<<September 11, 1999>>

John C. Afele, Ph.D <JAFELE@plant.uoguelph.ca>

John Mack <jlmack@erols.com>

Mr. Lane Smith <lasmith@usaid.gov>

Kenneth O. Roko <KenRoko@aol.com>

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

Roger Lee Boston <rboston@tenet.edu>

(1) Dear John Afele:
================

Many thanks for your msgs (ATTACHMENT I, II, III, IV and V).

(2) Dear John Mack:
===============

It has been long time since our last correspondences.

Your email address <jmack@worldspace.org> (which I received from
Ken Roko, your old colleague at USAID), did not work.

I took the liberty of re-admitting you into our listserve.

You just missed distributions of my reports about our Tampere
(Finland) event in the last month which Ken Roko and Lane Smith
attended.

The event was discussed at our roundtable mtg at the Academy for
Educational Development in D.C. in the spring of 1995 which you
attended.

Should you be interested in the results of our Tampere event, pls visit;

1. Event program:

<http://www.uta.fi//EGEDL/>

2. Handout with all relevant materials:

<http://www.uta.fi//EGEDL/outline>

3. Photos, audio, music and video -- which was made by Roger
Boston:

<http://www.teched.org/finland/>

4. Summary diagrams (not completed yet) -- which was made by
Ken Roko:

<http://www.teched.org/finland/msu.ppt>

5. Summary of pilot projects:

<http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/asia-pacific/index.html>

and click on World Regional Project Summaries.

Lane Smith agreed with my suggestion that we work for the US/Japan
collaboration to enhance the Leland program from the present 128 Kbps to
broadband Internet. I am expecting his brief write-up on this approach
which I plan to take to the Director-General of the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA).

(3) Dear John Afele:
================

RE: Your msg to Shahab of 9/9/99 in ATTACHMENT II:

I had a similar idea of the Mobile project when I started the Consortium
for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education (CAADE). Then, Roger
Boston informed me that he had a very large truck (14 or 16 wheels)
which has a complete set of computers and dish antenna with two class
room settings, etc. which he takes to rural areas of Texas. You may ask
him about it -- if not in use now, you may ask its loan or second-hand
purchasing.

However, referring to ATTACHMENT IV, you may consider the use of
wireless broadband Internet (the so-called fixed wireless
approach) if there is line-of-sight condition among targeted
buildings within 10 to 25 miles each other. This may be cheaper
and more permanent approach than the mobil.

RE: ATTACHMENT III and V:

I greatly appreciate your offer of making your University of Guelph as
the Administration Center for our African region operation.

However, for this purpose, your school needs to have a broadband (at
least 45 Mbps) Internet connection.

Will your school be a member of CA*Net3? -- see ATTACHMENT VI.

Pls inform me your talk on this matter with Lane Smith and John Mack in
D.C. this week. I would be very happy to visit you for our further
discussion on this matter.

I look forward to receiving your InfoDev format materials.

Pls have a very fruitful trip to D.C.

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

From: "John Afele" <jafele@plant.uoguelph.ca>
Organization: Plant Agriculture, Univ. of Guelph
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 13:51:07 EST
Subject: (Fwd) Proposal

Dear Prof. Utsumi-san:

I have just sent our proposals to John Mack, whose request is below.

Best wishes,

John Afele

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 13:25:16 -0400
From: John Mack <jlmack@erols.com>
To: JAFELE@plant.uoguelph.ca, JAFELE@uoguelph.ca
Subject: Proposal

Hi John,

I worked with USAID to create the Leland Initiative for full
web-accessible Internet in Africa and I work closely with Mel Foote
(Executive Director of the Consituency for Africa). I would
appreciate receiving a copy of your proposal. Thanks.

