<<January 30, 2000>>
Ellie Alavi <ealavi@worldbank.org>
Mr. Carlos Alberto Primo Braga <cbraga@worldbank.org>
P. Tapio Varis <tapio.varis@uta.fi>
Steve McCarty <steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp>
Kimberly K. Obbink <kobbink@montana.edu>
Mr. Mark Suskin <msuskin@nsf.gov>
Alexander P. De Angelis <adeangel@nsf.gov>
Dr. Williams Chang <wychang@nsf.gov>
Dear Ellie:
===========
(1) Tapio recently sent you a text attachment (txt) of the
ASCII version of
the Final Report (ATTACHMENT I) of our Tampere event.
(2) Alas, it contained many funny codes (e.g., =" or
=20" etc. [*]) so
that you might be having difficulty of eliminating them to
include the
report in your web site.
[*] This often occurs with the use of Microsoft's
WORD word
processor, and this is why I prefer to use WordPerfect
on Mac, as
mentioned in my previous msg.
(3) In ATTACHMENT II, I am sending you the same report without
such funny
codes (the original version which I sent to Tapio) so that
you may be
able to work with it easier.
(4) As Steve McCarty suggested to you (ATTACHMENT IV), I downloaded
the pages
of this report from our web site which is listed in Steve's
attachment.
I then added URLs of each clickable item.
As Steve says, you can do the same from the web site --
which may be
easier than using the ASCII/TXT version in ATTACHMENT II.
(5) In your web, you may also include ATTACHMENT V about our
Global Service
Trust Fund (GSTF) project -- which Peter Knight recently
refined from my
original write-up.
Dear Kim:
=========
(6) Albeit very belated, pls prepare your report to the NSF for their travel grant we received.
Pls feel free to utilize any part of this report to the InfoDev.
Pls obtain one page report from each of the NSF travel
grantees and attach
them to your report.
ATTACHMENT III is the report David Johnson previously supplied to me.
Pls send me a hard copy of your complete report. Thanks.
Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 06:57:06 +0000
To: Ealavi@worldbank.org
From: Tapio Varis <tapio.varis@uta.fi>
Subject: Re: Final report of infoDev Project
Cc: utsumi@columbia.edu
Dear Ellie Alavi,
Referring to your message below please find enclosed as a text
attachment
(txt) the ASCII version of our Final Report (excluding financial
data). If
you have any further questions or needs please do not hesitate
to ask me or
Dr. Utsumi to whom I am copying this message. Sincerely,
Tapio Varis
Profesor and Chair
>Dear Dr. Varis:
>
>Thank you for the final report which we have just received
via air mail.
>Could you please also send it to us via email as well (excluding
the
>financial report)?
>
>Thank you very much,
>
>Regards, Ellie Alavi, infoDev
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Ellie Alavi, Research Analyst
>Information for Development Program (infoDev), The World Bank
>F5P-152, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 USA
>Tel: + 202-458-7715 Fax: + 202-522-3186
>Email: ealavi@worldbank.org
>Web: http://www.worldbank.org/infodev
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II
January 19, 2000
Dear Mr. Braga:
Albeit very belated, we would like to express our sincere gratitude
for your
generous support to our International Workshop and Conference
on Emerging
Global Electronic Distance Learning (EGEDL'99) which was held
on August 9th -
13th, 1999, at our University of Tampere.
Experts on Distance Learning from 14 nations discussed practical
ways to
harness the emerging electronic technological evolution to provide
affordable,
global distance education across national and cultural boundaries.
The group
formulated specific pilot projects focussed on six major regions
of the world
to reduce the growing digital divide between information rich
and information
poor populations, as reaching out to the massive numbers of people
who are
deprived of opportunities to learn. We initiated the establishment
of the
Global University System which will facilitate connectivity among
current
Distance Learning efforts around the world and will provide support
and
guidance to selected pilot projects intended to serve as models
for adoption
around the world.
Thanks to our highly successful event with extraordinary supports
and
cooperations of many funding sources and colleagues around the
world,
substantial momentum for our Global Initiative is now building
up to have
follow-up workshops and conferences to forge ahead the establishment
of the
GUS with global broadband Internet and Global Service Trust Fund
(GSTF) by
multilateral collaborations. We would like to realize education
(and
healthcare) for all," at anytime and anywhere.
Albeit very belated, we are happy to submit our final report
of the event. We
hope that you are pleased with the results and we would gladly
provide
additional information on request. We would appreciate your continued
support
and participation during some of the future events.
Very sincerely yours,
P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D.
General Chairman, Tampere event
Acting President, Global University System
University of Tampere, Finland
tapio.varis@uta.fi; http://www.uta.fi/~titava
****************************************
Final Report to InfoDev
<Final_Report.html>
International Workshop and Conference
on
Emerging Global Electronic Distance Learning (EGEDL'99)
August 9th - 13th, 1999
University of Tampere, Finland
December 15, 1999
Tapio Varis, Ph.D.
General Chairman
University of Tampere
tapio.varis@uta.fi
http://www.uta.fi/~titava
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D.
Program Chairman
GLOSAS/USA
utsumi@columbia.edu
http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS
****************************************
Table of Contents
PART I
I. Objectives:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Tampere_Event/Section_I/Objectives.html>
II. How the event was conducted:
* Summary
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Tampere_Event/Section_II/summary.html>
* Conduct of event
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Tampere_Event/Section_II/Conduct_of_Event.html>
III. What we achieved:
* Formation of Global University System (GUS)
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Officers_of_GUS.html>
* Proposed Global University System Structure
<http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/asia-pacific/maui.html>
* World Regional Pilot Project Summaries
<http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/asia-pacific/finland.html>
* Next steps with follow-up workshops by regional groups
<Next_step.html>
* List of URLs about the event
* Event program:
<http://www.uta.fi//EGEDL/>
* Handout with all relevant materials:
<http://www.uta.fi//EGEDL/outline/>
* Photos, audio, music and video of the Tampere
event:
<http://www.teched.org/finland/>
* Summary diagrams of GUS and its regional groups
(not
completed yet):
Click "What we Designed!" in the left
frame of
<http://www.teched.org/finland/>
IV. Compilation of comments:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Tampere_Event/Comments.html>
PART II
This part is the compilation of the drafts of pilot project
proposal (without
budget) which are written in the form of the InfoDev grant application
as
basing on their outlines appeared in World Regional Pilot Project
Summaries"
<http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/asia-pacific/finland.html>.
They are
written by the chiefs of the following regions;
* Asia-Pacific Group:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Pilot_Project_Proposals/Asia_Pacific/infoDev_Proposal_Form.html>
Sub-regions:
* North America Group:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Pilot_Project_Proposals/North_America/mission_statement.html>
* Central American Group:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Pilot_Project_Proposals/Central-America/infoDev_Proposal_Form.html>
* Amazonas Region Group:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Pilot_Project_Proposals/South_America/infoDev_Proposal_Form.html>
* European Group:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Pilot_Project_Proposals/Europe/infoDev_Proposal_Form.html>
* African Group:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Pilot_Project_Proposals/Africa/infoDev_Proposal_Form.html>
PART III
This part is the complete handout of the Tampere event
<http://www.uta.fi//EGEDL/outline/>.
****************************************
OBJECTIVES
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Tampere_Event/Section_I/Objectives.html>
Distance education technology has difficulty reaching those who
need it most,
particularly in less developed countries albeit its economical
advantage,
because of infrastructure problems, political unrest, costs, skills,
etc.
