[gu-l] WB/ADB's Clean Air Initiative for Cities of Asia (continued)
Tak Utsumi
utsumi@columbia.edu
Fri, 15 Jun 2001 00:23:25 +0000 (GMT)
<<June 14, 2001>>
Archived distributions can be retrieved by clicking "Correspondence" in our
home page at <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/>.
For those after 2/27/01, see or bookmark:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/gu-l/> and click on "Date," for
example. The most recent archives are the bottom line.
Vicky Feinstein <vfeinstein@pressroom.com>
Mr. Anthony Bigio <Abigio@worldbank.org>
Dr. Joseph N. Pelton <ecjpelton@aol.com>
Roger Lee Boston <rboston@tenet.edu>
Dear Vicky:
===========
(1) Many thanks for your prompt reply (ATTACHMENT I) in response to my
previous list distribution of "WB/ADB's Clean Air Initiative for
Cities of Asia" which can be retrieved at the URL indicated at the top
of this msg.
(2) I can now know how Mr. Bigio wants to deliver the distance learning
course on urban air quality management, i.e., using analog (or
digital) satellite one-way broadcasting.
(3) Although you say that there is interactivity, it must be done via
analog telephony (which is usually expensive, particularly from
overseas countries) and synchronous (which requires all the viewers to
get together at the same time). Satellite transponders are usually
very expensive, too. This is the so-called, satellite
videoconferencing mode with classroom replication, distance learning.
Because of those limitations, the usage of satellite for this mode in
the US has now been dropped to less than one third of the once peak-time
usage.
(4) We have done many of those satellite videoconferencing and termed it
"Global Lecture Hall (GLH)" (TM) multipoint-to-multipoint, multimedia,
interactive videoconferencing. We sometimes used 9 transponders and
11 channels covering from Asia to Eastern Europe -- see more in my
book draft/Chapter 2 at;
http://www.friends-
partners.org/GLOSAS/Bookwriting/Contents_of_Book.html
(5) We did all of them free of charge, as taking the advantage of PROJECT
ACCESS of INTELSAT which was initiated by Joe Pelton while he was at
the INTELSAT many years ago.
Incidentally, China Central Radio and TV University was created
with the use of this provision at the beginning, and now use 4
transponders of their own domestic satellites to teach some 4
million students throughout mainland China.
Indonesia Open University also is a pioneer of analog satellite
one-way broadcasting distance education with their PALAPA
satellite.
Japan Foundation also has Japanese language teaching satellite
program via analog satellite extending to many Asian countries.
If you have enough money to last your program for long, you may ask
them to piggyback your program with theirs. Since their participants
have already satellite dish antenna, you may save costs of locating
the organizations with the antenna -- on the other hand, if you do by
yourself, it would take a lot of time, effort and money, as we
experienced with our GLH videoconferencings. However, if you want to
go this route, we may be able to find some satellites with extra
capacity for your use in Asian countries -- free of charge or at
nominal fee.
(6) Because of those factors, we have given up the use of satellite
videoconferencing approach long time ago, and shifted to the use of
Internet -- of course, satellite may be used to transmit/receive
Internet signals in remote areas in developing countries.
For example, Roger Boston demonstrated the use of NetMeeting of
Microsoft (which is available free of charge) with inexpensive
camera attached to a SONY/PictureBook via 70 Kbps Internet in
Manaus, Brazil which is the middle of rain forest jungle in May
of last year. The video and audio qualities for connecting with
Houston, New York and England, etc. were superb and sufficient
for talking-head type instructors -- without any costs!! (See
ATTACHMENT II.)
Subsequently, our main focus of providing affordable and accessible
distance learning is to have our colleagues in developing countries a
broadband Internet -- preferably in wireless mode. This is also to
close digital divide in those countries.
Pls feel free to ask any other questions.
Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I
Subject: Yes, happy to be in your list
Date: Thursday, June 14, 2001 2:11 PM
From: Vicky Pinpin-Feinstein <vfeinstein@pressroom.com>
To: <utsumi@friends-partners.org>
Dr. Utsumi:
I just received the e-mail you sent today detailing your present efforts.
Also, I am glad to be admitted into your list to be updated with your
projects' progress.
I have forwarded the e-mail to Mr. Bigio, Abigio@worldbank.org. I imagine
that he will be interested as well in knowing that GLOSAS was started with
your idea on Globally Collaborating Environmental Peace gaming and
considering a series of e-learning courses on global environmental issues.
