Trips to Fiji and Geneva

<<November 19, 1999>>

Richard Wah <s271338@student.uq.edu.au> [now <wah_r@usp.ac.fj>]

Ruby Vaa <vaa_r@usp.ac.fj>

Mrs Selai Fa <fa_s@usp.ac.fj>

Prof. Edward C. DeLand <edeland@anes.ucla.edu>

Renee Ebert, MPH <sathealth@aol.com>

Steve McCarty <steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp>

Takashi Sakamoto, Ph.D. <sakamoto@nime.ac.jp>

Kazuo Torii <torii@fsun.org>

Salah H. Mandil, Ph.D. <mandils@who.ch>

Mr. Renato Cortinovis <RENATO.CORTINOVIS@itu.int>

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

Dear Ms. Vaa and Mrs. Fa:
==========================

(1) I just receiving a phone call from Air New Zealand (Ms. Anne at 1-800-262-1234) saying that my air ticket will be shipped (by FedEx) to me by 11/22nd (Monday). She told me that my travel schedules are as follows;

Lv JFK/NY (UA #19) 12:15 pm (11/26th)
Ar LA 03:15 pm (11/26th)

Lv LA (Air New Zealand) 09:10 pm (11/26th)
Ar Fiji/Nadi 05:00 am (11/28th)

Lv Fiji/Nadi (Air New Zealand) 11:45 pm (12/03rd)
Ar LA 01:30 pm (12/03rd)

Lv LA (UA) 04:15 pm (12/03rd)
Ar JFK/NY 12:16 am (12/04th)

According to your previous msg, I can pick up an air ticket from Nadi to
Suva from Evangeline of Air Fiji Pacific office at the Nadi airport.

Dear Ed Deland and Renee:
=========================

(2) This time we may have enough time at LA airport to chat -- sorry I could
not meet you when my wife and I were on our way to/from Maui last February.

Should you be able to come to see me at the airport, pls let me know.

Dear Steve:
===========

(3) Many thanks for your msgs (ATTACHMENT I and II).

Thank you very much indeed for your kind introduction to Mr. Wah.

(4) I read Mr. Wah's paper with great interest. Thanks for the info.

     It said that his USP pays US$50,000 per year for a leased 4.8 Kbps link
     from Fiji to Melbourne!!! They certainly need broadband satellite
     Internet as we propose.

I hope I can contribute to them, as you wish.

(5) I am sorry I cannot make my trip to Japan on my way back, because I have
     to complete our final report on our Tampere event to the InfoDev, and
     also I expect to make my trip to Geneva in January -- see below -- which
     is a necessary preparation ( nemawashi" in Japanese) for our successful
     Tokyo conference. (As you know, Japanese government bureaucrats need
     "Gaiatsu" (i.e., pressure from outside Japan) -- as I did for the
     de-regulation of Japanese telecom policies (with the help from Commerce
     Secretary Malcolm Baldridge) on the use of email. I was, in a sense, a
    "soldier" (or "Samurai" in Japanese, as in my name "Takeshi") in Mr. Wah's
     paper "who endeavor to introduce technology to the uninitiated and the
     skeptics." Mr. Yoshio Utsumi, Director-General of the International
     Telecommunications Union (ITU), was then the section manager of data
     communications of the Japanese Ministry of Post and Telecommunications
     (MPT) at that time, as my counterpart. Learning the lessons of de-regulation,
     he became the Director-General of ITU.

(6) Many thanks also for your web service which I often utilize in my msgs.

(7) Many thanks for your offer of help to Ben. However, he should be back
to NYC by 11/24th.

(8) Pls visit Prof. Sakamoto and Mr. Torii to discuss where would be the
     suitable location for our Tokyo conference. They attended our Tampere
     event so that they should know the required facilities. I gave your
     Japanese translations of my papers (printed from your web) to Mr. Torii
     when I met him at Ben's open house ceremony a few weeks ago. Mr. Torii
     maintains FSUN's email account and web.

