http://www.virtualheritage.net Virtual Heritage | News, events, document library | information portal for technology in cultural, natural and world heritage News Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:14:36 EST en-us Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST Procedural Inc. announced that their 3D city generation software CityEngine is now also available for Mac OS X and Windows 64-bit. In addition, the free 30-day trial version of the CityEngine comes now with stunning example cities such as a spectacular future New York City. Procedural Inc., an innovative software company located in Zurich, is home to the world's foremost procedural modelling technology. With the CityEngine, Procedural Inc.'s graphics experts have created a radically different 3D application that allows professional users in entertainment, architecture and urban planning to efficiently model 3D cities. !--more-- We are happy that our Mac friends are now able to benefit from the huge advantages of the CityEngine, says Pascal Mueller, CEO Procedural Inc. To celebrate it, we created Apple City consisting of thousands of Cupertino headquarters. So in case Mr. Jobs intends to rebuild Cupertino, he has now the tool to plan it on his new MacBook. The CityEngine software provides professional users in entertainment, architecture, urban planning and general 3D content creation with a unique early design and modeling solution for the efficient vizualisation of urban 3D environments. The capabilities of the CityEngine include: Procedural Street Network Construction The CityEngine offers unique street grow tools to quickly design and construct urban layouts. Street patterns such as grid, organic or circular are available and the topography of the terrain is taken into account. ad Import of Street Networks or Lots Real street networks of any city in the world can be imported from OpenStreetMap. This allows for a quick generation of existing urban surroundings. Furthermore street networks or lots designed in other programs can be imported via the DXF file format. Watch movie... Scripting 3D Buildings The world's first shape grammar implementation is the core of the CityEngine. The simple scripting language is specialised for architectural 3D content and offers unlimited modeling possibilities to control or vary mass, elements, proportions, rythms or materials. Parametric Modeling of 3D Buildings A convenient interface to control specific building parameters such as the height or age is provided. Parameter modifications invoke the automatic regeneration of the 3D model with all architectural elements correctly aligned. Parametric Modeling of 3D Streets Similar to the buildings, street appearances can be controlled via a parametric interface, resulting in immediate visual feedback. For example, the profiles of streets can be quickly edited. Map-Controlled City Modeling The parameters of the many buildings and streets can be controlled globally via image maps for example the building heights or the landuse-mix . This allows for intuitive city modeling and quick changes. Batch Export of 3D Models The CityEngine has very advanced functionalities to export generated models to any kind of production pipeline. Supported file formats include Collada, FBX, OBJ, RIB and mental images' MI. Procedural's website: http://www.procedural.com/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/3208.htm Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST Since 2005, UNESCO has been challenging cultural heritage organizations to take account of global climate change in their conservation mission as well as their methods. In particular, UNESCO has encouraged such organizations to work more closely with ecological organizations and also to assume a greater level of activism toward the public. These recommendations dovetail with the accepted international approach to involve the community in a sustainable heritage conservation and presentation policy as they are formulated in guidelines and charters such as the Faro Convention of the Council of Europe or the ICOMOS Ename Charter. What is not clear however, is how the issue of Global Climate Change affects the wider contexts and settings that are part of a long-term heritage conservation programme or the public awareness and engagement regarding heritage. Some organizations may find their level of effectiveness reduced as they attempt to take on tasks that lie beyond their expertise. Others will find new forms of public engagement and garner greater public support for their work. While the impacts of Global Climate Change are several, this three-day colloquium will focus on those of immediate and obvious significance to the Low Countries, namely rising sea levels and increased river flooding. Papers presented will provide comparative experiences from diverse nations in all the world s regions that are subject to these threats as they impact cultural heritage. It is understood that cultural heritage here refers not simply to monumental sites or cultural landscapes, but also to the intangible heritage that is so much at risk. Among the questions to be asked are the following: What have been the experiences with cultural sites or landscapes in diverse settings with rising sea levels and/or river flooding? What have been the responses of cultural heritage organizations and how have they coordinated with other organizations active in the defense or relief effort? Can heritage conservation and interpretation programmes learn from ecological approaches and vice versa or is there a danger that cultural heritage preservation will become subsumed by the attention given to ecological conservation? In what way does Global Climate Change alter heritage conservation programmes or how does it affect the interpretation and presentation of cultural heritage sites? How can cultural heritage professionals respond pro-actively to the global threat of climate change? What does it mean for heritage organizations to engage in broader social advocacy in the light of Global Climate Change? Is Global Climate Change only a threat for heritage conservation policies or does it also provide new opportunities? We are therefore seeking innovative contributions from heritage administrators, archaeologists, historians, cultural economists, educators, cultural policy specialists and practitioners under the following four topics: 1. Actual Site Impacts and Predictions due to Global Climate Change 2. Attitudes and Responses from heritage organizations towards Global Climate Change 3. Climate Change, Cultural Tourism, and Development 4. Widening Public Engagement and Forging Organizational Alliances http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/3214.htm Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST ECAI Directors Report - November 2008 Priority Announcement: ECAI Fall Meeting in Hanoi, Dec 4-6, 2008, meetings December 2 3 The International Joint GIS-IDEAS, PNC and ECAI Conference 2008 will be held December 4-6, 2008, in Hanoi, Vietnam. For details see http://ecai.org/activities/2008-Hanoi/08hanoi.html Note that the ECAI General meeting will be held December 3, 3 - 5 p.m. to which all are invited. ECAI/EFEO Workshop: Siem Reap November 29-30, 2008 ECAI is collaborating with the Ecole Fran aise d'Extr me-Orient EFEO, Paris, France, http://www.efeo.fr on a workshop in Siem Reap, Vietnam. The purpose of this workshop from the standpoint of ECAI is to explore the possibilities of closer ties to EFEO and to provide suggestions for ways in which EFEO data can be geo-registered in the future. We want to thank Franciscus Verellen, Director of EFEO and Dr. Christophe Pottier from the Siem Reap office for their support in helping plan and handling local arrangements for this workshop. http://ecai.org/activities/2008-EFEO-ECAI-Siem_Reap.pdf ECAI Central will bring a group to Siem Reap including: Lewis Lancaster, Director of ECAI Howie Lan Berkeley, Technical adviser for ECAI Jeanette Zerneke Berkeley, Technical Director for ECAI Ralph Moon Berkeley, Head of the Sanskrit Workgroup Damian Evans from University of Sydney will assist in the workshop. There will be representatives from Vietnam Buddhist University in Ho Chi Minh, which has a project to geo-register the inscriptional rubbings being published by EFEO and the Vietnamese government in book format. Moghul Animation on YouTbe.com Remember the old days when you had to wait for a 50mb file to download in order to see the ECAI video of the expansion and contraction of the Moghuls in South Asia? Well those days are long past. This and several other classic ECAI videos are now up on YouTube. In addition, ethnographic videos from the Batanes Cultural Atlas and Sri Lankan Dance projects have been added. To view a menu of ECAI videos just search on YouTube for CulturalAtlasECAI. Recent Meetings Michael Buckland presented a poster and a paper summarizing ECAI s projects Bringing Lives to Light: Biography in Context http://ecai.org/imls2006 and Context and Relationships: Ireland and Irish Studies http://ecai.org/neh2007 at the recent Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology in Columbus, Ohio. Lewis Lancaster was a member of the workshop held in Maryland Data Driven Scholarship sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Future Meetings ECAI s Spring 2009 Meeting will be held in conjunction with CAA Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archeology on March 22-26, 2009, Williamsburg, VA, USA, with the theme making history interactive. ECAI will be issuing a call for papers very soon. Those thinking of attending the conference and needing a visa to enter the U.S. should apply for your visa in mid-December. We ve been advised that it can take up to 90 days to obtain a visa. The CAA conference website: http://www.caa2009.org/ ECAI also plans to have a major workshop in Chennai, India August 18-20, 2009, focusing on remote sensing of heritage sites. The workshop will be under the direction of Maurizio Forte from University of California, Merced and Dr. D. Dayalan, head archaeologist at the Taj Mahal, and Mario Hernandez of UNESCO. The Conference on Time, Space, and Place will focus on the general theme of City and Urbanization issues. In addition, ECAI will join with Korea University in sponsoring a major international conference in Seoul, August 13-16 on the general topic of exploring cultural studies across Eurasia. Past ECAI Directors Reports Past ECAI Directors Reports are available at http://ecai.org/about/directorsRpts.html http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/3215.htm Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EST A report on the Fifth Fields of Conflict conference, Gent Oudenaarde, 17th to 19th October 2008 Organised jointly by John and Patricia Carman of the University of Birmingham, UK and members of the Ename Center, this three-day meeting of archaeologists interested in the study of warfare in historic periods was a contribution to the year-long commemoration of the tercentenary of the Battle of Oudenaarde. The conference brought the leading conflict archaeologists of the world to a hotel in Ghent to discuss the latest developments in the field, including current research projects, new avenues for research and methodological developments. The 50 conference participants represented seven countries from Europe and elsewhere - Belgium, the UK, Hungary, Germany, Spain, Israel and the USA - as well as a number of members of the ESTOC European Studies of Terrains of Conflict group which was founded by John and Patricia Carman at the venue of the Ename Center in Oudenaarde in 2007. The Fields of Conflict conference - first held in Glasgow, Scotland in 2000 and subsequently every two years in a different location Finland in 2002, the USA in 2004, England in 2006 - is the leading international gathering of battlefield and conflict archaeologists. Although initially restricted to battlefield archaeology alone, relating to the analysis of bullet scatters left on the landscape - and therefore excluding other aspects related to war and conflict - in 2006 it was agreed to broaden the scope to all aspects of Conflict Archaeology. The conference regularly attracts participation from all parts of Europe and North America. A high-point of the conference was the day in Oudenaarde. In the splendour of the Town Hall, three presentations gave differing perspectives on the battle of July 11th 1708, followed by three more examining different approaches to issues of remembrance and commemoration. The afternoon was spent partly on the battlefield itself, where participants could see the area of conflict for themselves and gain an insight into the daunting task facing potential investigators of such a large area, by far the biggest battlefield in Europe subject to archaeological investigation: a problem compounded by the range of participants in the battle, from all parts of Europe and using a wide range of weapons with different calibres and bores, making the analysis of any bullet scatters difficult to interpret. The second part of the afternoon was spent in the exhibition Oudenaarde 1708, a City, a King, a General, followed by a reception kindly hosted by Oudenaarde City Council, where the Mayor welcomed conference participants to the city and region. The presence of the conference in Ghent and Oudenaarde marks the first time such a gathering of international experts in conflict archaeology has met in the so-called 'cockpit of Europe' where so many past disputes between nations have been resolved, from the medieval period to the 20th century. The interest shown in the visit to the battlefield at Oudenaarde reflected the importance of work on the site to the expected future development of Conflict Archaeology. Plans for the publication of the proceedings of the conference are in train, as well as for further archaeological work on the battlefield. Meanwhile, arrangements are also being made for future conferences in the series to be held in Germany and Hungary as well as for a return to the USA. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/3213.htm Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EST strong a href http://www.vsmm2008.org VSM '08 Website /a /strong br br You are kindly invited to participate to the VSMM 2008 joint conference which will provide an opportunity to exchange research results, opinions, experiences and proposals on the best practice and hi-tech tools from Information and Communications Technology to document, preserve, manage and communicate Cultural Heritage CH . The main goal of the event is not only to illustrate the programs underway but also excellent work wherever it is located and however it is supported, in order to promote a common approach to the tasks of e- documentation of World Cultural Heritage. Furthermore, regional capacities in the area of Cultural Heritage and IT will be facilitated in advancing their know-how through the exchange of information and generation of new ideas and cooperation's, where the world meets the finger prints of several ancient civilizations on earth. br br To reach this ambitious goal the topics covered will include experiences in the use of innovative recording technologies methods and how to take best advantage to integrate the results obtained to build up new tools and/or experiences as well as improved methodologies for documenting, managing and communicating CH. br br The VSMM 2008 joint event will focus on interdisciplinary and multi- disciplinary research concerning both cutting edge Cultural Heritage Informatics and use of technology for the representation, documentation, preservation, archiving and communication of CH knowledge. The scope includes every phase of CH information technology: initial data capture/digitization, information/data processing, reconstruction, visualization and documentation as well as dissemination of results to the scientific and cultural heritage communities and to the general public Multilingua, Multimedia Digital Library . We are also interested in aspects of the wider legal and ethical responsibilities of Cultural Heritage Informatics. Research subjects parallel the interests of VSMM, CIPA, ISPRS and EuroMed including culturally significant monuments, artefacts and sites as well as the activities of museums, libraries, archives, and organizations involved with their care. br br strong Topics: /strong br br Those researchers who wish to participate in this event are invited to submit papers on original and unpublished work addressing the following subjects: br ul li Data Acquisition Technologies focusing on Photogrammetry and Laser scanning li 3D Data Capture and Processing in CH li On-site and remotely sensed data collection li 2D and 3D GIS in Cultural Heritage li CAD and FEM based Digital Reconstructions and 3D Modelling li Reproduction Techniques and Rapid Prototyping in CH li Visualisation Techniques desktop, Virtual and Augmented Reality li Virtual Reality in Archaeology and Historical Research li Multimedia, Multilingua, Data Management and Archiving li Construction and indexing of large scale Multimedia/Multilingua Encyclopaedias in Cultural Heritage li Computer Animation for CH Applications and Virtual Heritage li Game Technologies in Cultural Heritage li Non-Photorealistic Rendering of CH Data li Virtual Museum Applications e-Museums and e-Exhibitions li Digital/Virtual Documentation of Archaeological Excavations li Novel Internet-based Cultural Heritage Applications li Portals of Culture li Usability, Effectiveness and Interface Design for CH Applications li Innovative Graphics Applications and Techniques li Interactive Environments and Applications li e-Libraries and e-Archives in Cultural Heritage li National Digital Libraries as cross-domain systems li Long term availability of content and its long term accessibility li Effective IC-Technologies for the creation, management and reuse of content and knowledge li Storytelling and authoring tools li e-Learning in Cultural Heritage li Tools for Education, Documentation and Training in CH li Archaeological Analysis and Interpretive Design li Standards, Metadata, Ontologies and Semantic Processing in Cultural Heritage li Authentication, Accreditation and Digital Rights Management li Legal issues: Water-Marking, Orphan Works, Copyrights and IPR li Professional and Ethical Guidelines li The Economics of Cultural Informatics and Tourism li Natural and Man initiated deconstruction of Cultural Heritage and prevention techniques. li ICT assistance in monitoring and restoration. /ul strong Submission of Papers: /strong br br Submissions for the joint event are completely electronic, and both the paper and all supplementary material must be submitted through the on-line submission website. The conference accepts only original, unpublished work written in English. We are soliciting three types of contributions: br ul li Full research papers presenting new innovative results. These papers will have a full-length oral presentation and will be published in a high-quality proceedings volume. Each submitted paper must not exceed 8 pages in total. li Project papers focusing on the description of project organization, use of technology, and lesson learned. These papers will have a short oral presentation and will be included in a Projects Short Papers proceedings volume. Each submitted paper must not exceed 8 pages in total. li Short papers presenting preliminary ideas and works-in-progress. These papers will have a short oral presentation and will be available as posters in conference breaks. They will be published in the Projects Short Papers proceedings volume. Each submitted paper must not exceed 6 pages in total. /ul br For information concerning style and format of all submissions, please refer to: br a href http://www.vsmm2008.org www.vsmm2008.org /a and then choose Paper Submissions. br br strong Important Dates: /strong br ul li Abstract full-/project-/short papers : June 2nd, 2008 li Paper submission full papers June 16th, 2008 li Paper submission project/short papers June 30th, 2008 li Notification of Refereeing results July 31st, 2008 li Camera ready FULL papers to printer August 24th, 2008 li Camera ready PROJECT/SHORT papers to printer August 29th, 2008 Proposals for showcases/ demo's June 30th, 2008 /ul br For more information about the joint conference please visit the webpage: br a href http://www.vsmm2008.org/ www.vsmm2008.org /a br or directly contact the chair of the event at: br a href mailto:chairman vsmm2008.org chairman vsmm2008.org /a br The event is in cooperation with the European Commission Projects: ul li MINERVA a href http://www.minervaeurope.org/whatis/minervaplus.htm www.minervaeurope.org /a li MICHAEL a href http://www.michael-culture.org/en/hom www.michael-culture.org /a li The Member States' Expert Group on Digitisation and Digital Preservation. li The European Commission Marie-Curie Project: br ul li Chiron - a href http://www.chiron-training.org/index.html www.chiron-training.org /a /ul /ul strong Marinos Ioannides /strong br Website: a href http://www.vsmm2008.org/ www.vsmm2008.org /a br Email: a href mailto:chairman vsmm2008.org chairman vsmm2008.org /a http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/2511.htm Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EST Dear ECAI Affiliate, br br The International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing formerly the Journal of History and Computing is one of the world s premier multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed forums for research on all aspects of arts and humanities computing. br br It focuses both on conceptual or theoretical approaches and case studies or essays demonstrating how advanced information technologies further scholarly understanding of traditional topics in the arts and humanities. The journal also welcomes submissions on policy, epistemological, and pedagogical issues insofar as they relate directly to computing-based arts and humanities research. br br The Journal is formally supported by three independent world-international organizations promoting arts and humanities computing The International Association for History and Computing, the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative based at UC Berkeley, and Digital Resources in the Humanities and Arts. br br In addition to, and complementing, open calls for papers mentioned above, the Journal, following rigorous peer review, will publish selected proceedings and transactions from these international organisations. The Journal will also be in collaboration with ECAI, and will partner its ongoing e-Publications programme. br br The Journal would like to hear from ECAI affiliates who might wish to publish a paper in the next issue of the Journal due in Summer 2008. Please contact a href mailto:paul.ell qub.ac.uk Paul Ell /a a href mailto:paul.ell qub.ac.uk paul.ell qub.ac.uk /a or a href mailto:intu100 iupui.edu David Bodenhamer /a a href mailto:intu100 iupui.edu intu100 iupui.edu /a , Journal editors, with proposals. br br strong All the best, br Kimberly Carl br ECAI /strong br http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/2512.htm Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:00:00 EST ECAI Director s Report br January 2008 br br The 21st Conference of ECAI and the Tenth Anniversary of the founding of the organization were held in conjunction with PNC at Berkeley in October. There were 182 registered delegates for the three day event. I want to thank Peter Zhou and Deborah Rudolph of the C.V. Starr East Asian Library for their great help in organizing our meeting in coordination with the opening of the new building for the library. br br The ECAI project focused on the Batanes Islands between Taiwan and the Philippines was awarded 30,800 by the UC Berkeley Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines Endowment Fund for continued research and construction of the atlas within the larger Austronesian work being conducted by Co-Director Michael Buckland, Professor David Blundell, and Jeanette Zerneke. br br We are in a period of expansion for the ECAI community and a number of training workshops have been planned to help bring new projects into operation. In August, Howie Lan from Berkeley and Damian Evans from U of Sydney worked with 30 students at the Vietnam Buddhist University in Ho Chi Minh who are constructing an Atlas of Vietnam Buddhism. In December, Damian Evans did a similar training at the Yang Heng Graduate School of Buddhism in Taipei for 18 students who are creating two atlases related to Buddhism in Taiwan. February will find Howie doing a workshop at Fagu University in Taiwan. We are also arranging for such training at the United Nations Vesak Day Celebration in Hanoi in May followed by a special workshop with the Ecole francaise d extreme oriente staff in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and a first ever ECAI working session in India. br br Both the Director and Co-Director have been traveling to various meetings around the world giving lectures. The Director gave keynote addresses at the Chicago Colloquium for Computer and Humanities, the conference in Seoul, Korea jointly sponsored by the Tripitaka Koreana Institute and Nanzen Temple of Kyoto celebrating the joint efforts to digitize images of the Nanzenji Archive, and Computing and Humanities Conference at Vietnam Buddhist University, Ho Chi Minh. br br We look forward to seeing members at the 22nd ECAI Conference, the Fourth Congress of Cultural Atlases being held April 21-25, 2008, on the campus of Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia. The Fall 2008 meeting will be held jointly with the Pacific Neighborhood Consortium and the Japanese Geo-Informatics Projects in Hanoi in December. Spring of 2009 will find us in Williamsburg, Virginia meeting jointly with the Computer Applications in Archaeology group. br br Events br br Place and Time Mapping for Information in Religious Studies - Workshop br 2/19/2008 br Location: Fagu University, Taiwan br Description: Howie Lan, UC Berkeley, instructs participants in this one day workshop featured as part of the EBTI after 15 and CBETA at 10 Years: Joint International Conference on Digital Buddhist Studies, February 15-17 with post-conference workshop Feburary 19-20, 2008, Taipei, Taiwan. br See more on this event: br http://www.ddbc.edu.tw/eng/conferences/program.html br br Association for Asian Studies br 4/3/2008-4/6/2008 br Location: Atlanta, Georgia br Description: ECAI will hold a panel discussion at the 2008 meeting. br br ECAI Congress of Cultural Atlases IV br 4/21/2008-4/25/2008 br Location: Curtin Technical University, Perth, Australia br br United Nations Vesak Day Celebration br 5/13/2008-5/17/2008 br Location: Hanoi, Vietnam br Description: ECAI will hold a workshop at the UN br Day of Vesak and the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. br br ECAI Congress of Cultural Atlases V br 3/22/2009-3/26/2009 br Location: Williamsburg, Virginia, USA br br Funding Announcements br br Text Analysis and Pattern Detection: 3-D and Virtual Reality Environments The National Science Foundation has awarded 99,000 grant for a one year research project that focuses on searching for patterns in the Korean Buddhist canon. This project is part of the ECAI approach that deals with the context of where, when, and who. All of the canonic data is to be searched for these three elements in a surrogate form of colored dots. We will give demonstration of the work at meetings in Taiwan, Vietnam, and Perth. br br Context and relationships: Ireland and Irish Studies ECAI has received a grant of 349,996, one of three awards from the new Advancing Knowledge program administered by the National Endowment for the Humanities and jointly funded by the Endowment and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The award funds a project entitled Context and relationships: Ireland and Irish Studies, which builds directly on our earlier IMLS-funded project Support for the Learner: What, Where, When and Who. The new project is a collaboration between ECAI, the Celtic Studies Program, the Emma Goldman Papers Project at Berkeley and the Queen s University, Belfast. At Belfast, the Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis and the University Library have been funded by the British government JISC to scan and digitize back-files of a hundred journals important for the study of Irish culture an history. ECAI will develop techniques to enable anyone reading these digitized articles to find explanations of persons, places, institutions, events and other topics mentioned in the text. More at http://ecai.org/neh2007/ br br Orchid Island Lan-yu and the Batanes: A Cultural Atlas Over the years the ECAI Austronesia team, led by Dr David Blundell, has benefited from as series of grants to David Bundell and ECAI Co-Director Michael Buckland from the University of California Berkeley Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines Endowment Fund. The largest and most recent of these grants 30,800 is to complete a cultural atlas designed by Jeanette Zerneke of the indigenous cultures and ancient migrations of the inhabitants of the islands in the Bashi channel between Taiwan and the Philippines. For details see http://ecai.org/batanesatlas/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/2388.htm Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:00:00 EST The Ename Center for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation is now soliciting applications from qualified candidates for a 9 months, pre-doctoral CHIRON Marie Curie Fellowship, which includes full time salary, living expenses, and funds for travel and research materials. br br PLEASE NOTE: Because of EU guidelines, candidates from Belgium are not eligible for this fellowship at the Ename Center, but are welcome to apply at CHIRON partner institutions in other EU member states. The Fellowship is for immediate start. br br For more information about this fellowship program, please consult the websites of the Enamecenter and CHIRON. br br If you are interested in this vacancy, please send CV and letter of intent to eva.roels enamecenter.org. br br We would greatly appreciate if you would distribute this announcement to all potential candidates. br For more information on the Ename Center, see www.enamecenter.org or contact info enamecenter.org. br br With Thanks, br br Eva Roels br General Administrator br http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/2389.htm Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:00:00 EST 15th ACM International Symposium on Advances in Geographic Information Systems ACM GIS 2007 Call for Papers ------------------------------------------ November 7-9, 2007 Seattle, Washington, USA In cooperation with ACM SIGMETRICS Corporate Sponsorship by Microsoft http://www.cise.ufl.edu/dept/acmgis2007/ The ACM International Symposium on Advances in Geographic Information Systems in 2007 ACM GIS 2007 is the fifteenth event of a series of symposia and workshops that began in 1993 with the aim of bringing together researchers, developers, users, and practitioners carrying out research and development in novel systems based on geo-spatial data and knowledge, and fostering interdisciplinary discussions and research in all aspects of geographic information systems. The symposium provides a forum for original research contributions covering all conceptual, design, and implementation aspects of GIS and ranging from applications, user interface considerations, and visualization down to storage management and indexing issues. This year, a novelty is that ACM GIS has separated from its long-time host conference in order to become independent and more visible to the GIS community, further expand the spectrum of research topics covered by the symposium, and grow over the next years. TOPICS OF INTEREST Suggested topics include but are not limited to: Modeling and Querying Constraint approach for spatial databases Spatial data quality Image Databases Integration and management of raster and vector data Spatial and spatio-temporal data modeling Spatial and spatio-temporal data mining and knowledge discovery Spatial and spatio-temporal predicates Spatial and spatio-temporal query languages Spatial and spatio-temporal reasoning Spatial and spatio-temporal uncertainty, vagueness, and fuzziness Visual query languages Spatial and spatio-temporal visualization and analysis 3D spatial modeling Systems and Implementation Computational geometry Geospatial data integration Geospatial data versioning Interoperability and standards Large-scale GIS servers and parallel GIS Middleware architectures Multiple representations in spatial databases Performance metrics and issues Query processing Spatial data warehousing and decision support Spatial query processing and optimization Spatial, spatio-temporal, and multidimensional access methods Spatial data mining Stream processing Applications like Earth observation Geosensor networks Geovisualization Image databases Location-based services Mobile and distributed geographic computing and information services Novel and challenging applications Photogrammetry Real-time applications Risk prevention Spatial and spatio-temporal Online Analytical Processing OLAP Traffic telematics Transportation Urban and environmental planning Web applications Wireless networks PAPER FORMATTING GUIDELINES Authors are invited to submit full, original, unpublished research papers that are not being considered for publication in any other forum. Manuscripts should be submitted in PDF format and formatted using the ACM camera-ready templates available at http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html. Papers cannot exceed 8 pages in length. In addition to the regular full-length papers, the Program Committee may accept some as poster papers which may be requested to be shortened. All submitted papers will be refereed for quality, originality, and relevance by the Program Committee. The acceptance/rejection of the papers will be based on the review results. All questions should be addressed to the Program Committee Chair. One author per paper is required to register and attend the conference to present the paper if accepted for publication. PAPER SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Submissions to the conference will be electronically and online only. Authors are asked to submit an Abstract first, and then to upload the full paper in PDF file format. The online submission system will be available from April 30, 2007. IMPORTANT DATES Abstract Submission: June 11, 2007 Full Paper Submission: June 18, 2007 Notification of Acceptance: August 11, 2007 Camera Ready Copy: August 31, 2007 Symposium Date: November 7-9, 2007 ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE General Chairs: Hanan Samet, University of Maryland, USA Cyrus Shahabi, University of Southern California, USA Program Chair: Markus Schneider, University of Florida, USA Local Arrangements Kentaro Toyama, Microsoft Research, India Chairs: Pusheng Zhang, Microsoft Research, USA Treasurer: Yan Huang, University of North Texas, USA Publicity Chair: Chang-Tien Lu, Virginia Tech, USA Proceedings Chair: Alejandro Pauly, University of Florida, USA Poster Chair: Jagan Sankaranarayanan, University of Maryland, USA Program Committee: Peggy Agouris, George Mason University, USA Houman Alborzi, Google, USA Luc Anselin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Walid Aref, Purdue University, USA Lars Arge, University of Aarhus, Denmark Elisa Bertino, Purdue University, USA Michela Bertolotto, University College Dublin, Ireland Thomas Brinkhoff, Oldenburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany Christophe Claramunt, Naval Academy Research Institute, France Eliseo Clementini, University of L'Aquila, Italy Isabel Cruz, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA Leila De Floriani, Universita di Genova, Italy Matt Duckham, University of Melbourne, Australia Peter Fisher, City University of London, UK Andrew Frank, Technical University of Vienna, Austria Le Gruenwald, University of Oklahoma, USA Ralf H. Gueting, FernUniversitaet Hagen, Germany Stephen Hirtle, University of Pittsburgh, USA Erik Hoel, ESRI, USA Yan Huang, University of North Texas, USA Edwin Jacox, National Institutes of Health, USA Christian Jensen, Aalborg University, Denmark Christopher Jones, Cardiff University, UK Craig Knoblock, University of Southern California, USA Marc van Kreveld, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Robert Laurini, National Institute for Applied Sciences, France Scott Leutenegger, University of Denver, USA Ki-Joune Li, Pusan National University, South Korea Mario Lopez, University of Denver, USA Chang-Tien Lu, Virginia Tech, USA Nikos Mamoulis, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Mohamed Mokbel, University of Minnesota, USA Richard Muntz, UCLA, USA Brad Nickerson, University of New Brunswick, Canada Eyal Ofek, Microsoft Research, USA Beng Chin Ooi, National University of Singapore, Singapore Peter van Oosterom, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands Dimitris Papadias, HKUST, Hong Kong Alejandro Pauly, University of Florida, USA Dieter Pfoser, CTI, Hellas Sunil Prabhakar, Purdue University, USA Philippe Rigaux, University of Paris-Dauphine, France Alan Saalfeld, Ohio State University, USA Jayant Sharma, Oracle Corporation, USA Timos Sellis, National Technical University of Athens, Hellas Shashi Shekhar, University of Minnesota, USA Emmanuel Stefanakis, Harokopio University of Athens, Greece Egemen Tanin, University of Melbourne, Australia Kentaro Toyama, Microsoft Research, India Vassilis Tsotras, University of California-Riverside, USA E. Lynn Usery, U.S. Geological Survey, USA Agn s Voisard, Fraunhofer ISST and FU Berlin, Germany Peter Widmayer, ETH Zurich, Switzerland Stephan Winter, The University of Melbourne, Australia Ouri Wolfson, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA Michael Worboys, University of Maine, USA May Yuan, University of Oklahoma, USA Donghui Zhang, Northeastern University, USA Pusheng Zhang, Microsoft Corporation, USA http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1839.htm Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:00:00 EST a href http://www.xplored.eu target _blank Xplored Website /a Idea of the project was born after obtaining a book 'Antiquarian and Topographical Cabinet, Containing A Series Of Elegant Views Of The Most Interesting Objects Of Curiosity In Great Britain, Accompanied with Letter-Press Descriptions' published by W. Clarke and J. Carpenter in 10 volumes, London, 1805-11. We have focused subsequent research on the most picturesque, haunted and unusual places of south England, trying to revive and sustain their unique atmosphere. Xplored unearthes abandoned way of experiencing ancient myths and medieval legends like XVIII and XIXth century engravers, antiquaries and historians were experiencing them until their romantic passion had become transformed into the academic disciplines of the modern photography, archaeology and history. Castles, hillforts, abbeys, roman ruins, stone circles, long barrows, caves, etc. are being chosen for their aesthetic qualities. All of the photos are retouched and, in most cases, everything on them what was made after XIXth century or looks like made after XIXth century is erased. As Charles Baudelaire said on romanticism: ' it is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in a way of feeling.' img src images/2.jpg border 0 img src images/2-2.jpg border 0 Paradoxically - the newest technologies had to be involved during the design and development of the Xplored website to emphasize such 'way of feeling' and bring it to the visitor without a hassle. Every engraving is scanned from the genuine source from our own collection at very high resolution and can be viewed at very high resolution on-line in real-time. Easy to use interface allows to see every object from the air - on satellite image which can be panned or zoomed in/out using the mouse and/or keyboard and switched to road map or hybrid view road map and satellite image in one . Every image in every gallery and whole site actually can be instantly switched to and viewed in sepia, black white or standard colour mode. img src images/3.jpg border 0 New galleries are added at least bi-monthly. Xplored covers six counties of south England so far but project definitely isn't limited to these counties nor England as we plan adding places from whole British Isles and, in the future, another countries. As a result of recently initiated collaboration with Iceage Design Squadron, we consider including interactive 3d reconstructions and footages as well. img src images/4.jpg border 0 img src images/5.jpg border 0 img src images/6.jpg border 0 img src images/7.jpg border 0 a href http://www.xplored.eu target _blank Xplored Website /a Lucas Bul Design Development Katarzyna Sadzikowska Photography http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1762.htm Mon, 14 May 2007 12:00:00 EST Call for Papers http://spatial.nvc.cs.vt.edu/sstdm07 October 28, 2007 Omaha, NE, USA Widespread use of sensor networks and location aware devices has resulted in large amounts of spatial and spatio-temporal datasets in a variety of domains. The number and size of these datasets continues to increase rapidly, making their manual processing impossible. It is therefore, imperative that efficient and effective techniques are developed to extract useful information