[gu-l] (9/18/01)Possible workshop in fall of 2002 in Nagano, Japan
Tak Utsumi
utsumi@columbia.edu
Tue, 18 Sep 2001 16:04:19 +0000 (GMT)
<<September 18, 2001>>
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Yamasawa, Kiyohito, Dr.Eng. <yamasaw@gipwc.shinshu-u.ac.jp>
G. Robert (Bob) Converse <bob.converse@mauicc.Hawaii.Edu>
Steve McCarty <steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp>
P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor <tapio.varis@uta.fi>
Marco Antonio R. Dias <mardias@club-internet.fr>
Kimberly K. Obbink, Ed.D. <kobbink@montana.edu>
Dear Prof Yamasawa:
===================
(1) Many thanks for your msg of 9/15/01.
(2) I am very glad to hear of your strong willingness to hold a workshop
in the fall of 2002, at your department in Nagano-City or at any of
your dispersed university campuses, say, in Matsumoto-City, etc.
(3) The definition of workshop is a mtg at which time attendees discuss
strategies and plans of on-going or forthcoming projects. Namely, the
workshop has objectives to accomplish for the projects.
This is in contrast to ordinary academic conferences where there
are mere paper presentations of often outdated projects.
With this reason, many of funding sources now prefer to fund
workshop rather than conference.
We found this out when we organized our highly successful
Tampere event which was held at the University of Tampere,
Finland, in August, 1999. That was why we organized it with two
days for conference and three days for workshop. We named it
"Emerging Global Electronic Distance Learning (EGEDL 99)."
Then, you have to define what the forthcoming project will be, after
the workshop is over. This will then set the objectives and purposes
of the workshop.
(4) Your workshop can be in the same way as our Tampere event with two
initial days for ceremony with greetings and paper presentations, and
three days for workshop with brainstorming sessions.
In other words, your workshop may become a major event after our
Tampere event. You may name it as "Emerging Global E-Learning
(EGEL 02).
(5) Now then, your next task is to set what your workshop will discuss,
brainstorm and plan, i.e., setting its objectives and purposes, which
may be related to the goals and directions of your university after
April of 2003 when your university will be reformed from national
university to a public corporation.
In a sense, this workshop may be a significant opportunity for
your university administration to announce their future visions.
For this vision setting, you may emphasize the ICT (Information
and Communication Technologies) as the "enabler of globalization
as well as for development of community," -- as for reviving
your Shinshu (a nickname of Nagano Prefecture) as "Education
Prefecture." Pls see my previous list "(9/16/01)Final Report of
Digital Opportunity Initiative for vision setting" at
http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/gu-l/2001q3/000056.html
(6) In the spring of 1998, I requested you to present about your microwave
broadband (1.5 Mbps) Internet network which connects several dispersed
campuses around Shinshu at our Tampere event. You then kindly
attended it with your excellent presentation of it.
The reason of my request was for you to present your then most
advanced, yet inexpensive (compared with terrestrial land-line
approach) microwave Internet to connect dispersed campus locations.
This was because your technique could well be applied in many
remote/rural areas in developing countries.
As you may recall, Bob Converse of Maui Community College
presented a then forthcoming project with a fly-by animation of
connecting Hawaiian islands with a similar microwave broadband
(45 Mbps) Internet network, and which network has now been
installed.
Dear Bob:
=========
Pls send a CD of the fly-by animation to Prof. Yamasawa.
Thanks.
When you were at the Tampere event, you indicated me of your desire to
upgrade your Shinshu University Network from 1.5 Mbps to 52 Mbps, but
you needed money to do so.
Your network at 1.5 Mbps was certainly one of the world
forerunners when it was erected almost 15 years ago, but after
rapid advancement of Internet, it is now way, way behind anyone
else, -- e.g., University of Tampere, University of Sao Paulo,
and University of Milan at 165 Mbps, University of Amazona in
Manaus, Brazil at 6 Mbps, University of Guelph in Canada at 2.6
Gbps, giga bps network from north to south of Taiwan, almost all
of elementary schools in the US at 1.5 Mbps, etc.
