTS, ISDN, and T1 line at band-
width ranging from 14.4 Kbps and higher. Proshare and PictureTel were
two of the high-end contenders offering such capabilities, and Creative
Labs had the low bandwidth market with the outstanding ShareVision
product. All these products offered full duplex high quality sound,
interactive color video at many frames per second (fpb), simultaneous
file transfer capabilities, applications sharing, and a "whiteboard" in
which images could be shared or graphics drawn in real time by parties
at either end. These tools were point-to-point applications but in some
cases dial-in connection bridges were available from the vendors for
multi-party conferences.
Combined with large screen projection systems and full fidelity sound
systems, it was possible to generate a real feeling of "presence" at a
distance, and formal presentations of very high quality could be offered
to distant locations where the meeting rooms were suitably equipped.
(This is a considerable departure from the one-to-one model originally
envisioned for these products).
2.1.2 Internet Televideo
We are now experiencing the Internet equivalent of these tools, in an
unprecedented wave of new product announcements arriving almost daily,
and heralded by numerous listserves, newsgroup discussions, and web-site
updates. The range and variety in choice at this date is staggering and
what is known to be in development is more exciting still. We are
moving rapidly away from proprietary systems and solutions, and toward
"standards compliant" approaches with scalable performance depending on
bandwidth. We are also moving toward software-only implementations
which lead to low costs per "seat" due in large part to declining prices
for high-performance machines and the current low cost of memory.
Prior to 1996 most solutions required the addition of expensive
hardware cards to accomplish the compressions of audio and video
streams, and the decompressions in real time at the receiving end. Now
with a dizzying array of codec choices, compressions and decompressions
in ratios of several hundred to one are possible using software only
approaches.
2.1.3 Experiences at Houston Community College
2.1.3.1 With Non-Internet Televideo
Houston Community College have used ShareVision as a one-to-many
delivery service, in which the instructor is at one location and the
students are at another. This has also worked for us to join two class-
rooms and allow continuous exchanges between teachers and students at
both ends. Additionally, we have done numerous formal presentations
across thousands of miles to groups of more than one hundred persons,
who experienced "PowerPoint" slide presentations accompanied with two
way live color video at several frames per second and full duplex sound.
These many events have combined to demonstrate our ability to bring the
"classroom" to any part of the world at modem bandwidth and using ordi-
nary telephone lines -- even to the homes of our handicapped students.
Used in combination with higher bandwidth technologies such as were
demonstrated in the recent "Global Lecture Hall (GLH)" in August, 1996
(mentioned above), the options extend to a truly worldwide audience of
thousands -- see further at .
It should be noted that scaling up to Proshare, or PictureTel, or
other similar solutions running at ISDN speeds can allow faster frame
rates, larger video images, and accessing "bridge" devices for any of
these products can make possible voice controlled multi-party conferenc-
es in which the speaker's video appears at all locations. Of course the
costs go up as the bandwidth increases.
Before speaking of internet solutions it should be mentioned that
each of these named products above are proprietary solutions and do not
cross communicate with each other well, and in some cases to not scale
to the bandwidth. Efforts to establish standards compliance are finding
success in 1996 and an update on the progress in this regard can be
found in the "Voice on Net" Coalition web-site .
One emergent standard which will make a great difference to the low
bandwidth communities is the v.324 for POTS at speeds of 33.6 Kbps. New
modems will appear late this year capable of something called v.80 which
can apply the bandwidth as needed to either the voice or data streams.
It is likely that as the industry shakes out, those proprietary
solutions which do not open their product to the emerging standards will
not continue to be viable candidates.
2.1.3.2 With Internet Televideo
CU-SeeMe has continued to evolve, but is by no means the only option.
In fact there are many dozens of options for Internet-based collabora-
tion in budgets ranging from audiographics on POTS at 9,600 baud to full
interactive two-way video instruction at T1 speeds.
At Houston Community College we moved through the era of dial-up BBS
services to carry our instruction, and currently use a World-group BBS
tied to the Internet and accessible via POTS with 16 separate phone
lines at 28.8 Kbps. Our instructional content moved from lessons in
ASCII files to components of graphics, sound clips, and "seconds at a
time" of informative video, which were downloaded by the students and
played locally.