from these datasets. Traditional data mining techniques are ineffective in the spatial domain since they don t incorporate the special features of the spatial domain, e.g. spatial autocorrelation. The goal of the workshop is to bring together researchers, developers and practitioners in the field of spatial and spatio-temporal data mining together in order to identify current research foci, vital areas of need, and critical points of synergy. Selected papers will appear in the GeoInformatica journal as a special issue. TOPICS OF INTEREST Topics of interest include but are not limited to: o Theoretical foundations of spatial and spatio-temporal data mining o Novel techniques for spatial and spatio-temporal data mining o Role of uncertainty in spatial and spatio-temporal data mining o Visualization techniques for spatial and spatio-temporal data mining results o Languages and primitives for data mining o Web mining techniques for spatial and spatio-temporal data o Spatial and spatio-temporal data mining at multiple resolutions o Scalable techniques for spatial data mining o Applications and case studies in spatial and spatio-temporal data mining o Data mining techniques for dynamic spatial and spatio-temporal data o Role of spatial analysis in spatial and spatio-temporal data mining o Data structures and indexing methods for spatio-temporal data mining o Data mining from unstructured spatial and spatio-temporal data PAPER SUBMISSION This is an open call-for-papers. Only original, high-quality papers, in-line with the ICDM 07 standard guidelines, will be considered for this workshop. Prospective authors should submit electronically their contributions at the following website: http://wi-lab.com/cyberchair/icdm07/scripts/ws_submit.php IMPORTANT DATES Submission deadline: June 22, 2007 Notification of acceptance: August 1, 2007 Camera-ready version: August 17, 2007 Workshop date: October 28, 2007 ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE Ashok Samal University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA, samal cse.unl.edu Chang-Tien Lu Virginia Tech, Falls Church, VA, USA, ctlu vt.edu Shashi Shekhar University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA, shekhar cs.umn.edu http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1804.htm Mon, 14 May 2007 12:00:00 EST 06th- 17th. November, 2007 Opening: 05th November, 2007, 19:30 o'clock Dear Colleagues, the Stadtarch ologie Wien is planning an poster-exhibition about the archaeology of the beer in November 2007. We liek to show the history from the prehistory until today. From the 16th century onwards we have material about beer in Vienna, but in former times most of the people in Vienna drank wine. So we have less findings. So I like to ask you if you have pictures / photos from excavations, from reliefs aso about beer from different countries and times. It would be great if you could support this exhibition with this material please mind the copyright . If you have stories about beer or other informations for example of the oldest beer which should have been brewed in Africa, it would be very good for this exhibition. I hope that I will get many informations from you and I like to say thank you in advance. Best wishes Wolfgang B rner http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1805.htm Tue, 08 May 2007 12:00:00 EST Call for Papers: Embodying Virtual Architecture Third International Conference of The Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design Hosted by: The Library of Alexandria Bibliotheca Alexandrina Alexandria, Egypt 26 - 28 November 2007 The Organizing Committee warmly welcomes you to contribute to the ASCAAD2007 conference through participation or presentation of papers. More details of the key information can be found in the conference website: http://www.ascaad.org/conference/2007/ We would be grateful if you could help us introduce ASCAAD2007 to the world by kindly forwarding this Call for Papers to your contacts. b Theme /b The increasing speed of technological improvements outpaced many design issues. Nowadays, architecture is accepting digital design tools and technologies as a feature integrated in design process and in spaces of our everyday Being-in-the-World . The consequences of this integration result in many changing and expanding forms of interaction. Space features prominently in narratives about everyday life, modulated by the spread of digital media to create ever-expanding narratives of communication, containment, boundaries, thresholds, and transgressions. Interactive digital media enables advanced investigation on themes of embodiment and perception by providing an excellent means of testing, comparing, validating and challenging theories about perception. Virtual architecture introduces an interesting mode of interaction deploying space as a major metaphor. The capability of creating a 3D virtual world and filling it with artefacts from our more familiar environments is possible due to the ever increasing power of computer processing. In a sense the theme of this conference examines two particular metaphors. The first metaphor addresses aspects of virtual environments that resemble our physical world; In other words, the computer model as physical model and the digital world as material world. The second metaphor looks into the means of interaction and modes between our bodies and such virtual environment. b Topics of Interest: /b The conference encourages submission of papers on topics including but not limited to the following: - 3D/4D Modelling Systems - Building Information Modelling BIM - CAAD Curriculum: education, research and practice - Creative Visualisation - Design Methods and Representations - Digital Design Tools - Future Virtual Design and Construction - GIS in Architecture - Human-Computer Interaction - Information Visualization - Intelligent Design and Case Reasoning - Mass Customisation - Revolutionary Architecture and Generative Form - Simulation and Virtual Prototyping - Synthetic Methods of 3D Visualisation - Tools for Collaborative Design - Urban City Modelling - Virtual Environment and Knowledge Management - Virtual Architecture - Virtual Reality - Web-Based Design and Networking b Keynote Speakers /b Will be announced soon on the Conference website b Important Dates /b Deadline for abstracts submission Monday 21 May 2007 Notification of abstract acceptance Monday 04 June 2007 Full paper submission Monday 16 July 2007 Notification of full paper acceptance Monday 20 August 2007 Camera-ready revised paper submission Monday 17 September 2007 Conference starts Monday 26 November 2007 b Submission and Languages /b Two types of papers could be submitted: papers that describe well-developed or completed research max 7000 words and short papers that describe research in progress max 3000 words . Abstract submission must be in English with no more than 500 words. Full paper submission could be either in English, French or Arabic. b Scientific Committee /b Dr. Ahmad Okeil, The British University of Dubai, UAE Mr. Aghlab Al-attili, University of Edinburgh, UK Dr. Zaki Mallasi, Perkins Will, USA b Organizing Committee /b Prof. Mohammed Assem, University of Alexandria, Egypt Dr. Dina Taha, University of Alexandria, Egypt Dr. Amar Bennadji, The Robert Gordon University, UK Kind Regards, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Ahmad Okeil Honorary Fellow Institute of the Built Environment Welsh School of Architecture The British University in Dubai Cardiff University, UK PO Box 502216, Dubai United Arab Emirates Office: 971-4-3671960, Mobile: 971-50-6192548, Fax: 971-4-366 4698 e-mail: ahmad.okeil buid.ac.ae e-mail: a_okeil yahoo.com URL: www.okeil.com/ahmad/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1775.htm Sun, 31 Dec 2006 07:17:25 EST PLACE HAMPI augmented stereographic panoramas of Vijayanagara, India Background: communities of interaction in a cultural landscape PLACE-Hampi is highly significant for promoting dialogues of engagement with the imagery of a cultural landscape and activating the embedded knowledge contained there. Hampi today continues to be an active pilgrim site, not simply an historic and touristic place. Each day its landscape and temples are activated through various rituals and tapas specific to time, place and to discrete locations in the complex. As part of a living tradition, the interpretation of the site by pilgrims is in a constant state of re-definition within the broad tenants of south Indian, Karnataka tradition Hinduism. A conversation takes place between mythological characters and the sacred objects/sites/natural features permeated with the contemporary folkloric imagination of the pilgrims.2 Hindi priests and pilgrims are not the only ones to enliven these Hindu images and temples. Bringing with them different religious assumptions, political agendas and economic motivations, others may animate the same objects or sovereignty as polytheistic idols , as devils as potentially lucrative commodities, as objects of sculptural art, as archaeological and historical relics. As Davies points out the location of an object plays a constitutive role in the act of looking and appropriation, relocation and redisplay of an object will dramatically alter its significance for new audiences. The frame of reference designates the historically grounded and socially shared understandings of systems. 3 PLACE-Hampi reconstitutes the landscape for these interpretations of mythological narratives in the form of co-presence, enabling a new mode of interpretation accessible for diverse cultural audiences. 1 Robert Roberts, Landscape Archaeology in Landscape and Culture: Geographical and Archaeological Perspectives, ed. J. M. Wagstaff Oxford, Blackwell, 1987 : 83. 2 Nancy Adajania, Kapital and Karma, eds. Kunsthalle Wien, Angelika Fitz, 2002, p. 47. 3 Davis, R. H. 1997, Lives of Indian Images. Princeton New Jersey: Princeton University Press. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1695.htm Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative - ECAI Congress of Cultural Atlases III: Time Space in Eurasia Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow May 29 June 1, 2007 ECAI invites you to participate in the 3rd Congress of Cultural Atlases: Time Space in Eurasia. The congress will be held at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, in conjunction with the 7th International Conference of the Historical Sources of Eurasian and North African Civilisations: Computer Approaches. The conference will include workshops on Geographic Information Systems GIS and Virtual Reality VR applied to the study of culture and history, Humanities Computing in the 21st Century and sessions on the development of cultural atlases. We invite submissions for papers, sessions and posters on: Digital Cultural Atlases: projects and prototypes Cultural Atlas Components: gazetteers, time-periods, biography and social networks, thesauri, technical infrastructure, content sources and display models Humanities GIS Visualization in the Humanities Digital deluge: Humanities e-Science and e-resource management Abstracts for individual papers and poster/demo presentations should be 250-300 words. Panel proposals should include 3-4 papers, and the name of a chair, discussant, and contact person. Please submit ECAI proposals directly to Kimberly Carl kcarl berkeley.edu. The deadline for submitting is 10 March, 2007. A conference website is available at: http://ecai.ras.ru The registration cost is 80Euro, or approximately 100USD The absolute deadline to register is 23 March, 2007. Travel to Russia requires an entry visa. All visa applications must be supported by an official letter of invitation. For this conference, the letters will be coming from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition to registering for the conference at the above website, you will be required to fill out an additional online form requesting an invitation letter. That form is also available from the conference web site. The registration deadline reflects the time taken for the Russian authorities to process visa applications. Information about obtaining a travel visa in the U.S. can be found at: http ://www.ruscon.org/ We look forward to seeing many of you in Moscow. Best wishes, Paul Ell, Chair, ECAI Program Committee paul.ell qub.ac.uk http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1688.htm Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative - ECAI Congress of Cultural Atlases III: Time Space in Eurasia Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow May 29 June 1, 2007 ECAI invites you to participate in the 3rd Congress of Cultural Atlases: Time Space in Eurasia. The congress will be held at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, in conjunction with the 7th International Conference of the Historical Sources of Eurasian and North African Civilisations: Computer Approaches. The conference will include workshops on Geographic Information Systems GIS and Virtual Reality VR applied to the study of culture and history, Humanities Computing in the 21st Century and sessions on the development of cultural atlases. We invite submissions for papers, sessions and posters on: Digital Cultural Atlases: projects and prototypes Cultural Atlas Components: gazetteers, time-periods, biography and social networks, thesauri, technical infrastructure, content sources and display models Humanities GIS Visualization in the Humanities Digital deluge: Humanities e-Science and e-resource management Abstracts for individual papers and poster/demo presentations should be 250-300 words. Panel proposals should include 3-4 papers, and the name of a chair, discussant, and contact person. Please submit ECAI proposals directly to Kimberly Carl kcarl berkeley.edu. The deadline for submitting is 10 March, 2007. A conference website is available at: http://ecai.ras.ru The registration cost is 80Euro, or approximately 100USD The absolute deadline to register is 23 March, 2007. Travel to Russia requires an entry visa. All visa applications must be supported by an official letter of invitation. For this conference, the letters will be coming from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition to registering for the conference at the above website, you will be required to fill out an additional online form requesting an invitation letter. That form is also available from the conference web site. The registration deadline reflects the time taken for the Russian authorities to process visa applications. Information about obtaining a travel visa in the U.S. can be found at: http ://www.ruscon.org/ We look forward to seeing many of you in Moscow. Best wishes, Paul Ell, Chair, ECAI Program Committee paul.ell qub.ac.uk http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1689.htm Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST THE FUTURE OF HERITAGE Changing Visions, Attitudes, and Contexts in the 21st Century will provide a unique global forum for sharing predictions, projections, and warnings about how the field of heritage will look in the coming decades. As in previous years, we look forward to hosting a wide range of scholars, heritage professionals, educators, and community leaders for two and a half days of stimulating discussions, workshops, and reflections on the current and future state of heritage. Plenary speakers for this year s colloquium will include: Nezzar Al-Sayyed University of California, Berkeley USA on the Transformation of Tradition in the Developed and Developing Worlds Gilles Nourissier Ecole d Avignon, France on New Policy Challenges for Heritage Administration Fran oise Benhamou Universit de Rouen, France on the Evolving Economics of Heritage Alberto De Tagle Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage on Emerging Technologies of Conservation Maurizio Forte Italian National Research Council on the Future of Virtual Heritage Nancy Morgan and Laura Gates Cane River National Heritage Area, USA on Communities and their Changing Pasts in the 21st Century Both the plenary sessions and specialized workshops will focus on the colloquium s major themes: Philosophy and Public Policy Economics Technologies Community Participation If you have a unique vision or prediction about the future of heritage in your region or research field, we encourage you to submit an abstract for a short paper 10 min. or research paper 20 min. on one of the main colloquium themes. We would like to announce that the deadline for the submission of abstracts has been extended to 15 January 2007. Abstracts should be a maximum of 300 words, in English, and sent by fax to 32-55-303-519 or by email to colloquium program coordinator Claudia Liuzza at claudia.liuzza enamecenter.org. All authors should include full contact information name, institutional affiliation, mailing address, phone, fax and e-mail address . Notification of acceptance will be sent by 1 February 2007. For questions or further information on registration for this event, please visit our website www.enamecenter.org or contact Eva Roels at colloquium enamecenter.org. Please feel free to distribute this announcement to any interested colleagues. We hope you will find this colloquium to be of interest and look forward to seeing you in Ghent next year! The Ename Center for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation This event is sponsored by: the Province of East-Flanders, the Provincial Archaeological Museum Ename, the Ename Center for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation In collaboration with: ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Interpretation and Presentation, and the Alliance of National Heritage Areas USA http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1683.htm Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST THE FUTURE OF HERITAGE Changing Visions, Attitudes, and Contexts in the 21st Century will provide a unique global forum for sharing predictions, projections, and warnings about how the field of heritage will look in the coming decades. As in previous years, we look forward to hosting a wide range of scholars, heritage professionals, educators, and community leaders for two and a half days of stimulating discussions, workshops, and reflections on the current and future state of heritage. Plenary speakers for this year s colloquium will include: Nezzar Al-Sayyed University of California, Berkeley USA on the Transformation of Tradition in the Developed and Developing Worlds Gilles Nourissier Ecole d Avignon, France on New Policy Challenges for Heritage Administration Fran oise Benhamou Universit de Rouen, France on the Evolving Economics of Heritage Alberto De Tagle Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage on Emerging Technologies of Conservation Maurizio Forte Italian National Research Council on the Future of Virtual Heritage Nancy Morgan and Laura Gates Cane River National Heritage Area, USA on Communities and their Changing Pasts in the 21st Century Both the plenary sessions and specialized workshops will focus on the colloquium s major themes: Philosophy and Public Policy Economics Technologies Community Participation If you have a unique vision or prediction about the future of heritage in your region or research field, we encourage you to submit an abstract for a short paper 10 min. or research paper 20 min. on one of the main colloquium themes. We would like to announce that the deadline for the submission of abstracts has been extended to 15 January 2007. Abstracts should be a maximum of 300 words, in English, and sent by fax to 32-55-303-519 or by email to colloquium program coordinator Claudia Liuzza at claudia.liuzza enamecenter.org. All authors should include full contact information name, institutional affiliation, mailing address, phone, fax and e-mail address . Notification of acceptance will be sent by 1 February 2007. For questions or further information on registration for this event, please visit our website www.enamecenter.org or contact Eva Roels at colloquium enamecenter.org. Please feel free to distribute this announcement to any interested colleagues. We hope you will find this colloquium to be of interest and look forward to seeing you in Ghent next year! The Ename Center for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation This event is sponsored by: the Province of East-Flanders, the Provincial Archaeological Museum Ename, the Ename Center for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation In collaboration with: ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Interpretation and Presentation, and the Alliance of National Heritage Areas USA http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1684.htm Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST Registration open: ICDL 2006 - International Conference on Digital Libraries, 5-8 December 2006, New Delhi, INDIA. International Conference on Digital Libraries ICDL 2006 eill be held from 5-8 December 2006 in Association with TIFP, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India and UNESCO and in cooperation with ACM SIGCHI at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. Ministry of Culture and Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Govt. of India have also agreed in principle to associate with this conference. The theme of the conference is Digital Libraries: Information Management for Global Access and it will focus on creation, adoption, implementation and utilization of digital libraries DL , e-learning and knowledge society. For detail information about the conference please visit the website www.teriin.org/events/icdl You are invited to attend and register to the 2nd International Conference on Digital Libraries, to be held in New Delhi, India 5-8 December, 2006. This conference is going to be a very high standard. We have invited many world renowned digital library experts. About 50 renowned and experienced speakers from India and abroad has already accepted to share their experiences. The papers we have received so far are all cutting edge researches and practical experiences. We believe you and your colleagues will be benefited tremendously from this conference. We encourage you and your colleagues and students to attend and share experiences with others in the conference. Registration Information : For details about the conference registration fee for all presenters and participants and other registration information, please refer to the conference website www.teriin.org/events/icdl For any queries contact at Debal C Kar Organising Secretary ICDL2006 Conference Secretariat TERI, Darbari Seth Block IHC Complex, Lodhi Road New Delhi - 110 003, India Phone - 91-11-24682141, 24682111 or 24682100 Fax - 91-11-24682144, 2468 2145 E-mail ICDL teri.res.in Website: www.teriin.org/events/icdl http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1685.htm Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST Dear Colleagues, Call for Session If you are interested in organizing a session, please submit a proposal of 300 to 400 words on a well-defined theme. A session typically consists of six to eight presentations and a short discussion, either of each individual paper or of the whole session. Session organizers may suggest a list of papers and/or authors for their sessions. All session proposals will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee. Deadline: January 31th, 2007. After acceptance, the proposal will be placed on the conference web page, inviting additional papers for this session as indicated in the Call for Papers. Session organizers will be responsible for accepting or rejecting papers for their sessions and for scheduling the order of presentations. Call for Workshops If you are interested in organizing a workshop please submit a proposal of 300 to 400 words, describing the objectives of the workshop. The proposal must include information about the expected experience level of the participants. The duration of a workshop will be half a day 3 hours . The structure of workshop consists of several short introductory presentations followed by a longer discussion and exchange of experience. Along with the proposal, a list of the presenters and their affiliations is suggested. All workshop proposals will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee. Deadline: January 31th, 2007. After acceptance, the proposal will be placed on the conference web page, inviting additional presentations for the workshop as indicated in the Call for Papers. Workshop organizers will be responsible for accepting or rejecting papers for their workshops and for scheduling the order of presentations. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1686.htm Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST In Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage, experts offer a critical and theoretical appraisal of the uses of digital media by cultural heritage institutions. Previous discussions of cultural heritage and digital technology have left the subject largely unmapped in terms of critical theory; the essays in this volume offer this long-missing perspective on the challenges of using digital media in the research, preservation, management, interpretation, and representation of cultural heritage. The contributors--scholars and practitioners from a range of relevant disciplines--ground theory in practice, considering how digital technology might be used to transform institutional cultures, methods, and relationships with audiences. The contributors examine the relationship between material and digital objects in collections of art and indigenous artifacts; the implications of digital technology for knowledge creation, documentation, and the concept of authority; and the possibilities for virtual cultural heritage --the preservation and interpretation of cultural and natural heritage through real-time, immersive, and interactive techniques. The essays in Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage will serve as a resource for professionals, academics, and students in all fields of cultural heritage, including museums, libraries, galleries, archives, and archaeology, as well as those in education and information technology. The range of issues considered and the diverse disciplines and viewpoints represented point to new directions for an emerging field. Contributors: Nadia Arbach, Juan Antonio Barcel , Deidre Brown, Fiona Cameron, Erik Champion, Sarah Cook, Jim Cooley, Bharat Dave, Suhas Deshpande, Bernadette Flynn, Maurizio Forte, Kati Geber, Beryl Graham, Susan Hazan, Sarah Kenderdine, Jos Ripper K s, Harald Kraemer, Ingrid Mason, Gavan McCarthy, Slavko Milekic, Rodrigo Paraizo, Ross Parry, Scot T. Refsland, Helena Robinson, Angelina Russo, Corey Timpson, Marc Tuters, Peter Walsh, Jerry Watkins, Andrea Witcomb Fiona Cameron is a Research Fellow in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies at the Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney. Sarah Kenderdine is Director of Special Projects, Museum Victoria, Melbourne. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1682.htm Tue, 05 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST The Growing Virtual Heritage projects of New Zealand Virtual heritage is on the move in New Zealand. There have been several large 3D projects created over the last 36 months. They include a film about the historic forts of North Head as well as the Guns of Motutapu film project created for the Motutapu Restoration Trust working in cooperation with the New Zealand Department of Conservation DOC . The government has been very supportive of these digital interpretive projects and the countries Prime Minister, Helen Clark, spoke at the launching of both films. img src http://www.virtualheritage.net/images/vhncms.jpg align right alt VHN CMS The North Head film originated out of a pilot project created by Auckland based 3D visualization experts, 4D Canvas. DOC became interested in the technology after Chris Keenan, founder of 4D Canvas, funded a six month project to research and build a virtual model of Fort Takapuna, circa 1895. Having been heavily involved in virtual heritage projects for the State of California, the Fort Takapuna animation was created to develop interest from the NZ Government. This had the desired effect and we are building an increasing number of sites in 3D. We see a great future for virtual heritage in this country. We have taken on a new DOC project and have just received a Conservation Achievement Award from Chris Carter, Cabinet Minister in charge of Conservation, Housing and Ethnic Affairs. DOC historian Sarah Macready and DOC archaeologist Dave Veart were key to the North Head films success. Sarah is a believer in virtual heritage. The department was keen to improve the quality of its interpretation, most of which consists of static interpretation panels, and having seen an example of Chris's work Fort Takapuna and the disappearing guns recognized the potential of this kind of 3D animated reconstruction in bringing the past to life for visitors. We think the film has been very successful in bringing colour, movement, interest and a far better understanding of what the fort looked like in the 19th century to our interpretation of North Head. Virtual heritage created an effective restoration of these 1890 era forts without disturbing the fabric from other periods. This history includes early Maori settlements as well as WWI, WWII and post war military history. 3D animation was the only viable way to give context to the existing site as it had operated in the 1890's with its unusual configuration of rare disappearing guns. Dave Veart, the DOC archaeologist who also co-wrote and narrated the North Head film, has watched the reactions of hundreds of visitors as they view the film. The project has been very successful. People varying in age from 8 to 80 have viewed the 16 minute film and the responses have been universally positive. Restoration of the forts in the virtual world has also had the effect of allowing us to understand these sites more completely, helping us to manage them more effectively. The largest virtual heritage project completed in NZ is the 20 minute 3D film The Guns of Motutapu . It is a story about Motutapu Island and NZ's most important WWII gun battery at the time of an anticipated Japanese attack. As one of the largest 3D heritage projects of its type in the world, it features an intensely detailed simulation of a 6 MK21 counter bombardment battery firing into the Hauraki Gulf. One lucky aspect of the project is that Major Derek Thorburn, who came to Motutapu in 1942 and rose to become commander of the guns, acted as a technical advisor to the project. As an actual eye witness to the history, he worked with the 3D artists to achieve a level of visual accuracy that was in danger of being lost forever. The film has proven hugely effective as a fund raising tool for the Motutapu Restoration Trust and its efforts to restore the island. As a result of this success the trust again contracted with 4D Canvas and a second Motutapu film has just been released. img src http://www.virtualheritage.net/images/vhncms2.jpg align left alt VHN CMS2 Emerging Projects 4D Canvas has created these projects with interactivity in mind. As the funding becomes available these large 3D models can be re-purposed. There have been discussions to create multi-user educational games where students hunt for lost artefacts as they move forwards and backwards in time exploring the sites history, geology and ecology. Other potential projects under consideration include: The Maori stone fields of Auckland, Various Maori Pa fortification sites including Ruapekapeka Pa, site of a last major battle between Maori and British forces, the huge Stony Batter 9.2 gun battery, Mansion House, site of Governors Greys early NZ island paradise and early whaling stations of the South Island. The project currently under development includes an historic look at Rangitoto, the countries remarkable volcanic island. New Zealand may be in a far corner of the globe but it is determined to help raise the visual quality standard of virtual heritage. In fact, with the country's exceptional 3D capability, it expects to attract heritage projects from overseas. The future of virtual heritage projects in NZ looks very bright indeed. Further information: www.4dcanvas.com Chris Keenan 4D Canvas tel: 64 9 445 1480 / mob: 64 21 39 3900 email: chris 4dcanvas.com address: 4D Canvas P.O. Box 32 290, Devonport, Auckland 0744 New Zealand http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1681.htm Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:00:00 EST Call for Participation The e-volution of Information Technology in Cultural Heritage. Where Hi-Tech Touches the Past: Risks and Challenges for the 21st Century October 30 November 4, 2006 Hilton-Cyprus Hotel - Nicosia, Cyprus Invitation: You are kindly invited to attend the 2006 joint conference which will provide an opportunity to exchange research results, opinions, experiences and proposals on the best practice and hi-tech tools from Information and Communications Technology to document, preserve, manage and communicate Cultural Heritage CH . The main goal of the event is not only to illustrate the programs underway but also excellent work wherever it is located and however it is supported, in order to promote a common approach to the tasks of e-documentation of World Cultural Heritage. Furthermore, regional capacities in the area of Cultural Heritage and IT will be facilitated in advancing their know-how through the exchange of information and generation of new ideas and cooperation s, where the world meets the finger prints of several ancient civilizations on earth. To reach this ambitious goal the topics covered will include experiences in the use of innovative recording technologies methods and how to take best advantage to integrate the results obtained to build up new tools and/or experiences as well as improved methodologies for documenting, managing and communicating CH. The 2006 joint event will focus on interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary research concerning both cutting edge Cultural Heritage Informatics and use of technology for the representation, documentation, archiving and communication of CH knowledge. The scope includes every phase of CH information technology: initial data capture/digitization, information/data processing, reconstruction, visualization and documentation as well as dissemination of results to the scientific and cultural heritage communities and to the general public. You will also come in contact with aspects of the wider legal and ethical responsibilities of Cultural Heritage Informatics. Research subjects parallel the interests of CIPA, ISPRS, UNESCO, ICOMOS, VAST, Eurographics and EPOCH EU Network, including culturally significant monuments, artefacts and sites as well as the activities of museums, libraries, archives, and organizations involved with their care. Topics: Attendees will come in contact with first hand unpublished work addressing the following subjects: 2D and 3D GIS in CH 3D Data Capture and Processing in CH Archaeological Analysis and Interpretive Design Augmentation of Museum Artefacts Display CAD and FEM based Digital Reconstructions and 3D Modelling Computer Animation for CH Applications and Virtual Heritage Data Acquisition Technologies focusing on Photogrammetry and Scanning, Data Management and Archiving e-Learning in CH e-Libraries in Cultural Heritage Economics of Cultural Informatics and Tourism Innovative Graphics Applications and Techniques Interactive Environments and Applications for CH Multilingual applications, tools and systems for CH Multimedia in CH, Natural and Man initiated destruction of Cultural Heritage and prevention techniques. Non-Photorealistic Rendering of CH Data Novel Internet-based CH Applications Professional and Ethical Guidelines Reproduction Techniques and Rapid Prototyping in CH Standards and Documentation Storytelling and authoring tools Tools for Education and Training in CH Tools to assist Interpretation of Cultural Heritage Data Usability, Effectiveness and Interface Design for CH Applications Virtual Museum Applications e-Museums and e-Exhibitions Visualisation Techniques desktop, VR, AR Water-marking, copyright and ownership protection assistance via ICT Papers: There will be a variety of different papers presented at the joint event. The three types of contributions are as follows: Full research papers presenting new innovative results. These papers will have a full-length oral presentation and will be published in a high-quality proceedings volume. Project papers focusing on the description of project organization, use of technology, and lesson learned. These papers will have a short oral presentation and will be included in a Projects Short Papers proceedings volume. Short papers presenting preliminary ideas and works-in-progress. These papers will have a short oral presentation and will be available as posters in conference breaks. They will be published in the Projects Short Papers proceedings volume. For more information concerning the joint event, please refer to: http://www.vast2006.org/ or http://www.cipa2006.org/ or directly contact the chair of the event at: chairman cipa2006.org Important Dates: Extended early registration before 22 September 2006 Registration for exhibitors before 29 September 2006 Parallel to our joint event there is the Virtual Reality Software Technology 2006 VRST 2006 symposium in Limassol, Cyprus. Special daily registration rates are offered to registered participants of our joint event. For more information see our joint event program and please visit the official website of the VRST 2006: http://www.vrst.ploegos.com. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1637.htm Sat, 14 Oct 2006 06:52:38 EST We invite you to submit a paper/abstract to The 4th International Conference on Cybernetics and Information Technologies, Systems and Applications CITSA 2007 jointly with The 5th International Conference on Computing, Communications and Control Technologies CCCT 2007 http://www.info-cyber.org/citsa2007 . IT will take place in Orlando, Florida, USA, from July 12-15, 2007. We are emphasizing the area of Information Systems and Computing which, we think, is related to your specific academic or professional area. All submitted papers will have an extensive reviewing process. A multi-methodological review will be applied in the selection process of this multi-disciplinary conference. Submitted papers or extended abstracts will have three kinds of reviews: double-blind by at least three reviewers , non-blind, and participative peer-to-peer review. These three reviews will support the selection process of those that will be accepted for their presentation at the conference, as well as those to be selected for their publication in JSCI Journal. Details are given in the conference web site. Of the papers presented, the best 10 -20 of the papers will be published in Volume 6 of JSCI Journal www.iiisci.org/Journal/SCI and sent free to over 200 university and research libraries Also, we would like to invite you to organize an invited session related to a topic of your research interest. If you are interested in organizing an invited session, please, fill out the respective form provided in the conference web page. We will send you a password, so you can include and modify papers in your invited session. More details about the reviewing process, organizing invited sessions and submissions deadlines can be found at our web site. http://www.info-cyber.org/citsa2007 If the deadlines are tight and you need more time, let us know about a suitable time for you and I will inform you if it is feasible for us. Again, we invite you to participate in The 4th International Conference on Cybernetics and Information Technologies, Systems and Applications CITSA 2007 jointly with The 5th International Conference on Computing, Communications and Control Technologies CCCT 2007 which in the past has had participants from over 80 countries. Best regards, Professor Jos Aguilar CITSA 2007 General Chair Address: Torre Profesional La California, Av. Francisco de Miranda, Caracas, Venezuela. