Mega-conference via internet

| Redactie

The first really large conference via internet became a reality a week ago. Place: everywhere in the world. From Singapore to the United States, from Antarctica (via satellite) to Germany, and, of course, the Netherlands. A total of 114 sites were linked by special servers, for the experts: so-called cascade links of multi-control-units via the h.323-protocol. In the Netherlands this server is sta

The first really large conference via internet became a reality a week ago. Place: everywhere in the world. From Singapore to the United States, from Antarctica (via satellite) to Germany, and, of course, the Netherlands.

A total of 114 sites were linked by special servers, for the experts: so-called cascade links of multi-control-units via the h.323-protocol. In the Netherlands this server is stationed at Surfnet. Participants in the Netherlands could be found in Utrecht, Rotterdam (via an ADSL-connection) and at the faculty of Educational Science and Technology in the Inter-active Classroom.

The subject of conversation was the use of video-conferencing via the internet in higher education. The presentations were given from the most unusual locations. Visitors of a German museum interviewed researchers on Antarctica (via satellite) about life there. A researcher at the Ohio State University gave instructions about an operation taking place in a different location. Afterwards the researcher and surgeon could be asked questions. There were also examples of teaching in different locations, wireless use of video-conferencing and further research into technical matters related to video-conferencing via h.323.

'Within the faculty of Educational Science and Technology (TO) we are working on a number of projects involving video-conferencing. It is possible that we will be presenting the next mega-conference', according to Gert-Jan Verheij, design consultant tele-learning at TO.

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