<<October 4, 1999>>

Jan Ribbeck <jribbeck@shandwick.com>

P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor <tapio.varis@uta.fi>

Dr. David A. Johnson, AICP <daj@utk.edu>

Dear Mr. Ribbeck:

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

(2) ATTACHMENT II is the list of publicity materials about our Tampere event
for your reference.

David Johnson and I will submit it to the cultural attache at the
reception evening at the Finnish Embassy on 10/9th, which will be
held in conjunction with the national conference of Fulbright
Association in Washington, D.C.

(3) About our activities, pls visit followings at
<http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/asia-pacific/index.html>;

1. Fundamental Projects of Dr. Takeshi Utsumi,

2. Proposed Global University System Structure,

3. World Regional Project Summaries,

4. Pacific/Asia Pilot Project Partners,

5. Pacific/Asia Brainstorming Summary,

6. Montana/Pacific Distance Learning Project,

7. Collaboration with Asian Open Universities,

8. Tokyo Workshop (Spring 2000)/Proposed Conference Activities,

9. Tampere Workshop (August, 1999): Emerging Global Electronic
Distance Learning (EGEDL) International Conference and
Workshop, University of Tampere, Finland

(4) About your queries:

(a) Is the Internet University a long-term project or will it only be
carried out for a short period of time?"

Yes, we expect that our Global University System (GUS) will last FOREVER
-- as far as human beings hold curiosity!!

(b) What role do local universities (such as Columbia University in
New York or Tampere University of Technology) play?"

They can participate in this system to provide their courses to students
around the world.

(c) What is precisely the role of Finland in this project?"

For our Tampere event, we chose Finland, since it has connotation to
Peace" and International."

We were very fortunate to have our history-making event at the
University of Tampere, since it already has not only 165 Mbps broadband
Internet which not many schools have even in the US (let alone in Japan
-- the so-called second economic power), but also Finland is the most
advanced country as far as the proliferation of Internet to ordinary
households.

The headquarters of the GUS with Tapio Varis as its Acting President
will be located at his school. This headquarters will oversee the
global coordination among the regional GUs in Asia/Pacific, North,
Central and South America, Europe, and Africa. The University of
Tampere will be the Administrative Center of our European Regional Group
activities, as mentioned in Item (3)-2.

(d) How will the university work in practice - what kinds of courses
are offered, how many students, the staff etc."

These are to be determined in our next step depending on the need of
each regional locality -- see what we have done in Tampere so far in
Items (3)-2 and 3 above. We are expecting to have a series of workshops
in those regions which will make feasibility study and action plan and
construction of joint fund raising proposals.

We expect to offer all kinds of courses through wireless broadband
Internet by active and retired instructors from their offices and homes
with small group of students by Greek mentor style pedagogy. Our system
may also include telepresence in such a way that the symptom of patient
will be diagnosed by expert medical professionals in far distant
locations through the broadband Internet.

(5) Pls feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.

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

From: "Ribbeck, Jan" <jribbeck@Shandwick.com>
To: "Prof.Takeshi" <utsumi@columbia.edu>
Subject: GUS information
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 12:31:00 -0500

Dear Dr. Takeshi,

my name is Jan Ribbeck and I work for the Invest in Finland Burau (IFB) in
Hamburg, Germany. The IFB aims to attract German companies to Finland and
helps them to get in contact with potential Finnish partner firms.

A substantial part of the work for the IFB in Germany is the release of
press information on a regular basis. Since many of the press releases in
the past have dealt with the Finnish expertise in High-tech, the Internet
University seems to be interesting news to us. The problem is we only have
very scarce information here in Germany. I already contacted Prof. Varis on
this issue and he referred me to you. Could you provide us more information
on this project along the line of the following points:

--Is the Internet University a long-term project or will it only be carried
out for a short period of time?
-What role do local universities (such as Columbia University in New York
or Tampere University of Technology) play?
-What is precisely the role of Finland in this project?
-How will the university work in practice - what kinds of courses are
offered, how many students, the staff etc.

It would be great to get a response from you and we greatly appreciate
additional information which you consider important . If you want some more
infromation on the IFB or if you have any questions, please don't hesitate
to call us at ++49-40-35 74 60-32 or e-mail me at jribbeck@shandwick.com

Thanks in advance for your help

Jan Ribbeck
Invest in Finland Bureau
c/o Shandwick Hamburg
ABC-StraÉLe 1
20354 Hamburg
Germany

phone: **49-40-35 74 60-32
fax: ++49-40-35 74 60-60
e-mail: jribbeck@shandwick.com
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II

Subject: Re: Request of publicity materials
Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 06:56:21 +0000
From: Tapio Varis <tapio.varis@uta.fi>
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
CC: David Johnson <daj@utk.edu>

Dear Tak & David,

Please find enclosed my publicity report of EGDL99 which I am sending tp
David by regular mail including photocopies.

Tapio
========================================

EMERGING GLOBAL ELECTRONIC DISTANCE LEARNING (EGDLÅE9) conference & workshp,
Tampere 9-13 August 1999-09-06

Press coverage:

Prior to the event:
===================

Aikalainen 1/1999

Finnish News Agency: story published 27.7.or 28.7. 1999 at least by Kaleva
(enclosed), H meen Sanomat, Pohjolan Sanomat, Karjalainen, Etel -Saimaa, Savon
Sanomat

Finnish Broadcasting Company: national television news 30.7. (main news at
20.30)

During the event:
=================

Finnish News Agency: nerws published by most media 9.8 or 10.8. 1999

French News Agency 9.8.

Helsingin Sanomat 10. 8.

Aamulehti 10.8.

H meen Sanomat 10.8.

Radio Tampere 9.8.

Radio H me 9.8. & 10.8.

Tampere Television 9.8.

After the event:

H meen Sanomat 14.8. (news & editorial)

Radio One (Finnish Broadcasting Company) 15.9.

Radio Suomi (Finnish Broadcasting Company) 17.8.

Radio Nova

Ote - opetusteknologia

Business.fi

Taloussanomat (15.9.)

Television Tampere 16.8.
****************************************
List of Distribution

Jan Ribbeck
Invest in Finland Bureau
c/o Shandwick Hamburg
ABC-StraÉLe 1
20354 Hamburg
Germany
phone: **49-40-35 74 60-32
fax: ++49-40-35 74 60-60
e-mail: jribbeck@shandwick.com

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

Dr. David A. Johnson, AICP
Former President of Fulbright Association
Professor of School of Planning
College of Arts and Sciences
University of Tenneseee
108-I Hoskins Library
Knoxville, TN 37996-4051
USA
Tel: +1-423-974 5227
Fax: +1-423-974 5229
daj@utk.edu
http://web.utk.edu/~djohnutk/
**********************************************************************
* 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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