We now use a separate web-site for delivering multimedia instruction
100% via the internet web, and which includes instant-play "streaming"
audio and video. These technologies allow remote students to access
long playing sound and video presentations without download delays.
Audio recordings of half an hour or more can be accessed in seconds and
long playing videos begin to play in web-pages after just seconds. With
today's compression, 90 minutes of clear audio can be fit on one floppy
disk and video at 15 frames per second lasting nearly 15 minutes will
also fit in such small files. The implications of such powerful codecs
should be obvious to the reader -- see further at
.
We have moved though this multimedia, "instruction-on-demand" ap-
proach to add components of real-time voice and video exchange as added
dimensions of presence for our instruction, and in the pursuit of such
capabilities have explored the frontiers of Internet televideo even as
the frontier is being mapped. We are also looking at the applications
of audio assisted "slide shows" and other forms of on-demand instruc-
tion. Additionally we are adding the new models of audio simulcasting
via Internet, which is used in conjunction with web-pages displaying the
images from a local classroom, and video casting events to distant
audiences.
Our first hand audio experiences are with such products as FreeTel,
FreeVue, RealAudio, PowWow, and CoolTalk. And for the non real-time
audio (i.e., on-demand audio) we have used RealAudio and VoxWare to good
purpose. Our first hand experiences with video include CU-SeeMe,
FreeVue, CineVideo, Vidcall, VisionTime, Internet VideoPhone, VDO Phone,
Connectix, Apple Quicktime Videoconferencing, and "BeingThere". For the
non real-time video (i.e., video on-demand) we use VivoActive products
but have looked at a number of others. Our showcase web-site where this
instruction is housed may be accessed at
.
Roger Lee Boston of Houston Community College (one of the writers of
this section), as an instructor, frequently visits live and on-camera
with his students at their homes who are limited to bandwidth of 28.8
Kbps on their home phone connections. The quality of sound is good, the
frame rates are low but acceptable for the purposes of conferencing, and
the enthusiasm generated in the student to study harder and reenforce-
ment they receive is priceless.
It is exceedingly difficult to summarize the capabilities of the web
at this point to facilitate videoconferencing and remote instruction --
the existing options are overwhelming in their variety and new choices
appear almost daily.
What can, however, be distilled is some general appreciation for what
is now possible, and by speaking of all the products as a class the
reader will gain some appreciation for these tools in their aggregate:
* Internet televideo systems now mimic their POTS cousins, in pro-
viding the "standard" two-way full duplex sound, two-way color
video (frame rates are bandwidth dependent),
* Some can "multicast" to a large number of users,
* Some have "whiteboard" add-ons and offer applications sharing and
file transfer capabilities,
* Few can work cross-platform, but before the end of 1996 many will
have this capability,
* Few are standards compliant, and most rely on their own propri-
etary video compression schemes, some of which are very clever and
rest on the complex mathematics of wavelet theory,
* Many are now adopting codecs for handling sound and video which
originally targeted the audio and video on-demand markets.
PictureTel is a good example of this, and will be announcing their
new POTS v.324 solution in which they bundle their software (uses
VivoActive compression schemes) with the new v.80 compliant mo-
dems,
* Most are capable now to operate over the Internet and also over a
dial-up analog connection.
Other tools are available for remote control of distant machines
across POTS and Internet (e.g., Laplink, PcAnywhere, TimBukTu, "Look@Me",
PowWow) which allow a remote user(s) to view the activity on a
remote machine, which make possible a great variety of presentation
options.
Many conferencing and instructional formats are made possible with
these tools:
* "On-demand" multimedia instruction, via dial-up BBS and from web-
sites,
* One-to-many multimedia instruction to large groups from an in-
structor elsewhere,
* Live audio broadcasts on Internet which are accompanied by class-
room images updated in a web-page every few seconds,
* Group "meetings" across the country connecting our far flung
campuses,
* Remote "slide presentations" with accompanying audio and video to
multiple users across Internet,
* One-to-one and many-to-many conferences between student and in-
structor and student to student,
* One-to-many control of distant PCs (using PowWow) for live remote
"excursions" on the web where prepared instructional materials
await the travelers -- accompanied with audio and in some cases
with video.
In general, using such channels for remote instruction requires much
advance preparation on the part of the instructor. The primary message
is in the prepared graphic information and the audio dialogue. The
moving video is at relatively lower priority with the exception of
"moving head" style presentations and panel discussions, in which case
the clarity of video is of great importance in holding an audience.