The objective of this event was to bring together decision-makers
from
under-served countries to discuss practical solutions for the
implementation
of affordable global electronic distance education across national
boundaries.
The conference goals were to:
* promote accessible, affordable global distance education;
* increase understanding of different cultural conditions,
values,
and needs;
* emphasize values of sustainability and equality;
* link enthusiasts with decision-makers and funding resources;
* identify pilot projects that will lead to full scale
distance
education; and
* discuss standardization of courses, credits, and accreditation.
Our deliverables agreed with the InfoDev were;
* Formation of pilot project teams,
* Strategy of joint fund raising for the pilot projects,
* Direction for collaboratively furthering global electronic
distance education,
* Conference report for public dissemination.
* Final Report to infoDev.
Click here for the Excerpt from Agreement with InfoDev.
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Excerpt_frm_Agreement/Excerpt_frm_Agreement.html>
****************************************
SUMMARY OF EGEDL99
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Tampere_Event/Section_II/summary.html>
The digital revolution and economic globalization are taking us
into a new
era. We are moving towards a global knowledge society where information,
skills and competencies become the driving forces of social and
economic
development. The problems associated with this transformation
can no longer be
solved by traditional means. The Internet, with its extending
and improving
infrastructure, will be the main telecommunication media of tomorrow.
It has
been extended to most countries, albeit with slow-to-medium speed.
The
advancement of videoconferencing, telephony, broadband Internet,
World Wide
Web, and other communication and information technologies are
rapidly creating
new opportunities for establishing international distance learning
and
global-healthcare / telemedicine programs that will allow us to
foster global
citizenship and achieve "education for all."
Broadband Internet backbone development such as vBNS and Abeline
are expanding
high-speed Internet access to higher education and healthcare
institutions
throughout the U.S.. This technology extends increased bandwidth
to university
researchers requiring the ability to manipulate large quantities
of data and
graphic images. In addition, this technology holds great promise
for improving
multimedia distance learning capabilities, especially in rural
and isolated
areas that are not well served by commercial network providers.
The enhanced
distance learning capabilities of broadband Internet are only
beginning to be
explored and offer an immediate benefit to the populations served
by these
networks. Although the opportunities for international distance
learning are
great, they are accompanied by challenges regarding technical
infrastructure,
language barriers, cultural differences, and appropriate matches
between needs
and educational resources.
We held the international workshop and conference on "Emerging
Global
Electronic Distance Learning (EGEDL)" from August 9th to
13th at the
University of Tampere in Finland -- see <http://www.uta.fi/EGEDL>
for the
compilation of the conference materials.
The original conception of this event was fulfilled. This conception
was to:
* bring together innovative leaders in DE from around
the world
* bring together with them rising young people in developing
countries who will be future leaders
* exchange information and ideas to take home
* outline a list of important feasible projects in DE
in major
regions of the world to undertake as a next step in
reducing DE
gap between have and have-not regions
* create a structure to recruit resources and to facilitate
mutual
learning from these projects. This is the Global University
System
to be based in Tampere, Finland.
Approximately 60 education professionals on distance learning
from 14 nations
gathered at the conference and discussed practical ways to harness
the
emerging electronic technological evolution to provide affordable,
global
distance education across national and cultural boundaries. They
brainstormed
on methods to use global broadband wireless and satellite Internet
in the
major regions of the globe. The conference attendees also considered
plans for
the initiation of the Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF) that would
invest in
telecommunications infrastructure for education and health.
Issues of information infrastructure, content, and a proposed
Global
University System were examined in depth. The Global University
System (GUS)
will establish pilot projects that can be disseminated as "best
practices"
examples for the further development and deployment of effective
international
distance learning partnerships. In addition, GUS will foster the
development
of distance learning and telemedicine pilot projects using broadband
Internet
technology in order to enhance their teaching / learning capabilities.
The GUS
will also facilitate connectivity among current distance learning
efforts
around the world and will provide support and guidance to selected
pilot
projects intended to serve as models for adoption around the world.
The conference chairman, Dr. Tapio Varis of the University
of Tampere, was
asked to lead the effort to seek funding and carry out the projects
as Acting
President of a newly formed Global University System. Dr. Marco
Antonio Dias,
former director of Higher Education of UNESCO, has also kindly
accepted to
serve as the Vice President for Administration of the GUS. Dr.
Takeshi Utsumi
will be the President Emeritus and Vice President for Technology
and Coordination.
The group formulated specific pilot projects focussed on six
major regions of
the world to reduce the growing digital divide between information
rich and
information poor populations, as realizing education and healthcare
for all,"
at anytime and anywhere. These prospective projects are being
developed for
(1) the Asia-Pacific region (with Philippines as its first target,
and with
sub-regions of Pakistan and South Pacific), (2) North America
(for indigenous
peoples in the states of Arizona and Montana and in Calgary in
Canada), (3)
Central America, (4) South America (mainly for Amazon basin in
initial stage),
(5) Europe (firstly with Ukraine and Bulgaria), and (6) Africa
-- see PART II of this report.
The pilot projects outlined in detail at the conclusion of
the conference have
been identified from grassroots needs and capabilities. Yet they
connect to a
global vision of the potential for the use of the web in distance
education to
reach out to institutions and people who are ready to use it right
now. The
projects are tailored to local and regional needs and capacities,
but they
will also learn from each other.
There is a high level of momentum to propel us forward as a
result of this
excellent conference. The challenge now is to remain focussed
on what can be
done both to crystallize the structure that has evolved out of
Tampere, and to
secure the resources to move ahead with the pilot projects that
have been
identified, along with key people who have agreed to assist and
enable them to
move forward.
Each of these regional groups are now preparing to hold a mini-workshop
(say,
3 to 4 days);
* to learn by the North American and European counterparts
the
current status of distance learning and telemedicine
(including
the delivery infrastructure) of the regional groups
in the
developing countries,
* to learn the need of the regional groups in the future,
* to present what can be (or will be) available from North
America
and Europe,
* via narrow-band Internet and ISDN, etc., i.e.,
through
currently available telecom infrastructure,
* via broadband Internet when it is available,
* to configure administrative and business schemes,
* to make an action plan,
* to plan, program and construct a joint fund raising
proposal for a
workshop / conference (as to follow-up to our Tampere
event) with
the people of the region. This event is to produce a
concrete
feasibility study, design of infrastructure and administrative
structure, selection of courseware, etc.
The Tampere meeting was a study in contrasts, and clearly showed
the enormous
gap between the "haves" and the "have nots".
On the one hand, some of the
players have tremendous resources with which to deploy broadband
wireless
technology; on the other hand, some must operate on a shoestring
budget, and
even lack adequate basic wireline services as a starting point.
A major
challenge will be to identify technology which will be appropriate
(in terms
of startup and operating costs, maintainability by local people,
etc.) in the
"have not" situations.
Thanks to our highly successful event with extraordinary supports
and
cooperations of many funding sources, such as the World Bank,
the US National
Science Foundation, and colleagues around the world, substantial
momentum for
our Global Initiative is now building up to have follow-up workshops
and
conferences to forge ahead the establishment of the GUS with global
broadband
Internet and Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF) by multilateral
collaborations.
****************************************
CONDUCT OF EVENT
(See <http://www.uta.fi/EGEDL> for the compiled conference
materials.)