John Mack
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II

From: "John Afele" <jafele@plant.uoguelph.ca>
Organization: Plant Agriculture, Univ. of Guelph
To: afroz@khi.compol.com
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 09:38:45 EST
Subject: Our Framework
CC: utsumi@columbia.edu, kanani@uoguelph.ca

Dear Shahab,

Thanks for yours.
1) I discussed your messages with my colleague Kofi Anani, with whom
I have developed the themes, some of which I have passed on to you,
and I am now able to send you our comprehensive framework. For the
specific issue of school connectivity, I thought the project
proposals would be adequate but after reading your message yesterday,
we thought if you saw the over-arching scheme, it MIGHT give you some
perspectives on the wider dimension of connectivity. Particularly,
even if your government was interested in connectivity
for architectural engineering, what implications would that have in
relation to alleviating housing crises, especially if the
building material and other input were not based on the local assets
of the target groups. Or first, whom is the design to benefit - 20%
of the population or the majority who might be rural people or urban
destitutes?

2) I have a hyper-linked Table of Contents (it might not work for
you) to guide you through for selective reading. The file is aki.rtf
(you already have specific proposals in health and education which we
synthesized from the overall plan.

I will try to answer your other questions as soon as I find a bit
more time.

Best wishes for the day.

John Afele

> Hello John
>
> Thanks very much for the attachment . I would apprecaite if you could also
> send me a letter from the University or by you stating that you would be
> willing to assocaite with PLANWEL in the SMART SCHOOL project.being
> implemented by the goverment of Pakistan. Would you be participating on this
> project or would the University be also involved. Both ways it is fine with
> us, although the University particpation would be better.
>
> BTW I am not in contact with Mr. Don for quite sometime and if you come
> along him , pls convey my regards.
>
> Regards
> ______________________________
> Shahab Khan, Director
> Planwel University,
> A-1, L.C.H.S., Block-20,
> Gulistan-e-Jauhar,
> Karachi-75290
> Pakistan
> http://www.planwel.edu
> afroz@planwel.edu
> afroz@khi.compol.com
> PH: (92-21)811-5094, (92-21)811-5851
> FAX: (92-21)811-6178

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Afele <jafele@plant.uoguelph.ca>
> To: afroz@khi.compol.com <afroz@khi.compol.com>
> Date: Thursday, September 09, 1999 7:16 PM
> Subject: Re: Dr. DON RICHARDSON
>
>
> Dear Shahab,
>
> I received your earlier message and will study it later today and
> comment/reply. I am sending you a file (aki-bio) which includes the
> framework idea, network (informal) including a list of faculty here.
> Please let me know if you need more information. I Yes, I know Dr.
> Richardson and I admire his knowledge of the hardware in the
> communications field. I would recommend him for that however I
> concentrate on content development, which I think he doesn't have
> enough of. Therefore, you may find out from the globalknowledge
> listserv that I debated him on issues as such (last year's messages,
> say summer time). The site is http://www.globalknowledge.org and look
> for mail archives.
>
> My design of the information feeder route system (Mobile project) I
> sent you stems from my experiences and knowledge of rurality in the
> South. That we need to find a way to connect rural schools by that
> method until we can provide physical and stand-alone
> connectivity stations. The future lies in children and many children
> of the South might not be connected in the manner Westerners are
> familiar with for some time to come but they also need access to the
> global knowledge grid - now!
>
> regards,
>
> John
>
>
> > Dear John
> >
> > I have checked our data base and it appears that we have been in touch
> with the following gentleman of the University of Guelph who had the
> oppurtunity of visiting Pakistan. Perhaps you could also>
> >
> > Dr. Don Richardson
> > Director
> > Don Snowden Program for Development Communication
> > School of Rural Extension Studies
> > Faculty of Environmental Design and Rural Development
> > University of Guelph
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > ______________________________
> > Shahab Khan, Director
> > Planwel University,
> > A-1, L.C.H.S., Block-20,
> > Gulistan-e-Jauhar,
> > Karachi-75290
> > Pakistan
> > http://www.planwel.edu
> > afroz@planwel.edu
> > afroz@khi.compol.com
> > PH: (92-21)811-5094, (92-21)811-5851
> > FAX: (92-21)811-6178
****************************************
ATTACHMENT III