Therefore, we would be very happy if the occasion of this workshop can
be a leverage for fulfilling your dream/desire to upgrade your network
from 1.5 Mbps to, at least, 52 Mbps.
Many universities took the similar advantages at the occasions
of our many "Global Lecture Hall (GLH)" videoconferences, e.g.,
a slow-scan TV videoconferencing unit donated from NHK (Nippon
Broadcasting Corporation) to the International University in
Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, which cost about US$10,000 at that
time, by our effort, etc., etc.
At our mtg in Tokyo last month, you indicated this upgrading as your
first desire/priority for your workshop.
Mr. Sohei Miyashita, former Secretary of Self-Defense Force and
former Minister of Health, an alumni of your university and a
congressman from my home district, indicated his strong
willingness to raise fund for this project when you and I
visited him on 8/28th. This is because he was one of the people
who helped to implement your network at the beginning.
(7) During our mtg at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on
8/31st, they indicated their willingness to financially support travel
expenses of the people coming from developing countries for attending
this workshop.
Although they have a training center in Komagane-City (about 30
minutes drive from my home town, Ina-City, in your Nagano Prefecture),
I think they do not train Japanese instructors for such microwave
Internet networking, global web-based e-learning with broadband
Internet, etc.
Therefore, it would be a very good demonstration to them of your
current (at 1.5 Mbps) or upgraded (at 52 Mbps) microwave Internet
network.
This demonstration may also include the demo of G3 (at least at
384 Kbps) handheld videophone of NTT/DoCoMo, for closing the so
-called "last-mile" to the end users, i.e., learners and
faculties at anywhere and anytime.
Although our approach is to promote broadband Internet as much
as possible, you may also demonstrate conventional e-learning
delivery systems, e.g., ISDN or analog satellite, if possible
and necessary -- for instance, tele-medicine demo via ISDN (at
384 Kbps) spanning around the world -- as we did between the
University of Tampere in Finland and Columbia University in New
York City. We can think many other topics for this demo, e.g.,
ballet teaching, science museum, etc., etc.
(8) During our mtg in Tokyo, I suggested that you may make this workshop
with a major theme on Web learning platforms. Pls visit "Reference
Materials for Constructing Guidelines for Global E-Learning" at
http://www.friends-
partners.org/GLOSAS/Global_University/Guideline/List_of_Materials.html
and find a few reference web sites and a list of platforms.
As suggested you at that time, pls select appropriate ones among them
with Steve McCarty for your Japanese (and other developing countries)
markets. We then invite the vendors of the platforms for their
exhibitions and their favorable academic clients's presentations of
their experiences with the platforms.
For their exhibitions, you may need to have 10 Mbps Local Area
Network (LAN) and their exhibition booths.
I am sure that this will promote e-learning among professors of your
university and at many other Japanese universities and colleges as
well.
This web learning platform demonstration could be similar to the
one we once planned (but canceled later) to be held at Sheffield
Hallam University in England with the cooperation of the U.K.
Open University in the last spring -- see "Preparation of
workshop in Sheffield, England - September 15, 2000" which can
be retrieved at
http://www.friends-partners.org/~utsumi/gu-l/mid-2000/9-15-a.html
(9) Upon your successful conduct of this workshop, we will be very happy
to invite you to become a Japanese counterpart of our GUS'
UNESCO/UNITWIN Networking Program.
Pls visit about the UNITWIN Program at
http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/unitwin/index.html
This program was initiated by Marco, Vice President for
Administration of our GUS while he was the director of higher
education at UNESCO in Paris almost a dozen years ago. The
program has more than 180 universities around the world, and
Marco wants to make our GUS as one of its major projects.
Therefore, it is very prestigious to have the title of the
UNESCO/UNITWIN Chair.