<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Tampere_Event/Section_II/Conduct_of_Event.html>
1. Greetings
We greatly appreciated to have very inspiring greetings from
Director Generals
and dignitaries of major international and Finnish organizations,
keynote and
dinner speeches by prominent scholars.
2. Demonstrations
On the first day of our event on 8/9th, we had very exciting
and stimulating
demonstrations;
* NetMeeting videoconferencings via narrow band Internet
(e.g., a dial-up
modem at 33.3 Kbps); a PictureTel videoconferencing via ISDN
at 384
Kbps; use of advanced web technology -- all for low cost
distance
learning delivery systems.
Joining at various budgets and bandwidths such locations
as
Wellington New Zealand, London, UK, Budapest Hungary,
West Palm
Beach Florida, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Houston,
Texas, we were
able to show the strengths and weakness of the several
technologies of ISDN, ADSL, POTS, and narrow band IP
conferencing.
This demonstration showed that wonderful results
can be and are
being obtained at low costs and by the low speeds of
dialup
connections to the internet and the ordinary POTS connection.
Although we are forging ahead to establish a global
broadband (45
Mbps) satellite Internet networks, it obviously takes
time. Also,
many users (e.g, disabled students and adult learners
at their
homes) will not have the luxurious broadband access.
The narrow
band approach demonstrated here will certainly benefit
those
disadvantaged people, particularly in remote / rural
areas in
developing countries to have "education for all"
at anytime and
anywhere.
The connection with a colleague in Budapest was the
worst. This
might be due to the fact that, though most of major
universities
in Budapest are connected with broadband fiber lines,
their
linkage to the outside world is only at 10 to 20 Mbps,
as most of
small European countries, which often gets congested
severely.
This fact is one of the major reasons why we advocate
the
establishment of the global broadband satellite Internet
network
with the Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF).
* NetMeeting videoconferencing via broadband Internet at
45 Mbps between
the conference site and the Burns Telecommunications Center
(BTC) of
Montana State University in Bozeman, which produced very
clear video in
a large size window with crystal clear audio.
This very successful demo showed us how important
and vital
necessity to have broadband Internet -- which was the
main purpose
of our Tampere event.
There is 10 Mbps campus local area network (LAN)
in the
University of Tampere, 165 Mbps line between the
university
and Helsinki, 165 Mbps between Helsinki and Copenhagen,
and
two lines of 155 Mbps between Copenhagen and the
U.S.
This test may then lead to the test of distributed
computing mode,
i.e., letting several subroutine programs in distributed
PCs
working together as if they were in a single mainframe
computer --
which is the so-called massively parallel processing
mode -- as an
analog computer.
This distributed computing mode will be used
by our Globally
Collaborating Environmental Peace Gaming with globally
distributed computer simulation system through
global neural
computer network in the future, which Tak Utsumi
firstly
proposed at the International Computer Communication
Conference (ICCC) in Washington, D.C. in October,
1972.
Our next task is how to let the under-served people
in remote /
rural areas in developing countries have the same privilege
and
benefits -- which can be multimedia education and healthcare
with
very inexpensive audio in global scale -- even overseas
calls with
the rate of per kilobytes instead of per minutes.
* PictureTel videoconferencing for transmission of diagnosis
quality
echocardiography video images via ISDN at 384 Kbps, and a
combined use
of the PictureTel videoconferencing with a web via broadband
Internet
which contained a hospital information system and a diagnosis
quality
radiology freeze-frame image.
Dr. Shin Takuma made his excellent CD-ROM presentation
of 3D
echocardiography with the 3D images of human heart produced
by the
3D machine (Volumetrics Model I) at Presbyterian Hospital
of
Columbia University in New York. The Volumetrics machine
is one of
a half dozen installed in the US so far. Human heart
can be
examined its inside as cutting it into a half, -- of
course, in 3D
image of virtual mode.
Live stress echo demonstration with an echocardiography
machine
was also made with a pseudo-patient running a preliminary
conventional treadmill stress echo test. The live echocardiograph
images were sent to Dr. Homma at the Presbyterian Hospital
for his
examination with PictureTel via ISDN at 384 Kbps. The
echo images
of the patient's heart prior to the stress test and
after the test
were compared side-by-side for changes in heart functions
on a
large scale TV monitor of PictureTel and sent to Dr.
Homma who
endorsed that the images were diagnosis quality.
This demonstration showed the possibility of
diagnosing
patient at remote / rural area by an expert doctor
at a
distant location.
The photos and video clippings of this demo
are now
available at Roger Boston's web site -- firstly
visit the
Tampere event web site at <http://www.uta.fi/EGEDL/>
and
then click Roger's web at the top in the first
home page.
Then click "August 9" in the left column,
and click
"Telemedicine1" and "Telemedicine2"
at the top in the
right-hand frame.
Ordinary telemedicine transmits high resolution *freeze-frame*
image -- preferably at high speed. They are usually
examined by a
doctor asynchronously at his available time. With this
asynchronousness, it does not necessary need the high
speed line.
Contrary to this, echocardiography requires to examine
live
*moving* images at high resolution which definitely
requires very
high speed telecom line -- a very good candidate for
our global
broadband Internet project.
Although this time we used ISDN line at 384
Kbps, we may try
broadband Internet next time for cost saving --
refer to our
very successful NetMeeting videoconferencing via
the
broadband Internet mentioned above.
3. Presentations
We had very interesting and excellent presentations of the
world most advanced
digital high definition TV satellite education systems (e.g.,
MINCS-UH and SCS
of Japan) for long range delivery system; broadband Internet microwave
networks (e.g., Shinshu University Network of Japan and SkyBridge
of Hawaii)
for mid-range delivery system; spread-spectrum wireless broadband
Internet for
short-range delivery system. All of them are the so-called "fixed
wireless"
Internet at 1.5 to 45 Mbps.
We also had a privilege of listening very attractive presentation
of "mobile
wireless" broadband Internet for micro-range delivery system
by Nokia Mobil
Phones group. They are now spearheading to develop a mobil video
phone which
will communicate with broadband Internet at 34 Mbps in the year
2004!!
In a sense, we covered all ranges of cutting-edge, wireless
delivery systems.
We think that our projects of establishing global broadband wireless
Internet
networks will well complement with Nokia's approach to have mutual
benefits
each other.
4. Brainstorming
We also had very intensive brainstorming sessions to identify
pilot projects
in major regions of the Pacific/Asia, North America, Central America,
South
America, Africa and Europe. See PART II of this report. We divided
into three
working groups attempting to give written voice to the voids and
opportunities
in each of these regions of the world. Our working sessions were
documented
and recapped in the Friday closings.
As one of papers by Dr. Kaisa Kautto-Koivula of Nokia
(one of keynote
speakers) mentioned, the face-to-face meeting did foster
our trust each
other of the attendees, albeit they communicated via email
for many
years.
The memorization and human touch made during this event
did certainly
promoted human relations among each other for our collaborative
joint
projects. This intimate friendship was the one urged by the
ardent
distance learner, Mr. Yoshio Utsumi, Director-General of
the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in his greeting
which was
made out of his own experience of learning English by radio
broadcasting
while his high school age in remote / rural area of Shikoku
Island of Japan.
The importance of this face-to-face meeting and hence
the recognition of
the memorization capacity and power of human brain are often
left out in
many practices of distance education / learning nowadays.
Our project
will try to find the way to fill this gap affordably, e.g.,
Roger
Boston's low cost teleconferencing systems mentioned above.