From: "John Afele" <jafele@plant.uoguelph.ca>
Organization: Plant Agriculture, Univ. of Guelph
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 09:49:27 EST
Subject: My Position at Guelph

Dear Prof. Utsumi-san

I met my Dean yesterday and he has agreed to fund an independent
faculty position for me to harness what I have been attempting to
orchestrate. This initiative is supported philosophically by the
faculty of my department and many others in Guelph. My academic
department would be plant agriculture however I will be working
with the international dimensions of my college (Ontario
Agricultural College). Therefore, my program is now legitimate. I
am yet to discuss the details of funding and support I will be
receiving. I intend it to incubated for a period within which I
would have generated some funding for the projects I am
designing.

I am expecting things to be better therefore. I would be devoting
100% of my time to this effort possibly from Oct 1 (but I am yet
to discuss the entire issue with my current boss.)

I have been preparing both for the Washington trip and a presentation
to my laboratory on Monday. Both have the same deadline but are on
different issues. This is why I have not got back to you yet
regarding the infoDev form. Please excuse my delay. I want to fill
out the form intelligently so I want to make sure I have enough time
to do it very well.

Thanking you once again,

John Afele
****************************************
ATTACHMENT IV

From: "John Afele" <jafele@plant.uoguelph.ca>
Organization: Plant Agriculture, Univ. of Guelph
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 15:48:42 EST
Subject: African Initiatives

Dear Prof. Utsumi-san:

According to the Leland web site (USAID),
http://www.info.usaid.gov/regions/afr/leland/techdsgn.htm
it seems the internet access to Ghana is at 128kbp.

According to the program of the Science and Technology Roundtable I
am attending next week in Washington, Mr. Lane Smith, Leland
Initiative Coordinator (USAID) is expected to be a panelist as well.
Mr. John Mack, who helped start the Leland Initiative, and I also
have plans to meet. I will find out from them about the specifics
though.

Below is a section of their description but varies depending on what
was appropriate and host-country government wishes:

1. Single Channel Per Carrier ("SCPC"): 128KB point-to-point satellite
access. Recommend using 3.8 meter dish; or 2. Time Division Multiple
Access ("TDMA"): 128KB shared satellite network access. Recommend
using 2.4 or 3.8 meter dish; or 3. Utilize an existing national
teleport: This requires USAID to provide a multiplexor to split off an
excess 128KB (minimum) of voice capacity for Internet traffic.

If no communications link exists between the USAID-provided earth
terminal and the Network Operating Center ("NOC"), then Leland will
provide a line-of-sight wireless solution.

Thanking you.

John Afele

> Pls visit USAID's URL at <http://www.info.usaid.gov> and find out
> if it extended 128 Kbps Internet from the US to Ghana.
****************************************
ATTACHMENT V

From: "John Afele" <JAFELE@plant.uoguelph.ca>
Organization: Plant Agriculture, Univ. of Guelph
To: Tak Utsumi <utsumi@www.friends-partners.org>, jafele@plant.uoguelph.ca,
jafele@uoguelph.ca
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 00:58:00 EST
Subject: Re: Proposed Outline of Global University System Structure

Dear Prof. Utsumi-san:

I see that concrete decisions have not yet been made regarding the
African component of the Global University System, concerning the
message of Bob Converse. Thus I am wondering if you would include
Guelph as a candidate for hosting the African component. In my file
to you (aki.rtf) I had indicated creation of a surrogate host or hub
on African activities. Therefore, if in your plans to USAID's Leland
Initiative, you would discuss this request, I would be grateful. I
recall your earlier statement that we need Canadian Involvement. I
might already have indicated to you that the Dean of my college
(Prof. Rob McLaughlin), and other Chairs and faculty are supportive
of the initiatives I have described with my colleague (Kofi). My
Chair has told me to describe my new position as Director,
International Program for Africa, Department of Plant Agriculture. It
is important to note that Plant ASgriculture is my academic
department but the initiatives integrate many disciplines run at
Guelph. In Ghana, we have institutions such as University of Ghana's
Legon Centre for International Affairs and the Science and Technology
Policy Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research. My immediate goals would be obtaining MOUs
between my program and institutions we have informal relations with,
especially in Africa, with Ghana as focus.