The recent developments in audio and video compression, the wide
spread availability of high performance machines at small budgets, and
the declining cost of Internet connections have opened wide the doors to
truly global conferencing exchanges involving large numbers of partici-
pants, yet affordable to the masses.
2.2 Asynchronous Computer-Mediated Multimedia Conferencing
System (CMMCS)
EDE instructional delivery systems have typically operated in a same-
time, synchronous mode. Televideo lectures can now be supplemented by
follow-on learning activities. Creating collaborative learning opportu-
nities is especially crucial, because distance education students are
often relatively isolated and do not have the same chances to interact
with professor and peers as in traditional classrooms.
To promote interactivity among students and teachers and to leverage
teacher effort by promoting collaborative learning among students, the
CAADE -- more later -- effort will incorporate instructional delivery
via satellite, POTS, or Internet and its World Wide Web and with collab-
orative learning software, such as one CAADE member's product, FORUM.
2.2.1 Experience at Texas A&M University
The advent of Computer-Mediated Multimedia Conferencing Systems
(CMMCS) provides opportunities to extend desktop televideo instruction,
particularly where there are the all-too-common schedule or time-zone
conflicts that attend distance education. Computer software is avail-
able that supports small-group learning activities in an anytime/any-
place mode. Such software is a kind of "groupware," known as computer
conferencing software.
There are a host of good reasons to complement desktop televideo with
asynchronous computer conferencing. Computer conferences typically
involve multiple, independent groups, or learning teams. By keeping the
groups reasonably small, teachers can leverage their efforts through the
benefits that accrue to collaborative learning/teaching strategies.
Many teachers try to use e-mail as a substitute for computer
conferencing. E-mail is typically a store-and-forward environment,
where messages are physically copied from a central computer repository
to multiple recipients. Each participant can attach a response to a
received message and send it back to the repository, typically called a
"Listserve." Messages stream in and out in chronological order and any
note that relates to another note has to restate the context in which
the response is being made. But in a good computer conferencing system,
messages are organized according to topic or context. Teachers and
students can edit or annotate common documents. They can make incontext
links, within documents. In one system, discourse can actually be
structured to expedite the teachers game plan. Because the discourse is
saved on a host computer, teacher and students actually create dynamic,
evolving digital information bases.
Bill Klemm of Texas A&M University (one of the writers of this
section), summarized many benefits he has seen of such a learning envi-
ronment as follows:
* Students become more actively engaged than they do in a tradition-
al lecture. This is especially true of televideo presentations
where it is more awkward and difficult for a free flow of interac-
tion between students and teacher. Note that televideo presenta-
tions, as such, provide little-to-no opportunity for student-
student interactions. Rather than passively memorizing lecture
notes, students are actively constructing their own knowledge and
understanding from their interactions with teacher and peers.
* Students have time to think. They don't have to come up with an
answer off the "top of their head" during the televideo airing.
Depth and rigor of learning are increased. There is time to
collect needed information and time for reflection and integra-
tion.
* Conferencing helps to level the playing field for slower learners
or learners with learning styles that are not compatible with
typical lecture modes of instruction. Because no one need know
how long it takes a given student to do the work, conferencing can
reduce embarrassments, build confidence, and motivate.
* Students get the benefits of teamwork. Learning materials are
easily shared. In televideo presentations students don't get much
chance to see what other students are doing (largely because they
aren't doing anything but listening or taking personal notes). In
a computer conference, every student gets to "speak up." Peer
pressure can motivate. Interactions can be in greater depth,
because students share background and expertise. Unlike collabo-
rative learning in face-to-face situations, schedule conflicts are
no longer a problem, and it is more likely that students can
operate as a real team, rather than a few members of a group doing
most of the intellectual work. The level of participation by each
student is readily documented. Conferencing also facilitates
group production of deliverables, such as plans, reports, case
studies, and special projects. Televideo instruction focuses on
presentation; conferencing focuses on student work. The
complementarity is evident.
* Students and teachers use time more efficiently. They can use
those snippets of time that otherwise would be wasted. Work is
automatically organized, using the information more efficiently.
