Request to Tampere event attendees

<<September 8, 1999>>

Peter T. Knight <ptknight@ibm.net>

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

Kimberly K. Obbink <kobbink@montana.edu>

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

(1) Many thanks for your msgs.

APPENDIX I from David A. Johnson

APPENDIX II from Peter T. Knight

APPENDIX III from David A. Johnson

(2) ANNEX I is the duplicate of my previous distribution -- sorry for this
duplication.

(3) Attendees of Tampere event with NSF travel grant:
=================================================

As I requested you in ANNEX I, I would greatly appreciate it if you can
kindly send me your observation, review and frank comment to our Tampere
event, e.g., on preparation, fund raising, programs, quality of the
event, handout, administration/arrangement, entertainments, etc. ASAP --
while your memory is fresh.

Your comments will also help our preparation of the Tokyo
workshop/conference next April or May.

As the NSF travel grantee, you are obliged to submit your brief report.
Your response to Peter's request would do the same.

Dear Kim:
=========

I will forward their replies to you as soon as I receive from them
so that you can compile them into your report to the NSF.

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

I will do the same for your report to the InfoDev, too.

Thanks in advance, and look forward to receiving your response soon,

Best, Tak
****************************************
ANNEX I

<<September 1, 1999>>

Peter T. Knight <ptknight@ibm.net>

Shahab Khan <Afroz@khi.compol.com>

(1) Dear Peter:
===========

Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT I).

(2) You asked us the major lessons learned from our Tampere event which may
be of general interest in the use of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) in education,

(3) My itemized brief reply is as follows;

(a) The attendees are all like-minded" people so that they easily and
quickly absorbed the concept and need of a global project,
particularly in education and healthcare.

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 which 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 available affordably and
accessibly in developing countries so that general trend towards
democracy and transparency in government worldwide can be realized
for rising standards of living in those countries who have decided
to play by the globalization, and for a general absence of war
between countries who have plugged into" the globalization
system.

(b) The global 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 mtg with the colleagues
is absolute necessity to kick-off real action of the project,
after extensive preparation of such a mtg with the currently
available telecom means.

(c) Albeit it is necessary to have detailed survey and investigation
for each locality, wireless broadband Internet is the future trend
of 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.

(d) Deployment of wireless broadband Internet in global scale,
training of facilitators, development of advanced coursewares,
administration of delivery systems, etc. require huge investment
which can only be made by the multilateral joint overseas
development assistance of major countries.

(4) Dear Participants of Tampere event:
===================================

Peter Knight is a former officer of the World Bank.

He kindly commended the InfoDev to finance our Tampere event, but could
not attend it -- Peter, sorry about it.

I would greatly appreciate it if you can kindly provide me with your
succinct comments how you experienced our event from the viewpoint of
his request.

(5) Dear Electronic Colleagues who did not attend the event:
========================================================

I would also welcome any comments from you. Pls be frank.

(6) Dear Shahab:
============

Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT II).

Although we cannot guarantee yet, we will work harder to get travel
funds for our Tokyo workshop/conference. Pls prepare/work from your
side, too.

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

Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 16:13:38 -0400
From: "Peter T. Knight" <ptknight@ibm.net>
Organization: Knight-Moore Telematics for Education and Development, CDI
To: Tak Utsumi <utsumi@www.friends-partners.org>, utsumi@columbia.edu
Subject: Lessons from the Tampere conference

Dear Tak,

I've been following in the background, very sorry I was not able to
attend. As one of those who recommended to infoDev that they finance the
project (on being asked to review your proposal), I was hoping they
would send me. As it turned out, I ended up leaving my vacation in Maine
to assess the distance learning capabilities of two US universities who
may be involved in national training project.

In any case, I have been asked by infoDev to look at a number of
projects involving education and training to try to draw out the major
lessons learned which may be of more general interest. These can include
lessons about the infoDev grant-making process itself, but perhaps more
importantly, lessons learned from the projects themselves. The Tampere
project is among those I am to review.

While I have still not seen the precise terms of this job, it is on a
fairly short fuse. Thus I wanted you to be thinking of what you believe
you and the participants in Tampere learned that is of greatest
interest to those interested in the use of ICT in education. I am not
interested in 50 pages, but rather a short concise statement of the most
important findings which deserve broader review than a formal report is
likely to get.

I will of course supplement this request by a more detailed one in the
near future if that is required.

With best regards, and congraulations for your tenacity and
entrepreneurship in bringing the conference, for which I remember
planning began back at the Academy for Educational Development years
ago!

Of course, you are free to solicit the opinions of your participants as
well -- but I must stress, the Tampere conference is one of
approximately eight projects I am reviewing, so I want to keep the
findings concise and powerful.