Thanking you as always.

John Afele
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
John C. Afele, Ph.D
Program Director
The Indigenous African Perspective
on Sustainable Livelihoods
c/o Department of Plant Agriculture,
Crop Science Division
University of Guelph, Guelph,
Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1

Chair, Grants & Research Committe,
Ghana Computer Literacy and Distance Education project
< http://www.ghaclad.org >

Member of Africa TeleHealth Consorutium
< http://ccen.uccb.ns.ca/nairobi >

Member, IT for Development Working Group
Council for Tropical and Sub-Tropical Agriculture, Germany
< http://www.dainet.de/gil >

Telephone:(Bus)1-519-824-4120 ext 3934/8164
(Home) 1-519-831-4862
Email: jafele@plant.uoguelph.ca
jafele@uoguelph.ca
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
****************************************
ATTACHMENT VI

The Great Wired North
By Michael J. Martinez
ABCNEWS.com
Aug. 27, 1999

http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/cuttingedge/canadanet990827.html

What if there were a brand-new,
fiber-optic, blazingly fast, nationwide computer
network ? and no one knew quite what to do with
it?
Using a $55 million grant from the Canadian
government, a consortium of universities and
businesses has fashioned a next-generation,
Internet-style network, stretching from Nova Scotia to
British Columbia. So speedy is CA*Net3, as the network
is called, that the entire contents of the U.S. Library of
Congress could be transmitted from one end of Canada
to the other in just one second.
In the United States, the Internet2 project can
handle that kind of load ? but it still takes a full
minute for a bicoastal download.
Canada hopes to use this world s fastest
nationwide network to stake its claim to the high-tech
future. Unlike Internet2, however, CA*Net3 is finding it
difficult to attract researchers who can use the
brand-new network.
"Nobody knows what we re going to use this for,"
says Alan Greenberg, director of computing at McGill
University in Montreal. "But that s the reason you
build these things ? so that people can find new ways
to do things."

Pure Optics
Unlike other research networks, including the ARPANet
system that formed the basis for today s Internet,
CA*Net3 is completely optical ? no telephone lines are
used. Instead, the Canadian government stretched
fiber-optic cable across the country, linking it to 11
"gigapops," network hubs that serve as switching
stations for billions of bits of data per second.
Other networks, including Internet2 and the
Next-Generation Internet project in the United States,
also use backup layers, in addition to fiber optics, to
ensure that data will continue to flow if the
fiber-optic cables are cut or disrupted. However,
CA*Net3 doesn t have those backups. Instead, data are
automatically rerouted at the gigapops if a disruption
is detected. Rerouting uses network rings ? loops of
cable interconnected with the gigapops.
"In our network rings, we automatically use both
sides of the ring in transmitting data," says Bill St.
Arnaud, the senior director of network projects for the
Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research,
Industry and Education (Canarie), which is running
CA*Net3. "Thus, if one side of the loop goes down, the
other side can pick up the slack."

Rainbow of Data
CA*Net3 also employs new technology that allows
different wavelengths of light to be transmitted along
the same fiber-optic cable. By using eight colors of
light, the amount of data sent through the cable can be
increased by a factor of eight.
That means 80 gigabits of data per second can be
transmitted through CA*Net3 every second. That s 1.4
million times faster than the download speed of a 56K
modem, and about 60 times faster than America s
Internet2 project.
And it could improve even more, St. Arnaud says.
Theoretically, an infinite number of wavelengths of
light could pass through a fiber-optic cable without
interfering with each other. Right now, researchers are
working on transmitting data on 2,000 wavelengths ?
somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 gigabits or
20 terabits.

