patth@dasys1.UUCP (Patt Haring) (06/22/87)
This is an excerpt from
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 3, Number 1, Article 7 (January 1987)
A GLOBAL/PACIFIC (electronic) UNIVERSITY
Part 1
by Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D. and Parker Rossman, Ph.D.
As a prelude to establishing an electronic university around the
Pacific Ocean, we now plan in March, 1987 to show how a course
from an American university can be sent to many educational,
business, research and governmental organizations around the
Pacific periphery via the INTELSAT/SHARE Program/free channel.
This initial experiment must, for geographical and technical
reasons, be limited to those who live on the American Pacific
Coast from Anchorage, AK, to Lima, Peru, and on the Asiatic
Pacific Coast from Tokyo to Singapore, and to those who have (or
can arrange usage time of) a C-band/F-type or Ku-band dish
antenna.
This article provides background for those who might be
interested in participating in this event.
I. USING GLOBAL SCALE TOOLS
===========================
The technology now exists to interconnect hundreds or thousands
of personal computers, in different countries, through
distributed networks and information processing, into
instruments for kinds of educational research and instruction
which were never possible before. A "global scale tool" combines
such networks with other technology in new combinations to make
it possible, for example, for scholars in many countries to
cooperate on joint research and instruction projects through
global networking.
Continuing experiments are being conducted by the GLOSAS (GLObal
Systems Analysis and Simulation) Project, conceived by Utsumi in
1972. (See T. Utsumi, "GLOSAS Project" and "Peace Games with
Open Modeling Network" in Computer Networks and Simulation II
and III, respectively, edited by S. Schoemaker, North Holland
Publishing Co., Amsterdam, 1982 and 1986.) The GLOSAS Project
has paved the way for global electronic courses by working for
deregulation in international communications to facilitate the
extension of Value Added Networks (VANs) for electronic mail and
computer conferences. It has encouraged experiments to extend
U.S. educational courses via computer conferencing to Japan and
other countries. (See some spin-off benefits of international
activities, such as the Ikego Forest Project in NETWEAVER,
Volume 1, Number 5 (reported by Izumi Aizu) and Tama River
Silicon Valley multi-media teleconferencing, Volume 2, Number 10
(reported by George Por).)
II. REPORT ON OUR WORLD FUTURE SOCIETY/NEW YORK CITY
DEMONSTRATION
====================================================
Our above steps toward the establishment of infrastructure made
possible the next step: focusing attention on the substance and
content of global telecommunication networks. A take-off event
was our highly successful multi-media teleconferencing sessions
on the use of "global-scale tools" in July, 1986. (See our paper
"PEACE GAMES WITH GLOBALLY INTERCONNECTED COMPUTERS" in
NETWEAVER, Volume 2, Number 4, Article 6 (April 6, 1986) or
C1366CC168 on EIES; and T. Utsumi and P. Rossman, "Waging Peace
with Globally Interconnected Computers," in the Challenges and
Opportunities: From Now to 2001, Howard Didsbury, (ed.),
published by the World Future Society, 1986.)
Sessions could be attended simultaneously in New York, Honolulu,
Tokyo, and at the Vancouver World's Fair, with some people also
participating from home through computer conferencing on the
EIES system. Computer conferencing, indispensable for organizing
the sessions, was one of the "global-scale tools." Another was
the FUGI computer model at Soka University in Japan, a computer-
aided global macroeconomic model on the interdependent world
economy, making forecasts for 62 countries/regions.
Interactive educational programs and courses transmitted via
slow-scan TV and computer conferencing were demonstrated at
these sessions. For example, New York University showed how it
offers courses in Puerto Rico and the New School presented its
courses (offered via computer conferencing) to students in
southeast Asia. As audiences in New York, Tokyo, and at the
Vancouver world's fair watched, high school students in Hawaii
and Tokyo met together electronically for instruction in foreign
language as a part of a Global TELEclass of the State of
Hawaii/University of Hawaii education program.
A GLOBAL/PACIFIC (electronic) UNIVERSITY
Part 2
by Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D. and Parker Rossman, Ph.D.
III. WORLD FUTURE SOCIETY/ANCHORAGE DEMONSTRATION
=================================================
Based on such previous hard track records, GLOSAS now plans
another demonstration at a conference of the WFS Alaska Chapter
in March, 1987. A live TV lecture available from the National
Technological University (NTU) in Fort Collins, CO will be
sent to many educational institutes, business, research and
governmental organizations around the Pacific through the use of
the INTELSAT/SHARE Program/free channel. (If arrangements are
not completed in time, we will do so at the next appropriate
occasion, such as at the WFS/Education Section conference in
Boston in the fall of 1987.)