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1636.htm Sat, 14 Oct 2006 05:49:43 EST Virtual Scylla The Fusion of Virtual Reality and Artificial Life for Reconstructing Marine Ecosystems. Data Collecting Expedition for Scylla Researchers from the School of Engineering have recently taken part in a new survey of Europe s first artificial wreck, the Leander Class Frigate HMS Scylla, resting on the sea bed off Whitsand Bay near Plymouth. Prof. Bob Stone and Eugene Ch ng joined forces with colleagues from the University of Plymouth, the National Marine Aquarium NMA and the Marine Biological Association MBA . The group departed for the wreck site from Plymouth s historic Barbican onboard the UK National, a boat skippered by Prof. Richard Linford, Head of the University of Plymouth s Department of Communication Electronic Engineering Prof. Stone is currently a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Integrated Systems Design within this Department . On arrival at the wreck site, the NMA and MBA diving teams set to work collecting marine life samples and new photographic records from the reef. Over 140 marine species have been recorded to date, including spiny starfish, pouting shoals of which showed up extremely well on the UK National s echo sounder , queen scallops, sea squirts, various species of anemone and algae, mussels, starfish and sea urchins. Whilst this was underway, the Birmingham team helped with the deployment of the NMA s VideoRay remotely operated vehicle ROV . The ROV was used to gain access to areas of the ship where more detail was required for the ongoing construction of the virtual model, including the bridge, helicopter hangar and landing pad at the stern of the vessel. The ROV also captured an excellent video sequence of a cuttlefish, disturbed in the vicinity of the Scylla s bow. The opportunity was also taken to obtain digital images of the Whitsand Bay coastline. In due course these new images will be imported into the computer games engine technology being exploited for the Virtual Scylla research and will be used to add visual detail to a recent three-dimensional model of the area constructed using digital terrain mapping data and medium-resolution aerial photographs. The evening following the visit to the Scylla site, Prof. Stone and Dr. Keith Hiscock of the MBA presented on their organisation s projects at a special Scylla Month evening event at the NMA. Scylla Month has been designed to encourage divers to visit the wreck and help to generate as comprehensive a marine species catalogue as possible. All of these records, together with those collected on this recent successful visit will provide essential data for the University s ongoing research into marine life simulation and virtual environments. About Virtual Scylla Our research plans aim to apply the research to the colonisation of artificial subsea reefs by marine life. In support of this, and in collaboration with the UK s National Marine Aquarium NMA , we are currently extending and modifying the SeederEngine research to provide predictive visualisations of what one particular reef might look like tens of years and longer into the future. It is our eventual aim to assess the impact of possible global climate changes on the sea and to model other factors, such as the effects of pollution or other short-term environmental variations. The project involves NMA subject matter experts, particularly in respect of the marine flora and fauna that will eventually inhabit the reef, their growth and reproduction patterns, their responses to subsea environmental changes pollution, temperature, etc. . It will be possible to collect regular validational information from the reef over time via subsea webcams or regular dives on the reef using remotely operated or manned submersibles . Currently, an optimised low polygon 3D model of the Scylla has been created and algorithms are being developed from extensions of the SeederEngine to accommodate artificial marine life forms. At present, data is being gathered for an early investigation to visualise the outcome in a real-time virtual environment. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1635.htm Thu, 05 Oct 2006 09:46:56 EST Project Lead: Sarah Kenderdine Museum Victoria in collaboration with APSARA-Authority, Cambodia These striking stereographic panoramas capture the potent sacred space of Angkorean temple architecture and relief sculpture. Travel through a 3-D landscape of celestial palaces, rich with Khmer iconography illustrating the narratives of Hindu and Buddhist mythologies. Angkor was capital of the medieval Khmer empire in Cambodia 9th 17th C and it continues to capture the world s imagination with its immense scale and beauty. Panoramic vision has been a mode of virtual travel for hundreds of years. This compelling work uses a sophisticated combination of technologies to bring panoramic scenes and viewers into a new degree of intimacy. The combination of 3-D landscapes with spatial sound, audio spotlights, animations and real-world video brings new life to each scene. This is a groundbreaking and exceptional work which paves the way for heritage visualisation. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1626.htm Sun, 10 Sep 2006 10:47:30 EST The Growing Virtual Heritage projects of New Zealand Virtual heritage is on the move in New Zealand. There have been three large projects initiated over the last 24 months. They include the animated Fort Takapuna project by 4D Canvas, The New Zealand Department of Conservation DOC film on historic North Head and The Guns of Motutapu film currently under production for the Motutapu Restoration Trust in cooperation with DOC. The North Head film project was based on a pilot project created by the Auckland based visualization experts, 4D Canvas. DOC became interested in the 3D technology after Chris Keenan, the founder of 4D Canvas, funded a six month project to research and build a 3D model of Fort Takapuna, circa 1895. Having been very involved in virtual heritage projects for the State of California I developed the Fort Takapuna animation to create interest from the New Zealand Government. This had the desired effect and we have gone on to develop both the North Head film and the current Guns of Motutapu project. DOC historian Sarah Macready and DOC archeologist Dave Veart co-wrote the script and were key to the North Head films success. Sarah is a believer in virtual heritage. The department was keen to improve the quality of its interpretation, most of which consists of static interpretation panels, and having seen an example of Chris's work Fort Takapuna and the disappearing guns recognized the potential of this kind of 3D animated reconstruction in bringing the past to life for visitors. We think the film has been very successful in bringing colour, movement, interest and a far better understanding of what the fort looked like in the 19th century to our interpretation of North Head. Virtual heritage created an effective restoration of these 1890 era forts without disturbing any of the fabric from other periods. This history, includes early Maori settlements as well as WWI, WWII and post war military history. 3D animation was the only viable way to give context to the existing site as it had operated in the 1890's with its unusual configuration of rare disappearing guns. Dave Veart, the DOC archaeologist who also narrated the North Head film, has watched the reactions of hundreds of visitors as they view the film. The project has been very successful. People varying in age from 8 to 80 have viewed the 16 minute film and the responses have been universally positive. The animated sequences allow us to explain a very difficult cultural landscape more easily and as a result our visitors' experience of the site has been enhanced. Restoration of the forts in the virtual world has also had the effect of allowing us to understand these sites more completely, helping us to manage them more effectively. The largest current virtual heritage project underway in New Zealand is the short 3D film The Guns of Motutapu . It is a story about Motutapu Island and New Zealand's most important WWII gun battery at the time of an anticipated Japanese attack. 4D Canvas is making the film for the Motutapu Restoration Trust in cooperation with DOC. It is one of the largest 3D modeling heritage projects of its type in the world and features an intensely detailed simulation of a six inch MK21 Counter Bombardment Battery. One unique aspect of the project is that the Derek Thorburn, one of the actual commanders of the guns during WWII, is acting as a technical advisor to the project. It is allowing the 3D artists to achieve a level of historical accuracy that will not be possible in the future. 4D Canvas has created these projects with interactivity in mind. As the funding becomes available the large task of creating 3D models of large forts can be re-purposed to create multi-user educational games where students hunt for lost artifacts as they move forwards and backwards in time to explore the sites history, geology and ecology. New Zealand may be in a far corner of the globe but it is determined to help raise the visual quality standard of virtual heritage. In fact, with the country's exceptional 3D capability, it expects to attract heritage projects from overseas. The future of virtual heritage projects in New Zealand looks very bright indeed. Further information: Chris Keenan 4D Canvas tel: 64 9 445 1480 / mob: 64 21 39 3900 email: chris 4dcanvas.com 4D Canvas P.O. Box 32 290, Devonport, Auckland 1309 New Zealand http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1638.htm Thu, 11 Mar 2004 12:00:00 EST Date: 3rd-5th of November 2004 Place: Vienna, City-Hall In the past years the advance of modern EDP has turned more and more archaeologists from mere computer users to developers of tailor-made computer applications. However, it turned out that there was a clear lack of co-ordination and co-operation on these issues in Austrian archaeology. Therefore an initiative was started to establish a platform for experts to exchange information on the development of single-standard applications, to solve problems, and to intensify cooperation in this field. The Workshop on Archaeology and Computers was founded in 1996 by the Vienna Research Society on Urban Archaeology, the Urban Archaeology Division of Municipal Department 7 Cultural Affairs , and Municipal Department 14 Automated Electronic Data Processing, Information and Communications Technologies . Since then the workshop has been held in Vienna in autumn every year. In addition to archaeologists, the workshop soon attracted experts from many other fields and various countries in Europe, such as computer specialists, public sector representatives from municipal institutions and private sector representatives. For their 30-minute lectures, most speakers used PCs to present their work more effectively. All presentations have been published in the documentation for the corresponding workshop documentation. Since the third workshop in 1998 the documentation has been available on CD. Our main topics are 1 Cultural Heritage - Tourism - EDP Session chairmen: Oleg Missikoff, Rome/Wolfgang B rner, Vienna 2 LOOTED PAST - DIGITALIZED FUTURE? Hot spots in the Near East and the protection of cultural property - how can computers help? initiated by the Institute of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Vienna, Friedrich T. Schipper/Gebhard J. Selz, Vienna powered by the Austrian initiative for the Iraqi world cultural heritage 3. Digital Elevation Models Session chairman: Willem Beex, Amsterdam 4. XML Session Chairmen: Jon Kenny/William Kilbride, London 5. Open Session GIS, CAD, Internet, VR, Statistics, Databases aso.... If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me: mailto:kongrarchae m07.magwien.gv.at Magistrat der Stadt Wien Magistratsabteilung 7 - Kultur Referat Kulturelles Erbe - Stadtarch ologie Friedrich-Schmidt-Platz 5/1, A-1080 Wien Tel. 0043 0 1 4000 81176 Fax: 0043 0 1 4000 99 81177 mailto:bor m07.magwien.gv.at mailto:cultherit m07.magwien.gv.at http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1625.htm Wed, 03 Mar 2004 12:00:00 EST A Global Forum on Internet Governance will be held on 25-26 March 2004 at United Nations Headquarters in New York, to bring together leading actors and all relevant stakeholders, including Member States, civil society and the private sector, interested in Internet governance issues. Organized under the auspices of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies ICT Task Force, the Global Forum will be an opportunity to engage in an open discussion on all aspects of Internet governance. The views expressed from around the world in on-line discussions to be organized with other partners in the weeks ahead will contribute to the Forum to ensure as broad and comprehensive a reflection of perspectives and ideas on the issues to be addressed. The Global Forum will contribute to the world-wide consultation process to be organized by the Secretary-General. The Plan of Action adopted at the Geneva phase of the World Summit on the Information Society WSIS in December 2003, requested the United Nations Secretary-General ?to set up a working group on Internet governance, in an open and inclusive process that ensures a mechanism for the full and active participation of governments, the private sector and civil society from both developing and developed countries, involving relevant intergovernmental and international organizations and forums, to investigate and make proposals for action, as appropriate, on the governance of Internet by 2005?. Among the principal issues that the group will address are a working definition of Internet governance, identification of relevant public policy issues, and the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders. While the Secretary-General has yet to make a final decision on how to organize a Working Group on Internet Governance, he expressed his view that this Global Forum ?will be of great utility? for any future consultation process. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1610.htm Wed, 03 Mar 2004 12:00:00 EST UNESCO and the Panos Institute West Africa PIWA have just concluded the Oral Testimony training and production project, resulting in 12 radio documentaries produced and broadcast through some 300 community radio stations in eight Western African countries. Oral testimonies are radio documentaries that treat several topics depicting different ethnic and religious groups: how they interface, integrate and reconcile in a changing environment. The methodology of oral testimony is based on a specific interview method using testimonies of the local populations. The training and production project focused on the life of young people in a complex and multicultural surrounding. Through the radio programmes, the views of the young people themselves, often ignored by traditional urban media, are expressed. The main objective of the initiative was to increase intercultural awareness and sensitising young generations on humanity?s need for tolerance, dialogue and peace. The project was supported within the framework of UNESCO?s international venture ?Intensifying the Dialogue among Communities, Cultures and Civilizations?. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1611.htm Wed, 03 Mar 2004 12:00:00 EST For its coming June special issue, the Leonardo Electronic Almanac LEA invites artists, musicians, academics, researchers, practitioners, curators and critics in the field of new media, electronic music and digital art practices, to submit contributions addressing regional networking competence problems and realities in the Asia Pacific cultures. This idea was initiated from the international colloquium Old pathways/New travellers: new media, electronic music and digital art practices in the Asia Pacific region that took place on 4 and 5 December 2003 at the Sarai Center for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi, India with the support of the UNESCO Digi-Arts Portal. The colloquium sought to launch a media arts and electronic music initiative sponsored by UNESCO Digi-Arts and Sarai, to promote and develop research, networking, mutual cooperation, training and knowledge in these fields within the region. It also aimed to point out the role and place of media and technology in a social, cultural and economic landscape and paths that internally connect Asia and the island cultures of the Pacific regions, its impact on young people and its potential as a unique tool to promote cultural diversity. More information on the contributions to LEA, which shoud be submitted by 31 March 2004 with a 300 word abstract/synopsis, a brief author biography and contact details, can be obtained from Fatima Lasay, LEA Guest Editor fats up.edu.ph or Nisar Keshvani, LEA Editor-in-Chief lea mitpress.mit.edu . Established in 1993, the Leonardo Electronic Almanac is the electronic arm of the art journal Leonardo - Journal of Art, Science Technology that is jointly produced by Leonardo, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology ISAST and published under the auspices of MIT Press. UNESCO's Digi-Arts portal aims at researching and disseminating different computer practices in the field of art and music through diversified networks. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1612.htm Wed, 03 Mar 2004 12:00:00 EST Congress of Cultural Atlases: The Human Record May 7-10, 2004 University of California, Berkeley http://www.ecai.org/Activities/Congress2004/congress_home.html In an increasingly digital age, scholars and institutions documenting the human record have turned to geographical information, virtual reality, and the Internet to create cultural atlases. Under the sponsorship of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative ECAI , the Congress of Cultural Atlases offers an opportunity for those involved in creating digital atlases and digital representations of cultural heritage sites to come together for presentations, demonstrations, discussions, and training. Delegates will have the opportunity to participate in workshops pertaining to specific issues in atlas development: Digital Gazetteers for Cultural Atlases, including a case study of database development for Chinese religious geography; Reconstructing Archaeological Landscapes Using the New Technology, a virtual reality and GIS workshop, Training Workshop in using GIS and other strategies for building and managing a cultural atlas. David Rumsey, director of Cartography Associates, will be the keynote speaker. The David Rumsey Map Collection, with over 8,800 historical maps on line, is a pioneering effort to use new technologies to envision the geography of the human past. Other projects presented at the plenary session will include major cultural atlases already under development concerning the history and heritage of Tibet, Ireland, Korea, Italy, and more. People who wish to present a poster or demonstration are invited to do so. There is no cost for the Congress, however a registration of USD 100 is required for attending the training session in cultural atlas development. Payment of the training workshop fee can be made by check or cash at the reception, plenary or workshop. We regret that credit card payment will not be accepted. Cosponsors include the UC Berkeley GIS Center, the Committee for Information Technology Research in the Interests of Society, the Henry Luce Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. For more information, please contact ecai socrates.berkeley.edu. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1614.htm Wed, 03 Mar 2004 12:00:00 EST Here is the overview on the eight DigiCULT Projects selected following the first FP6 call in an eCulture special issue. It gives information on objectives, workpackages, project partners and project types: http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/digicult/newsletter.htm For those who want to bookmark a specific project, the same information is available from our pages on CORDIS; please type - http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/digicult/ - then the name of the project i.e. bricks, presto, calimera - and finally add the extension .htm . And this is what you should get: http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/digicult/bricks.htm As always, the information is available for download in .pdf format as well as in .doc. Should you wish to obtain more information on these projects, please contact their project coordinator. Best regards Christine Michaut --------------------------------------------------------------- Information Communication Officer Preservation and Enhancement of Cultural Heritage Directorate-General Information Society European Commission Rue Alcide de Gasperi, EUFO 2255 Phone 352-4301-34071 / Fax 352 4301 33530 Website: www.cordis.lu/digicult http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1616.htm Wed, 03 Mar 2004 12:00:00 EST By M. Usman Choudhry January 26-29 New Convention Center, Washington D.C In its 26th year, COMNET 2004 is first major networking conference on the calendar. How ever once an event that overflowed the Old Washington Convention Center's 381,000 square feet now uses about one-third of that space at the new convention center. COMNET this year has 76 exhibitors listed on its Web site, down from last year's 141.The conference continues to slide, with little to celebrate in the sessions or on the exhibit floor. Now a low down on the key notes, feature presentations and the exhibit floor. Key Notes and Presentations: Information Security on its 100th Birthday: Dr. Whitfield Diffie, Chief Security Officer, Sun Microsystems, Inc. Diffie is best known for his 1975 discovery of the concept of public key cryptography, for which he was awarded a Doctorate in Technical Sciences Honoris Causa by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in 1992. The main points of his presentation Information security as we know it today dates from the introduction of radio by Marconi in 1903. Cryptography, which was the major research challenge for most of the 20th century, is now the well-developed segment within the field. Early 20th century had electromechanical devices dominating cryptography. Although cryptography was employed during World War I, two of the more notable machines were employed during World War II: the Germans? Enigma machine, developed by Arthur Scherbius, and the Japanese Purple Machine not built out of rotors but of telephone stepping switches , developed using techniques first discovered by Herbert O. Yardley. U.S Military and secret services have been using cryptography for a long time before Public cryptographic standards were put in place examples being SigSally, the digital secure phone in the 1940s, based on 2400 bits/sec vocoder , with racks of equipment 37 ft long and each weighing a ton. By the end of 1960s time sharing became more common; more secure computing issues arose, how ever the decade saw some interesting stuff like Blacker network security system that used cryptography to maintain integrity and Java language. In the 1970s, Dr. Horst Feistel established the precursor to today?s Data Encryption Standard DES . In 1976, The National Security Agency NSA worked to establish FIPS PUB-46, known today as DES. While Cryptography configuration was the major issue in the 20th century, the main issue for the 21st century is Cryptography and Process confinement. Take the example of a classic hotel versus a modern one, the classic one having a landlady sitting by the only door so that you won?t leave without paying her and the modern one with many open doors and you can come and go as you please any time you want with no security checks any where, the only difference being that they got your credit card information before you checked in. Security is changing on a multilevel the same way. Whitfield summarized his views at the end with ?Information security is moving from parameter to infrastructure?. The Next Five Years: Howard Anderson, Senior Managing Director, YankeeTek Ventures Howard Anderson founded The Yankee Group, a technology research and consulting firm, where he served as President and CEO from 1970 until 2000. He had an interesting presentation with the audiences deciding how the next five years will be for their company and the IT World. Each Attendee was given 5 Cards 1, 2,3,4,5 printed on them and in answer to every question they were asked to vote based on 1 Strongly agree .....5 Strongly disagree Howard made brief comments on the verdicts which are as follows. My company will move its Call Center off shore in the next five years The verdict: 1 Moving the Company Call centers offshore to Asia helps reduce costs thanks to the cheap labor there so most of the companies are working in that direction or at least thinking what applications they can move offshore to reduce budget. Our total communication cost Local, long distance and wireless will be 3 or less in 2004 assume level employee count The verdict: 3 The Odds that our Corporate Headquarters will go VoIP by 2006 is less than 10 The verdict: 2 Our PBX infrastructure is aging and hopefully by the end of 2004 5-10 U.S employees will have VoIP. How ever there will be security issues involved here. By the beginning of 2005 we will have substantially eliminated the Spam problem in Corporate America The verdict: 5 According to an estimate 60 Billion emails are sent and received every day. Bill Gates suggestion to the Spam problem has been that we should charge people for sending email. The total IT Budget at your firm from Last year 1: 5 increase 2: 0-4 increase 3: even 4: 1-4 decrease 5: more than 4 decrease The verdict: 3 and 4 The importance given to the following issue at my company the next five years. 1 Important ... 5 Not Important Antispam, Viruses, Trojans: 1 VoIP: 2.5 Wireless: 3 Linux: 3 RFID: 4 Panel Discussion Surviving and innovating in the tough IT Market: Host: John Gallant, President Editorial Director, Network World, Inc. Panelists: Robert Galey, Chief Information Officer, AMTRAK David Swartz, Chief Information Officer - Information Systems and Services, George Washington University John Gallant started the discussion by recalling the ?Do IT? mantra in the early 90s, the subsequent crash later in the mid 90s and the changing times now as the IT stock is picking up again. His discussion with the panelists proceeded as follows. Organizational view of IT in your organization Robert Galey said that the 90s dotcom crash really didn?t have a major effect on Amtrak as they were not working on a lot of centralized IT projects at that time. How ever now they are spending more money on the company?s IT department, the main focus being equipment replacement every 3 years and web site maintenance. The email traffic at Amtrak has increased 5 times in the past two years. David Swartz said that the technical research work funding at George Washington University is provided by student tuition and now it is harder to get funding for new IT based projects than it was a few years earlier. Is the Big Budget Mentality coming back soon? Robert Galey said that their 31 year old company is more interested in smaller projects as compares to big ones. David Swartz said that the big budget mentality is not coming back any time soon but it is no cause of alarm as before the big leap in 90s, it had been a rather steady slope of development and the progress in the IT field has been quite steady over the last few years. Challenges in Security Robert Galey said that according to a Government Study post 9/11, a virus/worm attack by terrorists will a big concern in the future and he thinks that security should be implemented at the server level. David Swartz said that the good way to counter harmful downloads at an organization would be to come up with a model that keeps check on the desktops? updates in the system Is your IT Budget up from last year Robert Galey said that now 30 of their business is through the website even more than the through the call center. How ever their budget, with some adjustments, is still the same. David Swartz said that the IT budget at their university has gone up from last year. 5 years from now Robert said that at Amtrak things will be much more network oriented in the future. According to David Swartz ?Not one size fits all?, how ever he sees higher speed connection between points at his organization. Panel Discussion How is a government-based move to VoIP different than a private sector move? Moderator: Richard Grigonis, Editor-in-Chief, VON Magazine Panelists: Ronald I. Koenig, President CEO, VIACK Corporation Doug Mohney, Consultant Highlights of the Koenig?s presentation 92 of Government agencies detected computer security breaches within the last 12 months. Are you at Risk? 4 out of 5 IT Related crimes are committed from within an organization Is your staff snooping? 75 of Government agencies acknowledged financial losses due to computer breaches Are you prepared? The government is responding to these questions by using cyber alerts, setting up computer incident supports centers and by using a reactive not proactive approach to the problems. How ever next on the agenda is e-gov initiatives making use of all types of cyber activities , cyber security legislation, Buy versus Build Due to budget constraints it is good idea to use an existent application that can feed government needs instead of building a new one and maximizing wired infrastructure Adding CAT5 wiring to the infrastructure . Mohney?s presentation goes as follows Is VoIP is really considered telephony? It is considered more as an application than telephony but if it looks like a telephone, quacks like a telephone then it must be a telephone. FCC Chairman Powell?s policy about it is like, that it is not really a phone it just talks to a phone some times so we don?t really need to regulate it as much. The drawback though is that recording bits is not considered as big a deal it is not like we are wiretapping any one, it is only bits . The other issue is Quality of service as basic IP is not designed for scaling, broadcast or QoS prioritizing. MPLS and IPv6 provide some QoS but there is no universal date of adoption for IPv6. The National Communication System is working on IPS Internet Priority Service which will ensure assured communication and enhanced priority to government officials in the case of an emergency. A brief introduction to Enum, a phone number to IP address mapping protocol was given at the end. For more information about Enum check the site http://www.enum.com/index.jsp Can Security survive the onslaught of wireless Networks: An interesting presentation by Sondra Schneider, Founder CEO, Security University. Check out the survey sheets. Computer Emergency Response Team Report Online security ?incidents? 52,658 in 2001 21,756 in 2000 9,859 in 1999 ICSA Virus Prevalence Survey 2002 1.2 million Virus incidents in 2002 74 of respondents said ?getting worse? 81,000 dollars in cleanup costs MessageLab VirusEye Report 2003 372,000 copies of Yaha 343,000 copies of Palyh 293,000 copies of Klez ..... And 1 in every 145 emails contained a virus Symantec Internet Security Threat Report-February 2003 In 2003 50 new vulnerabilities each week 1,200 new 32 bit windows viruses in 2002 The bottom line is ?Things are getting worse, twice as likely each year as previous. The basic rules are to install Anti-Virus Software, keep it up to date, make regular backups and use personal firewalls. However existing security technologies are failing. Signature based solutions missing new and modified threats, security alerts confusing users, users turning off security that interferes with functionality, and current security products not designed to detect Trojans are just a few of the issues here. Recommendation Use Secure Logon with Out of Band Authentication Suggestions for wireless network security -Schedule access point discovery and security audits, -Connect access points to switches -Use VLANs to segment wireless traffic -Configure mutual authentication for clients and access points against the server Making Wireless Work: Secure and Effective Enterprise Applications: The speakers present were Craig Mathias, Principal, Farpoint Communications Tim Scannell, President and Chief Analyst, Shoreline Research Dave Juitt, Bluesocket, Inc. Jim Baker, COO, Alereon, Inc. Tim Scanell gave the introduction and overview of the agenda. Craig Mathias said that the main wireless challenges are the economics of scale; improvements in coverage and throughput, WWAN Wireless WAN Reliability/Availability and improving WWAN Performance. He brought the following question going forward; Cellular Messaging versus Internet Messaging, Which technology will predominate? And the forecast is that email wins. Bottom-line is that wireless messaging will be as important as voice and a standard capability of all networks and subscriber units. Dave Juitt said that when data is denser we need to manage Bandwidth and avoid unnecessary encryption overhead. He predicted that Voice over WLAN will be widely used in the future. Jim Baker covered the history of wireless from Government Radio Regulations 1912 to the UWB Ultra Wide Band -Patents 1960s to FCC Approval 2002. The summary of his discussion was that UWB is not WiFi or Bluetooth replacement but a solution to the real problems with more than 10 times the throughput of 802.11a/g, more than 25 times reduction in power and a 1B semiconductor market within 5 years. The security recommendations given were 802.1x if you are using Layer 2 security , IPSec Be sure not to forget mobility , VLAN Deploy per-user VLAN Policy if your network supports it and EAP Consider EAP-TLS if client certificates infrastructure is in place On the Expo Floor: Opnet Technologies: A fancy booth publicizing two software suites OPNET IT Guru Has the ability to model the entire network and helps diagnose application performance problems, validate changes to the server and router configurations. OPNET SP Guru SP Guru is for service providers migrating from circuit-switched to packet networks, deploying 3G wireless services or VPNs, or implementing MPLS-based traffic engineering. It understands Layer 2/3 networks and helps in troubleshooting, operational validation, planning, and engineering of service provider networks. http://www.opnet.com/ Avocent: Avocent is a supplier of keyboard, video and mouse switching solutions. Two new products on display were: SwitchView SC Lets you switch between classified and unclassified networks, automatically clears the keyboard buffer after data is transmitted through the switch, access up to four attached servers using one keyboard, monitor, and mouse. It is priced at 349. DSR4010 KVM over IP switch supports multi-platform, multi-location, multi-device installations, over a standard IP connection. It combines digital and analog access in a 16-port KVM switch, providing simultaneous access for up to 4 users all 4 being remote or 3 remote and 1 local . It uses Avocent?s DSView centralized management software for remote IP-based access. User software for 1 user is 750; User software for 5 users is 2,500. http://www.avocent.com/ AdventNet: They had a demonstration of their new software ManageEngine OpManager 4, a Network, System and Application monitor that offers network monitoring functionality with a live view of Routers, Switches, Servers and Printers using maps which show the status of interfaces / ports and services. Fault Management capabilities include Event-alarm correlation, color-coded alarms, SNMP trap support and Email / SMS based notifications. Operators get alarm handling functionality like acknowledging alarms, alarm suppression and alarm escalation rules. The unit prices for single, two and five user editions respectively are 795, 1295 and 2495 respectively. Annual Maintenance Support Fees for single, two and five user editions respectively are 159, 259 and 499 respectively. http://www.adventnet.com/ Western Telematic: The highlight of their booth was CMS-16 Console Port Management Switch that provides in-band and/or out-of-band access to RS232 console ports and maintenance ports on UNIX servers, routers and other network equipment. When inquired about its features and pricing, the following data was provided: Sixteen RS232 DB-9 Serial Ports 10Base-T Ethernet Port Modem Auto-Setup Command Strings User Definable Data Rate Conversion, 300 to 115K bps No Software Required AC and 48V DC Powered Models Eight Port and 32-Port Units Also Available CMS-16 is priced at 1,295. http://www.wti.com/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1619.htm Wed, 03 Mar 2004 12:00:00 EST Two workshops fostering major developments under the project? Strengthening ICT in Schools and SchoolNet Project in the South East Asian Setting? were held recently in Bangkok. The UNESCO project aims at the information-rich and well equipped ASEAN countries to share their resources with information-poor and ill-equipped countries in the region through an ASEAN SchoolNet. The project focuses on south-south cooperation, using the full range of ICTs and partnerships to enhance education and prepare students fully for life. National SchoolNets will also be developed to support the specific educational needs of each country. The project attempts to demonstrate that the use of ICT in education will make a difference in improving the teaching/learning process through the systematic integration of the use of ICT into existing educational curricula on science, mathematics and language. The South East Asian ICT Advocacy and Planning Workshop for Policy Makers and National ICT Coordinators, 15 December 2003 provided the foundation for implementing the launching of the project. It is only through the commitment and support given by the High Officials from the Ministries of Education that the successful achievement of the goals and objectives set forth in the project can materialize. Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao PDR and Viet Nam committed to pilot testing the project for three years. The Sub-Regional Meeting of National ICT Coordinators on Project Planning and Management 16-18 December 2003 was organized back to back with this Policy Makers? workshop. To follow up on the decisions and agreements made on the 15th, this Meeting fleshed out and detailed the Memorandum of Agreement and the set of recommendations arrived at into a more workable master plan/work plan for implementation at the national level. The ICT Coordinators participating in this Meeting translated the commitment made by their policy makers into an actual set of activities in order to pave the way for the implementation in their respective countries. But before this could be undertaken, the Meeting first set the necessary regional frameworks and parameters, which the national projects will be based on. Such overall frameworks will provide benchmarks for comparing progress and developments among the countries. Thirty participants from Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam took part in the presentations and dynamic discussions. The participants were those responsible for the ICT Unit, SchoolNet, and the curriculum development of science, maths and language in the Ministry of Education. SchoolNets differ widely from country to country. At worse, they may involve a simple resource base for students and teachers of one school, perhaps with a simple level of interactivity, such as a question and answer service by e-mail. At best they include nationwide or international networks of schools, teachers, parents and resources; forums; databases; teacher training; interaction among students and teachers; collaborative projects between schools and nations and more. Students become engaged in real exploration and simulation instead of remaining passive recipients of information. Teachers can use ICTs for administrative and assessment purposes. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1622.htm Wed, 03 Mar 2004 12:00:00 EST Recordings of traditional Chinese music held by the Music Research Institute MRI of the Chinese Academy of Arts in Being will soon be digitally available. The collections which have has been included in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 1997, contain unique field recordings from the 1950s onward, which are in frequent demand. The Music Research Institute is the most important institution of its kind in China collecting and studying Chinese traditional music. Its archives holds 40,000 gramophone records and a collection of several thousand tapes with 7,000 hours' traditional music recordings collected from different nationalities all over the country. The project that is mainly funded by UNESCO will follow the principles of IASA TC-03 International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, Standards, Recommended Practices and Strategies: The Safeguarding of the Audio Heritage: Ethics, Principles, and Preservation Strategy . Experts from the Austrian Research Sound Archives Phonogrammarchiv , a similarly structured research sound archive that has gained considerable experience in digital archiving over the past years will provide technical assistance. The project includes the purchase and installation of equipment, the digitization itself and the creation of a website that will provide access to the digitised collections. Basic equipment will include a stand-alone, high quality analogue-to-digital converter and a PC with a high clock frequency and adequate amount of memory to serve as the digital audio workstation. For intermediary storage of the digitised signals a SCSI hard disk of highest available storage capacity will be used. The digitised sound recordings will be permanently stored on tapes, recorded on an external HP SureStore 230 Ultrium drive. Two parallel tapes of all material will be produced to be stored in different locations. User copies for the Library as well as for the MRI will be burned on audio or data CDs and transferred conventionally to the MRI, before fast network connections become available. