RE: [DDN] Virtual conferences
I'm exceptionally proud that our teeny, weeny non-profit has held eight Global Learn Day events, one each year since 1996. GLD, a non stop 24 hour event, opens in the South Pacific and travels west to Hawaii, the long way around. We make stops in eight major regions where we feature outstanding people doing highly innovative work, mostly in distance education, but also in health training, e-democracy and social justice. We use everything but two tin cans tied to a string, including community radio, one of the most ignored elements in the communication network, and one of the most important. (We also use ham radio to bring in voices from Antarctica and other truly remote areas.) But, this year, we will NOT hold Global Learn Day...(taking a year off is good for the soul). HOWEVER, we are watching -- and will participate -- with Webheads, the most innovative, far reaching, truly global enterprise in the whole of the English language training world. They are doing a much, much, much better job organizing for their (global) event than we ever did for Global Learn Day, so we are learning a LOT. I encourage subscribers here to plan on attending this exceptional conference. No, belay, that...I believe many DDN subscribers might wish to submit proposals, particularly about how to improve virtual conferences and increase impact. The Webheads conference is not just about verbs and pronouns; in fact what it is really about, I say, is connecting those doing innovative work of a kind likely to make for a safer, saner planet. HERE IS WHERE YOU SHOULD LOOK WiAOC 2005: Webheads in Action Online Convergence Bridges across Cyberspace Friday and Saturday, November 18 - 19, 2005 and Convergence rap-up Sunday November 20 tiny url http://tinyurl.com/d9ksx http://www.geocities.com/vance_stevens/papers/evonline2002/convergence2005.htm John Hibbs http://www.bfranklin.edu/johnhibbs At 11:00 AM -0400 9/18/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: John, I hear you and agree with you. Visit http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com to see how my small, understaffed non profit is trying to connect the face to face tutor/mentor conference we hold in Chicago each November and May with others via a variety of econference concepts. We've held 3 econferences since May 2004. Dan Bassill Tutor/Mentor Connection http://tutormentor.blogspot.com ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Virtual conferences
Just an aside to this discussion, which is interesting and to the point of digital divide and digital elite issues: Many people considering digital divide issues are also concerned with energy and sustainability. Is airline travel, in which each individual is responsible for energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to a year's worth of driving, compatible with this? (clearly the amount of energy required is dependent on distances traveled, but you get my point) Best Dave On 9/17/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: John is absolutely on target. The original argument in the development community was bandwidth and the exclusion of those who couldn't participate- but even fewer can participate in a f-t-f except those who are funded to do ict4d. Taran is on target too. Actually, there are many virtual conferences that have been arranged using a variety of vehicles and in all sectors. Could it be that it is the digital immigrants who control what should be run by digital natives using a variety of excuses to avoid loss of control? thoughts? tom abeles Original Message: - From: John Hibbs [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 07:51:01 -0700 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [DDN] Virtual conferences At 3:26 PM -0500 9/15/05, Taran Rampersad wrote: John Hibbs wrote: Why is an ICT conference not held virtually? Why do I have to travel to Washington to participate? or listen? or view? What century do we live in? 15 Sep 2005 15:26:11 -0500 Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] So that's where I left my drum! :-) Maybe it's just not easy enough for people to organize a conference virtually yet... or maybe they don't know how easy it is? Subscribers to the leading listserv in the distance education world have heard me beat this drum for almost a decade. The largest, most prestigious (?) distance ed conferences have very little virtual component; yet the leaders talk the talk about the wonders of their deliveries. My wee voice has been a lonely one. Perhaps the DDN should take up one more cudgel -- that it should beat up on those who hold large physical conferences advocating ICT; but are unwilling to offer same virtually? If we at the leading edge don't walk the walk -- who will? -- John W. Hibbs http://www.bfranklin.edu/johnhibbs ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. -- The Daily Glyph http://www.gomaya.com/glyph Usumacinta http://www.gomaya.com/dams Cell 917 312 9733 ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
RE: [DDN] Virtual conferences