Dear Salah:
===========

(9) Thanks for your kind words (ATTACHMENT III).

(10) Albeit very belated, I decided to attend your International Consultation
Conference, 12-14 January 2000 in your office in Geneva.

Pls send me its detailed info. Thanks.

Dear Renato:
============

(11) Many, many thanks for your effort of providing us with the recorded
video tape of Mr. Yoshio Utsumi's greeting for our Tampere event.

During my stay in Geneva, I would like to visit Mr. Utsumi. I would
appreciate it very much if you can kindly check his schedule around 12-14 January 2000.

Dear Tapio:
===========

(12) I would also like to say thank-you" to your friend, Sr. Juan Somavia,
Director-General, International Labor Organization (ILO), for his video
tape greeting at our Tampere event.

     Would you kindly ask his availability? -- his office is just a few
     blocks from ITU's as we saw the ILO building when you and I visited Mr.
     Utsumi last January. Thanks in advance.

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

From: mccarty@pop06.odn.ne.jp (McCarty)
To: utsumi@www.friends-partners.org
Cc: steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 11:41:33 +0900
Status: RO

Dear Dr. Utsumi,

It is wonderful that you can attend the roundtable meeting on
November 29th to December 1st (Nov. 28-30th in the Americas)
at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, the capital of Fiji.
Ruby Vaa <vaa_r@usp.ac.fj> wrote in part that their "new satellite network,
USPNet ... is about to commence operations (January-Feb 2000). It will have
audio, data, and video components/transmission facilities and will link
the 12 member countries of the university ... Your background and
expertise has been brought to our attention (by Richard Wah,
Head of Distance Education at USP)." This is the friend to whom I recommended GUS.

You asked for Web sources to familiarize yourself with their project
prior to your trip. Let me suggest the online conference presentation
by Richard Wah, "On-line Teaching: Basic Issues at the University of
the South Pacific" <http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/tcc_conf97/pres/wah.html>.

The paper "describes problems that are encountered when trying to
introduce on-line teaching: telecommunications infrastructure and
tariffs; end user equipment availability; government's willingness,
staff and students' interaction and willingness to work with the
required equipment; and technical expertise, including hardware and
software design and maintenance. The paper develops a strategy for the
implementation of on-line teaching." This shows that the USP project
took many years to reach this stage, so your visit there is very timely.

Places that you would also like to visit in Southeast Asia and Japan
are still quite far from Fiji, I realize, and such an itinerary is
difficult to accomplish. But if you can make it to Tokyo, I can use
my travel allowance for the year to meet people there for planning
GUS Asia-Pacific activities. In any event, congratulations on this
breakthrough for GUS in the Pacific region.

As usual, your gu-l correspondence is on the Web, lightly edited,
from: <http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/global-univ-99/index.html>,
such as the message from the Fijian Ms. (I would guess) Ruby Vaa at:
<http://www.geocities.co.jp/CollegeLife-Labo/4001/global-univ-99/11-12-b.html>.

Best wishes,
Steve McCarty

****************************************
ATTACHMENT II

Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 10:05:11 +0800
To: utsumi@www.friends-partners.org
From: Steve McCarty <steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp>
Subject: Tokyo Trip
Cc: haragucb@aren+fox.com

Dear Dr. Utsumi,

Sorry to bother you, but I can probably make it to Tokyo from
November 28th-30th, Japan time, due to an invitation from the
Child Research Net at Benesse Corporation for Sunday the 28th,
using my 1999 travel budget. Is there anything I can do for you
in Tokyo? For example, I could write in Japanese to some of those
who might be involved with a Tokyo workshop in the future,
offering to give them a briefing of GUS progress in various
world regions, if they have time on the 29th or 30th. I would
not ask any favors of them, so it could be helpful, you know,
the Japanese way of laying some groundwork (nemawashi).
I can also give them the Japanese translations of your projects
and show them files with my laptop iBook (Mac Japanese OS).