The NTU already serves the advanced educational needs of
graduate engineers and other professionals by offering courses
electronically from the offerings of 23 participating
universities that are members of the Association for Media-Based
Continuing Education for Engineers (AMCEE). Many corporations
such as ALCOA, AT&T, BOEING, General Electric, GTE, Hewlett-
Packard, IBM, etc. are currently participating in the NTU
programs.
In addition to applying for a free satellite channel from the
INTELSAT/SHARE program, we are also seeking an American domestic
satellite, as a backup to transmit the signal from America to
Pacific periphery islands (the Japanese will eavesdrop on the
signal--we have already cleared Japanese regulatory restrictions
for this type of reception). Therefore, there will be no
communication cost to receive the live TV lecture during the
demonstration. However, participating parties will pay telephone
costs for preparation, coordination and the students' responses.
Geographical restrictions will limit the live TV lectures to
countries on the east side of the Pacific up to California and
the west wide up to Singapore, i.e., within the coverage area of
INTELSAT satellite. Technical restrictions require those
receiving to have a C-band (preferably F-type) or Ku-band dish
antenna. Students' responses to the instructor will use audio so
the dish antenna is only for receiving the signal, not for
transmission, thus avoiding regulatory restrictions. Computer
conferencing will be used for preparation and coordination as
well as for interaction between students and the instructor. (It
may also be advantageous to use facsimile, where it is
available.)
Depending on the success of the demonstration, the participants
may continue to receive programs from the NTU, if the
INTELSAT/SHARE program will provide continuing use of their free
channel.
We already have favorable indications that support for these
demonstration events will again be forthcoming from the
corporations who assisted with funds and equipment for the July
1986 project, and that some others in the U.S. and Japan are
prepared to provide assistance also. We are therefore optimistic
that the March demonstration from Alaska can proceed.
We already have enthusiastic responses to the plan from such
educational institutions as the University of Alaska, the
University of California/Chico, San Diego State University,
Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion de Ensenda
(CICESE) (a graduate research institute that is part of the
National University in Mexico), the University of
Hawaii/Department of Education of the State of Hawaii, the
University of Guam, Tsukuba University nearby Tokyo, the
Institute of Vocational Training (which is under the auspices of
Japanese Ministry of Labor), the University of South Pacific in
Fiji, the Vocational Training Institute in Peru, etc. Some of
those universities have already indicated their interest in
continuing to use NTU's courses beyond the demonstration.
We are now soliciting more participants from the Pacific
periphery region which will include U.S. military bases. We
especially welcome receiving participants from developing
countries, since "R" of the SHARE Program of INTELSAT stands for
"RURAL area." Please inform Utsumi if you are interested in
participating in this event as a receiver of the live TV lecture
signal or an organizer. Initial talk about this event has
already underway in Utsumi's private conference C492 "U.S./JAPAN
TELE-FORUM" on EIES.
An electronic university (or consortium of universities in many
countries) can offer courses via satellite and computer
conference in all corners of the globe, making excellence
possible for small rural universities in poor countries. Global
electronic education is already coming into existence through
the training programs of multinational corporations; through
many grass root movements of people who link up via computers to
study and work together; and through universities that offer
courses on the other side of the world through slow scan TV and
computer networking. While such programs may in time become part
of a global university, we are not talking about university
programs such as those in Britain, Japan, Germany or the
Philippines which offer courses over the radio or via
television, except as such courses become two-way and
interactive, so that the students are not just a passive
audience. A new rich interplay of disciplines and schools of
thought can be possible when courses are sent, electronically,
from one university to another, or when a lecturer from some
distant university can participate electronically in a class far
away.
Various experiments have shown that it is possible to extend
educational programs to far corners of the globe. The time has
come for more focused experiments, such as the establishment of
an INTELSAT-like satellite or a space station for the use of
educational, religious, and human service groups in all corners
of the world. Not only could it be used for interactive courses
from one continent to another, but could also contain knowledge
databases, a "global electronic encyclopedia," for the use of
schools that lack adequate library facilities. A space station
may have supercomputers and knowledge data bases which enable
quality education in even the most isolated and primitive
corners of the world.
-----
Authors' note: Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D. is President of Global
Information Services (GIS), Inc. 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing,
NY 11355-3998; (718) 939-0928; EIES 492, Western Union EASYLINK
62756570, Telex 386131 (GIS USA).
Parker Rossman, Ph.D. is the author of "Computers: Bridges to
the Future" P. O. Box 382, Niantic CT 06357.
Copyright(c) by Electronic Networking Association (ENA), 1987
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