Information is electronically searchable. There are no verbal and
few social distractions, as in classroom or even televideo situa-
tions. There is no need to call roll, no need to wait on late
comers.
* Everybody gets the benefits of writing. Information is more
concise and precise. Conferencing helps students learn to read
and write critically. It improves writing skills. Teachers can
track participation. Nothing gets lost. Information can be
archived for later review or update.
* Conferencing liberates students and teachers from the constraints
of time and space. In televideo, everybody has to arrange to
participate at the same time. But conferencing provides just-in-
time access: students and teacher get to the conference when they
can or when they need to.
* Class never has to end. Whenever, wherever, students can discover
that learning is a continuous journey, not just specified "contact
hours" during the week.
The system that we have been working with is known as FORUM (TM)
.
FORUM is a computer conferencing environment that has been awarded
First Prize in an international contest in Geneva for the "Best New Idea
in Distance Education." Students learn alone or in groups at their own
pace and time of convenience. All work is housed as an organized docu-
ment database on a single computer that is accessed via networked com-
puters or via telephone dial-in. The current version does not run over
Internet (but the new one will). It would be unwieldy for large groups
of students to try to work together; thus, the original idea was to
create a LAN environment where small groups of 4 to 8 students function
as a learning team.
What makes FORUM unique is that it has the look and feel of browsing
on the World Wide Web (WWW), except that participants can put files and
data into the conference without writing code commands and without the
assistance of a computer system operator ("Webmaster"). Students use a
pull-down menu to create incontext links to other FORUM documents, to
specific web-sites, and even to files created in other MS Windows soft-
ware.
A FORUM conference is not constrained by a rigid linear format or a
hierarchy, as is the case with virtually all other conferencing systems,
including those recently introduced for use over the WWW. Students can
completely share documents, including having the capability of group
editing of "community" documents where multiple, incontext links can be
made at various places within the document, as well as making linked
attachments to it.
Each conference (for example, work group) produces an integrated and
continuously evolving information base. The organizing principle for a
FORUM conference is a "logic structure," which in essence is created
from a process diagram that specifies the kinds or categories of docu-
ments to be used and the pattern of allowed linking relationships. A
given conference may employ several logic structures for multiple pur-
poses. Each conference has its own leader (for example, instructor),
who can determine levels of access for each document and each student.
A student may be denied access to certain documents or maybe given the
various permission levels of read only, read and create links, read-
create links and edit. At any stage during a conference, the group
leader can change access permissions for any given document.
These capabilities are not duplicated by electronic mail or bulletin
boards, nor to our knowledge any other computer conferencing system.
2.2.2 Virtual Book
FORUM can also be used to construct virtual, interactive books. This
will show the new multiple-document interface which incorporates into
one environment rich-text formatted documents, still image and graphics,
audio and video clips, and Internet browser. The unique feature of this
environment is that all readers can make their own multimedia annota-
tions (i.e., "write in the margins"), without writing code, either on
individual copies of the virtual book or as part of a learning team in
which everyone annotates. In short, unlike typical World Wide Web or
CD-ROM publications today, where readers usually can only click on "hot
buttons" to navigate the text, this is a new kind of Internet-based,
electronic academic publishing environment in which a given textbook or
symposium is fully interactive.
GLOSAS/USA now plans to construct a virtual book with the use of
FORUM and the content of this book, which dubbed a GLOSAS KNOWLEDGE BASE
project -- see its book proposal (albeit still crude yet) in the GLOSAS
NEWS/Vol. VII/No. 1 (March, 1997) issue, "Announcement of Forthcoming
Book" at .
**************************************
REFERENCES:
Gentile, A., 1990, "A note on the World Association," Education in
Computing, Vol. 2, No. 3, (September - December).
Onishi, A. 1986 Projections of the OECD Economies in the Global Per-
spective, 1986-2000: Policy Simulation by the FUGI Macroeconomic Model.
Paper presented at the International Conference on Economic Modeling in
the OECD Economies: Current Developments and Future Challenges, (London
University Business School, March 24-27, 1986).
Utsumi, T. (1991b). "Global (electronic) University for Global Environ-
ment Peace Gaming with Global Neural Computer Network." Paper presented
at the Global Lecture Hall video teleconference on "The Round Table on
SATELLITES FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION." Computer Architecture Conference held
at the University of Lecce, Lecce, Italy, October 24, 1991.