RE: Virtual Conferences,Keeping Track of Technology Accomplishments On Line, and funding for Homeless. In 1998-99 MIT but together youth from 36 countries with 16 different languages to talk about World Problems, they called it the Junior Summit. Please take a look at the success of this program, which is still producing a worldwide youth generated magazine at http://www.tcfn.org/jrsummit/RoadTest.htm. Nickole Evans participated in the Junior Summit in 1998 and realized that to be heard and remembered she needed to keep a log of her volunteer efforts and work. See www.y2kyouth.org for her activities, including Building a Chain of Hope for the Katrina Victims. Nickole Evans is the daughter of the founders and co-mangers of the RECA (Realizing Every Community Asset) Foundation that has been Bridging the Digital Divide since 1992 on a shoe string in southeast Washington State. What the Katrina Victims need now is a computer and Internet connection in their homes so they can keep in touch with others. What we all need to evaluate in our communities is how to get computers and Internet access to the poor of our community. There has been some funds coming into the communities under the Homeless catagory. These funds can be used to obtain computers and Internet access for the Katrina Victims and for Homeless shelters. Together we can make a difference. Ronda Evans RECA Foundation Kennewick, WA 99336 www.tcfn.org - Connecting people to technology www.4people.org - Connecting people to resources Calendars.tcfn.org - Connecting people to activities ___ No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding. Make My Way your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Virtual conferences
The ICT Literacy Portal www.ictliteracy.info has been hosting ICT literacy virtual conferences and meetings in collaboration with our partner Learning Times for the past two and a half years. Many of you and your organizations have participated. The response to this type of meeting/conference has been most positive, and the technology is neither complicated nor expensive to use. However, it takes time and patience for the digital immigrants to become comfortable in this virtual conferencing environment. Many participants from developing countries regularly participate using even dial up access and basic technology. Most recently, we held a virtual conference over 3 days from Costa Rica for the EDC Power Users of ICT (in parallel with the physical conference) with registrants participating from around the world - including teams of kids from many countries who had no problem with the virtual venue! It enabled many more researchers and educators and students to participate in the conference proceedings - without costs for travel, hotel, etc. Also, we were able to get some great guest speakers who would have been otherwise unable to participate due to time and distance constraints. Learning Times and Kempster Group advocate using the tools of ICT to communicate the message, and invite you and your groups to join our ICT Literacy community site and feel free to use the ICT Meeting room for your discussions www.ictliteracy.info. Feel free to contact us if you want more information, or even would like us to set up a live demo or special topic meeting with you to help others understand and become familiar with the virtual conferencing capability. Regards, Brenda Brenda Kempster President KEMPSTER GROUP phone: 760 674-8919 California fax: 760 674- 8937 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.kempstergroup.com www.ictliteracy.info - Original Message - From: John Hibbs To: The Digital Divide Network discussiongroup Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2005 7:51 AM Subject: [DDN] Virtual conferences At 3:26 PM -0500 9/15/05, Taran Rampersad wrote: John Hibbs wrote: Why is an ICT conference not held virtually? Why do I have to travel to Washington to participate? or listen? or view? What century do we live in? 15 Sep 2005 15:26:11 -0500 Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] So that's where I left my drum! :-) Maybe it's just not easy enough for people to organize a conference virtually yet... or maybe they don't know how easy it is? Subscribers to the leading listserv in the distance education world have heard me beat this drum for almost a decade. The largest, most prestigious (?) distance ed conferences have very little virtual component; yet the leaders talk the talk about the wonders of their deliveries. My wee voice has been a lonely one. Perhaps the DDN should take up one more cudgel -- that it should beat up on those who hold large physical conferences advocating ICT; but are unwilling to offer same virtually? If we at the leading edge don't walk the walk -- who will? -- John W. Hibbs http://www.bfranklin.edu/johnhibbs ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Virtual conferences
John and All, In 1990, about 14 years ago, I was researching for a paper on video-conferencing. To my surprised, the problem why video-conferencing was not popular, then, had nothing to do with the technology, nor the services provided by the phone companies etc. (It was still rather expensive then and the technologies were not really that great, but compared to paying for hotels, flights etc. for participants naturally the savings using video-conferencing won hands-down). Some of the reasons were: it is much more fun to meet face-to-face, in many cases travelling off-site is considered perk for many people, meeting face-to-face network better etc. etc. Since then, I have been observing and pondering over this issue all these years and of course from video-conferencing my interest shifted to internet and elearning. Here are some of my own reasonings. Aside from perk for participants, perhaps we should also look at businesses such as hotels, air-lines, car-rentals, catering, event organizers etc. These businesses depend and encourage people to travel. If we all go virtual, it is not just the matter of these businesses are losing money, but we are also looking at people losing jobs. And most of the employees of this business sector are low-skills. Which means if they lose thier job it is so much harder for them to find another job because they might be 'skill-out' from the faster and faster moving world that demand higher and higher digital