All of us are the so-called "like-minded" people
with the global vision for
the globalization and borderless society in the 21st century so
that they got
acquainted each other very well and quickly. Without any hesitation,
they
accepted the word "THINK BIG" by Marco Antonio R. Dias
(former Director of
Higher Education Division of UNESCO and one of keynote speakers).
We think
that this is same as "think globally" embracing multi
culture as K. S. Sitaram
mentioned during his dinner speech.
Marco was the principal person who organized the highly
acclaimed World
Conference on Higher Education "Higher Education in
the Twenty-first
Century: Vision and Action" at UNESCO in Paris on 5-9
October, 1998.
Truly this conference has continued without interruption to
this present
moment, and the partnering and collaborations which were there
before but not
fully effective are now made powerful by the common focus which
has resulted
from our time together, and which are visible at the many web-site
postings
which have been circulated since. Our chances of realizing our
separate dreams
have been magnified by this new formality in working together
within the tight
focus of well defined opportunities in each of the regions of
the world that
were given voice during the Tampere congress. In a sense, we successfully
accomplished the major objective of our event as setting the stage
for our
forthcoming joint collaborative projects in global scale.
5. Creation of Global University System (GUS)
The Global University project has been a divisional activity
of our
GLOSAS/USA. This project will be spun-off to create an independent
organization, the Global University System, which will be the
headquarters to
coordinate the above-mentioned pilot projects and all planned
regional Global
Universities.
* Tapio Varis has accepted to be the Acting President
to incorporate it in Finland.
* Marco Antonio R. Dias also accepted to be the Vice President
for Administration.
* Takeshi Utsumi will be its President Emeritus and the
Vice
President for Technology and Coordination.
Our project of creating Global University System for global
distance learning
with broadband Internet is to prepare the environment for our
next generation
to create their own new global culture which will foster mutual
respect and
equality, understanding of people and place, with a respect for
diversity and
differences in history and traditions, as David Johnson said during
his
keynote speech.
6. Lessons learned by this event:
* The attendees were all like-minded people so that they
easily and
quickly absorbed the concept and need of a global project,
particularly
in education and healthcare. Many had not previously met,
except over
the Web, but they shared a common understanding of the directions
we
need to go and how to get there. They shared the same goals
and
ambitions, namely to bring distance education to the "Un"
and "Under"
served corridors of this planet, effectively, and at affordable
costs.
This event was a great gathering of minds clearly determined
to reach
the goals -- but with new opportunity to accelerate this
pursuit by the
formation of something larger than their separate efforts:
The Global
University System. This conference at Tampere was a catalyst
and has the
potential to magnify our separate efforts to get to the same
place by
helping us to work together.
* They know that the globalization is the inevitable trend
of the 21st
century because they are now driven by enormously powerful
human
aspiration for higher standards of living and by enormously
powerful
technologies that are integrating us more and more closely
every day.
They also know that the benefits of the advanced information
and
communication technologies need to be affordable and accessible
in
developing countries. This will encourage the general trend
towards
democracy and transparency in government worldwide, and promote
rising
standards of living in those countries that have decided
to play by the
rules of the new global economic system.
* The proposed global distance learning project requires
collaboration of
people from around the world. Although inexpensive and convenient
communication means (e.g., email, fax, web, videoconferencing,
etc.)
among colleagues around the world are now available, face-to-face
meeting with the colleagues is an absolute necessity to kickoff
real
action of the project, after extensive preparation of such
a meeting
with the currently available means of telecommunication.
The conference
provided the needed opportunity for such face-to-face communication.
* Although a detailed survey and investigation is required
for each
locality, wireless broadband Internet is the most probable
future
delivery system for electronic distance education and telemedicine
-- by
satellite for long range, microwave for medium range and
spread spectrum
for short range, particularly in developing countries. This
is also
known as the "fixed wireless" approach.
* A new trend the conference participants learned about
in Tampere was
that Nokia is now forging ahead with R&D to create a
videophone which
can access the Internet at 34 megabits per second by the
year 2004. This
is known as the "mobile wireless" approach for
use by individuals over
the so-called "last mile". This is an amazing future,
since it can have
HDTV, telephony, fax, voice mail, email, web access, videoconferencing,
etc., i.e., almost every kind of telecommunication at that
speed.
Distance learning for anyone, anywhere, and anytime can be
realized with
it. The only question not discussed in the Nokia presentation
was that
of who will provide such broadband Internet backbone. The
Nokia
representatives indicated that they would be willing to work
with the
conference organizers toward the goal of establishing global
wireless
broadband Internet.
* Deployment of wireless broadband Internet in global scale,
training of
facilitators, development of advanced courseware, administration
of
delivery systems, etc. require huge investments which can
only be made
with the support of multilateral agencies and the collaboration
of
Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) agencies of major OECD
countries.
For this purpose, the conference worked on a proposal for
a Global
Service Trust Fund (GSTF) to finance the needed telecommunications
capacity for education and health applications in developing
countries.
This proposal will be further developed at a meeting to be
held at the
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Washington on
20 December
1999. At this meeting, the deligates from the US Agency for
International Development (USAID) and the Canadian Department
of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) will also discuss
the possible
joint project of the US, Canadian and Japanese governments
(and later
European Union) to enhance USAID's Leland program and the
establishment
of the global broadband Internet.
* While more than 200 universities in the US now have 45
Mbps Internet and
more than 85 percent of elementary schools have 1.5 Mbps
Internet, the
Leland program of USAID provides only 128 Kbps Internet to
two dozen
African countries, and the international linkage of Ukraine
is at only
1.5 Mbps. It is now the time to prepare the establishment
of a global
broadband Internet, especially among countries, across continents
and
oceans. This is the required investments for the needed broadband
distance learning and healthcare.
* There is thus a definite need for establishing the GSTF,
or a kind of
international analogy of the US subsidized "e-rate"
for schools and
libraries. The conditionality would be established by multilateral
organizations such as the World Bank, ITU, UNESCO, and WHO
to encourage
a favorable policy environment in the countries having access
to this
low-cost or free bandwidth for education and health applications.
7. Award
Takeshi Utsumi had the great honor to receive the first "Pathfinder
Award of
Planet Earth" from the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Global
Education.
8. Acknowledgement
We express our sincere thanks to the people of the University
of Tampere,
Finland and many others for their superb job of arrangement and
administration
of this epoch-making event with very pleasant entertainments.
It was
tremendous success, thanks to extraordinary collaboration and
help of many
people around the world.
****************************************
Reports
by
Grantees
****************************************
Roger Boston
From: "Roger Boston" <rboston@tenet.edu>
To: <utsumi@www.friends-partners.org>
Cc: <utsumi@columbia.edu>, "Your Name" <rboston@tenet.edu>
Subject: Tampere - MY Observations -- for Peter Knight and Final
Report
Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999 21:20:24 -0500
All,
I have been involved for 13 years doing instruction online
-- moving with the
technology from simple, low speed, dial-up BBS systems through
the beginnings
of web based instruction, through the fledgling multimedia inclusions,
and by
1999 through to include live multi-point video broadcasting, narrow-band
video-casting, and a marriage of the "streaming-media-on-demand
and
asynchronous web delivery platform with synchronous instructional
opportunities -- the best of two worlds. Though I have experience
in the
higher bandwidths and larger budget systems, my concentration
and the bulk of
my working experience has been to exploit the smaller bandwidth
and the so
called "simple" solution for getting the instruction
to a far distance. I have
traveled hundreds of thousands of miles to share this message
and know-how,
and have worked with organizations ranging from CAADE, to STARLINK,
to PBS,
the TIES Transatlantic Alliance, the Global Learn Day movement,
and others to
facilitate numerous global events, and in dozens of collaborative
ventures
with distance learning professional worldwide.