Villarroel, A. (1991). "CREAD: An Inter-American Program in the Field of
Distance Education." A report on the research of the OAS-IOHE-CREAD
project which surveyed the state of Inter-American Distance Education
and the possibilities of technical reticular cooperation, Scott Weiner
Laptop Publishing, State College, Pennsylvania, November, 1991.
**************************************
INSERTIONS (Images, graphs and diagrams, etc.):
Brightful Outlook, Vol. I, Issue 2, Oct. 1996
Dambrot, Stuart M., 1989, Int l project trying to spread technology for
education uses, The Japan Times, October 18, 1989 (Permission to be
obtained later.)
GLH/Hungary/Diagram 1
GLH/Hungary/Diagram 2
GLH/Hungary/Diagram 3
GLH/Hungary/Diagram 4
GLH/Hungary/Diagram 5
GLH/Hungary/Diagram 6
La Gezzetta del Mezzogiorno
Onishi, A., 1986, U.S. and Japan Should Cooperate Rather Than Compete:
World Economic Crisis Simulation, Nikkei Shimbun, August 8, 1986 (Per-
mission to be obtained later.)
Read, Jean, 1994, "Global Classroom," The Computer Paper, September,
1994
Screen capture of CU-SeeMe
TeleMedia MONITOR, November-December, 1992
Utsumi, Benkyo
Utsumi, T., 1993a, Diagram and Footprint of GLH/Norway in 1993
Utsumi, T., 1993b, Summary and Videotape of GLH/Norway in 1993
Utsumi, T., 1993c, Diagram of GLH/Japan in 1993
Utsumi, T., 1994a, Diagram of GLH/Moscow in 1994
Utsumi, T., 1994b, Summary and Videotape of GLH/Moscow in 1994
Utsumi, T., 1995, Diagrams of GLH/Costa Rica in 1995
Virtual, December, 1994, in Italian
Yomiuri America, July 5, 1996
Yomiuri America, Sept. 13, 1996
**************************************
INSERTIONS (Images, graphs and diagrams, etc.):
**************************************
Onishi, A., 1986, U.S. and Japan Should Cooperate Rather Than Compete:
World Economic Crisis Simulation, Nikkei Shimbun, August 8, 1986
(Permission to be obtained later.)
**************************************
Dambrot, Stuart M., 1989, Int l project trying to spread technology for
education uses, The Japan Times, October 18, 1989
(Permission to be obtained later.)
**************************************
La Gezzetta del Mezzogiorno
**************************************
TeleMedia MONITOR, November-December, 1992
**************************************
Utsumi, T., 1993a, Diagram and Footprint of GLH/Norway in 1993
**************************************
Utsumi, T., 1993b, Summary and Videotape of GLH/Norway in 1993
**************************************
Utsumi, T., 1993c, Diagram of GLH/Japan in 1993
**************************************
Utsumi, Benkyo
**************************************
Utsumi, T., 1994a, Diagram of GLH/Moscow in 1994
**************************************
Utsumi, T., 1994b, Summary and Videotape of GLH/Moscow in 1994
**************************************
Screen capture of CU-SeeMe
**************************************
Virtual, December, 1994, in Italian
**************************************
Read, Jean, 1994, "Global Classroom," The Computer Paper, September,
1994
**************************************
Utsumi, T., 1995, Diagrams of GLH/Costa Rica in 1995
**************************************
Yomiuri America, July 5, 1996
**************************************
Brightful Outlook, Vol. I, Issue 2, Oct. 1996
**************************************
GLH/Hungary/Diagram 1
**************************************
Yomiuri America, Sept. 13, 1996
**************************************
GLH/Hungary/Diagram 2
**************************************
GLH/Hungary/Diagram 3
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GLH/Hungary/Diagram 4
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GLH/Hungary/Diagram 5
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GLH/Hungary/Diagram 6
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Originally posted at the Website: http://library.fortlewis.edu/~instruct/glosas/GN/ by Tina Evans Greenwood, Library Instruction Coordinator, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado 81301, e-mail: greenwood_t@fortlewis.edu, and last updated May 28, 1998. By her permission the whole Website has been archived here at the University of Tennessee server directory of GLOSAS Chair Dr. Takeshi Utsumi from July 10, 2000 by Steve McCarty in Japan.