With best regards,

Peter

Tel: 1-202-775-2132 (secretary), 202-721-0348 (direct)
Fax: 1-202-775-2135 (office) 1-202-362-8482 (home)
email: ptknight@ibm.net webmail: ptknight@netscape.net
www: http://www.knight-moore.com http://www.cdinet.com
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II

From: "Shahab Khan" <afroz@khi.compol.com>
To: "Tak" <utsumi@columbia.edu>
Subject: OBSERVATION FOR INFODEV AND NSF
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 11:37:36 +0500

Dear Tak

As advised by you, I would like to submit my comments for Travel funds to
attend such conferences:

1. InfoDev should give priority to attendees form Developing countries such as
ours in getting travel grant and also to insititution who are operating on a
not for profit such as PLANWEL to further the cause of education in a local
and more important international context.

2. Travel grant information should be available well in advance and
communications channels should be open. Some of our communication to the
INfodev for travel grant were never replied or acknowledged.

3. Sponsors should provide conference details and information of all attendees
to the Info Dev/NSF for obtaining travel funds ASAP.

4. The Tokyo Conference due in April 2000 should have attendees from
Developing countries, recommended by Sponsors of Conference, who do not have
funds and are an important link in the Global education process and transfer
of knowledge to the developing nations.

I hope these comments may be of some use to you.

Kind regards=20
______________________________
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
****************************************
APPENDIX I

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 16:41:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: David A Johnson <djohnutk@utkux.utcc.utk.edu>
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
Subject: Fax received

Tak: I have now received your fax and will work on a response this
evening. I will also prepare a short response for possible use in
replying to Peter Knight's request. The Tampere event was outstanding and
even historic and we need to convey this to the World Bank people through
Peter.

Regards,

Dave

David A. Johnson, Ph.D., AICP
Professor, 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/
****************************************
APPENDIX II

Date: Wed, 01 Sep 1999 22:46:41 -0400
From: "Peter T. Knight" <ptknight@ibm.net>
Organization: Knight-Moore Telematics for Education and Development, CDI
To: gu-l@www.friends-partners.org, utsumi@columbia.edu
Subject: Re: Requesting succinct review comment of Tampere event

Thanks, Tak, for your statement. I see it as more of a statement of your
convictions prior to the conference as well as during it. I am
interested in seeing what new came out of the conference itself, in
terms of "lessons". That doesn't make what you said irrelevant at all,
just I would like to hear what people took away from the conference that
they didn't bring to it. Thus your circulation of my request is much
appreciated.

With best regards,

Peter

--
Peter T. Knight
Knight, Moore - Telematics for Education and Development
Communications Development Incorporated (CDI)
Strategy, Policy, Design, Implementation, Evaluation
1825 Eye Street, NW, Suite 1075
Washington, DC 20006, USA
Tel: 1-202-775-2132 (secretary), 202-721-0348 (direct)
Fax: 1-202-775-2135 (office) 1-202-362-8482 (home)
email: ptknight@ibm.net webmail: ptknight@netscape.net
www: http://www.knight-moore.com http://www.cdinet.com
****************************************
APPENDIX 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:

(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:

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

(4) 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/
****************************************
List of Distribution

Peter T. Knight
Knight, Moore - Telematics for Education and Development
Communications Development Incorporated (CDI)
Strategy, Policy, Design, Implementation, Evaluation
1825 Eye Street, NW, Suite 1075
Washington, DC 20006, USA
Tel: 1-202-775-2132 (secretary), 1-202-721-0348 (direct)
Fax: 1-202-775-2135 (office), 1-202-362-8482 (home)
Email: ptknight@ibm.net
webmail: ptknight@netscape.net
http://www.knight-moore.com
http://www.cdinet.com
IP for CU-SeeMe: 198.77.80.46

Dr. David A. Johnson, AICP
Former President of Fulbright Association
Professor of School of Planning
College of Arts and Sciences
University of Tennessee
108-I Hoskins Library
1401 Cumberland Ave.
Knoxville, TN 37996-4015
423-974-5227
Fax: 423-974-5229
daj@utk.edu
davidj@buncombe.main.nc.us
DJOHNSON@UTKVX.UTCC.UTK.EDU
http://web.utk.edu/~djohnutk/

Kimberly K. Obbink
Director
Burns Telecommunications Center and Extended Studies
Montana State University
128 EPS Building
Bozeman, MT 59717-3860
406-994-6550
406-994-5681 (direct)
Fax: 406-994-7856
kobbink@montana.edu

P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor
Chairman, GLOSAS/Finland
Professor and Chair
Media Culture and Communication Education
Hypermedia laboratory
Chairman, Scientific Council
Information Society Research Center
University of Tampere
P.O.Box 607
FIN-33101 Tampere
Finland
tel: +358-3-215 6111
Direct (24 hour availability) mobile phone:
GSM +358-50-567-9833
fax: +358-3-215 7503
tapio.varis@uta.fi
titava@uta.fi
http://www.uta.fi
http://www.uta.fi/hyper/
http://www.uta.fi/~titava -- Tapio's page with photo
**********************************************************************
* 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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