videoconferencing

During a one week visit to the Philippines, Mathy Vanbuel assisted the Local Government Academy (LGA) of the Philippines in their process of evolution towards the implementation of learning, knowledge brokering/connection, knowledge exchange, and innovation technologies in their capacity building strategy. The visit consisted of a three day intensive training workshop on e-moderation, content conversion and videoconferencing, which took place at the LGA Training Centre in Los Banos. A visit to the LGA Resource Centre in Region 7 in Cebu concluded this week.

On behalf of the ESHRE Special Interest Group Reproductive Surgery, ATiT produced a 3 hour long live interactive satellite TV broadcast of surgical interventions on Tuesday 29 June 2010. This session was coordinated and moderated by Professor Stephan Gordts from LIFE Leuven. The programme connected three operation theatres in the Hospital  Maternité Schiltigheim, IRCAD Strasbourg, with an audience of about 1000 participants of the ESHRE conference in one of the large auditoriums of the Fiera di Roma. Amongst the operating surgeons were Prof. Dr. Arnaud Wattiez abd Dr. Joseph Nassif (IRCAD  Strasbourg), Dr. Sara Brucker (Uni-Frauenklinik Tübingen), Dr. Rudi Campo, (LIFE Leuven), Dr. Antoine Watrelot (Part-Dieu Lyon), Dr. Guardin and Dr. Hummel (IRCAD Strasbourg).

More than 6 cameras, 2 SNG links and 2 satellite channels were used to capture and transmit the images of the gynaecological interventions in the best possible quality. Operating surgeons answered questions from the audience while demonstrating innovative surgical techniques and procedures. Amongst the cases were Deep endometriosis, Vaginoplasty Rokitansky, Hysteroscopic septum, Endometriotic cysts, Laparoscopic myomectomy, Transvaginal ovarian drilling and finally Tubal anastomosis.

The programme, sponsored by Karl Storz lasted for more than three hours and was received very well by about a thousand viewers. The viewers in the auditorium were impressed with the scientific quality of the programme as well as with the technical and organisational quality of the live transmissions.

The Global Youth Anti-Corruption Forum, held in Brussels from 26-28 May, brought together almost 50 young civil society leaders, musicians, and journalists from around the World to exchange their experiences and to formulate action plans to fight corruption in their countries.

This dynamic event aimed at strengthening the Global Youth Anti-Corruption network (GYAC) by engaging emerging leaders, many of whom come from Fragile States, in a dialogue to build stronger social accountability mechanisms.

The forum combined discussions, musical sessions and the creation of a dynamic online community to support the work of these young leaders as they advocate for good governance to be more effective in the fight against corruption.

Apart from the main working group of young civil society leaders, the forum also supported the emergence of a strong network of young journalists who will collaborate on a global level to play a strategic role in promoting good governance. These journalists are supported by the European Center for Journalism.

The Forum also supported the work of young musicians who have been promoting the message of fighting corruption all over the world. Three of the winning bands from the DRC, Palestine and Malawi were selected to take part in the Forum through their participation in a competition organised by Jeunesses Musicales International.

The Forum concluded with a performace of a special song promoting the anti-corruption message composed and performed by the three bands in the Beursschouwburg, Brussels where this event took place. This forum was supported by the World Bank, visit the GYAC website for more information.

The Government of Japan and the World Bank are equal partners in the ‘Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) Project', founded in 2004 with as its main objectives: (i) to establish TDLC as an important part of Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region; (ii) to provide access to Japanese knowledge and expertise in development, to Asia and internationally; and (iii) to contribute to the development and sustainability of GDLN in EAP by taking a leadership role in programs, operations, or technology.

The current phase of the Project ends in June 2010. In order to document the major achievements, outcomes and impact of the TDLC Project, to ensure the accountability of the Project to its stakeholders, and to provide a sound basis for the future of TDLC, an external and independent assessment is put in place, which focuses on key features and functions of TDLC. The assessment tries to answer to what degree TDLC Project has achieved its current goals, to what extent it has operated effectively and efficiently, and what its impact has been until today. Mathy Vanbuel, ATiT is based in Tokyo for most of April to participate in the assessment.

The 25th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology taking place in Amsterdam from 28 June - 1 July 2009 included a series of live surgery sessions, sponsored by Storz and realised by a team from ATiT.

These sessions featured four operations, broadcast live by satellite from the Heilig Hart Hospital in Leuven to the conference site in Amsterdam. Satellite uplink services were provided by Headline, the Brussels based SNG specialists.