That is how I came to be in Tampere -- to present the first
day workshop,
showcasing what things are possible at the lower budgets and using
narrow-band
solutions for both the "world's emerging network" (internet)
and via POTS.
My first observations are to commend the advance planning and
preparations on
the part of Tapio, Tak, their support at the University of Tampere,
the City
ofTampere and the planning/ travel support from Montana -- all
came together
most remarkably to shape one of the best run week long events
I have ever
attended. This event reflected simply first class planning.
My second observation is important to highlight:
Over the years I have been a part of multiple initiatives and
activities by
many groups, especially those named above, all of which seem to
share the same
goals and ambitions, namely to bring distance education to the
"Un" and
"Under" served corridors of this planet, effectively,
and at affordable costs.
I found it most remarkable, and almost amazing in fact to see
so many of those
key players present there during our opening day sessions, and
so vitally
involved throughout the week. In my mind this was a great gathering
of minds
clearly determined to reach the above goals -- but with new opportunity
to
accelerate this pursuit by the formation of something larger than
their
separate efforts: The Global University. This conference at Tampere
was a
catalyst and has the potential to magnify our separate efforts
to get to the
same place by helping us to work together.
My third observation centers around my own workshop. It seemed
to be
reasonably well received, and the surprise on the faces of so
many present
told me that few on this planet have taken the time to investigate
the
considerable opportunities that await them at the low bandwidths
and at the
low budgets. Most funding is offered to the higher bandwidths
and most
expectations are at the higher bandwidths and most working experience
is at
these higher bandwidths and most expectations are at these higher
bandwidths.
Yet wonderful results can be and are being obtained at low costs
and the low
speeds of dialup connections to the internet and the ordinary
POTS connection.
Joining at various budgets and bandwidths such locations as
Wellington New
Zealand, London, UK, Budapest Hungary, West Palm Beach Florida,
Grand
Rapids, Michigan, and Houston, Texas, we were able to show the
strengths and
weakness of the several technologies of ISDN, ADSL, POTS, and
narrow bandIP
conferencing
This workshop was trimmed from an original two-day format and
came nowhere
close to covering the territory which has been my body of work
for the past 12
years -- but it did get far enough to stretch the thinking of
the
participants. Many parts of the world do not and WILL NOT for
some time to
come, have the resources to go beyond the kinds of delivery tools
I showcased
during that workshop.
As this week moved through its agenda of presentations, the
high level of
participation by both title and substance was showcased, and the
spread in
participation was seen to be truly a "global" spread.
>From this point, our conference changed directions, and
turned to its true
collaborative purpose -- we divided into three working groups
attempting to
give written voice to the voids and opportunities in each of these
regions of
the world. Our working sessions were documented and recapped in
the Friday
closings, and have continued round the clock for the more than
forty five days
that have passed since the closing refreshments and our departure.
Truly this conference has continued without interruption to
this present
moment, and the partnering and collaborations which were there
before but not
fully effective are now made powerful by the common focus which
has resulted
from our time together. And which are visible at the many web-site
postings
which have been circulated since.
I think that may perhape be the most lasting outcome from this
moment in
Finland -- that our chances of realizing our separate dreams have
been
magnified by this new formality in working together within the
tight focus of
well defined opportunities in each of the regions of the world
that were given
voice during the Tampere congress.
My congratulations to all who took part!
Looking ahead to future gatherings, I would like to suggest
that advantage be
taken of our ability to "extend" the event to a global
audience in real time -
the images, the sounds, and the substance of presentations, and
to include a
talk back capability. It was not much effort for me to post images
and motion
video in near real time for the Tampere event, and the incremental
cost to
provide live audio/video streaming would have been minimal. Perhaps
in the
Tokyo gathering, or some other moment we can explore our ability
to come to
that next threshold -- if the ambition is there, I have the interests
to help
these things happen.
Last:
Let me leave you with one URL you did not see during my workshop,
a 4 min 45
second clip that is posted at http://www.teched.org/bridge,
and which will be
available soon from my web-site at http://www.rboston.com
-- Real Player G2
required for the viewing. This short video stream showcases the
four-port
video bridge which you saw in videotape form, but did not see
in operation
during my workshop. You may be impressed and pleased with the
kinds of multi
site joinings that can be obtained with such bridging.
Roger L. Boston
Rockwell Chair/ Instructor
Houston Community College System
Voice: 713.718.5224
http://www.rboston.org
****************************************
Barry McLarnon
Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999 14:56:57 -0400
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
From: Barry McLarnon <barry.mclarnon@crc.ca>
Subject: Re: Your report
Tak,
Below is my brief report on the Tampere event (in plain text
to avoid any
formatting problems).
Best,
Barry
Report on the EGEDL meeting in Tampere, Finland (August 1999)
Although I do not work in the distance learning field, I found
the Tampere
meeting to be very interesting. Indeed, it was quite stimulating
to be among a
group of educators who are committed to tackling the challenges
of providing
affordable distance learning on a global scale. I particularly
appreciated
Roger Bostons workshop on low-cost teleconferencing. This was
a very
practical and down-to-earth exposition of how inexpensive conferencing
tools
can be used effectively with connections of differing bandwidths
and
latencies. In general, the meeting was very well organized, and
the local
hosts are to be commended for their thoroughness, and for their
hospitality.
My presentation on wireless Internet seemed to be well received,
judging from
comments I received later. Although it was focused primarily on
the use of
unlicensed spread spectrum technology, I tried to put this in
its proper
context by providing an overview of wireless technologies that
could be used
for Internetconnectivity. A central point of the presentation
was that many
players are now entering the wireless Internet arena, and one
has to assess
them all. In some cases, it may make good economic sense to leverage
an
existing wireless infrastructure rather than deploying something
new. I regret
that I was unable to contribute much in the brainstorming? sessions,
as the
proposals were rather general in nature at that stage, but perhaps
I can
provide some input at a later stage.
The Tampere meeting was a study in contrasts, and clearly showed
the enormous
gap between the haves and the have nots. On the one hand, some
of the
players have tremendous resources with which to deploy broadband
wireless
technology; on the other hand, some must operate on a shoestring
budget, and
even lack adequate basic wireline services as a starting point.
A major
challenge will be to identify technology which will be appropriate
(in terms
of startup and operating costs, maintainability by local people,
etc.) in the
have not situations.
In closing, I will also note that the Tampere meeting has attracted
some
interest from the Canadian government. Although I did not attend
the meeting
as an official representative of the Government of Canada, I have
been
contacted by officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs
and
International Trade, and from Industry Canada, and asked for my
comments on
the meeting. I conveyed my perception that the Global University
initiatives
should be taken very seriously, and urged them to follow the activities
of Dr.
Utsumi, Professor Varis and their colleagues more closely in the
future. I am
pleased that my presence at the meeting contributed in some small
way to
raising awareness in Canada of this work.