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1623.htm Wed, 03 Mar 2004 12:00:00 EST Scientists at the University of Birmingham are using seismic data to reveal a spectacular prehistoric landscape previously unknown to science where early man roamed more than 10,000 years ago, deep beneath the North Sea. br br With the aid of new high-powered computing facilities at the University's HP VISTA Visualisation and Spatial Technology Centre, a team of archaeologists, geologists and engineers are beginning to explore and visualise this hidden landscape, which, during the period from 8000 - 18,000 years before the present day, was a large plain on which humans hunted animals gathered plants. br br The team is revealing some amazing secrets as they reconstruct the lost environment, including evidence of a large river comparable in size to the Thames or Rhine, which was buried when its valley was flooded some 7,000 years ago due to glacial melting. The river channel, which has provisionally been named the Shotton River after the University's pioneering geologist and archaeologist Professor Fred Shotton, is over 600 metres wide and has so far been traced for a length of 27.5 kilometres travelling in a north west-south easterly direction. br br Engineers have produced preliminary virtual reconstruction images of the river and its surrounding environment prior to the area becoming flooded. Professor Bob Stone, Head of Engineering's Human Interface Technology Team and a Director of the International Virtual Heritage Network said, This is the most exciting and challenging virtual reality project since Virtual Stonehenge in 1996. Not only are we working with our colleagues in Archaeology to ensure the visual accuracy of this very rich environment, we are basing the topography of the virtual landscape on actual seismic data and the computer-generated flora on pollen and plant traces extracted from geological core samples retrieved from the sea bed . br br Dr Vincent Gaffney, Director of the University's Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity and lead investigator on the project comments, This pilot project has great significance to the whole of the quaternary research community, both in its environmental, geological archaeological forms. We intend to extend the project to visualise the whole of the now submerged land bridge that previously joined Britain to Northern Europe as one land mass, providing scientists with a new insight into the previous human occupation of the North Sea. br br In addition to the 3D virtual images of the landscape, an industrial collaboration with HP Vista Centre partners, Reachin Technologies, has aided the development of a tactile haptic interface, greatly assisting scientists by combining the sense of touch and sight to interpret and explore the intricate landscape. br br The North Sea Visualisation Team from the University of Birmingham br comprises: br Dr Vincent Gaffney - Director, Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity Dr Ken Thomson - Lecturer in Basin Dynamics, School of Geography, Earth Environmental Sciences Professor Robert Stone - Chair in Interactive Multimedia Systems, Department of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering Simon Fitch - Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity Eugene Ch'ng - Department of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering br br The seismic data has been supplied courtesy of the PGS Southern North Sea Mega Survey, and was originally carried out for oil prospection. More information on a href http://www.pgs.com/ PGS is available online /a . br br The initial study area covers a landscape 140x70 kilometres in size. br br Professor Fred Shotton 1906-1990 dedicated much of his varied career to the study of Pleistocene Ice Age geology archaeology and was a pioneer of multidisciplinary Pleistocene research at the University of Birmingham. br A a href http://www.arch-ant.bham.ac.uk/shottonproject/profshotton.htm target _blank brief biography of Professor Shotton /a is available online. br br br br The Quaternary is a subdivision of geological time the Quaternary Period covering the last two million years up to the present day. The exact duration is a matter of debate with estimates of the onset of the Quaternary Period placed at between 1.8 million years and 2.6 million years by different authors The Quaternary and the Tertiary Periods together form the Cenozoic Era. The Quaternary can be subdivided into two epochs; the Pleistocene two million years to ten thousand years ago and the Holocene ten thousand years ago to the present day . br br The preliminary virtual reconstruction images are based upon the present scientific understanding of the area - these are likely to be revised as the project reveals valuable new information to the scientific community about the evolution of the area. br br a href ../images/pics/Stone_location_map 2.jpg target _blank img src ../images/pics/pics/Stone_location_map2_400.jpg alt width 400 height 262 border 0 /a br Location map of study area with bathymetry - green areas were lowland, brown areas were highland br br a href ../images/pics/Stone_Shotton_and_tribs.jpg.jpg target _blank img src ../images/pics/pics/Stone_Shotton_and_tribs_400.jpg alt width 400 height 246 border 0 /a br The River Shotton - this image shows the clear outline of a large river the Shotton on the right hand side. Changes in geology reverse the image colours on the left where one can see a dendritic stream system br br a href ../images/pics/Stone_reconstruction2.jpg target _blank img src ../images/pics/Stone_reconstruction2_400.jpg alt width 400 height 300 border 0 /a br Reconstruction of mesolithic landscape of the North Sea showing original terrain derived from seismics and contemporary vegetation br br a href ../images/pics/Stone_reconstruction2.jpg target _blank img src ../images/pics/Stone_reconstruction2_400.jpg alt width 400 height 300 border 0 /a br Reconstruction of mesolithic landscape of the North Sea showing original terrain derived from seismics and contemporary vegetation. br br Further information: br Rachel Robson - Press Officer, University of Birmingham br tel: 0121 414 6681 / mob: 07789 921165 br email: r.a.robson bham.ac.uk br br Rachel Robson br Press Officer br University of Birmingham br Edgbaston br Birmingham br B15 2TT br br br tel: 44 0 121 414 6681 br mob: 44 0 7789 921165 http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1624.htm Sun, 08 Feb 2004 12:00:00 EST ECAI Director s Report br br January 2008 br br The 21st Conference of ECAI and the Tenth Anniversary of the founding of the organization were held in conjunction with PNC at Berkeley in October. There were 182 registered delegates for the three day event. I want to thank Peter Zhou and Deborah Rudolph of the C.V. Starr East Asian Library for their great help in organizing our meeting in coordination with the opening of the new building for the library. br The ECAI project focused on the Batanes Islands between Taiwan and the Philippines was awarded 30,800 by the UC Berkeley Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines Endowment Fund for continued research and construction of the atlas within the larger Austronesian work being conducted by Co-Director Michael Buckland, Professor David Blundell, and Jeanette Zerneke. br We are in a period of expansion for the ECAI community and a number of training workshops have been planned to help bring new projects into operation. In August, Howie Lan from Berkeley and Damian Evans from U of Sydney worked with 30 students at the Vietnam Buddhist University in Ho Chi Minh who are constructing an Atlas of Vietnam Buddhism. In December, Damian Evans did a similar training at the Yang Heng Graduate School of Buddhism in Taipei for 18 students who are creating two atlases related to Buddhism in Taiwan. February will find Howie doing a workshop at Fagu University in Taiwan. We are also arranging for such training at the United Nations Vesak Day Celebration in Hanoi in May followed by a special workshop with the Ecole francaise d extreme oriente staff in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and a first ever ECAI working session in India. br Both the Director and Co-Director have been traveling to various meetings around the world giving lectures. The Director gave keynote addresses at the Chicago Colloquium for Computer and Humanities, the conference in Seoul, Korea jointly sponsored by the Tripitaka Koreana Institute and Nanzen Temple of Kyoto celebrating the joint efforts to digitize images of the Nanzenji Archive, and Computing and Humanities Conference at Vietnam Buddhist University, Ho Chi Minh. br We look forward to seeing members at the 22nd ECAI Conference, the Fourth Congress of Cultural Atlases being held April 21-25, 2008, on the campus of Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia. The Fall 2008 meeting will be held jointly with the Pacific Neighborhood Consortium and the Japanese Geo-Informatics Projects in Hanoi in December. Spring of 2009 will find us in Williamsburg, Virginia meeting jointly with the Computer Applications in Archaeology group. br br Events br br Place and Time Mapping for Information in Religious Studies - Workshop br br 2/19/2008 br Location: Fagu University, Taiwan br Description: Howie Lan, UC Berkeley, instructs participants in this one day workshop featured as part of the EBTI after 15 and CBETA at 10 Years: Joint International Conference on Digital Buddhist Studies, February 15-17 with post-conference workshop Feburary 19-20, 2008, Taipei, Taiwan. br See more on this event: http://www.ddbc.edu.tw/eng/conferences/program.html br br Association for Asian Studies br 4/3/2008-4/6/2008 br Location: Atlanta, Georgia br Description: ECAI will hold a panel discussion at the 2008 meeting. br br ECAI Congress of Cultural Atlases IV br 4/21/2008-4/25/2008 br Location: Curtin Technical University, Perth, Australia br br United Nations Vesak Day Celebration br 5/13/2008-5/17/2008 br Location: Hanoi, Vietnam br Description: ECAI will hold a workshop at the UN Day of Vesak and the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. br br ECAI Congress of Cultural Atlases V br 3/22/2009-3/26/2009 br Location: Williamsburg, Virginia, USA br br Funding Announcements br br Text Analysis and Pattern Detection: 3-D and Virtual Reality Environments The National Science Foundation has awarded 99,000 grant for a one year research project that focuses on searching for patterns in the Korean Buddhist canon. This project is part of the ECAI approach that deals with the context of where, when, and who. All of the canonic data is to be searched for these three elements in a surrogate form of colored dots. We will give demonstration of the work at meetings in Taiwan, Vietnam, and Perth. br br Context and relationships: Ireland and Irish Studies br ECAI has received a grant of 349,996, one of three awards from the new Advancing Knowledge program administered by the National Endowment for the Humanities and jointly funded by the Endowment and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The award funds a project entitled Context and relationships: Ireland and Irish Studies, which builds directly on our earlier IMLS-funded project Support for the Learner: What, Where, When and Who. The new project is a collaboration between ECAI, the Celtic Studies Program, the Emma Goldman Papers Project at Berkeley and the Queen s University, Belfast. At Belfast, the Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis and the University Library have been funded by the British government JISC to scan and digitize back-files of a hundred journals important for the study of Irish culture an history. ECAI will develop techniques to enable anyone reading these digitized articles to find explanations of persons, places, institutions, events and other topics mentioned in the text. More at http://ecai.org/neh2007/ br br Orchid Island Lan-yu and the Batanes: A Cultural Atlas br Over the years the ECAI Austronesia team, led by Dr David Blundell, has benefited from as series of grants to David Bundell and ECAI Co-Director Michael Buckland from the University of California Berkeley Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines Endowment Fund. The largest and most recent of these grants 30,800 is to complete a cultural atlas designed by Jeanette Zerneke of the indigenous cultures and ancient migrations of the inhabitants of the islands in the Bashi channel between Taiwan and the Philippines. For details see http://ecai.org/batanesatlas/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/2383.htm Sat, 05 Jul 2003 12:00:00 EST The documents of the People's Power Revolution of the Philippines and the Human Rights Archives in Chile are only two of the 36 library and archives collections from 26 countries that are being examined for possible inclusion in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register when the International Advisory Committee of Memory of the World Programme meets in August in Gdansk, Poland. The Memory of the World Register lists documentary heritage of world significance that has been identified by the Committee and endorsed by the Director-General of UNESCO. Since 1997, 69 collection shave been included in the Register In 2003, Croatia, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Uruguay have submitted proposals for the first time. Also submitted was a proposal to include Free Software in the Register, which is considered by its sponsors as part of the heritage of mankind . The meeting in Gdansk, that will be held from 28 to 30 August 2003, will also review of the Slave Trade Archives project, funded by Norway and the Timbuktu Manuscripts project, funded by Luxembourg and discuss the possibilities of helping in the restoration of the Iraqi Cultural Heritage. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1601.htm Sat, 05 Jul 2003 12:00:00 EST Revitalizing Teacher Training by Integrating Technology and Pedagogy 27-06-2003 UNESCO Bangkok A meeting bringing together leading experts in the Asia-Pacific region in technology-enhanced teacher training for enriched classroom learning, an experts? meeting on teacher training in technology-pedagogy integration was held from 18 ? 20 June 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand. It was organized by the Asia Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development APEID based in the UNESCO Bangkok office. The meeting kick-started the newly approved project on Training and Professional Development of Teachers and Other Facilitators for Effective Use of ICTs in Improving Teaching and Learning , which is run under a Japanese Funds-in-Trust programme to promote the use of ICTs for expanded access to quality education for all. The project will focus on professional development, building on the capacities of teachers, policy-makers, school headmasters, technology supporters and providers, amongst others. It will attempt to find alternative strategies in integrating ICTs in the teaching-learning processes and at tapping the potential of ICTs to enrich learning through new technologies within a world in transformation. Launching this project into action, the Expert?s Meeting reviewed the regional/international situation and existing resources, identified priorities and strategies according to the specific needs of the countries, while formulating guidelines and a conceptual framework for infusing technology within the training modules and educational software that will be developed. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1602.htm Sat, 05 Jul 2003 12:00:00 EST The Director-General of UNESCO, Ko chiro Matsuura, announced this morning, at an information meeting for the staff of the Organization that a second UNESCO expert mission would be leaving for Iraq on 28 June 2003, to take stock of the situation of Iraqi heritage. The misson will include specialists in museums, archives, libraries, historical monuments and archaeological sites. A first expert mission visited Baghdad from 15 to 20 May last, focusing on questions related to the theft of cultural objects, the preparation of an inventory for the Baghdad Museum and the fine-tuning of an action plan aimed at restoring the principal cultural institutions of the city. This second mission, scheduled to last one week, has been organized in close cooperation with the Coalition Provisional Authority CPA and has received the personal support of Mr Vieira de Mello, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq. The mission, led by Mounir Bouchenaki, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Culture, will include eight internationally renowned experts from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands. These specialists in museums, archives, libraries, historical monuments and archaeological sites will split into two groups for maximum effectiveness. The first will concentrate on assessing the situation of museums, historic buildings, archives and libraries. The experts present in Baghdad on 3 July will participate in an official ceremony in which the Treasure of Nimrod, which had not been shown since the beginning of the embargo, will be exhibited for a few hours in the city?s Museum. The second group of experts is scheduled to visit the archaeological sites to the North and South of the Iraqi capital; their work programme could however be modified for reasons linked to security conditions on the ground. The Director-General has also decided to send Mr Usam Ghaidan, an architect specializing in historic monuments, to Iraq, to ensure coordination between UNESCO, the CPA, and the authorities responsible for Iraqi cultural institutions. The results of these different missions, together with information from the international scientific community ? which shares with UNESCO all the data in its possession ? should enable the actions undertaken in support of Iraqi cultural heritage to be effectively continued. The Director-General welcomed in this regard ?this exemplary international cooperation which is ensuring that the foremost experts in Iraqi cultural heritage are working together under UNESCO?s aegis and that databases are being expanded, while avoiding dispersal of human and material resources.? For the Director-General, ?Over and above this cooperation within the scientific, university and museum communities, we are seeing the emergence of a new awareness of the importance of cultural heritage as a constituent part of national identity. This mobilization of the international community reflects a determination to give to the Iraqi people the means of reclaiming their history, preserving their identity and creating the conditions to build their future on solid and meaningful foundations.? ?In recognizing that UNESCO has a major role to play in this field, by proposing and coordinating activities, the international community acclaims not only our efforts, but also the guiding idea on which our action is based?, he concluded. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1603.htm Sat, 05 Jul 2003 12:00:00 EST The United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development UN-CSTD is organizing four Internet Working Groups to provide input into a panel meeting in October 2003 on Promoting the application of science and technology to meet the Millennium Development Goals . Government representatives, UN agencies, academics, private sector representatives and any other interested individuals or bodies are invited to contribute your recommendations to one or more of the Working Groups from 15 June to 15 August. To join in, simply send an e-mail to stdev unctad.org indicating with an X in the brackets X which Working Group s you wish to join. Approximately a week before your Working Group s begin s , you will receive detailed information about the discussion. The four Groups are: cstd-newtech--Improving the policy environment for the application of S T to development by identifying potential risks and benefits of new and emerging technologies; cstd-research--Strengthening basic and applied research in developing countries and international scientific networking; cstd-advisory-- Strengthening technology support institutions and science advisory mechanisms; building human capacity; identifying new technologies and applications; and encouraging international collaboration to support research in neglected fields; and cstd-universal--Promoting universal Internet access at affordable costs and building strategic partnerships in the field of science and technology for development and capacity building for competitiveness. CSTD is a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council ECOSOC . It was established in 1992 as a result of the restructuring and revitalisation of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields. Through this restructuring, the General Assembly abolished the former Intergovernmental Committee on Science and Technology for Development IGCSTD and its subsidiary body, the Advisory Committee on Science and Technology for Development ACSTD , created at the time of the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development, held in Vienna in 1979, and replaced them by the CSTD. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1604.htm Sat, 05 Jul 2003 12:00:00 EST 11 countries, mostly from Southern Europe are participating in a project entitled ICTs for the development of education and the construction of a knowledge society that was recently launched by the Moscow based UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education IITE . The countries participating in the project are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia and Turkey. Main activities of the project are the organization of high-level thematic seminars, for example on ICTs in distance education and on multimedia in education as well as training activities, for example retraining of school educators on ICT application in secondary education. The project includes also an expert meeting on indicators of ICT application in education and analytical survey on ICTs in history education, on ICTs in distance education and on ICTs in technical and vocational education and training. IITE is an autonomous Institute, forming an integral part of UNESCO. It's aim is to contribute to the design and implementation of programmes in regard to ICT application in education. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1605.htm Sat, 21 Jun 2003 12:00:00 EST The ninth edition of the VSMM International Conference. VSMM 2003 continues to push the boundaries of Virtual Reality and Multimedia research with the theme Hybrid Realities: Art, Technology and the Human Factor . br br This year's conference will feature an Opening night Imax screening, the Conference Banquet, and a special event by the Cique du Soleil, along with many tours and workshops. br br TOPICS br Cyberanthropology br Human Factors/Human-Centered br Design Issues br Virtual Reality br Augmented reality/mixed reality br Communication and collaboration br Image based modeling and rendering br Visual display, Haptics br Telepresence br Wearable computing br Virtual Medicine br 3D virtual design and prototyping br br br Digital Entertainment and Performance br Real-time interactive and immersive systems br Museum art and exhibitions br Wireless art br Nonlinear scripting br Networked experiences br Site-specific installations br Interactive media br Experimental art forms br br br Virtual Heritage br 3D acquistion and new imaging br Restoration and preservation br Immersive environment br Design and evaluation br Large scale terrain modeling br Geo-temporal 3D databases br Remote sensing and GIS for culture br Museum applications br Kiosks and site explanations br Case studies for virtual heritage br br Technology Transfer and Commercialization br This session will focus on the commercial development of the virtual reality and multimedia industry. It's focus is to assist researchers and companies planning to do business or transfer their technology from the research lab to the public. It can include papers on incubation programs and opportunities, case studies, funding and technical resourcess. The VSMM Society is currently working with many campanies and research labs to assist and promote a strong international attendance for this session. br Enhanced Environments and Mobility br Location based entertainment br Wireless interaction technology br Portable 3D/game engines br Wireless display technology br Different types of mobile computing br Social issues in wireless communities br VR and Developing Countries br Visual learning in a developing world context br Education and training issues br Language barriers cross cultural communication br Emerging technologies in field work br VR initiativves and applikcations of technology br AUTHORS br hr color d4d4d4 noshade size 1 PAPERS br Papers should describe original and unpublished work about the above or closely related topics. Authors should submit a manuscript electronically as a PDF file or a MS WORD file. The paper should not exceed 8 pages single spaced in length including images, figures, tables and references. The paper should also include the title of the presentation, authors names, affiliations, postal addresses, e-mail addresses and the contact person for the paper. br br Papers related to the following topics but not limited to are solicited. However, any paper dealing with a pioneered or significant development in virtual reality and multimedia is also encouraged. br br Main Sessions br - Virtual Reality br - Human Factors/Human-Centered Design Issues br - Cyberanthropology br - VR and Developing Countries br - Technology Transfer and Commercialization br - Virtual Heritage br - Enhanced Environments and Mobility br - Digital Entertainment and Performance br br br PANELS br Submit a proposal that describes what you plan to discuss. The proposal should include the topic, the importance of the topic to the VSMM 2003 attendees, originality and a brief position statement. The proposal should be around 3 pages single spaced in length and submitted electronically. Be sure to include the contact persons, affiliations, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. br br TUTORIALS br Submit a proposal that describes what you plan to teach or workshop. The proposal must include a description of the objectives, experience level and prerequisites of the intended audience, about 200-word abstract, outline of the content and the instructor's vita. Be sure to include the contact persons, affiliations, addresses, telephone numbers, and email address. Proposals should be around 3 pages single spaced in length and submitted electronically. br br DEADLINES br Manuscript proposals: July 7, 2003 br Notification of acceptance: August 4, 2003 br Camera ready electronic paper: August 25, 2003 br br br AUTHOR SCHEDULE br As with our past conferences, the VSMM on-line paper submission system will be used by authors to create their profiles and manage their presentation details, including abstract and paper details. It will be accessed from the VSMM 2003 Conference website. br br DVD br We will publish the VSMM 2003 Conference proceedings in both a printed and DVD version. Submissions for the DVD can include various forms of multimedia, Quicktime documents, etc. Please submit a short 1 page description of what you would like to have included and how large the file s is. The submission should relate to your paper presentation, panel or tutorial, etc. br br N.B. All papers must be uploaded using the VSMM paper management system. br br Inquiries about the submission of a paper, panel, tutorial, or workshop proposals should be made to: br br Professor Hal Thwaites br VSMM 2003 Conference Director br email: vsmm2003 vsmm.org br http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1589.htm Sat, 21 Jun 2003 12:00:00 EST P Thanks to an exceptional combination of geographical and climatic factors, a surplus of agricultural production led to the development of sophisticated societies, the invention of writing and the establishment of the first urban settlements and legal codes. In more recent periods of our history, Baghdad has been the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate and the political and cultural centre of one of the three Monotheistic Religions. P align center img alt Mesopotamia, from the Tabula Peutingeriana, National Library, Vienna border 1 src http://whc.unesco.org/news/images/tabula_peutingeriana_irak.jpg align top width 400 BR FONT size 2 I Mesopotamia, from the Tabula Peutingeriana, National Library, Vienna /I /FONT /P Numerous outstanding sites still bear witness to the great technical and artistic achievements of the ancestors of the people of present day Iraq, and constitute a precious legacy for all humanity. Among these are the a href http://portal.unesco.org/culture/news_170203_tentiv_irak.htm ur cities of Ur /A of the Chaldees, birthplace of Abraham, Babylon, with the legendary Babel Tower, a href http://portal.unesco.org/culture/news_170203_tentiv_irak.htm nineveh Nineveh /A , a href http://portal.unesco.org/culture/news_170203_hatra.htm Hatra /A , a href http://portal.unesco.org/culture/news_170203_tentiv_irak.htm ashur Ashur /A and a href http://portal.unesco.org/culture/news_170203_tentiv_irak.htm samarra Samarra /A , just to name some of the most famous. In addition to the above-mentioned sites, Iraq houses some of the most important archaeological collections of the world, such as the Iraqi Museum of Baghdad. P This exceptional heritage is exposed to a number of dangers. The first Gulf War of 1991, and the lack of appropriate care over the following years, have already taken their toll. A new armed conflict, and the period of turmoil which would presumably follow, might have more serious consequences for the state of conservation of these sites, as well as of other significant cultural sites and movable and immovable properties located throughout the territory. P B Iraq and the World Heritage Convention /B P In previous years, Iraq had significantly contributed to the efforts of UNESCO for the protection of the cultural heritage, by supporting its International Safeguarding Campaigns. One of the first States to join, Iraq ratified the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage already in 1974. P Despite the undisputed richness of its heritage, however, only one site in Iraq has been inscribed to this day on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the a href http://portal.unesco.org/culture/news_170203_hatra.htm City of Hatra /A , an important centre prospered around the second and third century CE between the Roman Empire and the Parthian Kingdom. P align center img alt Mesopotamia, from the Tabula Peutingeriana, National Library, Vienna border 1 src http://whc.unesco.org/news/images/hatra_irak.jpg align top width 400 BR FONT size 2 I Hatra, aerial view from Henry Stierlin, Cit s du d sert : P tra, Palmyre, Hatra , found in Hatra, Citta' del Sole catalogue of an exhibition organized by the Italian Archaeological Mission to Hatra /I /FONT /P In the late Seventies and during the Eighties, a number of sites were proposed by Iraq for inscription on the List to the World Heritage Committee, but this referred the nominations back to the State Party for technical reasons lack of sufficient information, lack of appropriate conservation plans, etc. . Since 1991, owing to the difficult political situation and the lack of the necessary resources, the authorities of Iraq have not been able to conduct the substantial preparatory work, which is required for the submission of a Nomination File. P In the year 2000, however, Iraq submitted a new a href http://portal.unesco.org/culture/news_170203_tentiv_irak.htm Tentative List /A , i.e. a list of sites that the country considers as priority for nomination in the coming years see map . This Tentative List contains seven sites, from the Sumerian City-State of Ur to the Islamic Fortress of Al-Ukhaidar. Much remains to be done, however, to ensure that the outstanding diversity of the Iraqi heritage is adequately reflected in the World Heritage List. If and when the seven sites in the Tentative List are all inscribed on the World Heritage List and protected under the Convention, on the other hand, this would only cover a very small portion, though very representative, of the incredibly rich heritage of the Land between the Two Rivers. P CENTER FONT size 2 B Click on the map to view the sites descritpions /B /FONT P img alt border 1 src http://whc.unesco.org/news/images/irak_wh_map.jpg align center usemap Map P FONT size 2 B Click on the map to view the sites descritpions /B BR I UNESCO World Heritage Centre /I /FONT /CENTER P B Ashur and the Makhoul Dam /B P Also included in the Tentative List of Iraq, Ashur was the first Capital of the Assyrian Kingdom and a very important religious centre, from the third to the first millennium BCE. Like many other important sites in semi-arid zones, Ashur is currently threatened by the construction of a dam, some 40 Km south of the site. The Makhoul Dam, to be completed in 2006, is expected to have a reservoir with a full capacity of some 3 billions m3 of water, which will affect at least 60 archaeological sites in the area. P Under these conditions, parts of the city, especially to the south, would be flooded for certain periods of the year once the reservoir becomes operational. In any case, the archaeological remains of the ancient structures would suffer from infiltration and seepage of underground waters. In fact the water table of the whole area would rise considerably as the level of the reservoir formed by the dam rises to its maximum. P CENTER img bordercolor 000000 border 1 src http://whc.unesco.org/news/images/ashur_irak.jpg align center P FONT size 2 I The site of Ashur and the Tigris River - Photograph: L.Cavazza /I /FONT /CENTER P While the dam and reservoir are being constructed principally for irrigation purposes, there is nevertheless incorporated in the dam also a hydropower station exploiting the relatively large flows released from the reservoir for the generation of hydroelectric power. P The Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage is already devoting a large amount of staff and funds towards a project for the salvage of ancient Ashur and the surrounding area. In September 2002, however, the Iraqi authorities requested UNESCO's assistance to launch an international appeal for the safeguarding of the site. At the same time, Iraq submitted a Nomination File for the inscription of Ashur on the World Heritage List, hoping that this would strengthen its protection. P CENTER img bordercolor 000000 border 1 src http://whc.unesco.org/news/images/ashur_irak_4.gif align center /CENTER P CENTER FONT size 2 I Makhoul Dam area in yellow . The light-blue area should be flooded by the reservoir in 2006 based on a Plan from the Iraqi Ministry of Irrigation /I /FONT /CENTER P In November 2002, the World Heritage Centre and the Division of Cultural Heritage of UNESCO carried out a technical mission to assess the potential impact of the dam on the site, advise on possible protective measures and improve the Nomination File submitted by the Iraqi authorities. P Two types of solutions are envisaged to solve the problem: the construction of an earth embankment with impermeable core and cutoff wall into the foundations, a solution much similar to the main dam at Mak'Houl, or a reinforcement of the soil through a combination of gabions and mechanically strengthened soil to protect and support the slope of the reservoir. Both solutions will require an additional protection system to prevent the infiltration of the water under the barrier, into the fragile archaeological layers. P The Nomination will be presumably examined by the World Heritage Committee at its next Session of June 2003 in Suzhou China . If convinced of the possibility to safeguard the site from the threat of the Dam, as well as of the political will of the country to allocate the necessary resources, the Committee might decide to inscribe Ashur on the List, making it the second World Heritage site of Iraq. P HR SIZE 1 P align center B Other UNESCO Conventions for the protection of the cultural heritage /B P I Beside the 1972 World Heritage Convention, Iraq is a also State Party to the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Event of Armed Conflict the Hague, 1954 , to its 1954 Protocol, and to the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property Paris, 1970 , two Conventions adopted by UNESCO in its effort to protect cultural heritage. /I P I During and after the 1991 conflict, the Iraqi authorities informed the Director-General of damage to the cultural heritage of Iraq. Concerning movable objects, in October 1991 the Permanent Delegation of Iraq to UNESCO transmitted to the Secretariat four volumes of documentation on items missing from a number of Iraqi provincial museums and requested assistance in their recovery. UNESCO forwarded copies of these volumes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York , the International Foundation for Art Research IFAR , the International Criminal Police Organization INTERPOL , the International Council of Museums ICOM and the auction house Sotheby's London for the information of the London market. /I P CENTER TABLE width 60 border 0 cellpading 0 celspacing 0 TR TD vAlign top width 50 FONT size 2 I This close-circuit camera security system at the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad, as well as a new air-conditioning system, have been installed with UNESCO financial assistance in the year 2000. photograph by G.Boccardi, UNESCO WHC /I /FONT /TD TD width 50 img height 135 border 1 src http://whc.unesco.org/news/images/video_irak.jpg align middle width 200 /TD /TR TR TD vAlign center width 50 img height 290 border 1 src http://whc.unesco.org/news/images/qasr_al_abbasi_irak.jpg align middle width 200 /TD TD vAlign bottom width 50 FONT size 2 I The Qasr Al-Abbasi, in Baghdad, had been partially affected during the 1991 war. The monument, today housing the famous cultural Institution Bayt Al Hikma , was rehabilitated with support from UNESCO in 1999. photograph by G.Boccardi, UNESCO WHC /I /FONT /TD /TR /TABLE /CENTER P I UNESCO also issued in March 1995 a press release alerting the museum community, collectors and art dealers against any purchase of artefacts possibly stolen in Iraq. On 1 August 1995, moreover, the Organization published a notice of certain representative missing pieces including their photographs and detailed description. /I P CENTER TABLE width 60 border 0 cellpading 0 celspacing 0 TR TD vAlign top width 50 I This sculpted head, fortunately recovered by the Iraqi authorities, had been looted from a site and cut into pieces in view of its illicit export. photograph by G.Boccardi, UNESCO WHC /I /TD TD vAlign bottom width 50 img height 245 border 1 src http://whc.unesco.org/news/images/sculpt_irak.jpg align top width 200 /TD /TR /TABLE /CENTER P I It is important to stress that the principles of protecting and preserving cultural property in the event of armed conflict are not only shared as binding treaty-law principles by 103 States Party to the 1954 Convention but, according to Resolution 3.5 of the twenty-seventh session of the General Conference of UNESCO November 1993 , they could also be considered part of international customary law. /I P I For further information on the Hague Convention and the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property B a href http://www.unesco.org/culture/legalprotection/theft/html_eng/index_en.shtml target _blank click here /A /B . /I /P MAP name Map area href http://portal.unesco.org:22222/culture/news_170203_hatra.htm target _parent coords 159,208,203,234 shape RECT area href ev.php URL_ID 8575 URL_DO DO_TOPIC URL_SECTION 201.html ur coords 326,453,359,483 shape RECT area href ev.php URL_ID 8575 URL_DO DO_TOPIC URL_SECTION 201.html alukhaidar coords 192,374,256,405 shape RECT area href ev.php URL_ID 8575 URL_DO DO_TOPIC URL_SECTION 201.html samarra coords 228,270,287,302 shape RECT area href ev.php URL_ID 8575 URL_DO DO_TOPIC URL_SECTION 201.html nimrud coords 169,186,235,203 shape RECT area href ev.php URL_ID 8575 URL_DO DO_TOPIC URL_SECTION 201.html nineveh coords 160,155,223,179 shape RECT area href ev.php URL_ID 8575 URL_DO DO_TOPIC URL_SECTION 201.html coords 215,221,269,243 shape RECT area href ev.php URL_ID 8575 URL_DO DO_TOPIC URL_SECTION 201.html wasit coords 349,390,389,419 shape RECT /MAP br br http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1590.htm Sat, 21 Jun 2003 12:00:00 EST International partners pledged strong support for Community Multimedia Centre CMC development in Africa at a symposium that ended this week in Dakar, Senegal. The meeting, Digital Opportunities for Africa Community Multimedia Centres aimed to forge a strategy for larger-scale CMC development in Africa. New funding commitment for community multimedia centres topped 1.2 million US dollars. Several new partnerships were forged for CMC development at country level. Nearly 20 bilateral donors, foundations, intergovernmental and bilateral development agencies and non-governmental organizations gathered at BREDA, the UNESCO Dakar office, for a two-day roundtable meeting that covered CMC scale-up, sustainability, capacity building and content development. The partners heard a report from the workshop that preceded their meeting. Some 45 managers of CMCs, radio stations and telecentres highlighted several priority areas in their four-day workshop. In their final recommendations, they emphasised the need to promote local cultures and to give disabled persons a full role in CMCs, not only as users but also as staff and board members. The importance of appropriate technology and preventive maintenance was also emphasised. The workshop participants also appealed for supportive government policies including preferential telecommunication tariffs and tax exemption on IT equipment. Opening the workshop, Senegalese minister for culture and communication, Mr Abdou Fall called for plans of action based on regional strategies and responding to specific regional needs. At the opening of the roundtable, Senegal s Presidential adviser D l gu general for NEPAD, Abdou Aziz Sow, emphasised that the CMC programme was a concrete illustration of the aims of the new partnership for African development in terms of community access to ICT. