Message-ID: <199704031151.UAA01289@inetnif.niftyserve.or.jp> Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 20:47:00 +0900 From: FORWARDED <mailto:QWA01214@NIFTYSERVE.OR.JP> Subject: VIDEO-TELE-CONFERENCING: NGOs & the UN To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 17:39:16 -0400 (AST) From: Michael Gurstein <mailto:mgurst@ccen.uccb.ns.ca> To: UN Reform <mailto:UNReform@chatsubo.com>---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 23:06:03 -0500 From: SOS - New York <mailto:sosny@nywork2.undp.org> To: habitat partners network <mailto:h2o-l@nygate.undp.org>, csdgen@nygate.undp.org, mailto:h2oplan-l@nygate.undp.org
VIDEO-TELE-CONFERENCING
The technology exists to connect meetings held away from United Nations Headquarters with New York facilities. Since the majority of NGOs accredited to the UN are based in New York, it would help to have those out of town meetings connected with a central location at Headquarters, where NGOs can observe the proceedings, and even participate in them, in an interactive hook-up.
This would save the inconvenience and expense that long-distance travel entails, and make the conference accessible to hundreds of participants who would otherwise be precluded from such meetings.
Such hook-ups have been implemented in the past, and can be realized now with even greater efficiency and economy.
The upcoming meeting of the Commission on Human Settlements in Nairobi can serve as an experiment for such a video-tele-conferencing project, and upon its successful completion, as a model for future conference or meeting hook-ups.
UN technicians and television journalists at exploratory consultations have indicated that the cost for such a connection with Nairobi could be anywhere between $240 per hour to $700 per hour for maximum resolution, or, up to $7000 per hour, if there is no ISDN line access. (Two decades ago, at the UN World Conference on Women in Nairobi, there was video-conferencing installed.)
At minimum, the hook-up would be for on for two hours per day, accommodating the time difference between New York and Nairobi.
There are several commercial service vendors who have indicated an interest in contributing some expertise and equipment for such an endeavor.
If this experiment is successful, then it could be expanded to other meetings and to multiple-location linkings in the future.
The NGO Committee on Human Settlements has undertaken to pursue this project, and would welcome any support from interested NGOs and private sector partners.
Thank you,
Irini Sarlis