Barry McLarnon
September 1999
--
Barry McLarnon (barry.mclarnon@crc.ca)
Project Leader, Radio Broadcast Systems
Communications Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2H 8S2
WWW: http://www.drb.crc.ca
Fax: 613-993-9950 AKA: VE3JF
****************************************
Alex Rivas
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 13:43:28 -0300
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
From: Alex Rivas <alex_mau@argo.com.br>
Subject: Brief Report
REPORT FROM THE EMERGING GLOBAL ELETRONIC DISTANCE LEARNIG
August 9th - 13th, 1999
University of Tampere
Tampere, Finland
1 - Travel
I left Manaus, AM (Brasil) on August 07 to Tampere and
returned on the
14th of the same month. In Tampere I stayed at Ramda Hotel, which
was close to
the conference center. My luggage was lost by the air company.
2 - Conference
I participated of all plenary sessions and was de coordinator
of the
South/North America Group, and also participated in some session
of the
Pacific/Asian group. During my stay in Tampere, I also had the
opportunity
to meet coleagues from University of Turko and from the Economics
Department from the Uiversity of Tampere. These meetings had the
purpose to
explore th possibility of parternship between Finish universities
and
institutions in Amazonas, Brazil.
3 - Proposal
The North/South America group came out with the following proposal:
LATINA AMERICA INITIATIVE
Dr. Marco Antonio Dias
Former Director of the Division of Higher Education - UNESCO
Dr. Alexandre Rivas
Universidade do Amazonas
Fundacao Getuli Vargas/ISAE
In Latin America, initiatives to a broadband connection among
its countries
will start by Amazonia. The city of Manaus in the State of Amazonas
in
Brazil will be the irradiating point. Manaus has an important
geographical
position because it is located in the very heart of the Amazon
region. In
October of 1998, Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV/ISAE), Fundacao
Rede
Amazonica de Televisao (FRA) and GLOSAS/USA with support from
the
University of Amazonas organized an International Demonstrative
Conference on New Technologies for eletronic distance learning.
The
conference put together five countries through the Internet, ordinary
telephone and video tapes. The conference was broadcasted to South
America
and to the rest of the world via Amazonsat (TV and Internet -
www.amazonsat.com.br).
A second and very important point that qualifies the region
as the starting
point for this initiative is that in the late 1980s was created
a
consortium of universities from Amazonia called UNAMAZ. The consortium
had
the objective to promote the integration of the universities and
foster
development in the international Amazonia region. UNAMAZ created
the
information system from Amazonia (SIAMAZ). The system had the
objective
to generate and systemize information and to promote networking
among the
universities. During the first seven years of its creation UNAMAZ
was very
active and significantly moved towards its objectives. However,
in the last
3-4 four years the consortium slowed down its pace due to some
factors,
among them, lack of financial resources. Despite the problems
faced
recently, UNAMAZ has the necessary resources, particularly human
resources,
to support the development of the proposed initiative. In addition
to
UNAMAZ other institutions like FGV/ISAE, FRA and SIVAM will continue
their
participation and other may join later.
Efforts to establish a broadband connection among Latin American
countries
is the first step to a North/South America and global connection.
The
establishment of such broadband connection in South Amercia will
have the
main objective to facilitate and promote studies in environmental
sciences
and to contribute to the improvement of health care provision
linking
public and university hospitals. This iniative will also give
the
opportinuity for schools, especially primary and secondary schools,
to gain
access to the Internet.
Alexandre Rivas
--------------------------------------------------------+
Alexandre Rivas, Ph.D.
Diretor do Centro de Ciżncias do Ambiente
Director of the Center for Environmental Sciences
Tel.: +55 92 644.2322 C.P. 4208
Fax.: +55 92 644.2384 Manaus - AM - Brasil 69053-140
alex_mau@argo.com.br
www.argo.com.br/~alex_mau/alex.htm
--------------------------------------------------------+
****************************************
ATTACHMENT III
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 21:06:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: David A Johnson <djohnutk@utkux.utcc.utk.edu>
To: "Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D." <utsumi@columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: Request of Peter Knight
Tak:
I append below the memo I have drafted to Peter per your request.
Please enter
the URL where noted for Ken Roko's (or other reference) for more
detail on the
pilot projects. Thank you.
Regards,
Dave
========================================
Memorandum
To: Peter Knight
From: David A. Johnson, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Board
Member,
GLOSAS,USA
Subject: Lessons from Tampere Conference
Dear Peter:
It was my privilege to be able to attend the Tampere Conference.
I have no
doubt that it was an historic event. Why?
The original conception was fulfilled. This conception was
to:
* bring together innovative leaders in DE from around
the world
* bring together with them rising young people in developing
countries who will be future leaders
* exchange information and ideas to take home
* outline a list of important feasible projects in DE
in major
regions of the world to undertake as a next step in
reducing DE
gap between have and have-not regions
* create a structure to recruit resources and to facilitate
mutual
learning from these projects. This is the Global University
System
to be based in Tampere, Finland.
One participant at the conference described it as the equivalent
of "those
magnificent men in their flying machines." (Except there
were lots of women
actively involved at Tampere.)
I would agree. This was a pioneering event. Many of the people
who have been
leaders in distance education worldwide in the past ten years
were present
such as Tak Utsumi, John Hibbs, Roger Boston, to name just a few.
Many had not
previously met, except over the Web, but they shared a common
understanding of
the directions we need to go and how to get there. For me, it
was an
extraordinary event and I believe the great majority of attendees
would agree,
it was for them, too.
The proposed program that resulted is now the agenda for the
Global University
System, in formation. The five pilot projects outlined in detail
at the
conclusion of the conference (see detail at URLs [*]) have been
identified
from grassroots needs and capabilities. Yet they connect to a
global vision of
the potential for the use of the web in distance education to
reach out to
institutions and people who are ready to use it right now. The
projects are
tailored to local and regional needs and capacities, but they
will also learn
from each other.
There is a high level of momentum to propel us forward as a
result of this
excellent conference. The challenge now is to remain focussed
on what can be
done both to crystallize the structure that has evolved out of
Tampere, and to
secure the resources to move ahead with the five pilot projects
that have been
identified, along with key people who have agreed to assist and
enable them to
move forward.
Funding agencies always want to be reassured that their grants
have been
wisely used. I can assure the reviewers at the World Bank that
the InfoDev
grant that made the Tampere Conference possible, along with the
help of other
agencies such as Soros, USIA, WHO and others, is a solid investment
in the
future of distance education. Those of us who have been involved
in the
planning of the event greatly appreciate your support.
[*] URLs of Tampere event:
* Event program:
<http://www.uta.fi//EGEDL/>
* Handout with all relevant materials:
<http://www.uta.fi//EGEDL/outline>
* Photos, audio, music and video:
<http://www.teched.org/finland/>
* Summary (not completed yet):
<http://www.teched.org/finland/msu.ppt>
Dr. David A. Johnson
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
--------------------------------------------------------
David A. Johnson, Ph.D., AICP
Professor Emeritus, School of Planning
College of Arts and Sciences
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
108-I Hoskins Library
Knoxville, TN 37996-4015
e-mail daj@utk.edu or davidj@buncombe.main.nc.us
tel 423 974-5227
fax 423 974-5229
tel home: 828 277-5792
home address: 8 Hilltop Road, Asheville, NC 28803
home mail address: PO Box 1647 Knoxville, TN 37901-1647
http://web.utk.edu/~djohnutk/
****************************************
ATTACHMENT IV
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 14:39:30 +0800
To: Pstreet@worldbank.org
From: Steve McCarty <steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp>
Subject: Web pages of Tampere final report to the infoDev
Cc: utsumi@columbia.edu
Ms. Street, I presume.