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1593.htm Sat, 21 Jun 2003 12:00:00 EST An agreement signed yesterday between UNESCO and the European Space Agency ESA will encourage Earth observation satellites to be used to monitor more than 730 cultural and natural World Heritage sites, including national parks in Africa that are home to endangered mountain gorillas. The signing of the Agreement, at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget France , by UNESCO Director-General Ko chiro Matsuura and the Director-General of ESA, Antonio Rodot , officially launches the Open Initiative partnership between UNESCO and ESA, which aims to bring all international space agencies on board to assist developing countries to monitor their World Heritage sites. Also under the Open Initiative scheme, UNESCO is close to signing a cooperation agreement with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA , and has had requests to join from Argentina s Comisi n Nacional de Actividades Espaciales CONAE , as well as the Indian, Japanese, Canadian and Brazilian Space Agencies. Civilian Earth observation satellites can now distinguish details as small as 60 cm wide. This makes them ideal tools for monitoring cultural sites and for mapping changes in land use, even in remote areas. And loss of forest habitat, both to make way for human settlement and to provide fuel, is the major threat to the remaining 600 or so mountain gorillas in central east Africa. In April this year, ESA provided significant funding and technical know-how for a joint project with UNESCO called BeGo Built Environment for Gorilla . This project involves the production of a series of maps of national parks in inaccessible mountain areas up to 5000m in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo DRC that are home to the mountain gorilla. The Virunga National Park DRC , the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park Uganda are already World Heritage sites, while the Parc National des Volcans Rwanda and the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park Uganda are candidate sites. The project will compare satellite image archives to assess changes in gorilla habitats in World Heritage sites since 1992. The Government of Belgium is also providing expertise and financial support for these conservation activities in sites in DRC. Of the 730 properties inscribed on UNESCO s World Heritage List, 563 are cultural sites, 144 are natural and 23 are mixed. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1594.htm Sat, 21 Jun 2003 12:00:00 EST The Agence intergouvernementale de la francophonie intergovernmental agency for French-speaking countries has established its Website dedicated to the World Summit on the Information Society WSIS that will take place in December in Geneva and in November 2005 in Tunis, Tunisia. . Several of UNESCO s main priorities, such as the use and dissemination of free and open-source software, are also regarded as essential by the Agence. The Agence is also very deeply involved in the preparation of the Summit, either through organizing workshops or studies on issues related to the Information Society. One such activity is the convening of a workshop on Cultural diversity and linguistic plurality in the Information Society in November 2002, during the European conference for the preparation of the Summit. The recently launched Website is aimed at providing information on the preparation and holding of the Summit and also presents several studies produced by the Agence on the Information Society. It is intended as an access portal to other Websites, such as UNESCO s, dedicated to the same subject. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1595.htm Sat, 21 Jun 2003 12:00:00 EST A TV Documentary Workshop, orbanized by UNESCO and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union ABU and hosted by the Korean Broadcasting System KBS , took place in Suwon and Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 10 to 14 June 2003. It was attended by 30 producers from 14 different Asian countries: Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Hong Kong, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Organized around the theme of TV portraits or personality profiles, the event comprised three distinct parts: a workshop consisting of screening of and debates on television programmes produced by the participants and proposed to ABU for exchange; a Special Training Session showcasing outstanding TV portrait models or personality profiles from all over the world, with emphasis on unusual international content providers; and an on-demand service, with additional challenging programmes coming from all regions of the world with a focus on Africa, Asia and Latin America for the viewing and professional enrichment of participants. The main objective of this activity, organized within the framework of UNESCO s Programme for Creative Content, was to: improve the exchange of television content among participating Asian countries; provide a training opportunity to the participants through the analysis of their own works, as well as the work of other professionals from around the globe. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1596.htm Sat, 21 Jun 2003 12:00:00 EST Legislation regulating media should not be used to limit media diversity and restrict the free flow of opinions, according to Eduardo Bertoni, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Organization of American States OAS , speaking in a recent meeting with UNESCO's specialist Marcello Scarone in Washington. The objective of the meeting was to strengthen the existing links between the Office of the Special Rapporteur and UNESCO. Bertoni and Scarone discussed proposals for future collaborative projects that would further the mandates and common objectives of both agencies. Among the issues considered to be priorities by both agencies are legislation related to media in the region and to access to public information. Concern was expressed that media legislation is used in some countries to limit diversity in the media or to restrict the dissemination of certain opinions. The representatives of the two Organizations observed that many countries in the region still lack legislation that allows the public broad access to governmental information, and that where such legislation exists, it may be interpreted restrictively in order to prevent public access to some information. They also expressed concern regarding the recent deterioration of respect for the right to freedom of expression in some States in the region. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1597.htm Sat, 21 Jun 2003 12:00:00 EST Ekahau, Inc. today announced that it has enabled a location-aware library navigation system, deployed by the Oulu University Main Library, Finland. A wireless PDA-based system called SmartLibrary helps users to find books and other material from the library collections. The help is provided in the form of map-based guidance to the target bookshelf on a PDA. Ekahau Positioning Engine software is used by SmartLibrary system to pinpoint the accurate mobile client location. The guidance is integrated with the online catalog of the library, so that books listed in the catalog can be located. Wireless connectivity is provided in form of a Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b network. The guidance is based on dynamic Wi-Fi positioning of the user, and static location information of books. The service is a completely software-based solution, which can be provisioned atop any Wi-Fi network installed for wireless Internet access, without any additional hardware. User evaluation with real library users showed that SmartLibrary saves time and makes book finding easier. In the study, all male test users and 64 of females preferred map-based guidance over traditional shelf classification. After evaluation, the main library added SmartLibrary system into their standard customer service. SmartLibrary was developed in co-operation between the Oulu University Main Library and the Information Processing and Computer Engineering Laboratories of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Oulu University, and Ekahau, Inc. http://www.ekahau.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1599.htm Wed, 07 Nov 2001 12:00:00 EST Electronic Imaging k the Visual Arts eThe Foremost European Electronic Imaging Events in the Visual Arts f Conference, Training k Workshops PALAZZO DEGLI AFFARI 25 8211; 29 March 2002 Conference Languages: Italian English http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1577.htm Wed, 07 Nov 2001 12:00:00 EST The American Society of Cinematographers ASC unveiled a comprehensive plan designed to help preserve the history and define the future of the art of filmmaking. The initiative includes building a campus surrounding a museum at the site of the historic ASC clubhouse in Los Angeles. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1578.htm Wed, 07 Nov 2001 12:00:00 EST October 26, 2001 - In a keynote address to GITEX 2001, Rima Khalaf Hunaidi, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States urged Arab countries to ready themselves for the global information society in order to benefit from greater productivity and services such as telemedicine, wired classrooms, community Internet access and e-government. More http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/011026_arab_countries_cybermap.shtm http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1582.htm Wed, 07 Nov 2001 12:00:00 EST The World Heritage Committee met on 1 November at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris to elect a new Bureau, to serve until the 26th session of the World Heritage Committee, to be held in Budapest, Hungary in June 2002. The seven Bureau members elected are: Chairperson: Finland Dr. Henrik Lilius Rapporteur: Mexico Dr. Francisco Javier Lopez Morales Vice-Chairpersons: Egypt, Greece, Hungary, South Africa and Thailand The Bureau prepares the recommendations to the Committee concerning properties nominated by States Parties to the World Heritage List. It also examines State of Conservation reports and formulates recommendations to the Committee for future action to improve the conservation of the values for which those sites were inscribed. In case of serious threats, the Bureau may recommend to the Committee inscription of a property on the List of World Heritage in Danger. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1583.htm Wed, 07 Nov 2001 12:00:00 EST Stakeholders Workshop for Capacity Building for Sustainable Development of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway DHR , Darjeeling, West Bengal, India, 11th to 18th January, 2002 workshop sessions at Darjeeling from 14th 18th Contact: Director, National Rail Museum, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi1 10021, India Invitation to Darjeeling its Toy Train UNESCO inscribed DHR as a World Heritage Site on 2nd December 1999 based on a proposal of National Rail Museum NRM . The Hon ble Minister for Railways performed the dedication ceremony at Darjeeling in November 2000. A Stakeholders workshop for capacity Building for sustainable development of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railways DHR accredited by UNESCO s World Heritage center and it s advisory bodies such as ICOMOS ICCROM is being organized by the National Rail Museum, Ministry of Railways through the North Frontier Railway with involvement of cultural heritage professionals vide details at http://www.geocities.com/dhrworkshop The Workshop will focus on skills development for the promotion of conservation values among stakeholder communities, capacity building for maximising on the potential of heritage tourism and community mobilization for the sustainable management of World Heritage Areas in non-western contexts. After the larger plenary session participants will break up into smaller working groups focussing on specific areas of sustainable development. Dr. Amareswar Galla, Chairperson, Asia Pacific Organisation of the International Council of Museums ASPAC-ICOM is the Principal Technical Advisor and international facilitator with experience of dealing with the respective issues in developing countries and with language competency will lead the workshop. UNESCO, Heritage bodies and Professional Agencies from India Abroad will participate. The participants would be employees and stakeholder community leaders of Darjeeling Himalayan Railways and delegates from other World Heritage Areas of South Asian countries. The theme is Towards living heritage - The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway DHR A non-western context . This will provide an excellent opportunity for interaction to benefit the DHR and the cause of World heritage as well as to deliberate on the perspectives of DHR for capacity building for sustainable development of a unique outstanding example which is so dynamically linked with society culture for over 100 years and what is appropriate to save for posterity. Key-Resource areas of the DHR: - Architecture, Artefacts, Surroundings, Community Intangibles Keynote Address: People and their Darjeeling Himalayan Railway DHR Dr. Robert Lee, Univ of Western Sydney, McArthur Specialist of Heritage Railways http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1584.htm Wed, 07 Nov 2001 12:00:00 EST The World Heritage Center and the Plan of UNESCO Associated Schools, convinced of the importance of the World Heritage Education and of the transmission of the 1972 Convention message among the young people of the world, launched in 1994 the Special Project Young People's Involvement in the Preservation of Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites in Latin America and the Caribbean , directed jointly with the Net of Associated School, with the purpose of encouraging young people to know, protect and act in favor of the world heritage and local, in order to preserve the cultural diversity and the protection of the environment. Continuing with a series of Regional Workshops held in Latin America and the Caribbean, in this opportunity, the Subregional Workshop to Central America, Mexico, Spanish Caribbean and Haiti, will be held in Granada, from November 25 to 28, 2001 under the auspice of WHC/SPA. It will congregate 23 representatives from Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Panama; continuing with the First Technical Meeting of the mentioned Project from November 29 to 30, 2001, congregating the Technical Committees from Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. This Meeting is jointly organized by the Nicaragua National Commission of UNESCO and the Regional Coordination of the Project. Ada Rosa Pent oacute;n LAC Regional Coordination of the Project Young People's Involvement in the Preservation of Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites in Latin America and the Caribbean http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1585.htm Wed, 07 Nov 2001 12:00:00 EST World Heritage Review No. 22 has been available since October in bookshops in Spain, France, Canada and the United States and by subscription elsewhere . The leader article in this issue focuses on World Heritage Railways, notably the Semmering Railway in Austria and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in India. Other articles deal with: Do ntilde;ana National Park, Spain, threatened in 1998 by toxic waste from a nearby mine; Cuenca de los Andes in Ecuador, a colonial city whose architecture is a faithful reflection of the fusion of its Indian and Spanish population; Bardejov, an exceptionally well-preserved medieval trading town in Slovakia; Dazu Grottoes in China, an extraordinary series of rock carvings dating from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries. To subscribe, visit the Review's own web pages at: http://www.worldheritagereview.org/ or write to: Ediciones San Marcos Alcantara 11 28006 Madrid, Spain tel: 34 91 431 43 19 fax: 34 91 431 65 39 http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1586.htm Wed, 07 Nov 2001 12:00:00 EST 5 to 9 November: Africa 2009 2nd Regional Seminar on Conservation of Immovable Cultural Heritage in Sub- Saharan Africa . Segou, Mali. Information: jk iccrom.org; mfa iccrom.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1587.htm Tue, 06 Nov 2001 12:00:00 EST p align center img src /images/pics/vhcparticipants.jpg width 350 height 262 br /p p Virtual Heritage Colloquium- A witness to Enhanced Realities in Virtual Heritage: Potentials and Limitations br br By Mario Santana, Architect, M Sc. In Conservation of Built Heritage br R. Lemaire Centre for Conservation, KU Leuven - Stadtbaugeschichte, RWTH Aachen /p p br The Fourth Special Session on Virtual Heritage and a Virtual Heritage Colloquium during the Seventh International Virtual Systems and MultiMedia Conference brought together numerous experts from diverse backgrounds and nationalities to present, share, and experience knowledge 'in multimedia and virtual reality state of the art applications' for the study and promotion of heritage. /p p Organized by the Virtual Heritage Network http://www.virtualheritage.net , The International Society on Virtual Systems and MultiMedia http://www.vsmm.org/vsmm2001 and the Center for Design Visualization, University of California Berkeley, http://www.cdv.berkeley.edu the conference was held on the University of California, Berkeley campus from 25 to 27 October 2001. /p p align center img src /images/pics/vhc_participants1.jpg width 400 height 300 br i Participants discussing technology and culture /i /p p The Impact of the Virtual Heritage Colloquium br The special Colloquium held immediately prior to the full conference gathered more than 40 academics, professionals, government officials, and cultural leaders from around the globe and representing the spectrum of preservation conservation , heritage, culture, museum, computing technology and new media. /p p This event enabled a chance to meet, in addition to a rich and extended debate, exploration, and exchange of ideas for improving the documentation, implementation of information systems, dissemination tools, and the collaboration of networks for cooperation. /p p Documentation: State of the Art and Trends br The morning included a discussion and debate of issues related to documentation of heritage. The roundtable focused on appropriate identification and acquisition of information sources geometric morphology , historical documentary, condition mapping, and others to produce a selected dataset for understanding a place or object and its context using the highest possible precision. We generally agreed that precision and observational accuracy should be determined according to limitations of budget, accessibility, and other issues. Furthermore, the process should be optimised according to the application requirements inventories, restoration-monitoring, archaeological-historical research, condition mapping, visitors, etc and related to their associated Target audiences professional, visitor, decision maker . /p p align center a href /images/pics/01-documentation.gif target _blank img src /images/pics/01-documentationTHMB.gif width 350 height 136 border 0 /a br i Diagram of Documentation: State of the Art and Trends /i /p p Participants pointed out and discussed limitations dealing with the need of different level of detail, the rapid obsolesce of technology, the need for optimisation and development of sustainable technology for developing countries, issues of copyright in sharing information, and the definition of accuracy and precision in each context. /p p Information systems A Lasagna Approach br The debate continued addressing the characteristics of visual information systems as opposed to geographic information systems and their use of storage, retrieval, visualization, and management tools for sharing and disseminating the sources of information using adequate interfaces. Likened to a lasagna, a multilayered approach was advocated. /p p align center a href /images/pics/02-dissemination.gif target _blank img src /images/pics/02-disseminationTHMB.gif width 350 height 131 border 0 /a br Diagram: Information Systems /p p A relevant contribution of the discussion was the need for transparent communication and sharing of protocols, standards, and interfaces used in the system with fluidity and consistency, taking into consideration that sources and records can have accessibility issues due to copyright and other ownership issues. /p p The need for implementing feedback systems for verification and improvement, avoiding misleading visualizations, the competition between data and metadata, and obsolesce were among the most common problems exposed. /p p align center a href /images/pics/03-infsystems.gif target _blank img src /images/pics/03-infsystemsTHMB.gif width 350 height 134 border 0 /a br i Diagram: Information Systems /i /p p Continuing on to dissemination and presentation, the discussion dealt with the use and limitations of two- and three-dimensional representation tools for disseminating the actual state of the object, and chronological regression studies using hypothetical visualizations Phases of construction . These tools should address the verification of the interpretation process Level of detail LOD , the process, participation level, identification, and selection sources. /p p Networks Next Steps br The last part of the event focused on the identification of different initiatives and organisations dealing with Cultural Heritage and Digital Technologies. Since our audience included representatives from a good number of the organisations and institutions working in the area, we were able to learn about their objectives and goals and discern similarities and differences. It was proposed that we work to establish linkages and adequate channels of communications to exchange information sharing: data, experiences, protocols, standards , perhaps jointly even apply for funding; as well as to avoid misleading applications ethics . /p p align center a href 04-network.gif target _blank img src /images/pics/04-networkTHMB.gif width 350 height 133 border 0 /a br i Diagram: Network /i /p p The organizations represented consisted in bodies for authentification member based , support and funding, portals information providers , clearance houses, training Guidelines providers , Implementation of projects and research end-user feedback , and body of experts. /p p A common problem in virtual heritage appears to be the lack and restricted nature of funding available. /p p align center img src /images/pics/vhc_participants2.jpg width 400 height 300 /p p Participants br Academic institutions, trusts, and museums: Center for Design Visualization UC Berkeley, USA , Getty Conservation Institute USA , Sydney University Australia , Korea Insitute of Science Tecnology Korea , Wheeling Jesuit University USA , University of Calgary Canada , University of Melbourne Australia , Gifu University Japan , University at Buffalo USA , University of Bergen Germany , R. Lemaire Centre for Conservation KU Leuven, Belgium , Institute for Simulation and Training University of Central Florida, USA , Concordia University Canada , Chalmers University of Technology USA , Columbia University USA , Multimedia Authoring Center for Teaching in Anthropology UC Berkeley, USA , North Dakota State University USA , University of Iowa USA , Peabody Museum Harvard University, USA , University of Illinois at Chicago USA , UCLA USA , American Academy in Rome USA , Polytechnic of Milan Italy , Arizona Center for Desert Archaeology USA , and Aachen University RWTH Aachen, Germany . /p p align center img src /images/pics/vhc_participantsCG.jpg width 400 height 300 br i Mr. Chris Gray, Getty Conservation Institute /i /p p Professional bodies and Cultural Network Initiatives: Virtual Heritage Network VHN , Virtual Systems and Multimedia Society VSMM , CIPA-ICOMOS, the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative ECAI , Cultural Virtual Reality Organization CVRO , Institute for the Visualization of History, and the Vrheritage.org. /p p align center img src /images/pics/vhc_participantsIJBS.jpg width 400 height 300 br Dr. Ian Johnson, ECAI, Prof Robert Stone, Executive Director, Virtual Heritage Network /p p Governmental agencies: Italian National Research Council, US National Technology Transfer Center, and the Vienna Archaeological Service. /p p align center img src /images/pics/vhc_participantsLA.jpg width 400 height 300 br i Lon Addison, Executive Director of the Virtual Heritage Network /i /p p Companies: Shoot Digital USA , Learning Sites USA , SUN Microsystems USA , Virtual Presence UK , 3D Veritas Srl Italy , Glass House Studios USA , and Octree Corporation USA . /p p align center img src /images/pics/vhc_participantsLM.jpg width 400 height 300 br i Mads Peter Herluf, Chair of the new VRheritage.org in Denmark /i /p p The Virtual Heritage Session: sharing experiences and knowledge /p p During the VSMM2001 conference, the Fourth Special Session on Virtual Heritage continued the discussions and presentations of Virtual Heritage. The keynote by Dr John Gage, Chief Researcher and Director of the Science Office, for Sun Microsystems, Inc. offered the opportunity of experiencing 'high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, elevation data, GPS coordinates, and overlay information about cities and businesses to deliver a streaming, 3D map of the entire globe' www.keyholecorp.com . This application presents a revolutionary look of the world through the use of a desktop computer. /p p align center img src /images/pics/vsmm2001gage.jpg width 400 height 300 br i Sun Microsystem's Chief Scientist, Dr. John Gage, br VSMM2001 Opening Plenary Keynote /i /p p A rich and upbeat conference video prepared by Rachel Strickland, Ross Anderson, and the staff of MACTIA UC Berkeley at the opening plenary presented a dynamic and attractive summary of animations from a cross-section of the published papers. The Proceedings, published by the IEEE, came to over 800 pages, a VSMM record, and are a rich archive of the latest work in virtual systems and multimedia. /p p Following the issues shared and debated in the Virtual Heritage Colloquium, the conference Virtual Heritage Session of presentations, roundtables and other activities provided the participants with an extended overview of the latest advances in the use of documentation and dissemination technology for studying heritage. /p p Papers presented in this session showcased a variety of innovative technical work and applications, including multimedia in communicating and exploring culture, acquisition and modelling techniques, geo-temporal 3D databases, object and image restoration and modelling, virtual and augmented environments for museums, and philosophical issues dealing with the study of heritage using these technologies. /p p Award winning papers highlighted several approaches in the use of multimedia and virtual reality: from the original, and use of attractive abstract visualizations of reality, to enhanced links to other sources of information presented at the case study of the Historical Landscape and Culture of West Lake in Media Chen, L. and Kiriyama, T. to the adequate scientific grounds of 'VR as a Tool for Architectural Archaeological Restoration: The Ancient Appian Way 3D Web Virtual GIS' Gaiani, M. for developing a method to digitally record and represent 3D data over the Web for restoration and monitoring of architectural heritage. /p p Other relevant papers, such as 'Virterf: a Vision of Heritage Conservation' Nuyts, K. Van Balen, K., and Smars, P. presented the development of a tool from professionals working in the documentation for conservation projects that combines recent developments in computer vision and reverse engineering. /p p 'Communicating Culture and Exploring Landscape: An Experiment in Digital Heritage in the Loire Valley' Addison, A., Strickland, R. and Ceccarelli, N. offered an inexpensive medium for management, recording, and dissemination of a cultural and natural site, while 'Enhanced Cultural Heritage Environments by Augmented Reality Systems' Aguil , C., Lor s, J. et al , presented an innovative proposal for the use of augmented reality applied to the visit of an archaeological site. /p p An Anthropology, Heritage, and Virtual Heritage roundtable organized by the MACTIA Center UC Berlekey gathered a series of experts, students, and other staff member in the discussion of issues in sustainable 'Low tech or low cost ' technologies for first-hand projects. /p p A crowded special session on The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative ECAI, http://www.ecai.org discussed the use of a global shared time-map GIS database and displayed different case studies, addressing the use of remote sensing and GIS for Visualization of Cultural Research and related issues. /p p Summary and contribution br The Special Virtual Heritage Colloquium and the Virtual Heritage Conference Session provided a rare opportunity to exchange, experience, and learn about innovative techniques and methods for appropriate use of documentation and dissemination technology for promoting the understating of heritage alongside a global gathering of experts. /p p The destruction of monuments by terrorist acts, and the numerous monuments affected by natural phenomenon in recent worldwide events are perfect examples of the need for adequate documentation and dissemination of heritage. /p p This event is relevant for the study of heritage that not only contributes to the creation of a permanent record of its past and present, but also to understanding its importance, both of which encourage its future conservation. br br Contact information br Mario Santana: mario.santana asro.kuleuven.ac.be br Alonzo Addison: addison5 socrates.berkeley.edu /p http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1576.htm Tue, 16 Oct 2001 12:00:00 EST Microelectromechanical systems MEMS has been working to unite silicon-based microelectronics and micromachining technology, making possible the production of the complete system-on-a-chip. Although this has been a slow process, according to Technical Insights, a business unit of Frost Sullivan, MEMS technology has finally entered a growth phase and is expected to quadruple by 2004. MEMS are micron-sized devices, most with moving parts, which can sense or manipulate the physical environment. These chip-level devices are created using micromachining processing steps derived from basic silicon manufacturing techniques developed by the microelectronics industry. Microelectromechanical systems can be used in many settings where low cost, size, and weight plus reliability are required. The telecommunications segment is expected to increase by more than 30 percent of the total MEMS market in 2005. In this segment, photonic switches, tunable lasers, and optical networking filters are the most promising MEMS products. At this time, a large array of MEMS products are moving into production, and will impact a range of industries during the next few years. Next-generation products include mirror arrays for use in photonic switches, projection systems, and wearable displays; cellular telephones, relays and biochips. MEMS sensors measure the environment without modifying it, while actuators provide or manage some type of action, often in response to a sensor output. According to Technical Insights, sensor sales currently lead the market, but actuator sales will far outpace them by 2005. Actuators cost much more than sensors. Despite the venture capital crunch and recent high-technology market slowdown, investors have remained supportive of MEMS start-ups. Technical Insights is an international technology research business that produces a variety of technical news alerts, newsletters, and reports. The ongoing research on microelectromechanical systems is covered in Inside R D, a Technical Insights Subscription Service and in U.S. Microelectromechanical Systems and The European Microsystems Market, Frost Sullivan market analysis reports. http://www.technical-insights.frost.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1571.htm Tue, 16 Oct 2001 12:00:00 EST This supplement provides a selection of the most innovative and novel results and offers that have been developed by the projects under the Multimedia Content and Tools area of the EC research programme and a valuable insight of the broad range of activities accomplished or emerging from this area. It demonstrates a plethora of innovative ideas being turned into the multimedia products and services propelling tomorrow's digital economy and society. They provide an excellent basis for the knowledge-centred research in the future. You can find this publication at ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/focus/docs/res28.pdf http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1574.htm Tue, 16 Oct 2001 12:00:00 EST Dear colleagues, The third edition of the DLM-Forum on electronic records, with the title DLM - FORUM 2002: ccess and preservation of electronic information: best practices and solutions and its exhibition will take place in Barcelona Spain from 7 to 8 May 2002. The DLM-Forum 2002 will be organised by the Secretariat for the Information Society of the Catalan government together with other Catalan institutions and departments of the Spanish central government, and with the support of the European Commission. Find the event first announcement at: http://europa.eu.int/historical_archives/dlm_forum/doc/forum2002announcement rev2.pdf The DLM-Forum 2002 organisers have already launched the call for paper that can be found at http://europa.eu.int/historical_archives/dlm_forum/doc/forum2002call.pdf You are welcome to distribute this information to all those who might be interested. Best Regards European Commission DG Information Society Cultural Heritage Applications rue Alcide de Gasperi L-2920 Luxembourg digicult cec.eu.int http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1575.htm Sat, 08 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST As cyberspace knows no borders, the development of international regulatory frameworks and action plans is of vital interest to all countries. UNESCO encourages its Member States to adopt an international Recommendation on the implementation of common principles in support to equitable and affordable access to information and to the development of a multicultural information society. An electronic forum to discuss this text is now available on WebWorld. More http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010907_mul.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1558.htm Sat, 08 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST The International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications INASP , which was co founded by UNESCO; recently announced the completion of the first phase of its Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information PERI . PERI aims at the wider access and dissemination of scientific and scholarly information and knowledge with and between developing and transitional countries. It presently provides access to over 5000 full-text journals in science, technology, medicine, social science and the humanities. More http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010906_inasp.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1559.htm Sat, 08 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST Do you know the difference between disc and disk ? Stumped by halation ? Or by weighted noise ? The Glossary of Terms Related to the Archiving of Audiovisual Materials , that is now available on-line, can provide the answer. Compiled with financial support from UNESCO by a working group from the Round Table on Audiovisual Records, the Glossary aims to provide definitions of audiovisual and audiovisual-related terms. More http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010905_glossary.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1560.htm Sat, 08 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST As UNESCO is today organizing a panel debate on The Slave Route: Slavery and Racism at the World Conference against Racism and Xenophobia in Durban South Africa , its Slave Trade Archives Project, which was established within the framework of the Memory of the World Programme, continuos. Funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation NORAD , the project is concerned with the access to and preservation of original archive materials relating to the transatlantic slave trade. More http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010904_racism.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1561.htm Sat, 08 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST In Iran's capital Teheran opens toady a three day seminar on Central and Western Asian Countries and the Information Society . Organized by the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO with support and cooperation of UNESCO Headquarters, the seminar aims at a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities provided by ICTs. It also focuses on priorities of national development in this area and discusses the possibilities of enhancing regional and interregional collaboration. More http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010903_iran.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1562.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 23 to 26 September 2001: Desert Landscapes and Oasis Systems. Oasis Kharga, Egypt WHC, Egyptian Delegation, UNESCO Cairo Office . Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1536.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 24 September to 3 October: Regional Training Course on the Application of the World Heritage Convention and its Sustainable Development and Tourism in the Caribbean. Roseau, Dominica. WHC Information: H.van-hooff unesco.org or N.Schulze unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1537.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 24 to 27 September: 19th IPFRA World Congress International Federation of Park and Recreation Administration , Cape Town, South Africa. Information: http://www.ierm.org.za/Congress/Index.htm, ierm vdw.co.za http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1538.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 27 to 29 September: Symposium on the history of Earth Sciences in Austria with a focus on the UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape Hallstatt Dachstein Salzkammergut. Austrian UNESCO Commission . Information: http://www.hauser.cc/hallstatt http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1539.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 3 to 7 October: Risk Preparedness and Emergency Response in the Context of the Management of the World Heritage Cities -- 6th International Symposium and 5th General Assembly of the Organization of World Heritage Cities. In Puebla, Mexico. Information: http://www.ocpmcoloquiopuebla.com.mx/default2.htm http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1540.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 8 to 12 October: Meeting of the drafting group to revise the Operational Guidelines, UNESCO HQs. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1541.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 8 to 18 October: 2001 UNESCO LEAP Workshop on Cultural Heritage Management Sustainable Tourism. In Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China. Information: http://www.unescobkk.org/culture/lijiang- workshop/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1542.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 10 to 12 October: 3rd Salon International de Patrimonio Cultural SIPAC 2001 on The historic City as Project , Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Information: sipac usc.es http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1543.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 12 to 15 October: 1st World Megalithic Festival and 4th International Symposium on World Megalithic Culture and General Assembly. World Megalithic Association WMA . In Gangwha, Korea. Information: sswang komsep.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1544.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 22 to 26 October: International Workshop on the Preservation, Conservation and Management of Zhoukoudian China and Sangiran Indonesia World Heritage Sites. Solo, Indonesia. Information: f.jing unesco.org, p.delanghe unesco.org. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1545.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 23 to 26 October: Ecotourism Conference: The Choice of Sustainability. Ecotourism Association of Australia . Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Information: http://www.ecotourism.org.au/conf2001/welcome.htm, tony.charters tq.com.au http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1546.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 25 to 26 October: Managing Araeological Earthwoks, Guildhall, Salisbury. Hadrian's Wall Coordiation Unit Information: neil.rimmington english-heritage.org.uk http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1547.