According to Tapio's msg of today (ATTACHMENT I), he has received an
endorsement letter from the Finnish UNESCO National Committee, and is
now ready to submit his application for the program from the Finnish
Ministry of Education to Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director General of
UNESCO in Paris. His University of Tampere will act as a headquarters
of this GUS/UNESCO/UNITWIN Program on behalf of our GUS until it will
be incorporated in Finland, i.e., to act as a surrogate mother.
For this incorporation, he has translated the statutes (i.e.,
by-laws) of our GUS from English to Finnish so that he will soon
submit its application to Finnish authority.
The counterpart members of this program can be anyone of tertial
education, i.e., national, public-corporation, or private. The
universities currently considering to become the GUS/UNESCO/UNITWIN
counterpart are the U.K. Open University, University of Milan,
University of Amazon, Cornell University, etc., etc.
We expect the incorporation of GUS and the approval/agreement of
the GUS/UNESCO/UNITWIN Program to be made by the end of this
year, at the latest. Next spring at Tapio's university, we will
then have an executive mtg with GUS directors and Trustee
members; Dr. Pekka Tarjanne, (former Director-General of the
ITU) and Dr. Federico Mayor, (President of the Foundation for
Culture of Peace and a former Director-General of the UNESCO),
and so on. At that time, we will start revising the GUS
statutes to fit with the broad vision of our GUS and also
specific terms and conditions of our GUS/UNESCO/UNITWIN
counterpart chairs.
Once this system of the GUS/UNESCO/UNITWIN is well established,
we will then configure course exchange and credit transfer,
etc., among the member universities, i.e., to establish the 21st
century version of Fulbright exchange program via Global
Broadband Internet (GBI).
This is to emulate the success of the National
Technological University in Fort Collins, CO which uses
digital satellite for mostly engineering education
covering north American continent. In contrast, our GUS
will use broadband Internet for all fields of learning and
in global scale.
(10) Prof. Hajime Matsuzaki, former professor and my professor while I was
at your university almost a half century ago, kindly attended our mtg
at your university on 8/23rd.
He previously mentioned of his concerns on;
(a) literacy of Nagano Prefecture citizens which plummeted to within
5 lowest ranking among other 50 prefectures of Japan,
(b) Japanese youngsters' heart which is getting poorer and poorer in
reverse proportionally to the rise of Japanese economic
prosperity.
On the former, I said at our mtg on 8/23rd that "3 Rs; i.e., Reading,
wRiting and aRithmetic (Yomi, Kaki, Soroban in Japanese)" ought to be
replaced with;
1. Fluent English speaking,
This is NOT to make Japanese as American, but to be
global citizen, since English is the lingua franca.
2. Capability to use PC,
3. Capability to use Internet.
I hope your workshop would become a threshold event to open the
eyes of your faculties and Nagano Prefecture citizens.
On the latter, I hope that your workshop would become a foothold for
your university and Nagano Prefecture to become a model of global
contributions. We would need to foster the spirit of world love and
peace with voluntary public services through global e-learning among
youngsters of Shinshu.
(11) We have surmountable tasks at the dawn of globalization and
digitalization -- not only at your university but also same elsewhere,
i.e., faculty training, shortage of skillful experts, opening eyes of
decision makers, promotion of e-learning, funding, etc., etc. They
are challenging jobs and we have to work on them, since we can live
only in tomorrow, not yesterday.
Let's work together, as firstly focusing on the success of your
workshop, and later for further development afterward, etc. This is
because the global e-learning is the inevitable and unavoidable future
for everybody around the world.
We would be very happy to assist you with our best, and I would be
very sure that our e-colleagues would be the same as well.
