<<January 23, 2001>>
Archived distributions can be retrieved by clicking on the top lines of our home page at <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/>.

Dr. Paul Lefrere
Senior Lecturer
Institute of Educational Technology
Director, Networking and Partnerships, Joint Information Systems Committee
(JISC)
Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Systems
Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44-1-908 65 33 88
Fax: +44-1-908 67 28 02
p.lefrere@open.ac.uk
http://www-iet.open.ac.uk/

Dear Paul:
==========

(1) Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT I).

I agree with you that the PROMETEUS is a great initiative of European Commission.

Dear e-Colleagues:
==================

(2) For the sake of your understanding about the PROMETEUS, I took the liberty of
OCRing the material which was distributed at the conference of the European
Commission in Luxembourg from 1/8th to 1/10th -- see ATTACHMENT II.

(3) Pls feel free to respond to this call for assisting European Commission.

Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I

Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 15:48:17 +0000
Subject: European Commission "PROMETEUS" elections
To: utsumi@friends-partners.org
From: Paul Lefrere <P.Lefrere@open.ac.uk>

Dear Tak

Following our visit to the European Commission, I have been asked to stand
in the elections for the steering committee of an important initiative of
the Commission, called PROMETEUS. The sponsor of the PROMETEUS initiative
is Luis Rosello, whom we met.

Any organisation, anywhere, that is interested in education and training
can vote in this election, provided they have registered first. Their vote
could help to determine European policy and activities in this area.

I wonder whether our colleagues in GUS, and others on your mail-list,
would be interested in voting. If you think this could be of interest to
them, please feel free to forward this mail to them.

Thank you

Paul Lefrere
----------

Message received from the PROMETEUS organisers:

If you are interested in participating in the elections, you will need to
check that you are eligible to vote.

What you need to do is to send a completed REGISTRATION FORM to the
coordinators on the address stated on the registration form.

This form will also enable you to both propose a
candidate to the Prometeus Steering Committee and vote
on who should be nominated for such positions. Below you will find URL
links to where you can find all the forms, information and references you
will need to ensure that you are a signatory to the Prometeus initiative
for 2001.

REGISTRATION FORM FOR MOU CO-OPERATION
http://www.prometeus.org.uk/fire/index.cfm?PID=62

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (November 1998 MoU)
http://www.prometeus.org.uk/fire/index.cfm?PID=55

NOMINATION FORM FOR THE MOU CO-OPERATION ELECTION
http://www.prometeus.org.uk/fire/index.cfm?PID=61

INTRODUCTION TO THE MOU SIGNING PROCESS
http://www.prometeus.org.uk/fire/index.cfm?PID=53

INTRODUCTION TO THE SC ELECTION PROCESS
http://www.prometeus.org.uk/fire/index.cfm?PID=42
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II

To the PROMETEUS Community
To those interested in Promoting Multimedia access to
Education and Training in European Society

Dear Sir/Madam,

In the recent past, your organisation has expressed its interest in the research
and development activities of the European Commission in the field of learning
technologies, content and services. We would like to invite you to validate your
earlier signing or to become a new Signatory for the Memorandum of Understanding
for the PROmoting Multimedia access to Education and Training in EUropean Society
(PROMETEUS) and to take an active role in the upcoming election of a new PROMETEUS
Steering Committee.

What is PROMETEUS?

The aim of PROMETEUS is to bridge the gap between research and actual use of
learning technologies in applications and services. These actions should be aimed
at providing access to learning and knowledge to all citizens, regardless of where
they study, work or live.
PROMETEUS is an association of enterprises, universities, research institutions,
and other interested parties that signed a Memorandum of Understanding, launched in
March 1999, under sponsorship from the European Commission, aggregating more than
400 institutions and over 1800 people. It endeavours to build innovative consensus
in all issues of this extremely broad field, help its members align their
strategies with the trends of research, technology, and business related to
technology-based education, and help the European Commission set its research,
development and deployment agenda for technology-based learning, and education. In
a few words, it is an expert opinion-making forum on Multimedia in Education and
Training for Europe.

What is the "Memorandum of Understanding" and what does its signature mean?

The Directorate-General Information Society has set up a European co-operation
framework in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This MOU is active
during the Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme for Research,
Technology Development & Demonstration under the Fifth and Sixth Framework
Programmes. The MOU co-operation framework is in the field of learning
technologies, content and service - a key accompanying network supporting
research., technological development and demonstration activities.

The MOU is a formal expression, by all its signatories, of the importance of making
progress at European and international levels in a wide spectrum of consensus
building activities in support of multimedia access to education and training in
Europe. The MOU is a voluntary agreement, entered by institutions, organisations
and companies prepared to be both pioneers and active participants in developing
consensus on issues of common interest and providing human and financial resources.
While there is no legal obligation to respect the agreement that emerges, the
signing of the Memorandum of Understanding represents a public commitment to
respect certain principles and to work towards specific common goals and consensus
in specific areas.