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 30 to 31 October: XIIIth General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 1972 . UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1548.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 1 November: Fifth Extraordinary Session of the World Heritage Committee to elect new Bureau members . UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1549.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 1 to 3 November: Conference on Railway Heritage and Development: Balancing the Past, the Present and the Future. Soegijapranata Catholic University Semarang, Indonesia. Information: http://www.unika.ac.id/railway/railway.htm http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1550.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 7 to 9 November: 3rd International Seminar on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions. University of Minho, Azur m, Guimar es, Portugal . Information: http://www.civil.uminho.pt/congress/historic.html http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1551.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 22 November: European Landscape Convention Meeting, Strasbourg Council of Europe . http://conventions.coe.int http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1552.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 28 to 30 November: Wetlands in the Tropical Urban Environment: A Symposium on issues and management in Luang Prabang, Laos. Lao PDR Government; La Maison du Patrimoine - Water and Environment Service; UNESCO . Information: http://www.ambafrance-laos.org/ laobas/cooperation/patrimoine/zones_humides/colloque.htm, guedant laotel.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1553.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 4 to 9 December: Forum UNESCO Students for Heritage Protection Workshop. Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific at Deakin University, Mebourne, Australia . At Deakin University. Information: http://www.arts.deakin.edu.au/culturalheritage_centre/ events/default.asp http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1554.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 7 to 8 December: 25th Extraordinary Session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee. Helsinki, Finland http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1555.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 16 December: 25th Session of the World Heritage Committee. Helsinki, Finland. Information: http://www.minedu.fi/minedu/whmeeting/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1556.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST The WAVE Report went to Taipei for another conference - Opto Taiwan. A few gems are discussed below. Applied Image Group Applied Image Group is a private company that was originally spun out of the Donnelly Optics in Michigan, which developed optics for automobile applications. When Donnelly was in distress Applied Image Group bought them out. The company has 4 subsidiaries: Optics, Coatings, Imaging and Glasstec. The latter three subsidiaries are located in Rochester, NY. The Optics division has facilities in Tucson, Arizona, Suzhou, China and Taipei, Taiwan and specializes in optical and mechanical design, tight tolerance injection molding and system integration and assembly. The WAVE Report spoke at length with Bob Kuo, Director, New Business Development, Optics Subsidiary. The focus was on plastics optics but went much farther. Bob has his Ph.D. from U of Rochester and was very knowledgeable about the optics business. His charter is to expand the business beyond just making lenses. Where should the Optics within the Applied Image Group go is the question he has a responsibility to answer? His response is that they must become an optics systems company with higher degrees of integration with packaging and electronics integration. The analogy he used is to become the Flextronics of optical systems. This was not puffery as Bob put into context their experience, current jobs and the role that the Asian markets play. Some of the points that Bob made include: The problem in the optical component business, lenses included, is that it is being driven to commodity status. To survive, a company must look beyond the piece parts. However, optics as a technology has a number of considerations in order to capitalize on its role in a system. Optics and the optical-mechanical technology has become widespread. The software design tools are so readily accessible that any BS graduate can claim to design a lens or its housing. In many cases this is just inadequate. Optics is an experience- based profession. There continues to be an element of art that has also to be acquired over many years in making optical systems. As an example, he cited optical and mechanical tolerancing as critical elements to include in designs so that they are producible. For example, others may copy some of our designs and attempt to include interlocks and other design elements, which are responsible for limiting tolerance impacts. This comes from experience and without it designs may be compromised significantly in practice. That is, they do not work the way the designs said. There is no doubt that the capabilities in Asia will improve over time. However, today they just do not have the technical skill base to create quality producible designs. At Applied Image Group they have plastic lens fabrication in Tucson and have not yet gone to Taiwan or China sources because they consider the plastic component products inferior. Quality in optics begins at the start of the project. This includes the optical design, mechanical design, the plastic materials for the lenses, the tolerancing, tooling, fabrication and testing. A strength of Applied Image Group is that their business includes all of this, in part, based on their experience in the automotive business. For example, the injection molding facility is in a clean room - one of the few in the industry. Cost control is not only about the piece parts but supply chain management. We then asked Bob about the trends toward optical and mechanical integration. The illustration we used was single piece plastics, which have an embedded lens element. Bob sees this as a trend and went beyond it. The market is moving to optical subassemblies. Applied Image Group is seeing a whole new class of electro-optics integration applications of which scanning and imaging are two. Many cell phone designs are now including cameras in them. Personal scanners are another application illustration. Mobile devices, in general, are changing the level of optics integration in CE. Applied Image Group has been seen as an acquisition target but has steadfastly refused offers. This has been happening in the industry with devastating results. For example, a key competitor, Opcore, was bought by Corning. After ingestion they found it was not generating the income/profits expected and they shut the operation down. Applied Image Group acquired some of the talent and equipment. A similar situation occurred with OCLI and JDS Uniphase when in May of 2001, JDS announced that as part of their Global Realignment Program, OCLI would consolidate its operations. They predicted that the consolidation would eventually result in the closure of OCLI's Hillend, Scotland facility. The strategy, based in part on the Flextronics model but for optical subsystems, is to remain independent and supply a broad base of customers and requirements. They cannot favor any one client or move up the integration chain, such as doing a digital camera, as this would threaten their business model. When asked - what does this mean in terms of other technology integration? The example we cited was flex circuits. Would Applied Image Group do this - no. They are also developing relations with these suppliers so that they can subcontract this part of the assembly. AXT The conversation was with Dan Gechtman, VP for Sales and Marketing, LED Technologies. The booth was touting Super Bright LEDs. The strength of AXT is in non-red LEDs and they range from 445 to 535 nm. The point that Dan made was that the local, Taiwanese LCD companies, are touting high brightness low cost LEDs and sacrificing lifetime. Non-red device prices range from 8 to 20 . Their products range from the 15 to 20 range. We then got into an extended discussion on reliability of LEDs. The industry benchmark is HTOL - High Temperature Output Lifetime. A common measure is that when the output falls below 50 of the original output the LED has reached EOF. Tests are typically run at 55 - 30, or 55 degrees ambient temperature and 30ma of drive current. These are considered stress conditions. Dan showed a presentation of recent very interesting results on HTOL. He had HTOL 55 - 30 tests over time - in some cases to 2,000 hours of both AXT and competitors products. NCHA is considered a large company here in Taiwan, for example. What the curves showed was dramatic - nearly all the Taiwanese companies products slid down sharply over time compared to AXT. As we discussed this, just because an LED dies under these tests at 500 hours, it does not mean this is the life expectancy in use. The reason being - few if any applications will run at these elevated temperature and current conditions. The important point to our discussion is that high brightness is an important metric today for LEDs. Several booths were touting new applications for such LEDs, including traffic lights. These high brightness applications frequently expect long life and this may not be the case. To date, with the exception of the large volume LED buyers most buyers have not been focused on the lifetime tradeoffs. emcore EMCORE Corporation develops compound semiconductor solutions for the broadband and wireless communications and solid state lighting markets. Specifically, their solutions include optical devices for high-speed data, solar cells for satellite communications, position and motion sensing electronics, TurboDisc tools for GaAs, AlGaAs, InP, InGaAsP, GaN, InGaN, AlGaN, and SiC epitaxial materials and electronic materials for high bandwidth communications systems. We spoke with Brian Gibson, Business Development Director, who is at the headquarters in Albuquerque. Points made include. VCSEL at the wafer scale integration, remains embryonic and just beginning. Most of the packages are based on the old TO package and thus the VCSEL is a discrete component. emcore has recently begun shipping VCSEL arrays on wafers that customers can bump for their own mounting. One of the key reasons for such an array, 1 X 4, 4 VCSELs in a linear array, is to lower the cost of getting to 10Gb/s. This is a cheap way to parallel the optics to create a single on-GaAs solution for high bandwidth. In order to accomplish the electrical interface the VCSEL has pads outside the laser chamber. These are where the bumps are placed. The chip is flipped to another chip which has the electronics drive for the laser. The bumps can actually provide the displacement between the cavity and chip below and thus provide room for the mechanical fiber interface to the output of the cavity. Brian stated that how this is done, and the techniques used, are the purview of the buyer. emcore typically, at the wafer lever, only positions the laser and the customer considers it proprietary how they use their chips to build a total package. The typical pricing for such an array of lasers 4 is 30 and in million unit quantities he expects the price to go to 15. Even if one takes the liberty of assuming a 1 X 2 array is 1/2 this puts the cost at 7. Further, it is not clear that the coherent optical mouse laser placement requirements will allow the die are to be reduced by a factor of two over a 1 X 4 linear design. The business model at emcore was interesting. The materials technology is GaAs and the line widths are not anywhere close to that used in current silicon state-of-the-art, currently .13 micron. The reason being that the wavelength of the laser sets the dimension of the cavity. Further the pads for bumping are quite simple and actually larger that the diameter of the cavity. emcore is both an IP and semiconductor fab. This is consistent with many of the component companies in the optical business. They have their own fab - no such merchant fab house exists in the micro-optical component business. Although Brian stated he eventually expect the Taiwan merchant fabs to do such implementations. Process technology for GaAs is actually old and dates back to the early days of the semiconductor industry. Brian made the comment that they buy the old process technology equipment from Intel in Albuquerque and find this perfectly acceptable for emcore's needs. The cost to create a mask is only 10k. Their value add in the VCSEL business is: Process technology in GaAs for optical components; and IP for the cavity design. Optoelectronic Technology Road Maps From Japan The optoelectronics industry in Japan is much more mature and well developed than in Taiwan. The leading organization is called Optoelectronics Industry and Technology Development Association. They had a booth. On the tabletop were three single sheet descriptions of optoelectronics roadmaps. Similar in type as those done by the semiconductor association but not nearly so detailed. The topics were: Optical Communications, Electronic Display, Optical Storage, Information Interface and Measurement and Sensing. These have the typical big picture Japanese view of the world such as reaching a user-friendly Multimedia Society by 2015. However, the technical details of what and when are most interesting. These sheets indicate that the association in Japan has been thinking about the long-term implications and applications of optics. High points include the following: Optical Communications 2005 - 10Tb/s Long Haul, 10GB/s User Ethernet Optical Storage 2005 - 100Gb/sq. in recording density, 100 - 250 Mb/s data rate - 5 - 10 ms seek time Electronic Display 2007 - Paper like Sheet Display, 2mm thick with 10hour batter life Information Science 2005 - Large Scale Network 100GB/s - 5M Pixel HDTV displays with 4 hours of storage Measurement and Science 2005 - Environmental Sensing; Sensory sensing including Olfaction The association also puts on its own trade show in Japan. The next one is InterOpto '02 from July 16 - 19, 2002 in Tokyo. It occupies 3 halls of the Makuhari Messe. Estimated amount of exhibit space - 30,000 sq.m. http://www.pida.org.tw/show/OptoInfo.htm http://www.appliedimage.com http://www.emcore.com http://www.axt.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1510.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST IDRC and UNESCO are partnering with the Ugandan Government to develop a national network of Community Multimedia Centres CMCs . These centres will be established in rural or peri-urban settings, with the view to reaching disadvantaged population groups in the country, by overcoming barriers of universal access to information through the use of new and traditional information and communication technologies. Each CMC will bring together in a novel manner two technologies that have already been piloted in African rural communities: community radio and multipurpose community telecentres MCTs . http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010831_uganda.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1520.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura today expressed his grave concern at the murder of Brazilian journalist Mario Coelho de Almeida Filho. Mr. Matsuura said: I am extremely concerned that another journalist has been murdered. This shows the need for all Member States to take the necessary measures to not only prevent such crimes, but also to investigate them and punish the perpetrators. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010830_release.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1521.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST A new web site created by UNDP Chile, the first of its kind in Latin America, is bringing education on human development to thousands of classrooms across the country. The web site, Desarrollo Humano y Educaci n offers teachers and students suggestions for course work and other activities presented in attractive, simple format. It introduces the concept and measurement of human development and presents a municipal-level human development index that enables pupils to look up their own communities' rankings. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010829_chile.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1522.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST The US based Online Computer Library Center OCLC , with input from several other organizations, recently announced that it is developing a digital archive to track and preserve web-based documents that exist solely in electronic format. The goal of the Web Document Digital Archive project is to create a sustainable service to provide long-term access to web documents. The service will fill libraries' basic needs for identification, selection, capture, description, preservation, and access to documents that would not be accessible in the future otherwise. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010828_digitalarchive.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1523.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST The 25th session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee was held in Paris at UNESCO Headquarters between 25 and 30 June 2001. It was attended by all seven members of the Bureau Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Finland, Morocco, Thailand and Zimbabwe and the three Advisory Bodies ICOMOS, IUCN and ICCROM as well as 65 States Parties to the Convention as observers. The Bureau heard state of conservation reports on 72 properties on the World Heritage List, including 24 detailed reports on properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Special note was taken of the recent damage to the Historical Centre of the City of Arequipa Peru , where the earthquake of 23 June had caused extensive damage to the Cathedral and about a fifth of the major monuments in the city. The Bureau approved a request for US 75,000 for Emergency Assistance toward consolidation and restoration of the cathedral. Among the 49 new properties examined at this session, the Bureau recommended 21 properties for inscription on the World Heritage List by the Committee when it meets for its 25th session in Helsinki, Finland, 11-16 December 2001. Two of the recommended properties were from States Parties which do not yet have sites on the World Heritage List: Botswana and Israel. Another 15 properties were referred back to the nominating State Party for additional information and will be further reviewed when the Bureau reconvenes for its two-day extraordinary session on 7-8 December 2001. As requested by the Committee during its last session in Cairns, Australia December 2000 , the Bureau also examined the use of cultural criterion vi for properties directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance . Since 1980, the Operational Guidelines has stipulated that this criterion should only be used in exceptional circumstances or with other criteria. After examining various options presented by the Secretariat, most members of the Bureau felt that the restriction should be removed. The discussion of the Bureau and views of participants would be reflected in a working document for discussion at the next Committee session in Helsinki. The full report of the 25th session of the Bureau is now available on the WHC web site at: http://www.unesco.org/whc/archive/repbur01.htm English and http://www.unesco.org/whc/fr/archive/rapbur01.htm French . http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1524.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 2 to 9 September: World Heritage Youth Forum, Karlskrona, Sweden http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1525.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 4 to 12 September: Regional Thematic Expert Meeting: Asian Sacred Mountains, Japan. Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1526.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 6 to 8 September: Global Monitoring for World Heritage Sites' Periodic Reporting System. Workshop. ISPRS Commission VII, Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NATO . In Sopron, Hungary. Information: http://geoinfo.cslm.hu/events/SAT/LeafletSAT.pdf, be cslm.hu http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1527.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 8 September: Inscription ceremony for Hortobagy National Park, Hungary Hungarian Ministry for the Environment http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1528.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 9 to 11 September: International Seminar: Cultural Tourism: Perspectives for Sustainable Development and Management of World Heritage sites . Syrian government, UNESCO . In Damascus. By invitation. Information: http://www.unesco.org/culture/tourism/html_eng/syria1.shtml,syr.seminar noos.fr http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1529.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 10 to 20 September: Sub-Regional workshop on Capacity Building and Institutional Development in Southern African countries. Windhoek, Namibia. Information: S.Gasparetto unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1530.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST . Information: wh-info unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1531.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 17 to 21 September: World Heritage Tropical Marine Biodiversity Workshop, in Manila, the Philippines. The workshop is organised as a part of UNESCO/IUCN/UNF-UNFIP project for World Heritage Biodiversity Sites. Information: N.Ishwaran unesco.org and M.Kokkonen unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1532.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 18 to 21 September: CIPA 2001 International Symposium on Architectural Photogrammetry and Documentation of Cultural Heritage, Surveying and Documentation of Historic Buildings, Monuments and Sites: Traditional and modern methods . ICOMOS- CIPA, ISPRS Committee on Documentation of Cultural Heritage . In Potsdam, Germany. Information: http://www.fpk.tu- berlin.de/ cipa2001; e-mail: cipa2001 fpk.tu-berlin.de http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1533.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 19 to 23 September: 4th International Conference on Archaeological Prospection. Austrian Academy of Science, AARG, CIPA - ICOMOS / ISPRS Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage. Vienna, Austria. Information: http://www.univie.ac.at/archeo2001/, archeo2001 zamg.ac.at http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1534.htm Sat, 01 Sep 2001 12:00:00 EST 22 September: Inscription ceremony for the Wachau Cultural Landscape, Austria http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1535.htm Tue, 28 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST Elumens, a 3D immersive display provider, announced several milestones during the first half of August, including a partnership with Silicon Graphincs Inc. SGI , a sub- 10,000 immersive display, and two software improvements. The Elumens product line is based on the VisionDome, a hemispherical projection display that allows multiple users to experience an immersive 3D environment. Elumens provides bundled solutions, which include optics, a projector, a projection screen, software, structural hardware, and a computer monitor. The products are designed to work with the most commonly used computing workstations: Intel and Alpha- based Windows NT PCs, and Silicon Graphics Workstations. The systems are also modular, allowing the possibility of integration into existing systems such as military flight procedural trainers. The displays range in diameter from 2 to 5 meters, with the VisonStation product line available in either 2 or 3-meter sizes, and the VisionDome product line available in either 4 or 5 meter sizes. Because of the hemispherical shape, they occupy the full forward and peripheral vision of one or more viewers, eliminating the need for 3D headgear. The number of viewers is limited by the size of the dome. Silicon Graphics Partnership On August 9, 2001, Elumens and SGI announced that SGI, a provider of computing and visualization solutions, will add the entire Elumens Vision family of products to SGI's array of design and visualization solutions. The relationship authorizes the SGI sales force to sell the Elumens VisionStation and VisionDome display systems as part of complete solutions integrated by the SGI Professional Services. Elumens also recently announced that its Spherical Projection of Images application-programming interface SPI-API is available for integration into IRIX OS-based solutions using OpenGL and OpenGL Performer software development environments. As part of this support, Elumens has created an immersive version of SGI's Perfly sample viewing application for OpenGL Performer, and nicknamed it SPIFLY . Active Stereo On August 14, 2001, Elumens announced it has added hemispherical stereoscopic viewing capability to the VisionStation product line. Elumens' VisionStation 1024S enables stereoscopic spherical projection with a single projector, combining the immersive qualities of the VisionStation with the pop of stereo 3D images. To create stereoscopic spherical projection, Elumens added stereo support to its SPI-API. Nicknamed SPIclops. This API can be used with OpenGL, Performer, IRIX, and will soon be available for DirectX 7 and 8. Application providers can choose to enable one to four image channels depending on their performance requirements and computing horsepower. Elumens claims SPIclops performance is viable on both professional graphics engines and consumer-priced PC graphics cards. Stereoscopic capabilities can be added to original VisionStations via an upgrade. SPI Application Module On August 15, 2001, Elumens announced the availability of an SPI module for MultiGen-Paradigm Vega applications running on SGI IRIX and Windows NT systems. The SPI application module allows users to configure the VisionStation directly through the Vega LynX graphical interface. The module also can be downloaded from the Elumens and Multigen-Paradigm Web sites. Working with Elumens, we can offer our customers a display configuration solution that helps them minimize the time it takes to view their Vega applications on the VisionStation, said Chris Hawkins, Vice President for worldwide sales and marketing at MultiGen-Paradigm. Sub- 10,000 VisionStation On August 16, 2001, Elumens announced the immediate availability of the VisionStation 800 VS 800 , retaining the immersive properties, connectivity and software support of the original VisionStation at a U.S. retail price of 9,995. The VS 800 has 800 x 600 SVGA resolution from a 1100 lumen projection system, as opposed to the 1024 x 768 XGA resolution of the original VisionStation 1024 VS 1024 . Both are capable of 24-bit color. The VS 800 display is delivered with the same suite of software as the original VisionStation 1024, and VS 800 users will have the option to upgrade to the original VS 1024, or the new VS 1024S stereoscopic system. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1493.htm Tue, 28 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST Durban South Africa , August 28 - UNESCO will be taking part in the World Conference on Racism and Xenophobia Durban, South Africa,August 31 to September 7 during which it will organize three roundtable talks drawing attention to new types of discrimination - including those connected to advances in genetics - the consequences of the slave trade, and the role of the media in fighting racism. UNESCO is also organizing an exhibition in Durban featuring material about its long-standing struggle against racism and discrimination. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1504.htm Tue, 28 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST A new public-private partnership in Ghana is launching the Mobile Telecentre To-Go MTTG to introduce information technology IT and the Internet to schools, health clinics, farms and local businesses. The government, private firms and civil society groups recently joined forces with UNDP in signing on to the pilot project. The UN Office for Project Services UNOPS is implementing the initiative, which is part of the UNDP Internet Initiative for Africa II . http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1505.htm Tue, 28 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST Are you looking for the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan or for the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. The Window to Culture , a new service of the website of UNESCO's Culture Sector, has it for you. This new on-line directory, that is accessible on the website of the Organization's Culture Sector, is part of the process to monitor, collect and disseminate information relevant to policy making in the field of culture. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1506.htm Tue, 28 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST Since several years, UNESCO co-operates with the authorities of the Republic of Yemen and the United Nations Development programme to create the National Center for Archives , the country's records and archives managament institutions. Starting almost from scratch, the National Centre for Archives became a well established, efficiently operating and appropriately managed public service. Laure Bernard, a journalist based in Yemen, wrote the following article for UNESCO Sources. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1507.htm Thu, 16 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST The Bill On April 24, 2001, Representatives W.J. Tauzin R.-La. and John Dingell D.-Mich. introduced the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act H.R. 1542 in the House of Representatives. The bill proposes an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934 that would prohibit the FCC Federal Communications Commission and individual states from regulating an ILEC's Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier's - Verizon, SBC, Qwest and BellSouth entry into the long distance data services market. Current regulation requires that the ILECs prove that they have provided UNEs Unbundled access to Network Elements and high-speed data services at wholesale rates to competitors, before entering the long distance market. In the bill, both requirements would be lifted. Since its introduction, the bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which voted their approval 32 to 23. On May 24th, it was passed to the House Committee on the Judiciary, which gave the bill an unfavorable recommendation, and asked that anti-trust approval be required before allowing ILECs to offer long-distance data services June 18th . The bill has been cosponsored by 112 other representatives. Among the bill's other supporters is the US Industry Internet Association. Tauzin-Dingell A statement on Representative Dingell's Web site claims that H.R. 2420 now 1542 would give consumers the opportunity to choose their broadband provider, a freedom which has been denied due to, The rapid consolidation of ownership in both the cable AT T and Internet backbone MCI WorldCom/Sprint industries. Representative Tauzin agrees, claiming that the Bell companies need a friendlier regulatory environment in order to compete with cable operators. An estimated 70 of broadband consumers use cable modems for access. Proponents of the bill hope that dropping restrictions for the Bell companies ILECs will result in an increased investment in broadband technologies. This, in turn, could facilitate the expansion of backbone hubs into all areas, a critical step given the fact that 60 of States have only 2 or 3 backbone hubs, and several lack any backbone structure at all. Opposition Competitive Local Exchange Carriers CLECs are opposed to Tauzin-Dingell, claiming that their future depends on the shared infrastructure of the ILECs - an arrangement that would be eroded if FCC regulation is terminated. But since CLECs are new to the market, most do not have the financial resources that help ILECs apply lobbyist pressure in Washington. To their benefit, though, CLECs have found support with long distance providers such as Worldcom and AT T and cable companies like AOL Time Warner. These allies have partnered in opposition to the bill's passage. Representatives Chris Cannon R-Utah and John Conyers Jr. D- Mich. also oppose Tauzin-Dingell and have introduced a bill entitled the American Broadband Competition Act of 2001 H.R. 1698 , which would support CLEC efforts in two ways. First, it would overturn a 7th Circuit Court of Appeals case, which found that anti-trust laws do not apply to the telecommunications industry due to the enforcement measures inherent in the Telecom Act itself. Second, it would prohibit the co-marketing of advanced services with traditional telecommunications services by the providers. Other groups have gotten involved as well. One such group, Tech Central Station, has published several reports evaluating the impact of the Tauzin-Dingell bill on the US economy. Their latest report, Competition in Telecommunications and Economic Growth, claims that by decreasing competition in the data services market, the bill could cause, A reduction of gross U.S. economic output of between 57 billion and 88 billion by 2006. The report points out that the bill's introduction and consideration has already damaged efforts by existing CLECs to find adequate funding and to provide affordable services to consumers. In fact, according to the report, the market value of CLECs declined 84 between March 2000 to May 2001. In addition, a Telecommunications International report claims that increasing ISP failures have resulted in a smaller Internet population Q1 2001. According to the report's authors, this trend is not only of concern to the telecommunications industry, but would also affect the entire IT industry by decreasing investment and eliminating competition, which could increase prices and slow broadband development. In addition, if competition is stalled long-term, the reverberations would be seen in the US GDP Gross Domestic Product . As mentioned earlier, the author's estimate that this reduction in IT capital might result in a decrease in the total GDP of between 57-88 billion. http://www.techcentralstation.com http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.html search for HR 1542 or 1698 http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1479.htm Wed, 15 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST Veronis Suhler has released their 15th annual Communications Industry Forecast. The report predicts overall industry growth at an annual rate of 5.6 from 2001-2005, outpacing the 5 growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product and reaching 738 billion in total spending by 2005. Industry highlights include: Cable and satellite TV - spending on cable and satellite advertising jumped 18.5 to 13.8 billion in 2000. Spending is expected to increase at a compound annual rate of 11.6 between 2001-2005, reaching 23.8 billion in 2005. End user spending in this category subscriptions is forecast to rise 7.4 to 207 billion in 2001, up from 192.8 billion in 2000. Spending will grow at a rate of 7.5 in 2002 to 222.7 billion, then slow to 6.6 in 2003 and 5.9 in both 2004 and 2005. Broadcast television - advertising spending in this category rose 11.1 in 2000, compared to a 4.4 rise in 1999, reaching 44.4 billion compared to 40 billion in 1999 . Both television networks and individual stations benefited from the presidential election coverage, however the absence of political and Olympic- related advertising, along with the evaporation of promotions related to the new millennium, total spending is forecast to drop 2.5 to 43.3 billion in 2001. Consumer Internet - Veronis projects that by 2005, 68.4 million households will be online, or 88 of all computer households 63 of all American homes . The compound annual growth rate of Internet households will slow to 6.9 during this time though, down from 39.1 during the 1995-2000 period. Consumers spent 11.6 billion on Internet access in 2000 compared with 9.4 billion in 1999, an increase of 23.6 . Projections of the average annual spending per household for dial-up by 2005 are 243. Access via cable modem and DSL will total 300 and 420 per year, per household, respectively. Advertising spending is expected to increase to 9.9 billion by 2005, increasing at a 3.8 compound annual rate. By 2005, total Internet spending is expected to reach 28.3 billion. For more information about Veronis Suhler's Communications Industry Forecast go to: http://www.veronissuhler.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1474.htm Sat, 11 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST A ten-day hands-on intensive workshop in multicamera directing and studio lighting started yesterday at the studios of the Creative Production Training Centre Ltd CPTC in Jamaica's capital Kingston. The summer workshop is made possible through CPTC's collaboration with UNESCO and with the Training Development Programme of the International Association of Film and Television Schools CILECT/TDC . Jamaica's Promotion Corporation Agency JAMPRO also support the event. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010810_tv_training.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1457.htm Sat, 11 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST Parts of the famous photo collection of the Soviet Pace Programme held by the Russian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documents are now on-line available. UNESCO sponsored the establishment of the unique photobank containing more than 1700 photos with their descriptions. The new service, which is accessible on the website of the State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documents, provides free text search possibilities and lists the digitized photos according to pre-established categories. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010809_russia.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1458.htm Sat, 11 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST With support from UNDP, the Ministry of Technical Education and Professional Training recently launched Togo's first Cisco Networking Academy, based at the Information and Computing Centre at the University of Lom . The initiative began in January with the training of trainers in Cotonou, Benin, providing future instructors in Togo's Networking Academy with a grounding in computer networks and the concepts behind the programme. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010808_cisco.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1459.htm Sat, 11 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST As the 54th International Film Festival is being celebrated in Locarno, Switzerland, the nearby town of Ascona will host on 11 and 12 September a symposium on Culture and the Media , which is organised by the Swiss National Commission for UNESCO, UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR . http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010807_locarno.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1460.htm Sat, 11 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST An expert meeting on Distance Higher Education in Africa: Professional and Course Development will be organized by UNESCO's Institute for Information Technologies in Education IITE at the Institute of Educational Technology of the Open University of Tanzania in Dar-Es-Salaam on 20 September 2001. The meeting takes place within the framework of IITE's international project Distance Education: Structure, Methodology, Staff Development and Legal Aspects . http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010806_iite.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1462.htm Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST Following the destruction by the Taliban in March of the world's largest standing Buddha statues at Bamyan in Afghanistan, UNESCO is determined to continue mobilizing international support for the protection of Afghanistan's heritage. It is also re-examining what legal means may be used to prevent what Director-General Ko chiro Matsuura has called 'crimes against culture' from happening in the future. Race Against the Clock The Taliban decreed in late February that the pre-Islamic statues would be destroyed, since they were contrary to Islam. Amid protests from around the world over the threatened demoli-tion, UNESCO began a race against the clock to convince the Taliban, through Muslim leaders and special UNESCO envoy, Pierre Lafrance, to spare the statues, considered to be a part of humanity's unique cultural heritage. Mr Matsuura held talks with the Permanent Delegates to UNESCO from the 54 Member States that belong to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, consulted with numer-ous Ulemas and garnered unconditional support from repre-sentatives of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Tajikistan for his cam-paign to save the Bamyan monuments. Peter King, Chair of the World Heritage Committee, backed the Director-General's initiatives and expressed concern for 'these barbaric acts'. The destruction of the Bamyan monuments was confirmed on March 12th. 