Allow me to attach previous correspondence as to how the infoDev
may most
efficiently post the Final Report on the Global University System
Tampere
Workshop at your Website. Basically we are suggesting that you
download the
representative files from the Web and perhaps also make links
to more detailed
information which should remain available online in future years
at higher
educational institutions in the U.S., Finland and Japan. The Website
is at:
Let me know if I may be of any further service, such as in
reformatting the
above Website.
Collegially,
Steve McCarty
Professor, Kagawa Junior College, Japan
President, World Association for Online Education
Website Map: http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve/
In Japanese: http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/
Year 2000 Greetings in 20 Languages
http://www.kagawajc.ac.jp/~steve/ufv_waoe.html
========================================
At 9:30 AM -0500 99.12.27, Ealavi@worldbank.org wrote:
>Hi, all we need is something that we can post on our website
under completed
>reports. You may want to get in touch with out webmaster
because she is the
>one who said having a link might not work well and we should
just have an
>electronic file somewhere and the link might not exist in
the future.
>
>I am ccing her here and you can get in touch with each other.
>
>Regards, Ellie
========================================
<<January 30, 2000>> Removed the rest by T.
Utsumi,
========================================
****************************************
ATTACHMENT V
Project to Create a
Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF)
for Tele-education and Tele-health
This proposal was prepared by a working group described in
the footnote at the
end of this document. This paper is presented for discussion
at the Founder's
Conference for the Sir Arthur Clarke Institute for Telecommunications
and
Information (CITI) to be held at INTELSAT Headquarters on 5 February
2000.
Objective
Education and healthcare are basic needs, fundamental for human
development.
The main goal of the proposed Coalition is to expand educational
opportunities
and improve health in developing countries by enabling these countries
to:
* Make full use of electronic distance education and telemedicine.
* Participate actively and fully in data-intensive and
media-intensive exchanges with both developed countries
and other
developing countries.
* Participate interactively and fully in joint research,
professional development, and knowledge-building activities
with
institutions and organizations in other countries.
To do this, steps must be taken to:
* Reduce the cost of broadband connectivity to a level
poor
countries can afford.
* Create policy and regulatory frameworks conducive to
the
development of sustainable distance education and telemedicine
programs.
* Establish high-quality applications in sufficient developing
country sites to demonstrate technical feasibility,
increase
demand, and build support for more extensive use of
such
technologies in developing country contexts.
Ideally all countries would have access to free or low-cost
broadband
connectivity and would have the technical capacity to make use
of it for
improving education and healthcare. This assumes a number of favorable
economic outcomes as well as changes in policy and regulatory
environments
supporting the effective use of these technologies.
This proposal takes a more limited objective: to make available
sufficient
broad bandwidth at free or highly reduced cost to enable a significant
number
of developing countries to undertake major new initiatives in
distance
learning and telemedicine. The fund might also seek to aid in
the support of
tele-education and tele-health programming but this would activity
would be
encouraged on the basis of developing many sources of programming
in many
different languages rather than seeking a single source of supply.
Background and Rationale
The Internet, with its rapidly expanding and improving infrastructure,
will be
the main telecommunication media of tomorrow. It has been extended
to most
countries, albeit with slow-to-medium speed in most developing
countries, and
even in large parts of the developed world. But the full potential
for
achieving revolutionary advances in education and healthcare in
developing
countries cannot be realized with the currently available information
delivery
infrastructure and at currently prevailing market prices.
Improved distance education requires much better ways of presenting
information and of enabling learners to interact with facilitators
to enable
the learners to process that information into personal knowledge.
At present most electronic distance learning takes place rather
limited
programming and delivery modes. Much of the instructional programming
is
limited to text and simple graphics delivered over the web and/or
through
email and its derivatives (electronic fora, bulletin boards, chat
rooms). On
the other, there is "room-based" or desktop-based videoconferencing,
usually
with relatively small groups involved and low production values
so far as the
video and audio are concerned. Both techniques allow significant
interaction,
but the quality of instruction can suffer from the lack of high-quality
audio and video.
High-quality instruction is possible by broadcast television,
with
multi-million dollar production budgets having been deployed to
good effect in
some countries for example Annenberg/CBP in the US, BBC/Open
University in
the UK, and The Roberto Marinho Foundation's Telecurso 2000 and
Canal Futura
in Brazil. But there has been limited interactivity for these
programs beyond
what is possible by telephone, fax and more recently email and
its derivatives.
Narrow bandwidth and high telecommunications costs limit the
use of streaming
video and audio on a large scale. Often telecommunications networks
get
clogged even with heavy net use of more conventional kinds. Many
audiences,
even in developing countries, are "spoiled" by commercial
television with high
production values. Even for educational programming, these audiences
do not
easily accept jerky movement, small windows, failing connections,
and low
production values. The quality of tele-lectures, video inserts
and the like
can only approximate the high production values of commercial
television. As
for telemedicine, there is a proven need for high-definition moving
images, or
at least extremely high-resolution still images for many applications.
Even
with low-cost or free broadband connectivity between nations,
the cost and
pricing structure of telecommunications in many developing countries
keep the
cost of access to the Internet at prohibitive levels, and inappropriate
policy
and regulatory frameworks do not encourage efficient use of those
public
resources for education and healthcare.
In sum, what is needed is both high quality audio/video delivery
and high
quality interactivity. A true revolution in distance learning
and telemedicine
requires high-speed access to the World Wide Web, allowing the
flexibility to
offer a variety of media. These might include two-way audio, full-motion
video-conferencing up to MPEG 2 quality, television-quality netcasting,
and
high-resolution image transfer for tele-medicine. Such capabilities
require
medium to broad bandwidth. Developing countries need broadband
Internet via
international satellite and fiber-optic cable.
The revolution in education and healthcare in developing countries
also
requires a more favorable policy environment not just for telecommunications
but also for education and healthcare. A key to bringing down
prices to
affordable levels is to establish national and international competition
or at
least flexibility in the provision of telecommunications, education,
and
healthcare services. Also rapid transfer of knowledge from developed
to
developing countries needs to be possible.
Finance and Organization
Deployment of this high-speed Internet for education and health
applications
in developing countries would be financed with a Global Service
Trust Fund
(GSTF) for tele-education and tele-health. The Fund might be modeled
on the
Universal Service Fund of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission,
which
provides for discounts of 20-90% on a variety of telecommunications
services
and equipment for schools and libraries.
Ideally, funding would be sufficient to eliminate the telecommunications
cost
for qualified education and healthcare applications. A second
solution might
be a subsidized International E-Rate akin to the "E-Rate"
now benefiting
schools in the United States. A third option could be to begin
with free
bandwidth, but raise it toward (expected to be declining) market
prices in
gradual steps using the International E-Rate model.
Two separate contribution "funds" or "sources"
would be established an
in-kind bandwidth transmission source and a financial assistance
source. The
Coalition ideally would include a broad coalition of commercial
and
governmental sources. These might include key international organizations
such
as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United
Nations
Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), and
the World
Health Organization (WHO). The Coalition would also include international
development banks, bilateral aid agencies, foundations, and companies
contributing to the Fund as well as organizations contributing
education and
healthcare knowledge. The Fund could be administered in a variety
of ways, but
it must have well organized, credible and financially scrupulous
entity of
significant international standing in charge in the disbursement
of funds.