The operations were related to laparoscopic myomectomy, endometriosis, operative hysteroscopy and transvaginal laparoscopy. Between 500 and 600 participants attending the conference site could interact with the surgeons during operations and in this way were able to follow the very latest reproductive surgical operational practices and procedures.

The DIVERSE Conference held this year in Aberystwyth University in Wales from 24 to 26 June brings together an active community of practitioners all engaged in developing innovative visual educational resources.

This year the sharing of educational video material was really high on the agenda with Obadiah Greenburg from YouTube describing YouTube EDU, Olaf Schulte from ETH Zurich presenting the Opencast community and the Matterhorn project and the team from the University of Amsterdam talking about ZOEP - this is the space to watch for how, and perhaps more importantly,  where educational videos in higher education will be found in the future.

Taking place in the lovely and surprisingly warm surroundings of coastal Wales, this community of practitioners provides a rich resource of know-how and expertise in the field of educational technology and multimedia production. You can follow the conference live here.

On Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 March 2009, ATiT provided the video production services for a successful training session of the European Academy for Gynaecological Surgery (EAGS) at +heAcademy House in Leuven. Endoscopic as well as other camera images were transmitted via IP videoconferencing as well as terrestrial microwave links between the operation theatres of the Hospitals of Zuid Oost Limburg (Genk) and Heilig Hart (Leuven) and the EAGS Auditorium in Leuven (Belgium).

ATiT is working closely with +heAcademy to research and develop new methods to reliably distribute high quality images of live surgery at acceptable cost to support professional training for surgeons. ATiT uses appropriate technologies such as satellite, microwave and telecommunication networks. 

The Second Virtual Dialogue in the Women's Dialogue series about women in political leadership took place on Wednesday 25 February involving more than 120 people in the participating sites in Jordan, Kenya, Ghana and Lithuania.This two hour dialogue featured an interview with Former President of Ireland (1990 - 1997) and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997 - 2002) Mary Robinson, followed by a discussion with a worldwide audience on closing the political gender gap and on ways to empower and prepare the next generation of women leaders. It attracted a wide variety of participants including several senior ranking ministerial representatives and policymakers. This included recently appointed Ghanaian Ministers,  Hon. Akua Sena Dansua , Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs and Hon. Juliana Azuma-Mensah Minister of Tourism.

Recommendations from this and the other Virtual Dialogues in the series will contribute to The International Colloquium for Women's Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace & Security Conference to be held on March 7 ­ 8 in Monrovia, Liberia. More information about the series is available from the Virtual Dialogues site http://www.womensdialogue.org. More information about the Colloquium is available from the Colloquium site http://www.womenscolloquium.org

Details of the Second Dialogue in the Women's Dialogue series about women in political leadership have been been announced. This two hour dialogue, taking place on February 25, 2009, will feature an interview with Former President of Ireland (1990 - 1997) and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997 - 2002) Mary Robinson, followed by a discussion with a worldwide audience on closing the political gender gap and on ways to empower and prepare the next generation of women leaders. It will link through videoconference participating live audiences in Jordan, Kenya, Lithuania and Ghana. Recommendations from this and the other Virtual Dialogues in the series will feed into a major international conference hosted by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - The International Colloquium for Women's Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace & Security Conference to be held on March 7 ­ 8 in Monrovia, Liberia.More information about the series is available from the Virtual Dialogues site http://www.womensdialogue.org. More information about the Colloquium is available from the Colloquium site http://www.womenscolloquium.org.

Watch the live stream on Wednesday 25 February 2009 at 11.30 - 13.30 EST US Eastern Time (check your time) on http://vcg01.worldbank.org/vc/. Please note that the conference will only appear at the top as soon as the conference starts. Meanwhile you can test your streaming by visiting one of the recorded public conferences mentioned on that same page.

ATiT organised the production and the videofacilities to support the 7th Biennial Meeting of the Endoscopic Training Centre Antwerp (ETCA) which took place from 29 till 31 January 2009 at the CC Elzenveld. During this conference, ATiT produced over 6 hours of live interactive video demonstrations of surgical and endoscopic procedures, with medical centres and hospitals in four different locations: Antwerp and Brussels (Belgium), Villach (Austria) and Geneva (Switzerland). Connectivity with these remote centres was guaranteed via broadband IP and multichannel ISDN as well as with CCTV. Storz, the endoscopic company, provided the additional equipment in all operation theatres and supported the whole production.