I will follow-up on the other information that you have provided in your
message. I have checked some of them in your extensive web site but I do
need to check out others. As for the Japan end, the Bank's intention is to
deliver the distance learning course on urban air quality management
themselves. They are in the process of developing and designing this course
that will be suitable to local conditions in Asian cities. They have done so
in Latin America using the ATEI (Asociacion de Television Educative Ibero-
Americana) network in Madrid but apparently has a wide reach in Latin
American countries. The weekly interactive television sessions were broadcast
from the studios of the Bank's Global Distance Learning Network and
transmitted to Madrid via the Intelsat satellite, where the signal was picked
up and retransmitted via the Hispasat satellite to ATEI's network in Latin
America. WBIEN (World Bank Institute Environment and natural Resources), it's
also Mr. Bigio's unit - would like to do a similar set-up in Asia, although
other options are not being ruled out. That is why, I asked if such a
regional network exists that may be the focal point for this DL course for
selected Asian cities. I will explore the WorldSpace satellite further as
you suggested. Also UNESCO's Man and Biosphere project.
As for possible partnerships with WBIEN, I will be preparing a report for Mr.
Bigio in the next couple of weeks which assesses the situation with regards
to DL institutions in Asia. I will note your organization and the specific
projects you are involved with relevant to DL and environmental issues in
Asia. The intent of the report is to give WBIEN the information necessary to
make decisions on partnerships and collaborations.
Thank you again for you assistance so far and best regards.
vicky
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/12/technology/12SOFT.html?searchpv=day02&pagewanted=print
June 12, 2001
Microsoft Is Ready to Supply a Phone in Every Computer
By JOHN MARKOFF
Microsoft's new Windows XP operating system for PC's goes further than ever
before in commandeering the capabilities of the most widely used desktop tool
in America: the telephone.
The ability to use the personal computer as an "intelligent" phone has been
viewed largely as a curiosity by the computer and telecommunications
industries, not to mention by consumers. Internet telephony has mostly not
been high quality, and conversations are frequently plagued with static and
delays. It has also been difficult for computer telephone callers to find
each other without inconvenient and sometimes costly third-party directory
services.
That is likely to change rapidly as Microsoft's new software prepares to
exploit the next generation of the Internet, offering computer-based
telephony with better-quality voice than before and with more powerful
features than the traditional phone.
And that has some high-technology executives wondering whether the telephone
companies are going to be the next target in Microsoft's sights.
Microsoft is preparing to include both high-quality telephone and directory
features in Windows XP, which is scheduled to be commercially available on
Oct. 25.
Weaving improved versions of features Microsoft already offers, like online
video meeting software and Internet voice chat, and integrating them with a
more sophisticated version of the company's identity system, known as
Passport, Microsoft asserts that it will transform the very nature of the
telephone.
In the future, not only will Internet telephone calls be higher quality than
on today's telephone network, but the personal computer will offer new
features like the ability to tell whether the person being called is at her
desktop computer before the call is made and "follow-me" capabilities that
let the network track a person's location whether she is at the desk, at home
or reachable by cellular phone.
One favorite voice and computer capability described by Microsoft's chairman,
William H. Gates, is the ability to call a restaurant and have its menu pop
up on a computer screen during the call.
Moreover, Internet telephony may offer Microsoft powerful new revenue
potential from subscription services, like Caller ID and voice mail, in which
it will begin to compete with traditional telecommunications companies. The
company has said that it is trying to generate new subscription revenue from
all of its software products as part of its new Internet strategy, known as
.Net.
That new power has some of the company's competitors worrying that Microsoft
is planning to steal revenue from the telecommunications industry in the same
way it undermined competitors like Netscape in the software business by
adding free features to its operating system.
If telephone calling becomes a standard free feature of the Microsoft
operating system, they say, it could bring huge changes to the
telecommunications landscape.
"Microsoft is going to suck the value out of the telecommunications
companies," said David Isenberg, a former Bell Laboratories researcher who
has written about the impact of the Internet on traditional communications
networks. "Microsoft is going to do end-to-end Internet telephony, and
they're going to do it right."
For longtime experts on the communications and computer industries,
Microsoft's move is not a surprise.
"I don't think it's shocking at all," said Reed E. Hundt, a former Federal
Communications Commission chairman who is now an adviser on information
technology at McKinsey & Company and a member of the board of the Intel
Corporation. "It's like predictions of earthquakes: you know it's
statistically certain to occur, but it's still kind of rattling when it
happens."
Microsoft executives said that the company was discussing the relationship of
Windows XP with telecommunications and Internet companies and that it might
announce new alliances before it begins its operating system this fall.
"I think it's highly unlikely that we will become a network carrier," said
Craig Mundie, Microsoft's senior vice president for advanced strategies. He
acknowledged, however, that the company was looking to produce revenue from
new telephone-based services. "To the extent that we can add a cool
capability, maybe it's possible that we can make it a subscription service."
That is likely to mean that the line between the telephone industry and
Microsoft's emerging .Net Internet strategy will be increasingly blurred.
Even if Microsoft does not become a network carrier, it presents a
potentially formidable challenge to the regional phone companies.