The proposed Fund would be financed from a variety of public
and private
sources, which could include:
* Overseas Development Assistance funds of countries belonging
to
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
* Cash contributions from the profits of international
financial
institutions such as the World Bank and the regional
development banks.
* Cash contributions from foundations and companies.
* Contributions in kind from companies owning underused
satellite
transponders and/or fiber optic cable for these companies,
the
marginal cost of making available underused existing
bandwidth is
near zero, but providing it may build future markets
for sale at
(declining) commercial prices.
The Fund's bandwidth source might be allocated through a variety
of means that
might even include an auction process to organizers of distance
education and
telemedicine projects in qualifying countries. The cash source
might be used
for grants to such projects, with rules favoring poorer countries
and end
beneficiaries, assuring a certain geographical distribution of
benefits
between regions, and so forth. Grants might also favor international
knowledge
sharing. All grants would be made through open competitive process.
These are
only some preliminary ideas. The details, including the establishment
of a
pilot version of the Fund to test operational principles, need
to be worked
out during the next stage in proposal development.
Next Steps Recommendations of the Working Group
Establishing the Fund and Coalition requires a critical mass
of global support
for these new organizations. The ability to mobilize financial
and in-kind
resources for the Fund depends on the credibility of the membership
of the
Coalition. That credibility would be furthered by early support
from such key
international entities as commercial satellite and fiber optic
service
providers, multi-national businesses, national governmental aid
agencies,
foundations, and agencies of the United Nations such as the ITU,
UNESCO, WHO,
the World Bank Group (including the International Finance Corporation),
and
the regional development banks (African Development Bank, Asian
Development
Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the
Inter-American
Development Bank). No legitimate agency of standing would be excluded
from
participating. Creation of a preliminary coalition of participants
to support
the "bandwidth source" as well as the "financial
aid source" would be critical
to the initial testing of this concept.
To that end, the working group recommends that:
1. A more polished and developed draft of the proposal
be put before
major international conferences in 2000. These would
include the
Second International Global Knowledge Conference (GKII)
to be held
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 7-10 March 2000, and other
international
conferences that follow that of the Clarke Institute
for
Telecommunications and Information.
2. An intensive effort be made to enlist the support of
the
leadership of the key international institutions mentioned
above,
facilitating the mobilization of bilateral aid agencies,
foundations, and multinational corporations.
3. Working groups on telecommunications policy conditionality,
education policy conditionality, healthcare policy conditionality,
and operational aspects of the Fund and the Coalition
be convened
respectively by ITU, UNESCO, WHO, and the World Bank.
These
working groups would include representatives of other
interested
international organizations, bilateral aid agencies,
companies,
foundations, and other NGOs, as well as of relevant
information
and telecommunications industry organizations, e.g.
the Global
Information Infrastructure Commission.
It is hoped that attendees at the CITI conference will be willing
to offer
helpful comments concerning this paper either to Tak Utsumi, Peter
Knight or
Joseph Pelton at the following e-mail addresses < utsumi@columbia.edu,
ptknight@attglobal.net, ecjpelton@aol.com>.
It is further hoped that providers of satellite or fiber optic
system capacity
would be willing to join in further working group discussions
to shape the
framework for the "pilot version" of the GSTF for tele-education
and tele-health.
_____________________
The first draft of this proposal was developed by Dr. Takeshi
Utsumi, Chairman
of the GLOSAS/USA and presented at the International Workshop
and Conference
on Emerging Global Electronic Distance Learning (EGEDL'99) held
August 9th -
13th, 1999 at the University of Tampere, Finland. EGEDL was sponsored
by
Alprint, the British Council. Finnair, Finnish Broadcasting Company,
Foundation for The Support of The United Nations (FSUN), Japanese
Medical
Society of America, Ministry of Education Finland, Pan American
Health
Organization (PAHO), PictureTel, Sonera, Soros Foundation/Open
Society
Institute, United States Information Agency (USIA), United States
National
Science Foundation, and the Information and Development Program
(infoDev)
administered by the World Bank. The conference conclusions included
a
recommendation to work for the establishment of the Fund and the
Coalition.
Subsequently a working group was formed at a meeting held at the
Pan American
Health Organization to further develop the proposal and include
policy
conditionality. This proposal was prepared by that working group
composed of
Peter Knight (Knight-Moore Telematics/CDI), Frank Method (UNESCO),
and Lane
Smith (USAID). Helpful comments were received from Carlos Braga
and Michael
Moore. Joseph Pelton. and Bruce Ross-Larson provided editorial
assistance and
revisions to adapt this paper to a format common to the project
proposals
being considered by the Founder's Conference of the Clarke Insitute
for
Telecommunications and Information.
****************************************
List of Distribution
Ellie Alavi
Information for Development Program (infoDev)
The World Bank, F5P-152
1818 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20433 USA
Tel: + 202-458-7715
Fax: + 202-522-3186
Email: ealavi@worldbank.org
Web: http://www.worldbank.org/infodev
Mr. Carlos Alberto Primo Braga
Program Manager
Information for Development (InfoDev)
The World Bank
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20433
U.S.A.
202-473-3927
Fax: (202) 522 3186
cbraga@worldbank.org
http://www.worldbank.org/infodev
P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor
Acting President, Global University System
Chairman, GLOSAS/Finland
Professor and Chair
Media Culture and Communication Education
Hypermedia laboratory
University of Tampere
P.O.Box 607
FIN-33101 Tampere
FINLAND
Tel: +358-3-215 6110
GSM: +358-50-567-9833
Fax: +358-3-215 7503
tapio.varis@uta.fi
http://www.uta.fi/~titava
Steve McCarty
Professor
Kagawa Junior College
President, World Association for Online Education (WAOE)
3717-33 Nii
Kokubunji, Kagawa 769-0101
JAPAN
+81-877-49-8041 (office, direct line)
Fax: +81-877-49-5252
steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp
mccarty@pop06.odn.ne.jp -- his wife's.
http://www.waoe.org -- for WAOE
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/WAOE-founding.html
English language home page and online publications page:
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/ -- for Japanese language
home page
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/jpublist.html -- for online
publications
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/presence.html
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/epublist.html
(an Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library 4-star site)
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/asia-pacific/projects-ej.html
("Fundamental Projects of Dr. Takeshi Utsumi")
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/asia-pacific/index.html
(Global University System Asia-Pacific Framework)
Kimberly K. Obbink
Director
Burns Telecommunications Center
128 EPS Building,
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59717-3860
USA
Tel: +1-406-994 6550
Fax: +1-406-994 7856
kobbink@montana.edu
http://btc.montana.edu
Mr. Mark Suskin
Program Manager
Western European Program
Division of International Programs
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230
703-306-1702
msuskin@nsf.gov
www.nsf.gov/sbe/int
Alexander P. De Angelis
Director, East Asia and Pacific Program
Division of International Programs
U.S. National Science Foundation, Room 921
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia 22230
U.S.A.
TEL: 703 306-1704
FAX: 703 306-0477
adeangel@nsf.gov
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/int/start.htm
Dr. Williams Chang
International Program Division
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230
703-306-1704 X5947
wychang@nsf.gov
www.nsf.gov
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., 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 Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination
of *
* Global University System (GUS)
*
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A.
*
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer
email) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676
*
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/
*
**********************************************************************
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