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ITU pioneers new remote participation platform
ITU-D Study Group members can now collaborate in
several languages, from just about anywhere in the world
Geneva,
31 August
2011
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ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau is pioneering a cutting-edge remote
participation platform that will allow the members of ITU-D Study Groups to join
meetings remotely and collaborate in the six official ITU languages, with full
simultaneous interpretation.
The new platform is
based around the Adobe Connect software suite, with compatible pods provided by
Refined Data Solutions Inc. in partnership with ZipDX (multilingual
functionality) and Caption First (captioning). It will be offered for the first
time at the next round of ITU-D Study Group meetings taking place from 5-16
September.
Participants in Study Group 1 on Enabling
environment, cybersecurity, ICT applications and Internet-related issues,
and in Study Group 2 on Information and communication infrastructure and
technology development, emergency telecommunications and climate-change
adaptation, simply need log on using a standard web browser to join the
meeting from any location that has a good quality high-speed connection.
Logging onto the system will take participants into a
‘virtual meeting room’, where they can see a list of participants, interact with
others via online chat and video links, and view PowerPoint presentations and
other meeting documents. ITU interpretation services mean verbal interventions
can be made in any of the supported languages. For the first round of meetings,
the system will support Chinese, English and French.
The new platform will greatly enrich the quality of
discussions at ITU-D Study Group meetings, narrowing the ‘participation gap’
which tends to favour participants from wealthier nations, and allowing many
more people from different countries and cultures to join the discussion. For
the first time, remote experts who may not be regular members of a national
delegation can also to be called upon to give advice on complex topics.
The innovation also represents a significant milestone
in ITU’s efforts to become carbon neutral, reducing or even eliminating the need
for delegates to travel to and from meetings.
Pre-registration is necessary in order to use the new
platform. For more information, see
www.itu.int/ITU-D/study_groups/SGP_2010-2014/reference_documents/remote-participation-en.html.
For more information, please contact:
Christine Sund
Coordinator a.i. ITU-D Study Groups
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