(12) Pls send me your first draft of fund raising application as taking
into account the aforementioned varioous points and subjects, so that
you and I can work together via email quickly. Pls utilize any part
of our materials, especially in;
(a) Item 1-c in "Current Reference Websites" at
http://www.friends-
partners.org/GLOSAS/Global_University/Global%20University%20System/Reference_web_sites.html
(b) "Travel Grant Application: Mini-Workshop for Pilot Project of
Global University System in the Philippines for Tele-learning
and Tele-Health/Tele-Medicine" at
http://www.friends-
partners.org/GLOSAS/Manila%20Workshop/NSF_appl_for_Manila.html
On our side in the US, we have to submit a travel grant application to
the US National Science Foundation (NSF) for those Americans who will
attend your workshop, as similar to Item (12)-(b) above. This
application will be submitted by Kim at Montana State University
(MSU), my alma mater, whom you met at our Tampere event. The lead
time for the evaluation of this application usually takes about 4
months. Therefore, I would like to work on it as soon as I receive
your first draft.
Looking forward to receiving your response soon,
Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I
Subject: Re: Unesco Chair
Date: Monday, September 17, 2001 5:54 AM
From: Tapio Varis <tapio.varis@uta.fi>
To: M Dias <marcoantoniodias@yahoo.com>, <tvaris@helsinki.fi>
Cc: <utsumi@columbia.edu>
Dear Marco and Tak,
Our official letters to Unesco will be sent today from the Mininstry of
Education. I have been succesful in both raising some money for the Chair
from here and have GUS statutes translated into Finnish. I can sent you both
a copy of our application if you want.I am waiting for the Unesco reactions.
Sincerely,
Tapio
****************************************
Distribution List
Yamasawa, Kiyohito, Dr.Eng.
Professor
Dept. of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Shinshu University
4-17-1 Wakasato, Nagano 380-8553
JAPAN
Tel: +81-26-269 51 96
Fax: +81-26-223 77 54
ISDN:+81-26-223-0228
yamasaw@gipwc.shinshu-u.ac.jp
http://yslab.shinshu-u.ac.jp
G. Robert (Bob) Converse
Project Director/Principal Investigator
National Science Foundation
Advanced Technology Education Project
Maui Community College
310 Ka'a Humanu Ave.
Kahului, Hawaii 96732
USA
Tel: +1-808-984 3447
+1-808-879-1519 (home)
Fax: +1-808-244 0862
bob.converse@mauicc.Hawaii.Edu
http://www.ecet.mauicc.hawaii.edu
ttp://www.ecet.mauicc.hawaii.edu/ecet/presentations/
http://www.hawaii.edu/uhcc.e-learn/
Steve McCarty
Professor, Kagawa Junior College
President, World Association for Online Education: http://waoe.org/
Residence: 3717-33 Nii, Kokubunji, Kagawa 769-0101 JAPAN
Tel: +81-877-49-8041 (office, direct); Fax: +81-877-49-5252
E-mail: steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp, mccarty@mail.goo.ne.jp
Website Map: http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve/
In Japanese: http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/
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 6111
Tel: +358-3-614-5247--office in Hameenlinna
Tel: +358-3-215 6243--mass media lab in Tampere
GSM: +358-50-567-9833
Fax: +358-3-215 7503
tapio.varis@uta.fi
tapio.varis@helsinki.fi
http://www.uta.fi/~titava
Marco Antonio R. Dias, T.C.D. (Third Cycle Diploma)
Vice President, Global University System
Consultant of United Nations University
Former Director, Division of Higher Education of UNESCO
36, Rue Ernest Renan
92.190 Meudon
FRANCE
Tel: +33-1-45 34 3509
+33-1-45-68-3009 (UNU office in Paris)
Fax: +33-1-45 34 3509
mardias@club-internet.fr
marcoantoniodias@yahoo.com
m.dias@unesco.org
Kimberly K. Obbink, Ed.D.
Director
Burns Telecommunications Center and Extended Studies
128 EPS Building,
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59717-3860
USA
Tel: +1-406-994 6550
Fax: +1-406-994 7856
kobbink@montana.edu
http://btc.montana.edu
**********************************************************************
* 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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