'It is abominable to witness the cold and calculated destruc-tion of cultural properties which were the heritage of the Afghan people, and indeed, of the whole of humanity,' Mr Matsuura declared. The Bamyan Valley statues, along with other Afghan sites, have not been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. But Mr Matsuura said that 'efforts to bring the Taliban to respect these archaeological riches will be maintained'. Legal Means With a view to what legal action may be taken in the future, Mr Matsuura welcomed, as an historic precedent, a recent decision by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to include the 1991 attacks on the ancient port city of Dubrovnik, Croatia in its indictment. Although the indictment was based on the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, Mr Matsuura said a study was being undertaken to 'examine all the means available to prevent and punish crimes against cultural properties' within other existing conventions. Conflict Afghanistan, whose heritage is marked by the influences of Persia, Greece, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, has suffered from the conflicts and disasters that have plagued the country in recent times. Apart from the Taliban destruction of the Bamyan monuments and small statues in museums across the country, the irreplaceable collection of the Kabul Museum, which came under attack in 1995 and 1996, has been subject to theft and vandalism. During the height of this crisis UNESCO received more than 1,000 e-mails a day expressing support for the Organization's efforts to save the heritage of Afghanistan. In response to the international outcry over the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan, UNESCO has opened a special bank account for the cultural heritage of Afghanistan. It is to be used for emergency funding of any measure that would safeguard Afghanistan's pre- Islamic heritage. In the long term the funds are to be earmarked for the preservation of the country's heritage, both pre-Islamic and Islamic. For UNESCO petition and special emergency fund see: UNESCO's Afghan Cultural Heritage Crisis homepage http://www.unesco.org/opi2/afghan-crisis/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1434.htm Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST What do you feel were the lessons learnt from the destruction of the pre-Islamic statues at Bamyan, Afghanistan in March? First of all, Bamyan was a magnificent site. It is a world cultural tragedy that these statues were destroyed along with other Buddhist artefacts and sculptures. No sound reason whatsoever can be given for such an act. I might add that I was delighted that the supporters of World Heritage around the world in their many thousands have contacted the UNESCO web site to express support for UNESCO's efforts to prevent the destruc-tion and limit the loss. So let me say 'thank you' to those wonderful people. There were several lessons to be learnt. The first one concerns the issue of evaluation of the sites. In 1983 the inscription of the Bamyan statues on the World Heritage List was deferred due to insufficiencies in the pro-posed protection scheme. Further action became impossible because of the conflict situation. Yet there was much infor-mation which would have supported inscription. So I think the first lesson is that where an evaluation can be done from reliable sources, the process of inscription of a site in a conflict area should be continued, to allow the inscription at the earliest possible opportunity. Second: This tragedy shows that the application of the World Heritage Convention needs to be reviewed to give it more 'teeth' to deal with wanton destruction of World Heritage. I think it is time to study ways to give the World Heritage Committee the possibility of including sanctions in its means of action, in order to prevent loss of World Heritage. Third: This problem has underscored how insufficient the budget of the World Heritage Fund is in coping with urgent matters and unexpected problems. The annual contribution of a State Party to the World Heritage Fund is 1 of its contribution to UNESCO. This is ridiculously small for most countries. Indeed, many countries pay less than US 100. So I would like to propose to the General Assembly of the States Parties meeting in November this year, the adoption of a resolution inviting an additional voluntary annual contribution to the Fund that equals the compulsory contributions. This would give us better resources to take action, especially when World Heritage is in danger. Fourth: We need to augment the outreach capacities of the World Heritage Centre. In today's world it is very important to react quickly to inform the public of events which may affect the conservation of World Heritage. Public awareness and education on World Heritage are of primary importance. How important do you think the List of World Heritage in Danger is to preserving the sites inscribed? Once a site is on this List it obtains both support and resources. Expert assistance, as well as funds for training and for mitigation of threats are more readily allocated. Therefore it is very important that there be a consensual approach to the inscription of a site on the List in Danger. I am keen to increase the size of the World Heritage Fund, as well as to increase the resources of the World Heritage Centre to give it greater possibilities and influence in dealing with these sites in co-operation with the States Parties. What do you feel has been your greatest contribution since you have held the post of Chair of the World Heritage Committee? So far there have been important reforms decided at the 24th session of the World Heritage Committee, in Cairns, Australia, in December last year: the initiative concerning the enhancement of the representivity of the World Heritage List, the issue of equitable representation of the different regions and cultures of the world within the World Heritage Committee, reducing paperwork and administrative costs, the reform of the timetable of the meetings. I am also sup-porting the improvement of the budgetary position of the Centre, for the reasons I mentioned. This is the challenge, if World Heritage should grow and have greater credibility. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1435.htm Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST The Italian Government and UNESCO have signed a Joint Declaration on Co-operation, worth approxi-mately US 750,000 a year, which will provide technical expertise, support for the implementation of the Global Strategy and long-term financial input for the World Heritage Centre itself. The Joint Declaration on Co-operation between UNESCO and the Italian Government, signed on March 15th in Rome by Director-General Ko chiro Matsuura, Italian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Franco Danieli, and Italian Minister of Culture Giovanna Melandri, is aimed at mobiliz-ing Italian technical capacities in support of World Heritage technical assistance projects. By integrating training into small projects, this type of co-operation has worked extremely well with France over the past three years. The World Heritage Centre is hoping to expand this model in order to develop new agreements between UNESCO and other countries. Strengthening the work of the Centre 'The Italian declaration emphasizes a trend which strengthens the work of the Centre,' said WHC Director, Francesco Bandarin, citing the allocation of funds to be used specifically for data banks on World Heritage, and information, research and communications activities. The document promises technical experts from the Italian Culture Ministry and from the Public Administration for missions to sites, periodic reporting, preparation and project definition and setting up of training programmes. The UNESCO delegation to Italy, which was headed by Mr Matsuura and included Executive Director of the Office of the Director-General, Fran oise Rivi re, Assistant Director-General for Culture, Mounir Bouchenaki, and WHC Director Francesco Bandarin, was also received by Pope John-Paul II at the Vatican. They met later with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, and Monsignor Jean- Louis Tauran, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See. The delegation was also received by the President of the Italian Senate, Nicola Mancino, and high level representatives of Parliament. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1436.htm Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST March 15th was a red-letter day for World Heritage conservation and biodiversity, when Ted Turner's United Nations Foundation UNF and the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships UNFIP approved two proposals and two planning grants, totalling some US 1.9 million. Natarajan Ishwaran, Chief of the Natural Heritage Section at the World Heritage Centre, whose team prepared the projects, is hopeful that the new funding will bring in matching grants. 'We hope the two planning grants will reach full project status, and, of course, we hope to raise additional funding for the two full proposals to meet specific project objectives. What we need is partners, matching grants. This is a challenge to the private sector,' he said. Projects The largest project grant is for US 1.4 million allocated over two years to study five national parks and reserves in south-eastern Madagascar, with a view to their nomination to the World Heritage List. Due to Madagascar's isolation, 90 per cent of the island's species are not found anywhere else in the world. The aim is to protect the moist forests, their rare ecosystems and endan-gered species, as extreme poverty, an ever-growing population, logging and slash- and-burn agriculture begin to threaten these important habitat zones. Additional funds of US 5 to 8 million are being sought in multi-lateral assistance and private sources to expand the project beyond two years. A planning grant of US 50,400 is aimed at preparing a proposal for a World Heritage Biodiversity Program for India. It is to target five existing and several potential World Heritage sites in the country. This grant will also look at new approaches to mixed, cultural and natural World Heritage nominations. Under consideration are ways of linking, for example, the cultural and religious significance of symbolic species like the elephant and the tiger to the conser-vation of their habitats. Another planning grant US 86,100 will cut across borders in west and central Africa in order to come up with an African World Heritage Forest Initiative AWHFI . The aim is to have a full-fledged proposal for AWHFI by late autumn 2001 for consideration by the United Nations Foundation. The last project US 646,800 has been set to improve the efficiency of UNESCO and the World Heritage Centre. It addresses UNF and UNFIP concerns over the World Heritage Centre's capacity to implement projects they have approved, worth US 8.5 million in outright grants. Cost cutting at UNESCO for the period up until late 2003 has made the recruitment of new staff impossible. This grant will take up the slack for a 30-month period, providing the Centre's Natural Heritage and Administrative sections with two programme assistants and a secretary. UNESCO is then expected to absorb the cost of the staff positions in its Regular Programme budget beginning in 2004. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1437.htm Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST The list of projects included in the France-UNESCO Co- operation Agreement grew considerably in April ranging from plans for the historic centre of the island of Saint Louis in Senegal, to a national park surrounding Luang Prabang in Laos, from forgotten centuries-old villages in the north of Syria to private property in Eastern Europe. The France-UNESCO Mixed Co-ordinating Committee met on March 21st at the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, followed by a technical meeting on April 12th, to approve projects under consideration. People-to-People 'The beauty of the France-UNESCO Agreement is that it focuses on the establishment of partnerships: city-to- city, park-to-park, and university-to-university. And the charm of it is that it establishes a long-term commitment between professionals to work together. Projects are for a minimum of three years. It is not a question of capital investment, but an exchange of know-how,' said Minja Yang, Deputy-Director of the World Heritage Centre. This year's crop is no exception. The Island of Saint Louis in Senegal, for example, inscribed on the World Heritage List at the 24th session of the Committee in Cairns, Australia last December, has a long history of co-operation with the French city of Lille. Now 80,000 FF has been earmarked, through the France-UNESCO Agreement, to list and document buildings in the historic centre. 'This is the first step in preparing a realistic conservation and development plan with the aim of maintaining the city for the local inhabitants rather that to gentrify it as a tourist destination. The idea is for visitors to share the joys of the inhabitants of this exceptional city,' said Ms Yang. Another project which emphasizes the people-to-people aspect of the agreement, is the creation of a national park sur-rounding the World Heritage Town of Luang Prabang in Laos. 'This park will ensure the age-old relationship between the city and the countryside. The villagers of the many ethnic groups have always lived in the magnificent natural environ-ment of the upland valley of the Mekong River. We hope that the contacts they have enjoyed traditionally with the city as market place can be maintained through the protection of their environment and way of life,' Ms Yang said. Experts from the Loire Anjou Touraine Regional Park are involved in the park-to-park co-operation. This continuing project got an additional 50,000 FF in the 2001 budget. Expertise The France-UNESCO Co-operation Agreement also provides a framework for assistance in preparing nominations of sites for inscription on the World Heritage List, including technical and legal expertise to develop a management framework to ensure protection. With the allocation of 40,000 FF, an area of stone villages in northern Syria, dating from the 3rd to the 6th century A.D., has now entered the first phase of this inscription process. France-UNESCO also approved seed money for other projects, including 280,000 FF as a follow-up to a seminar and training for the management of private property in European countries in transition. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1438.htm Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST How do you identify and document the World Heritage of the 19th and 20th century? Are new towns to be preserved? Where does the motorway fit in? These are just some of the questions a group of experts began considering at a World Heritage Centre brainstorming session in early February on the Identification and Documentation of Modern Heritage. Ron van Oers, consultant and project co-ordinator, says the Centre is the facilitator in this project for the States Parties' initiatives to preserve and nominate the heritage of the modern era to UNESCO's World Heritage List. 'We are in the middle of asking internationally renowned architects, town planners and historians to write position papers on several topics in order to develop a vision on how to look at our recent past and to define the categories of heritage worthy of protection,' Mr van Oers said. Short 20th-Century List The initiative was launched jointly with ICOMOS, which has done considerable work over the past twenty years on the representivity of the World Heritage List with regard to different regions and themes. Of the 690 properties currently on the World Heritage List, only seven are properties representing 20th-century architecture and town planning. The Centre plans to organize two regional seminars on the subject in 2002 one for South and Central America and one for Asia . They will coincide with the International Gaudi Year, marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of the famous Spanish architect. Three of Antoni Gaudi's buildings were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1984. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1439.htm Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST The civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC , as well as a rush to mine highly-prized minerals inside national parks and reserves, have highlighted ongoing threats to natural heritage. Virunga, Garamba, Kahuzi-Biega and Salonga National Parks and the Okapi Wildlife Reserve remain on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger. A recent report by IUCN on the state of conserva-tion of natural sites inscribed on the List, points out how the mining of coltan columbite and tantalite has become a major threat to the flora and fauna at both Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Okapi Wildlife Reserve. Mining Rush The lure of these extremely valuable minerals has sparked a mining rush to the area in just six months, with as many as ten thousand people pouring into Kahuzi-Biega, and another four thousand into Okapi to work in the mines. Coltan is used for computer chips, in nuclear medicine, mobile phones, and in metal alloys for jet engines. It is illegally mined in these parks and reserves, and then transported to Western markets by companies owned and operated in part by rebel groups. In Kahuzi-Biega and Okapi, the IUCN report said, the miners are killing elephants and the endangered eastern lowland gorilla for food. It is feared that the entire population of these animals could become extinct. In Virunga National Park the International Gorilla Conservation Programme IGCP has reported some good news, however. Despite the ongoing war in the DRC, the Virunga population of endangered mountain gorillas has increased by more than 10 per cent over the past 12 years. But Virunga continues to be threatened by heavy poaching, particularly by the military. In Salonga National Park armed men are poaching protected species such as elephants and bonobo chimpanzees. A four-year UNF-UNFIP/UNESCO/DRC Government project on biodiversity conservation met with delays in its early stage. But staff at the parks and the reserve are now getting their monthly support payments. The project has also helped in stabilizing the poaching threat at Garamba National Park. The UNF-UNFIP contribution to the project, of some US 2.9 million, was instrumental in helping UNESCO negotiate an additional 300,000 Euros ca. US 270,000 grant from Belgium in 2000-2001 for a four-year project to launch community support activities for conservation at the five DRC sites. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1440.htm Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST In Association with ACM SIGGRAPH: The ACM Special Interest Group in Computer Graphics EUROGRAPHICS: The European Association for Computer Graphics ISPRS: the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing With the support of four Fifth Framework Projects: ARCHEOGUIDE: Augmented Reality-based Cultural Heritage On-site Guide CHARISMATIC: Cultural Heritage Attractions featuring Real-time Interactive Scenes and Multi-functional Avatars as Theatrical Intelligent Characters 3D-MURALE: 3D Measurement and Virtual Reconstruction of Ancient Lost Worlds of Europe TOURBOT: Interactive Museum Tele-presence through Robotic Avatars AUTHOR SCHEDULE Paper Deadline 14th September 2001 Acceptance 12th October 2001 Topics: Papers are sought which address the applications of technology in the analysis, archiving, publication, dissemination and representation of cultural heritage in its widest sense for applications ranging from archaeological scholarship and visualisation techniques to education, tourism, and entertainment. This includes technology applied to potential exploitation of cultural heritage as a source of financial support to the field. A detailed list of suggested topics and more information about the event will be found at http://www.eg.org/events/VAST2001/ For more information or other enquiries please contact; VAST2001-info eg.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1442.htm Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST The Australian Government and the World Bank yesterday announced a 750 million partnership to combat global poverty with a state-of-the-art distance education initiative. The new plan, called Virtual Colombo Plan is intended to share Australian expertise with developing countries using ICTs. The Australian Government has pledged 100 million aimed at creating opportunities to improve education and access to knowledge across the developing world for everything from primary school teacher training to advanced courses for policymakers. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010803_aidplan.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1453.htm Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST New Zealand's Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon Helen Clark has today presented the Wellington City Council with the inaugural UNESCO New Zealand Digital Access Award at the Catching the Knowledge Wave conference in Auckland. The Prime Minister presented the Award to the Council for its innovative endeavors in promoting empowerment, participation and access for all in the knowledge society . http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010802_who.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1454.htm Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST About 15 secondary and primary level teachers from Samoa met last week for a three day workshop, within the framework of a UNESCO project to produce media education materials for teachers in the Pacific. The project is part of UNESCO's worldwide Associated Schools Network ASP , the world's largest network of schools. ASP helps member schools to develop programmes and activities in areas such as peace, human rights, environment, culture and media. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010730_pacific.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1455.htm Wed, 01 Aug 2001 12:00:00 EST The worldwide PC market was stagnant in the second quarter of 2001 with shipments declining by 2 . According to IDC research, shipments of 29.8 million were down 7.2 sequentially as growth from Asian markets evaporated amid a continuing US market slump. The Japanese market, which managed 30 growth in 2000 in a moderate economic climate, gave in to worsening economic conditions. Shipment growth in the second quarter of 2001 was essentially flat, as consumers and businesses postponed or cancelled purchases. Other Asian markets were also affected by economic and currency issues. China and India, which have been the primary growth engines in the region, slowed in the second quarter as consumer spending softened and government technology spending declined. Growth in Australia and South Korea, other large markets in the region, also declined. Growth in Europe also declined although not as dramatically. The region has been balancing softening consumer demand, with growing commercial spending. These trends did not change in the second quarter, although commercial spending growth was mild, and portable PC shipments slowed from the past several quarters bringing overall growth down. PC shipments in the United States were just below forecasts with a year-on-year decline of 8.1 and 1.3 sequentially in the second quarter of 2001, according to IDC. Given that average sequential growth in the second quarter from 1994 to 2000 has been 4.1 with the only sequential decline during that period being 2000 , the sequential decline from the first quarter of 2001 was below the historical pattern, but not a disaster. Top 5 Vendors, U.S. PC Shipments, Q2 2001 Preliminary Thousands of Units Q2 2001 Vendor Q2 2001 Market Q2 2000 Market Rank Shipments Share Shipments Share 1 Dell 2,519 24.0 2,293 20.1 2 Compaq 1,332 12.7 1,693 14.8 3 HP 991 9.4 1,221 10.7 4 Gateway 798 7.6 964 8.4 5 IBM 638 6.1 713 6.2 Others 4,224 40.2 4,542 39.8 All Vendors 10,501 100.0 11,426 100.0 Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors and represent shipments to distribution channels or direct to end-users. Data for all vendors are reported for calendar periods. Source: IDC, July 2001 http://www.idc.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1414.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST The twenty-fifth session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee will open on Monday, 25 June for its annual six-day meeting at UNESCO Headquarters. The seven Bureau members, Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Finland, Morocco, Thailand, and Zimbabwe will be joined by observer delegations from many other States Parties to the Convention, as well as representatives from the Advisory Bodies ICOMOS, IUCN and ICCROM and several other organizations. The opening session will include an extended discussion on the loss of the Bamiyan statutes in Afghanistan earlier this year. The discussion will be led by Mr. Pierre Lafrance, former French Ambassador to Pakistan and Special Envoy of the Director General of UNESCO to Afghanistan; the representative of the Director General, Mr Mounir Bouchenaki, Assistant Director General for Culture; and the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee, Mr. Peter King. The Bureau will review 79 State of conservation reports on properties inscribed on the World Heritage List and on the List in Danger and will make recommendations to the Committee concerning many of them. The Bureau will review 50 nominations of sites proposed for inscription on the World Heritage List. This year, four properties are located in Africa, two are from the Arab region, five are located in the Asia-Pacific region, three are from Latin America and the Caribbean, and thirty-five are from Europe-North America. 32 are cultural properties, 14 are natural sites, and four are mixed, exhibiting both cultural and natural values. Three of the nominations are from States Parties which have not presented nominations before: Botswana, Guyana, and Israel. Seven extensions of sites already on the list will also be discussed. The Bureau's recommendations concerning new sites will be passed for decision on to the World Heritage Committee at its next session, 11 to 16 December 2001 in Helsinki, Finland. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1365.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST MERCOSUR SUB-REGIONAL WORKSHOP OF THE PROJECT YOUNG PEOPLE'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL AND NATURAL WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN The World Heritage Centre and the Plan of UNESCO Associated Schools, convinced of the importance of the World Heritage Education and of the transmission of the 1972 Convention message among the young people of the world, launched in 1994 the Special Project Young People's Involvement in the Preservation of Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites in Latin America and the Caribbean , directed jointly with the Net of Associated School, with the purpose of encouraging young people to know, protect and act in favor of the world heritage and local, in order to preserve the cultural diversity and the protection of the environment. Continuing with a series of Regional Workshops held in Latin America, in this opportunity, the MERCOSUR Workshop will be held in Paraguay, from August 13 to 17, 2001, jointly organized by UNESCO Asuncion, the National Coordination of Associated Schools and the Regional Coordinator of the Project. It will congregate 50 representatives of the MERCOSUR countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay, to establish a frame of action in favor of the protection of the World Heritage through the Heritage education in schools and the community. As part of the Workshop, some visits are programmed to the sites inscribed in the World Heritage List and National, such as: the National Park of Itaip and the Jesuit Missions of the Guaranies. Ada Rosa Pent n Regional Coordinator of the Project Young People's Involvement in the Preservation of Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites in Latin America and the Caribbean http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1366.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST Special Correspondent The government has decided to keep a 20 km exclusion zone in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest where no exploration for oil and gas would be allowed. This was stated by Begum Sajeda Choudhury, Minister for Environment and Forests MOEF yesterday at a news conference. She said the decision has been taken to preserve the bio-diversity of the Sundarbans, a world heritage site declared by UNESCO. Answering a question she said that provision for environmental safeguards including environmental impact assessment EIA would be maintained in all production sharing contract with oil and gas companies for hydrocarbon exploration. Referring to Magurchhara blow out on June 24, 1997, she said MOEF is still pressing for taka 600 crore compensation from the UNOCAL which has taken over the rights of the Occidental oil company conducting the drilling at the site. Begum Sajeda Choudhury said the damage was enormous to the pristine forests in Magurchhara. She referred to her meeting with UNOCAL chief in New York and said that she has requested him to visit the site to see for himself the extend of damage. On a recent Daily Star item on illegal permit for Turtle export given by the forest department, the minister said that an investigation is going on in this regard and prohibition on Turtle export would not be lifted. She announced the names of the recipients of Prime Minister's National Award-2000 award for tree plantation including the individuals and institutions. The winners will receive taka 10,000, taka 8,000 and taka 5,000 as first, second and third prize in 11 categories. Besides, the government will continue providing financial incentives of taka 4,000 to unemployed freedom fighters to set up nurseries. The programme was taken up last year. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1367.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST Editor's Note: The transboundary World Heritage site, Curonian Spit was inscribed on the World Heritage List in December 2000. There has been human occupation on this elongated peninsula of sand dunes, 98km long and 0.4-4km wide, since prehistoric times. Throughout this period it has been menaced by natural forces of wind and tide. Its survival to the present day has been made possible only as a result of ceaseless human efforts to combat the erosion of the Spit, which are dramatically illustrated by continuing stabilization and afforestation projects. Source: BNS news agency, Tallinn, in English 1048 gmt 13 Jun 01 http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id 061300 7228 query ESCO Lithuania concerned over Kaliningrad's plans to utilize Baltic oil deposit BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Jun 13, 2001 Text of report in English by Baltic news agency BNS Vilnius, 13 June: The data collected by Lithuanian secret services about preparations of the Russian Kaliningrad region to utilize oil deposits in the Baltic Sea causes anxiety among top officials of the Baltic state. The issue was high on the agenda of today's meeting among Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis, Environment Minister Henrikas Zukauskas and director of the State Security Department, Mecys Laurinkus. Laurinkus told reporters following the meeting that the president was informed about the renewed work in the D6 oil deposit in the Baltic Sea. In the end of last year, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry sent a note regarding this matter to Russia, however, has not received a reply as of this day. The failure to give an answer to the note is also worrying. It could be interpreted as an indirect confirmation of the intentions, said Valionis. In his words, the information about the preparations to utilize the oil deposit was also corroborated by unofficial sources in Russia. The minister said the informal information confirms our fears. Russia has joined the Helsinki convention on environment protection in the Baltic Sea, which stipulates that any environmental activity should be reported to one's neighbours, along with a comprehensive analysis of the ecological situation. Valionis noted that the oil deposit's location just 22 kilometres from Lithuania's picturesque Courland Lagoon - just recently included into the UNESCO world heritage list - was worrying, adding that the Russian Duma has so far failed to ratify the 1997 treaty on the Lithuanian-Russian border. The environment minister, Zukauskas, the D6 oil deposit contained about 8-12 million tons of oil. We want maximum insurance against such accidents like the one in 1983 when the entire Nida beach was black with oil, said Zukauskas. Valionis vowed to summon Russian Ambassador to Lithuania Yuriy Zubakov to the Foreign Ministry in the nearest future and ask him to explain the situation further. Source: BNS news agency, Tallinn, in English 1048 gmt 13 Jun 01 /BBC Monitoring/ c BBC. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1368.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 5 to 9 July: Meeting of States Parties from the Alpine Arc, Turin, http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1369.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 13 July: Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop for the Preparation of Periodic Reports on the World Cultural Heritage Sites. Kyongju, Republic of Korea. Information: f.jing unesco.org; sypark mail.unesco.or.kr http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1370.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 14 July: Regional thematic Expert meeting on World Heritage Vineyard Landscapes. Tokay, Hungary. Hungarian Ministry for Cultural Heritage, World Heritage Centre . Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1371.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 15 August: Inscription ceremony for the Monastic Island of Reichenau, Germany, in the presence of the Minister President of the Land of Baden-Wuttemberg, Dr. Erwin TEUFEL http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1372.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 24 to 26 August: Meeting of Site Managers of all Nordic World Heritage sites, Jelling, Denmark http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1373.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 24 to 26 August: Meeting of Site Managers of all Nordic World Heritage sites, Jelling, Denmark http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1374.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 4 to 12 September: Regional Thematic Expert Meeting: Asian Sacred Mountains, Japan. Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1375.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 6 to 8 September: Global Monitoring for World Heritage Sites' Periodic Reporting System. Workshop. ISPRS Commission VII, Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NATO . In Sopron, Hungary. Information: http://geoinfo.cslm.hu/events/SAT/LeafletSAT.pdf, be cslm.hu http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1376.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 18 to 21 September: CIPA 2001 International Symposium on Architectural Photogrammetry and Documentation of Cultural Heritage, Surveying and Documentation of Historic Buildings, Monuments and Sites: Traditional and modern methods . ICOMOS- CIPA, ISPRS Committee on Documentation of Cultural Heritage . In Potsdam, Germany. Information: http://www.fpk.tu- berlin.de/cipa2001; e-mail: cipa2001 fpk.tu-berlin.de http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1377.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 19 to 23 September: 4th International Conference on Archaeological Prospection. Austrian Academy of Science, AARG, CIPA - ICOMOS / ISPRS Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage. Vienna, Austria. Information: http://www.univie.ac.at/archeo2001/, archeo2001 zamg.ac.at http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1378.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 24 to 27 September: 19th IPFRA World Congress International Federation of Park and Recreation Administration , Cape Town, South Africa. Information: http://www.ierm.org.za/Congress/Index.htm, ierm vdw.co.za http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1379.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 27 to 29 September: Symposium on the history of Earth Sciences in Austria with a focus on the UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape Hallstatt Dachstein Salzkammergut. Austrian UNESCO Commission . Information: http://www.hauser.cc/hallstatt http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1380.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 27 to 30 September: Desert Landscapes and Oasis Systems. WHC, Egyptian Delegation, UNESCO Cairo Office . In Cairo, Egypt. Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1381.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 3 to 7 October: Risk Preparedness and Emergency Response in the Context of the Management of the World Heritage Cities -- 6th International Symposium and 5th General Assembly of the Organization of World Heritage Cities. In Puebla, Mexico. Information: http://www.ocpmcoloquiopuebla.com.mx/default2.htm http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1382.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 10 to 12 October: 3rd Salon International de Patrimonio Cultural SIPAC 2001 on The historic City as Project , Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Information: sipac usc.es http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1383.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 22 to 26 October: International Workshop on the Preservation, Conservation and Management of Zhoukoudian China and Sangiran Indonesia World Heritage Sites. Solo, Indonesia. Information: f.jing unesco.org, p.delanghe unesco.org. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1384.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 23 to 26 October: Ecotourism Conference: The Choice of Sustainability. Ecotourism Association of Australia . Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Information: http://www.ecotourism.org.au/conf2001/welcome.htm, tony.charters tq.com.au http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1385.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST NEW DATE! 30 to 31 October: XIIIth General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 1972 . UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1386.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST NEW DATE! 1 November: Fifth Extraordinary Session of the World Heritage Committee to elect new Bureau members . UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1387.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 1 to 3 November: Conference on Railway Heritage and Development: Balancing the Past, the Present and the Future. Soegijapranata Catholic University Semarang, Indonesia. Information: http://www.unika.ac.id/railway/railway.htm http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1388.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 7 to 9 November: 3rd International Seminar on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions. University of Minho, Azur m, Guimar es, Portugal . Information: http://www.civil.uminho.pt/congress/historic.html http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1389.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 4 to 9 December: Forum UNESCO Students for Heritage Protection Workshop. Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific at Deakin University, Mebourne, Australia . At Deakin University. Information: http://www.arts.deakin.edu.au/culturalheritage_centre/events/defau lt.asp http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1390.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 7 to 8 December: 25th Extraordinary Session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee. Helsinki, Finland. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1391.htm Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 16 December: 25th Session of the World Heritage Committee. Helsinki, Finland. Information: http://www.minedu.fi/minedu/whmeeting/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1392.htm Tue, 19 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST Over the past few years, the WAVE Report's focus has expanded from virtual reality and 3D design, to include Internet technologies such as information appliances, wireless communications, and fiber optical networking. In order to gauge how this has affected our readership, we have put together a survey on our Web site link below . For a limited time, each subscriber who fills out the survey will be entered in a drawing to win one of six WAVE Report polo shirts. The drawing will be held August 1st. You can only enter once, and we'll contact the winner by e-mail. So please help us out, by taking a minute to send us your opinions - and remember - when you win.we win! http://www.wave-report.com/feedback/feedback.htm http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1356.