Filling the Pipe
Now all that s needed are applications to make use of
such huge bandwidth.
"Everyone is used to dealing with small
bandwidth," Greenberg says. "They re still trying to
figure out how best to use this really big pipe they ve
been handed."
A few ideas have been advanced. Canada s national
human genome project, an effort to map all the DNA in
the human body, is using CA*Net3 to link 40 powerful
computers to perform necessary calculations.
The Canadian National Film Board is also using the
network, to create an on-demand movie jukebox.
Computers linked to CA*Net3 can request one of 700
movies currently online. The film board s server
controls a robotic arm that can select and play the
DVD-ROM of the film, sending it over CA*Net3.
In the next few years, St. Arnaud hopes to link
public schools to the new network, using only
fiber-optic cables and giving schools total access to
the immense amount of bandwidth available. From
there, it s easy to envision connecting every Canadian
home to the optical network. With an increase in the
number of light wavelengths available, there will be
enough bandwidth for generations.
And what they ll do with it is anyone s guess.


Note #1:
Canada Builds the World s Fastest
Network ? And Wonders How to Use
It

Note #2:
Canada s new CA*Net3 research
network will link government,
business and universties across the
country with a 100 percent
fiber-optic network ? and then what?
(ABCNEWS.com)

Note #3:
S U M M A R Y
Canada s businesses, universities and
government teamed up to create one of
the fastest computer networks ever. Now
researchers have to figure out how to
use it.

Note #4:
W E B L I N K
Canarie: the Canadian Network for the
Advancement of Research, Industry and
Education

Note #5:
"Everyone is used to dealing with small
bandwidth. They re still trying to figure

out how best to use this really
big pipe
they ve been handed."
Alan Greenberg, McGill University

Note #6:
Canada s national human genome
project is using CA*Net3 to link 40
powerful computers to perform the
necessary calculations.
****************************************
List of Distribution

John C. Afele, Ph.D
Program Director
The Indigenous African Perspective on Sustainable Livelihoods
Department of Plant Agriculture
Crop Science Division
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario
Canada N1G 2W1
Telephone:(Bus)1-519-824-4120 ext 3934/8164
(Home) 1-519-831-4862
Fax: 1-519-763-8933
JAFELE@plant.uoguelph.ca
jafele@uoguelph.ca
Chair, Grants & Research Committe,
Ghana Computer Literacy and Distance Education project
< http://www.ghaclad.org >
Member of Africa TeleHealth Consorutium
< http://ccen.uccb.ns.ca/nairobi >
Member, IT for Development Working Group
Council for Tropical and Sub-Tropical Agriculture, Germany
< http://www.dainet.de/gil >

John Mack
WorldSpace Foundation
jlmack@erols.com

Mr. Lane Smith
Coordinator of the Leland Initiative
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Ronald Reagan Bldg.
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20523-3901
202-712-0826
Fax: 202-216-3373
lasmith@usaid.gov
http://www.info.usaid.gov

Kenneth O. Roko
President/CEO
Next Generation Networks Technology, Inc.
8218 Running Creek Ct.
Springfield, VA 22153
T: 703-455-8771
F: 860-649-1760
C: 703-919-1965
E: KenRoko@aol.com
www.ngntech.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
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)

Roger Lee Boston
Rockwell Chair Instructor and Consultant for Creativity
Distance Education/Technology Center
Office of the President
Houston Community College System
4310 Dunlavy
P. O. Box 7849
Houston, TX 77270-7849
713-718-5224 (direct)
713-718-5297
713-523-6905
713-265-5343 (main)
FAX: 713 718-5301
http://www.teched.org/
http://www.rboston.com
http://www.hccs.cc.tx.us
http://198.64.57.10/tgcccc/hccs/page1b.htm
rboston@tenet.edu
boston_r@hccs.cc.tx.us
**********************************************************************
* 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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