At 4:03 PM -0500 99.11.18, Tak Utsumi wrote:
> Ben just left to Tokyo and Singapore this morning

If I could be of assistance, Ben is welcome to phone me
for any reason at 0877-49-8041 (w) or 087-874-7980 (h).

Best,
Steve
****************************************
ATTACHMENT III

From: mandils@who.ch
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 12:30:33 +0200
To: <utsumi@www.friends-partners.org>
Subject: Re:Consultation mtg at WHO

Dear Tak,

Thank you for your reply. My invitation to you is not as a TM expert, but
as a TeleEducation expert who made fabulous work and practical, cheap or
least-costly Broadband links, over the Internet and otherwise. As you know,
these are usable for both TeleEducation and TeleMedicine.

Your presence at our International Consultation, 12-14 January 20000, will
be much appreciated. We are assembling really top people in the field. Some
industry representatives have been invited too (do you have further
suggestions?). I await your definitive confirmation of participation.
Regards,

Salah MANDIL
WHO Geneva
****************************************
List of Distribution

Richard Wah
Head of Distance Education
University of the South Pacific (USP)
Laucala Campus
Suva, Fiji
[<wah_r@usp.ac.fj>]

Ruby Vaa
Organiser, USPNet Roundtable meeting
University of the South Pacific (USP)
Laucala Campus
Suva, Fiji
vaa_r@usp.ac.fj
www.usp.ac.fj

Mrs. Selai Fa
University Extension
University of the South Pacific
Suva
Fiji
Ph: (679)212352
Fax: (679)300482
fa_s@usp.ac.fj

Prof. and Mrs. Edward C. DeLand
DeLand Associates
254 Redlands St
Playa Del Rey, Ca 90293
(310)823-7012
edeland@anes.ucla.edu

Renee Ebert, MPH
Coordinator
International Distance Learning
School of Public Health
University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
949-642-4650
310-794-2886 at Media Center (Tues/Thursday)
sathealth@aol.com

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
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/ -- for Japanese language home page
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/jpublist.html -- online publications (Jpse.)
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/presence.html -- home page (English)
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/epublist.html -- online publications (Eng.)
(an Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library 4-star site)
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/asia-pacific/projects-ej.html -- bilingual
("Fundamental Projects of Dr. Takeshi Utsumi")
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/asia-pacific/index.html
(Global University System Asia-Pacific Framework)

Takashi Sakamoto, Ph.D.
Director General
National Institute of Multimedia Education (NIME)
2-12, Wakaba
Mihama-Ku, Chiba 261-0014
JAPAN
Tel: +81-43-298 3000
Fax: +81-43-298 3471
sakamoto@nime.ac.jp
http://www.nime.ac.jp/
http://hoklpc25.uta.fi/egedl/outline/virtualuniversityinjapan.htm -- his slide
presentation at Tampere event.

Kazuo Torii
Director of the Board
Foundation for the Support of the United Nations (FSUN)
Sankyo Bekkan Room 201
1-7-10 Iidabashi
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0072
Japan
03-3556-9488
Fax: 03-3556-9495
Mobil: 090-3472-8123
torii@fsun.org
http://www.fsun.org

Salah H. Mandil, Ph.D.
Director-Advisor on Informatics
World Health Organization
20, Avenue Appia
CH-1211 Geneva 27
SWITZERLAND
+41-22-791-2426 (direct)
+41-22-791-2111
Fax: +41-22-791-4702
mandils@who.ch

Mr. Renato Cortinovis
Training Officer
HRD Division
Telecommunciations Development Bureau (BTD)
International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
Place des Nations
CH 1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland
+41-22-730-5428
RENATO.CORTINOVIS@itu.int

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

**********************************************************************
* 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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Web page by Steve McCarty, World Association for Online Education President