skills. Therefore it is a real balancing act (I sure hope governments are paying attention and looking into all these factors). The problem with our group (DDN) is, most of us are highly educated, have good jobs, good income, well equipped or provided with all the digital gadgets that enabled us to be 'virtual'. But are we the minority or the majority? As Siobhan just posted: Stephens estimates that 70 percent of Navajo Nation residents are still without phone service, down from 78 percent before cell service. http://www.gallupindependent.com/2005/sept/091505onsat.html . Today I also found an interesting article from The Economist Sept 17-23rd, 2005 (I have not had the chance to read it yet) title How the Internet killed the phone business. I worked for US long distance compay and telco manufacturers from 1992-2002 and major in telco mgmt., without having to read the article I think I know most of the stories. So, internet killed telephone business, I am one of the many thousands who lost our well paid jobs. I am sure we also see jobs going away from post-offices, business cards, birthday cards, printing etc. etc. The world is changing, is evolving and there is no way we could stop it from happening. BUT, if we so wish to push the concepts of DDN, perhaps we should also pay attention to other factors that are happening in our society/world. If our intention is to help those that are less advantage, perhaps we should look at it in a much more complete picture and avoid looking at just a fragmented segment. Just some of my sketchy thoughts. Cindy ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Virtual conferences
In response to John Gibbs comment about virtual conference members of this list might be interested in our experiences of hosting e/merge 2004, an online conference about educational technology in Southern Africa. We had 163 participants from 7 southern Africa countries, as well as some key people from further afield. Our one key note speaker presented a real-time video-streamed opening keynote address to a roomful of people at the conference opening physically located in Cape Town (South Africa), while national and international online participants engaged in text-based dialogue with both him and the participants physically present! Although there are savings in many ways, making such a conference a success is also a lot of work. We have written up our experiences, including in the editorial to the special issue of the International Journal of Education and Development using ICTs which recently published 10 of the papers originally presented online. Our experiences were so positive that we will be running e/merge 2006 next year! Laura Quoting John Hibbs [EMAIL PROTECTED]: At 3:26 PM -0500 9/15/05, Taran Rampersad wrote: John Hibbs wrote: Why is an ICT conference not held virtually? Why do I have to travel to Washington to participate? or listen? or view? What century do we live in? 15 Sep 2005 15:26:11 -0500 Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] So that's where I left my drum! :-) Maybe it's just not easy enough for people to organize a conference virtually yet... or maybe they don't know how easy it is? Subscribers to the leading listserv in the distance education world have heard me beat this drum for almost a decade. The largest, most prestigious (?) distance ed conferences have very little virtual component; yet the leaders talk the talk about the wonders of their deliveries. My wee voice has been a lonely one. Perhaps the DDN should take up one more cudgel -- that it should beat up on those who hold large physical conferences advocating ICT; but are unwilling to offer same virtually? If we at the leading edge don't walk the walk -- who will? -- John W. Hibbs http://www.bfranklin.edu/johnhibbs ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
RE: [DDN] Virtual conferences
John is absolutely on target. The original argument in the development community was bandwidth and the exclusion of those who couldn't participate- but even fewer can participate in a f-t-f except those who are funded to do ict4d. Taran is on target too. Actually, there are many virtual conferences that have been arranged using a variety of vehicles and in all sectors. Could it be that it is the digital immigrants who control what should be run by digital natives using a variety of excuses to avoid loss of control? thoughts? tom abeles Original Message: - From: John Hibbs [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 07:51:01 -0700 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [DDN] Virtual conferences At 3:26 PM -0500 9/15/05, Taran Rampersad wrote: John Hibbs wrote: Why is an ICT conference not held virtually? Why do I have to travel to Washington to participate? or listen? or view? What century do we live in? 15 Sep 2005 15:26:11 -0500 Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] So that's where I left my drum! :-) Maybe it's just not easy enough for people to organize a conference virtually yet... or maybe they don't know how easy it is? Subscribers to the leading listserv in the distance education world have heard me beat this drum for almost a decade. The largest, most prestigious (?) distance ed conferences have very little virtual component; yet the leaders talk the talk about the wonders of their deliveries. My wee voice has been a lonely one. Perhaps the DDN should take up one more cudgel -- that it should beat up on those who hold large physical conferences advocating ICT; but are unwilling to offer same virtually? If we at the leading edge don't walk the walk -- who will? -- John W. Hibbs http://www.bfranklin.edu/johnhibbs ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