It is clear that the regional phone companies "wonder the same things the
Netscapes have wondered: are they friend or foe?" said Brad Garlinghouse,
chief executive of Dialpad Communications, an Internet telephony company in
Santa Clara, Calif. "Any time you have a competitor with $20 billion to $30
billion in cash that's a scary proposition."
Currently, to make a call from a PC to a telephone it is necessary to have a
subscription with a third- party Internet telephony service like Dialpad or
Net2Phone.
But in the future, Microsoft competitors say, the software company will move
to rely less on third-party providers and more on Microsoft's own emerging
.Net software strategy, known as Hailstorm.
Hailstorm is intended to aggregate a wide range of personal information,
including buying habits, calendar and contact information as well as
"presence" information. Whether a computer user is in front of the computer
and available for calls or traveling in a foreign country is a piece of
information that will be held by the company's network, raising privacy and
competitive issues.
Industry executives say the telephone companies have until now believed that
voice over the Internet was a competitive threat that was in the distance and
they are only beginning to awaken to the challenge.
"The phone companies should be increasingly worried," said Andrew J. Kessler,
a partner at Velocity Capital Management, a Silicon Valley investment firm.
The phone companies themselves argue that they are very much aware of
Microsoft's looming presence, but they argue that it will face obstacles
entering their markets.
"I think we've woken up to Microsoft," said David Nagel, AT&T's chief
technology officer. "There is an enormous difference between putting a piece
of software code in a box and having a working service."
Microsoft's major current competitor in this realm, America Online, has voice
features similar to those found in current versions offered by Microsoft, but
has yet to announce any plans for an improved and integrated service of the
type expected in Windows XP. AOL declined to comment on Microsoft's plans or
its own.
For Microsoft, the voice communications system is perhaps one of the best
examples of how its legendary persistence can lead to the creation of a
formidable capability that has long been dismissed by competitors.
Microsoft has already begun shifting its focus to the personal computer as a
hub of home services and entertainment. In recent weeks, ads for Microsoft's
MSN online service have focused on the idea of shifting telephone
conversations away from the home phone.
In one commercial, a teenager who has had her phone privileges taken away by
her mother jokes with a friend about her mother's not being aware that it is
possible to have a voice conversation on the PC.
The company began putting voice features in its operating system as long ago
as 1996 with its Net Meeting program, with the idea of making voice, video
and data collaboration possible. Now it will take that technology and
integrate it with its Windows Messenger software and the .Net Passport
service, creating a single consistent mechanism for using the computer as a
telephone in Windows XP.
"One of the things we were really committed to in Windows XP was to provide
an integrated customer support mechanism," Mr. Mundie said. "Once we achieved
that, it doesn't matter if you call Microsoft because you have a problem with
Office or you call a friend" because all calling will be done in the same
way.
Consumer advocates are concerned about the Microsoft voice strategy. They say
that both Microsoft and AOL are creating proprietary platforms for new voice
services that will limit competition and hurt consumers.
"This is extremely troublesome from the point of view of market competition,"
said Gene Kimmelman, co-director of Consumers Union's Washington office.
"Consumers are not well served by two enormous fortresses. There needs to be
more openness rather than less."
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information
****************************************
Distribution List
Vicky Feinstein
Tele-Info Research Services
301 404-8570
301 587-8576 (Fax)
vfeinstein@pressroom.com
Mr. Anthony Bigio
Institute Environment and Natural Resources Division (WBIEN)
World Bank
Abigio@worldbank.org
Dr. Joseph N. Pelton
Board member of GLOSAS/USA
Senior Research Scientist
Institute for Applied Space Research, Rm 340
George Washington University
2033 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20052
202-994-5507
Fax: 202-994-5505
ecjpelton@aol.com
jpelton@seas.gwu.edu
Or,
Acting Executive Director of CITI
Vice-Chair of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation of the U.S. (ACCFUS)
Arthur C. Clark Institute for Telecommunication and Information (CITI)
4025 40th Street North
Arlington, VA 22207
(703) 536-6985
ecjpelton@aol.com
http://clarkeinstitute.com/
http://www.clarkeinstitute.com/
Roger Lee Boston
Rockwell Chair/Instructor
Distance Education/Technology Center
Houston Community College System
4310 Dunlavy Street
P.O.Box 7849
Houston, Texas 77006
USA
Tel: +1-713-718 5224
Fax: +1-713-664 0367
rboston@tenet.edu
boston_r@hccs.cc.tx.us (secondary)
http://www.rboston.com
http://www.teched.org/
http://tc1.hccs.cc.tx.us
http://www.teched.org/hist/iia.htm
http://tc1.hccs.cc.tx.us/hist/yr99/finland/ -- Tampere event
http://tc1.hccs.cc.tx.us/hist/yr00/brazil/ -- Manaus event
**********************************************************************
* 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/ *
**********************************************************************