The initial MOU (November 1998) had an initial period until the end of year 2000.
The PROMETEUS Steering Committee has extended this period until the end of June
2001, when the initial MOU will be revised. You can see the initial MOU document
Multimedia Access to Education and Training in Europe: Memorandum of Understanding
at URL http://www.prometeus.org

If already a Signatory you will have to validate your signature for the extension period

The starting point is to ensure that we have your details correctly. To do this, go
to the partner directory at www.prometeus.org.uk and enter your email address. If
this does not check out email - mou secretariat@www.prometeus.org.uk - we probably
have your details, but they may be incorrect. For security reasons, we are not
making a listing or additional information publicly available. All current users
have temporary login access until 22 nd January 2001 with username = email address
and password = pr0m0te (number 0, not letter O!)

If you are an initial Signatory and wishes to remain as a Signatory during the
extension period you have to validate your interest by the attached validation form
and send it by email to
MOU-registration@www.prometeus.org.uk

How to become a new Signatory?

To become a new Signatory you will have to fill out the attached registration form
- sign it as an organisation and send it by mail to or fax to the Prometeus Support
Service, ARTTIC, 58A, rue du Dessous des Berges, F-75013 Paris, France. If your
organisation also would like to participate in the upcoming election of the new
Steering Committee for PROMETEUS (voting and/or nominate a candidate for the
Steering Committee) you will have to sign the MOU before 22nd January. For further
information concerning the election for a new PROMETEUS Steering Committee consult
the two attachments on PROMETEUS Election Procedures and Nomination form for the
election. The electronic election will take place 7-19"' February and the results
will be published 21th February.

How can PROMETEUS produce results?

According to the initial MOU a body was set up to produce results for the MOU. This
body named PROMETEUS is organised in the following way:

The PROMETEUS Steering Committee (SC)

The present PROMETEUS SC consists of 20 elected members with a mandate until the
next election (February 2001). The SC works primarily through a number of Special
Interest Groups (SIGs). The SC is responsible for encouraging and supporting the
SIGs to produce deliverables for the PROMETEUS community in the specific SIG areas.
Information concerning present members of the SC is accessible at URL
http://www.prometeus.org/.

The Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

The SIGs are at present organised in 9 areas, chaired by a member elected from and
by the SIGs community.

* SIG - Accessibility: Standardisation issues, chaired by Mr Franz Dotter,
University of Klagenfurt, Austria
* SIG - Businesses: How to create self-sustainable new learning service
businesses, chaired by Mr Andrew Haldane, Learning, Futures ltd. UK
* SIG - Corporate: New ways of corporate learning, using information and
communication technologies, chaired by Mr. Laurence Wilson, Management Centre
Europe, Belgium
* SIG - Design: Design of electronic learning environmentshaired by Dr. Rolf
Lindner, Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany
* SIG - Higher: Higher education best practices, chaired by Mrs. Elaine
McMurray, Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne, Suisse
* SIG - MarketPlace: Electronic MarketPlaces for Learning, chaired by Mr Kennet
Lindquist, Swedish Telepedagogic Knowledge centre, Sweden
* SIG - Pedagogies: Organisational and co-operative learning, chaired by Mr.
Nick Kearney, Florida Center Formacio, Spain
* SIG - School: Primary and secondary school learning environments, based on
information and communication technologies, chaired by Mrs Rosa Maria
Bottino, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy
* SIG - Web ODL: Web-based open and distance learning,, chaired by Prof.
Roberto Guidorzi, University of Bologna, Italy

The aims of the SIGs are to produce guidelines, best practice handbooks,
recommendations to standards bodies as well as to national and international policy
makers. At the end of the first mandate period (February 2001) the SC will produce
a SIG report for the PROMETEUS MOU Signatories. Registration and information
concerning SIGs are accessible at URL
http://www.prometeus.org/partnering/sig-registration/

The PROMETEUS Support Service (PSS) and the PROMETEUS Support Service Steering
Committee (SSSC)

The PROMETEUS Support Service (PSS) was contracted in October 2000 after a call for
tender in April 2000. The European Commission wanted to enforce the PROMETEUS
initiative by financing a professional organisation with the aim to support
primarily the SIGs work to produce deliverables for the PROMETEUS community, that
is also for the MOU Signatories. You can read more about the activities of the PSS
consortium (led by ARTTIC) in the first PROMETEUS Newsletter (December 2000)
accessible at the PROMETEUS website http://www.prometeus.org/.

PROMETEUS Steering Committee and PROMETEUS Support Service Steering Committee
express the hope that all major interests in the EU will continue to contribute to
this initiative.

Brussels December 18, 2000

Yours Sincerely,

Antonio DIAS DE FIGUEIREDO & Eva WIGFORSS
Chair and Vice Chair of the PROMETEUS Steering Committee

Luis RODRIGUEz-Rosello
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Head of Unit DG Information Society Technologies: Content, Multimedia Tools and Markets
Chairman of the PROMETEUS Support Service Steering Committee
**********************************************************************
* 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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