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST From: DIGICULT cec.eu.int Working for the museums, archives or libraries sector? Want to know more about the EU's Information Society Technologies Programme? cultivate-list is an email discussion list for anyone in the cultural heritage sector interested in the information society technologies and the Commission's initiatives and programmes. If you need details of calls for proposals, if you are looking for partners, if you just want to find out about IST projects - this list is for you. To join cultivate-list, just send an email to: majordomo ukoln.ac.uk with this text in the body of the message: subscribe cultivate-list your email address cultivate-list is a service of the European Commission's CULTIVATE action. It is establishing a European Cultural Heritage Network with partners in 12 European countries. It is continuing the successful and fruitful work done by the National Focal Points under the Telematics for Libraries Programme, and is expanding this to include all memory institutions, namely museums, archives and libraries. For further information you can contact: Rosalind Johnson European Consultant The Library Assocation rosalind.johnson jiscmail.ac.uk European Commission DG Information Society, Cultural Heritage Applications rue Alcide de Gasperi L-2920 Luxembourg digicult cec.eu.int http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1352.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST At its plenary meeting, on Friday 1 June 2001, the UNESCO Executive Board decided on the dates of the 31st session of the UNESCO General Conference: from Monday 15 October to Saturday 3 November 2001. This means that the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention will NOW take place on 30-31 October 2001, instead of 6-7 November as previously announced. The Fifth Extraordinary Session of the World Heritage Committee, to elect members of the Bureau, will accordingly now take place the day following the General Assembly, on 1 November 2001. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1309.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST Editor's Note: Campbell Island, one of the five island groups inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1998 as part of the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands, was cited for its high level of biodiversity, especially in bird and plant life. Rat Removers Place Tons of Poison to Protect Rare Birds Source: Environment News Service: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-07-01.html INVERCARGILL, New Zealand, June 7, 2001 ENS - Remote Campbell Island in the New Zealand sub-Antarctic is to be the focus of one of the world's most ambitious attempts at rat eradication for wildlife protection - with no guarantee of success. Tackling a severe, longstanding infestation of large Norwegian brown rats, the NZ 2.6 million US1 million program will use helicopters to roll at least 80 tons of poison laced bait progressively across the 11,300 hectare 44 square mile island. The aim of the operation is to entirely remove rats from Campbell Island, enabling the return of local native birds which only survive now on offshore islets, and other local wildlife. A spokesman for the New Zealand Department of Conservation DOCs , Tom O'Connor, described the project as cutting edge stuff. He said DOCs does not know of any bigger operation in the world. But he also cautioned, The scale of it, the remoteness, weather, all mean success is not guaranteed. Rats are believed to have made their way to Campbell Island, 700 kilometers 378 nautical miles south of New Zealand, soon after it was discovered in 1810, aboard one of the many ships that sailed to exploit fur seals there. Along with cats, they are blamed for the extinction on the main island of at least three land bird species - snipe, pipet and flightless teal duck. These now survive either on other islets nearby, or in the case of the teal, in a captive breeding program. Many small ground nesting seabirds, such as storm petrels, diving petrels and prions are also thought to have been prevented from using Campbell island. And the rats are blamed for changes to vegetation and invertebrate fauna, wiping out many larger insects. New Zealand's wildlife recovery specialists have for more than a decade succeeded in restoring precarious populations of native species to the country's offshore islands after dealing with pests. Rats were first eradicated from tiny 170 hectare 420 acre Breaksea Island in the South Island's Fiordland, and the Department of Conservation now claims success at removing them from 20 islands. With cats having disappeared from Campbell Island and livestock now removed, rats are the sole remaining introduced animal. For this attempt, preparations have been under way for months. They were snarled a fortnight ago when a truck carrying 18 tonnes of poison-laced bait destined for Campbell Island crashed into the sea near Kaikoura, an international marine mammal eco-tourism destination north of Christchurch. Despite fears for the wildlife, the only confirmed damage so far appears to be in the appearance of the poison in some local mussels, according to Environment Canterbury, the district monitoring authority. Operations are on track for this time period because June and July are the mid-winter months on Campbell Island when albatross and other seabirds are absent, rats' food sources are lowest and females are yet to begin nesting. Later this month four helicopters will island-hop there. A team of 18 people plans to start at one end, and roll out the bait progressively across Campbell. They will use techniques such as a 50 percent overlap of previously baited ground to ensure there are no gaps. In fine weather the operation could take seven days to complete. But because of the severe winter conditions that are predicted including gales and snow, three months have been allowed. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1310.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST China Takes Steps to Preserve Peking Man Site Source: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200106/07/eng20010607_72018.html China's top science organ and cultural relics department are taking steps to protect the well-known Zhoukoudian site, where a skull of the Peking Man was found 70 years ago, from weathering and pollution. The Chinese Academy of Sciences CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, which is now administrating the ruins, 48 kilometers southwest of downtown Beijing, received Wednesday a donation of one million yuan 120,000 US dollars from a company in Zhejiang Province, east China. Pei Wenzhong, the late leading Chinese archeologist, dug out the first broken skull of Peking Man, who lived some 500,000 years ago, in 1929 near Zhoukoudian in the southwestern suburbs of Beijing. Pei's finding and archeologist Jia Lanpo's later finding of other three fossilized skulls of Peking Men in the 1930s stunned the world. Chinese and overseas scientists found the earliest evidence of the use of fire by ape-like people at the site, which was listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO in the World Heritage in 1987. However, the treasured site has run into financial shortages. The CAS institute has worked out an overall protection plan for the ruins, which still need the approval of authoritative departments. We are preparing to re-open the Peking Man Museum to the public after rearrangement, said Zhu Min, director of the institute. During the 1980s, the museum received an average of 100,000 visitors annually. In recent years, the number has plummeted to 40,000. Zhu said that labor expenses and daily operation of the museum alone require one million yuan a year. In addition, its refit and effective protection need at least three million yuan. Zhang Bai, deputy chief of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said, the state will pour in more money to better preserve the site. At the invitation of the Chinese side, the consortium of Electricite de France EDF had identified a number of underground caves, which might contain more evidence of homo erectus, within the boundary of the ruins. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1311.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST Editor's Note: The Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992. Situated on the ancient trade route between central Asia and northern Europe, Novgorod was Russia's first capital in the 9th century. Surrounded by churches and monasteries, it was a centre for Orthodox spirituality as well as a centre for Russian architecture. Its medieval monuments and the 14th-century frescoes of Theophane the Greek Andre Roublov's teacher , depict the development of its remarkable architecture and cultural creativity. German Gas Concern To Allocate 1.5M For Restoration Of Russian Temple Source: http://library.northernlight.com/FA20010605680000197.html?cb dx1006 sc Moscow, Russia, Jun 05, 2001 RosBusinessConsulting via COMTEX -- The German gas concern Wintershall, one of the most important partners of Gazprom, will allocate 1.5 million for the restoration of an Orthodox temple near Novgorod. RBC received this information from a source in the German Embassy in Russia. The German Minister for culture and mass media is expected to visit Novgorod and take part in the ceremony of signing an agreement on the temple's restoration. This agreement will be signed on June 5 between CEO of Wintershall Gerbart Detharding and Russian Culture Minister Mikhail Shvydkoy. The temple to be reconstructed was built in 1352 and destroyed during the World War II. UNESCO included the temple on the list of the world cultural heritage in 1992. Copyright C 2001, RosBusinessConsulting. All Rights Reserved http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1312.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 20 June: To Be A Pilgrim: Meeting the needs of visitors to Cathedrals and Churches in the UK . Conference organized by ICOMOS-UK. Information: icomos.uk btinternet.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1313.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 20 to 26 June: Conservation of World Heritage Sites , EUROPARC Expertise Exchange, Bieszczady National Park, Poland. Information: http://www.europarc.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1314.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 25 to 30 June: 25th Session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee. UNESCO Headquarters, Paris http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1315.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 25 to 28 June: Asian Places in the New Millenium, World Congress of the International Federation of Landscape Architects IFLA , Singapore Information: http://www.asiabuilders.com/ifla/ , ifla mfasia.com.sg http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1316.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 5 to 9 July: Meeting of States Parties from the Alpine Arc, Turin, Italy. Permanent Delegation of Italy to UNESCO . http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1317.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 13 July: Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop for the Preparation of Periodic Reports on the World Cultural Heritage Sites. Kyongju, Republic of Korea. Information: f.jing unesco.org; sypark mail.unesco.or.kr http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1318.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 14 July: Regional thematic Expert meeting on World Heritage Vineyard Landscapes. Tokay, Hungary. Hungarian Ministry for Cultural Heritage, World Heritage Centre . Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1319.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 15 August: Inscription ceremony for the Monastic Island of Reichenau, Germany, in the presence of the Minister President of the Land of Baden-Wuttemberg, Dr. Erwin TEUFEL http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1320.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 24 to 26 August: Meeting of Site Managers of all Nordic World Heritage sites, Jelling, Denmark http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1321.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 4 to 12 September: Regional Thematic Expert Meeting: Asian Sacred Mountains, Japan. Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1322.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 6 to 8 September: Global Monitoring for World Heritage Sites' Periodic Reporting System. Workshop. ISPRS Commission VII, Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NATO . In Sopron, Hungary. Information: http://geoinfo.cslm.hu/events/SAT/LeafletSAT.pdf, be cslm.hu http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1323.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 18 to 21 September: CIPA 2001 International Symposium on Architectural Photogrammetry and Documentation of Cultural Heritage, Surveying and Documentation of Historic Buildings, Monuments and Sites: Traditional and modern methods . ICOMOS- CIPA, ISPRS Committee on Documentation of Cultural Heritage . In Potsdam, Germany. Information: http://www.fpk.tu- berlin.de/cipa2001; e-mail: cipa2001 fpk.tu-berlin.de http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1324.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 19 to 23 September: 4th International Conference on Archaeological Prospection. Austrian Academy of Science, AARG, CIPA - ICOMOS / ISPRS Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage. Vienna, Austria. Information: http://www.univie.ac.at/archeo2001/, archeo2001 zamg.ac.at http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1325.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 24 to 27 September: 19th IPFRA World Congress International Federation of Park and Recreation Administration , Cape Town, South Africa. Information: http://www.ierm.org.za/Congress/Index.htm, ierm vdw.co.za http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1326.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 27 to 29 September: Symposium on the history of Earth Sciences in Austria with a focus on the UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape Hallstatt Dachstein Salzkammergut. Austrian UNESCO Commission . Information: http://www.hauser.cc/hallstatt http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1327.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 27 to 30 September: Desert Landscapes and Oasis Systems. WHC, Egyptian Delegation, UNESCO Cairo Office . In Cairo, Egypt. Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1328.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 3 to 7 October: Risk Preparedness and Emergency Response in the Context of the Management of the World Heritage Cities -- 6th International Symposium and 5th General Assembly of the Organization of World Heritage Cities. In Puebla, Mexico. Information: http://www.ocpmcoloquiopuebla.com.mx/default2.htm http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1329.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 10 to 12 October: 3rd Salon International de Patrimonio Cultural SIPAC 2001 on The historic City as Project , Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Information: sipac usc.es http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1330.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 22 to 26 October: International Workshop on the Preservation, Conservation and Management of Zhoukoudian China and Sangiran Indonesia World Heritage Sites. Solo, Indonesia. Information: f.jing unesco.org, p.delanghe unesco.org. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1331.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 23 to 26 October: Ecotourism Conference: The Choice of Sustainability. Ecotourism Association of Australia . Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Information: http://www.ecotourism.org.au/conf2001/welcome.htm, tony.charters tq.com.au http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1332.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST NEW DATE! 30 to 31 October: XIIIth General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 1972 . UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1333.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST NEW DATE! 1 November: Fifth Extraordinary Session of the World Heritage Committee to elect new Bureau members . UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1334.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 1 to 3 November: Conference on Railway Heritage and Development: Balancing the Past, the Present and the Future. Soegijapranata Catholic University Semarang, Indonesia. Information: http://www.unika.ac.id/railway/railway.htm http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1335.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 7 to 9 November: 3rd International Seminar on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions. University of Minho, Azur m, Guimar es, Portugal . Information: http://www.civil.uminho.pt/congress/historic.html http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1336.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 4 to 9 December: Forum UNESCO Students for Heritage Protection Workshop. Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific at Deakin University, Mebourne, Australia . At Deakin University. Information: http://www.arts.deakin.edu.au/culturalheritage_centre/events/defau lt.asp http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1337.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 7 to 8 December: 25th Extraordinary Session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee. Helsinki, Finland. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1338.htm Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 16 December: 25th Session of the World Heritage Committee. Helsinki, Finland. Information: http://www.minedu.fi/minedu/whmeeting/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1339.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 4 to 12 September: Regional Thematic Expert Meeting: Asian Sacred Mountains, Japan. Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1280.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 6 to 8 September: Global Monitoring for World Heritage Sites' Periodic Reporting System. Workshop. ISPRS Commission VII, Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NATO . In Sopron, Hungary. Information: http://geoinfo.cslm.hu/events/SAT/LeafletSAT.pdf, be cslm.hu http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1281.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 18 to 21 September: CIPA 2001 International Symposium on Architectural Photogrammetry and Documentation of Cultural Heritage, Surveying and Documentation of Historic Buildings, Monuments and Sites: Traditional and modern methods . ICOMOS- CIPA, ISPRS Committee on Documentation of Cultural Heritage . In Potsdam, Germany. Information: http://www.fpk.tu- berlin.de/cipa2001; e-mail: cipa2001 fpk.tu-berlin.de http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1282.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 19 to 23 September: 4th International Conference on Archaeological Prospection. Austrian Academy of Science, AARG, CIPA - ICOMOS / ISPRS Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage. Vienna, Austria. Information: http://www.univie.ac.at/archeo2001/, archeo2001 zamg.ac.at http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1283.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 24 to 27 September: 19th IPFRA World Congress International Federation of Park and Recreation Administration , Cape Town, South Africa. Information: http://www.ierm.org.za/Congress/Index.htm, ierm vdw.co.za http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1284.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 27 to 29 September: Symposium on the history of Earth Sciences in Austria with a focus on the UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape Hallstatt Dachstein Salzkammergut. Austrian UNESCO Commission . Information: http://www.hauser.cc/hallstatt http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1285.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 27 to 30 September: Desert Landscapes and Oasis Systems. WHC, Egyptian Delegation, UNESCO Cairo Office . In Cairo, Egypt. Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1286.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 3 to 7 October: Risk Preparedness and Emergency Response in the Context of the Management of the World Heritage Cities -- 6th International Symposium and 5th General Assembly of the Organization of World Heritage Cities. In Puebla, Mexico. Information: http://www.ocpmcoloquiopuebla.com.mx/default2.htm http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1287.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 10 to 12 October: 3rd Salon International de Patrimonio Cultural SIPAC 2001 on The historic City as Project , Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Information: sipac usc.es http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1288.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 22 to 26 October: International Workshop on the Preservation, Conservation and Management of Zhoukoudian China and Sangiran Indonesia World Heritage Sites. Solo, Indonesia. Information: f.jing unesco.org, p.delanghe unesco.org. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1289.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 23 to 26 October: Ecotourism Conference: The Choice of Sustainability. Ecotourism Association of Australia . Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Information http://www.ecotourism.org.au/conf2001/welcome.htm, tony.charters tq.com.au http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1290.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 1 to 3 November: Conference on Railway Heritage and Development: Balancing the Past, the Present and the Future. Soegijapranata Catholic University Semarang, Indonesia. Information: http://www.unika.ac.id/railway/railway.htm http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1291.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 6 to 7 November: XIIIth General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 1972 . UNESCO Headquarters, Paris http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1292.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 8 November: Fifth Extraordinary Session of the World Heritage Committee to elect new Bureau members . UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1293.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 7 to 9 November: 3rd International Seminar on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions. University of Minho, Azur m, Guimar es, Portugal . Information: http://www.civil.uminho.pt/congress/historic.html http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1294.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 4 to 9 December: Forum UNESCO Students for Heritage Protection Workshop. Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific at Deakin University, Mebourne, Australia . At Deakin University. Information: http://www.arts.deakin.edu.au/ culturalheritage_centre/events/default.asp http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1295.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 7 to 8 December: 25th Extraordinary Session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee. Helsinki, Finland. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1296.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 16 December: 25th Session of the World Heritage Committee. Helsinki, Finland. Information: http://www.minedu.fi/minedu/whmeeting/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1297.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST The 6th International Symposium and 5th General Assembly of the Organization of World Heritage Cities will take place from October 3rd to 7th , 2001 in the city of Puebla Mexico . The core theme is Risk Preparedness and Emergency Response in the Context of the Management of the World Heritage Cities . OWHC has issued a call for papers, with a deadline of 30 June 2001. Readers interested should consult the web site noted below. For more information, you can visit these sites: http://www.ocpmcoloquiopuebla.com.mx/default2.htm http://www.ovpm.org Thank you for your collaboration. Best regards Organizing Committe PUEBLA 2001 Av. 2 Poniente 107, Altos Centro Hist rico C.P. 72000 Puebla, Puebla M xico Tel: 52 2232-9183 Fax: 52 2232-9183 E-mail: orggral ocpmcoloquiopuebla.com.mx Web: www.ocpmcoloquiopuebla.com.mx http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1262.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST The Forum UNESCO Students for Heritage Protection Workshop will take place on the 4th - 9th December 2001. The Workshop is being hosted by the Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. The workshop will give undergraduates, postgraduates and recently graduated students the opportunity to acquire knowledge and practical skills from heritage experts at various sites in Melbourne, in the former gold-mining town of Walhalla in eastern Victoria and at Wilson's Promontory, one of Australia's magnificent National Parks on the southern coast. It will focus on Australia's 40,000 year plus of Aboriginal heritage and the contribution of nineteenth-century gold mining to Australia's past. The workshop is open to students throughout the world and especially the Asia-Pacific region. For further information and registration details, please see the Students for Heritage Protection workshop website at http://www.arts.deakin.edu.au/culturalheritage_centre/events/ default.asp http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1263.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST A detailed Research Agenda has recently been published for the Avebury WHS in Wiltshire, England. This document is the first of its kind for a WHS in the UK. The document, developed between 1995 and 2001 by the Avebury Archaeological Historical Research Group, draws together contributions from a number of specialists to provide an overview of current knowledge and recommendations for future research in the WHS. Archaeological Research Agenda for the Avebury WHS. Edited by Amanda Chadburn and Melanie Pomeroy-Kellinger. Published by English Heritage in association with Wessex Archaeology. Available for 5.99 via Oxbow Books, Park End Place, Oxford, England OX1 1HN. email. oxbow oxbowbooks.com www.oxbowbooks.com Melanie Pomeroy-Kellinger Avebury World Heritage Site Management Officer Kennet District Council Tel No: 44 0 1380 724911 ext. 830 Fax No: 44 0 1380 729146 Web Site: www.kennet.gov.uk http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1264.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST An error in transmission, caused the figures in the annoucement about the availability of documents from the Heart of Neolithic Orkney to be incorrectly reported. The following is the correct text. Our apologies for any confusion that this may have caused. MANAGEMENT PLAN AVAILABLE FOR THE HEART OF NEOLITHIC ORKNEY UNITED KINGDOM From: Sally.Foster scotland.gsi.gov.uk Date: Tue, 15 May 2001 11:57:58 0100 Copies of the Management Plan CD-Rom and Nomination Document for the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site inscribed December 1999 are available from Historic Scotland. 7.95 7 pounds 95 pence sterling for the Management Plan, 10 10 pounds for the nomination document. For p p add 0.50 50 pence UK and Europe or 1 1 pound elsewhere per item. Please send your orders/enquiries to Catherine Mackenzie, Retail Department, Historic Scotland, Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh, EH9 1SH, UK, or e-mail catherine.mackenzie scotland.gov.uk. Dr Sally Foster Senior Inspector of Ancient Monuments Historic Scotland E3, Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh, EH9 1SH Tel. 0131 668 8658 sally.foster scotland.gov.uk http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1265.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST You may also wish to note that the current issue of the academic Journal: Tourism Recreation Research Vol. 26, No. 1, 2001 has a special issue on tourism and World Heritage. It contains 17 articles on WH sites and issues. see: www.trrworld.com/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1266.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST Costly win: Kakadu faces life without mining By DENNIS SCHULZ Thursday 31 May 2001 Make no mistake: uranium mining, not tourism, provides the economic underpinning for most of the 2000 people who live around Kakadu National Park. Now, for the first time in more than 20 turbulent years, those residents and traditional land owners are contemplating the end of mining. The mining brings about 100 million a year in wages, purchases and royalties to the regional economy. What other industry can fill the gap? Plans are afoot for mass tourism, which could vastly increase visitor numbers. That's a serious problem, says Bob Collins, former federal cabinet minister and chairman of the Board of Kakadu Tourism. They're talking about substituting mining with an industry which has benefits for potential employment and income but a massively increased negative social impact on the region - far beyond anything mining would provide. In April, mining giant Rio Tinto announced it would postpone indefinitely the rich Jabiluka project. It blamed a low commodity price and Aboriginal opposition. We don't believe Jabiluka can be developed without the consent of both the Northern Land Council and, through the Northern Land Council, the traditional owners of the area, company chairman Sir Robert Wilson announced to shareholders in Sydney. And clearly, at this stage, that consent is nowhere near forthcoming. The announcement left the door open for a future mine. But with the price of uranium languishing at 9 a pound, Rio will not be scrambling to develop the deposit. Rio's statement does not mean it won't sell Jabiluka to another miner, but in light of the traditional owners' attitude most believe it spells the beginning of the end for mining in Kakadu. The only remaining questions are: when will Ranger cease operations and will there be an economic activity to replace it? At least two economic development strategies are being prepared, one by the Gundjehmi Aboriginal Association and the other by the Northern Land Council. Everyone is focusing on the future and an option for the future is a Kakadu without any mines out there, says a council spokesman. Rio Tinto says all ore excavated at Ranger is set to be processed and exported by 2010. Yet that deadline could be brought forward if it concentrates mining only on the richer deposits. This is one option that the Northern Land Council, the legal representatives of the traditional owners, is believed to have offered to the miner in negotiations. When Ranger does close, it will mark the end of an era that put Kakadu at the epicentre of some of Australia's most contentious debates: on uranium mining, land rights and the environment. Under the Land Rights Act, all mining royalties must be paid to an established royalty association, which distributes the money or invests it for those Aborigines affected by mining . Today those royalties go to the Gundjehmi Association, a group of 25 people led by Jabiluka traditional owner Yvonne Margarula of the Mirrar clan. Margarula was disenchanted with the scant benefits mining had produced for Aboriginal people through the 1980s and early '90s. She saw mining royalties bring corruption, alcoholism and social discord. After enlisting the articulate Jacqui Katona as her spokesperson, Margarula and Gundjehmi launched an unprecedented international media blitz and a mine-site blockade. Gundjehmi even managed to alert UNESCO to its cause, but failed to secure a UN declaration that Kakadu was in ecological danger from uranium mining. Gundjehmi still resists Jabiluka's development today, ironically financed by more than 500,000 a year in Ranger royalties. Yet it was the declining price of uranium that killed Jabiluka. Though ERA had all the approvals to mine and process ore on site, the company needed the traditional owners' approval to truck Jabiluka's ore to Ranger, 20 kilometres away, for milling. The Mirrar rejected all offers and inducements, knowing the low commodity price meant construction of a multi-million-dollar mill on the Jabiluka site would be uneconomic. The withdrawal of mining in Kakadu will have an enormous impact. ERA employees and their families make up nearly half the population of Jabiru. Even council gets most of its rates from the mining company, says town clerk Tony Tapsell. If it pulls out, businesses just won't be operating. Will a new industry emerge or will Jabiru become a ghost town? Chastised by other Kakadu traditional owners for not taking advantage of mining opportunities, Gundjehmi argues that a larger tourism industry may fill the gap. It hired former Central Land Council director Tracker Tilmouth as a consultant. He produced an ambitious plan that involves building hotels, extending the Jabiru airstrip for large passenger jets and spreading tourism into neighboring Arnhem Land. For a decade Kakadu has had 200,000 to 230,000 visitors a year. Under Tilmouth's plan, tourist numbers would soar. He sees Jabiru becoming a Gundjehmi-controlled Uluru-style visitors' centre. We've had offers from everyone from backpackers lodges to five- star hotels. But Tilmouth's plan is rejected by many connected with Kakadu. Critics say tourism in Kakadu is governed by its seasonal monsoonal climate: nearly half the park's visitors arrive in a three-month period. Many Aboriginal people think tourism has reached saturation point and have rejected attempts to build infrastructure for all-season access. Bob Collins says: I don't think the potential financial benefits will be seen by the local Aboriginal people as outweighing the enormous destruction of their lives by that intensity of visitation. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1267.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 3 June: World Heritage inscription ceremony for the Dobsinska Ice Cave, part of the Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst Hungary/Slovakia . 16.30 at the Cave; Ministry for the Environment of the Slovak Republic Information: caves ssj.sk; http://www.ssj.sk http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1268.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 7 June: World Heritage inscription ceremony for the City of Bardejov, Slovakia. Ministry for Culture of the Slovak Republic . Information: primator bardejov.sk http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1269.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 20 June: To Be A Pilgrim: Meeting the needs of visitors to Cathedrals and Churches in the UK . Conference organized by ICOMOS-UK. Information: icomos.uk btinternet.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1270.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 20 to 26 June: Conservation of World Heritage Sites , EUROPARC Expertise Exchange, Bieszczady National Park, Poland. Information: http://www.europarc.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1271.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 25 to 30 June: 25th Session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee. UNESCO Headquarters, Paris http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1272.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 25 to 28 June: Asian Places in the New Millenium, World Congress of the International Federation of Landscape Architects IFLA , Singapore Information: http://www.asiabuilders.com/ifla/ , ifla mfasia.com.sg http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1273.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 5 to 9 July: Meeting of States Parties from the Alpine Arc, Turin, Italy http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1274.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 13 July: Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop for the Preparation of Periodic Reports on the World Cultural Heritage Sites. Kyongju, Republic of Korea. Information: f.jing unesco.org; sypark mail.unesco.or.kr http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1275.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 14 July: Regional thematic Expert meeting on World Heritage Vineyard Landscapes. Tokay, Hungary. Hungarian Ministry for Cultural Heritage, World Heritage Centre . Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1276.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 15 August: Inscription ceremony for the Monastic Island of Reichenau, Germany, in the presence of the Minister President of the Land of Baden-Wuttemberg, Dr. Erwin TEUFEL http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1277.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 24 to 26 August: Meeting of Site Managers of all Nordic World Heritage sites, Jelling, Denmark http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1278.htm Wed, 06 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST 2 to 9 September: World Heritage Youth Forum, Karlskrona, Sweden. Information: kerstin.lundman education.ministry.se http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1279.htm Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST The Management Consulting Services practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Hewlett-Packard announced that they plan to bring to market a series of practical business solutions for aviation companies through a jointly established Aviation Solution Center. The Aviation Solution Center's shared resources will include people, products and services from PricewaterhouseCoopers' aviation consulting practice and HP's infrastructure and consulting services team. The center will design, develop, implement and operate a variety of business solutions for airlines, airports and other aviation industry companies. These solutions are focused on enabling aviation customers to boost productivity and service quality, drive down operational costs and enhance revenues. The global market for appliances, software and consulting services aimed at the aviation industry is estimated at US 15 billion per year. The Aviation Solution Center is designed to work with clients, sharing the costs and rewards of developing and implementing solutions. Clients will be able to tap the Aviation Solution Center to determine how to meet their business objectives, while remaining focused on anticipating and exceeding the needs of air travelers. Both customer-facing business processes and behind- the-scenes operations will be explored and formulated through the Aviation Solution Center. Planned solution focus areas include: Hurdle-free airport - deploying wireless and personal digital assistant PDA technology to remove the obstacles to a smooth passenger experience, allowing airports and airlines to better service passengers, at lower cost; Wireless ramp - improving the effectiveness of ground, ramp and baggage handling functions to deliver better aircraft turnaround performance and punctuality; Connected crew - reviewing the communications, management and deployment of a geographically dispersed workforce, using real- time portal technologies to keep crew members informed, connected and ready for action; Always-on travel - building connected access to travel products using mobile technologies and devices; e-CRM customer relationship management - understanding and enhancing customer interaction and experiences by using the Web to draw on data from all customer touch-points; Integrated maintenance, repair and overhaul - managing aircraft maintenance and repair functions by deploying an enhanced, automated engineering infrastructure to rapidly analyze issues and apply best practices to resolve them. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1251.htm Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST According to Reuters, when asked if the British government would offer rebates to telecommunications firms, Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer has again stated that Britain had been fair in its auction of third-generation mobile licenses and would not return money to those who paid billions for them. Auction winners have been saddled with heavy debts because of the expense of the licenses auctioned last year, which brought 32 US billion, well above analysts' forecasts. The companies which won licenses in last year's auction were Vodafone, British Telecommunications, Orange, Deutsche Telekom unit One2One, and TIW UMTS, controlled by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa . http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1252.htm Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST During the WAVE Report's coverage of trade shows this year, we frequently saw innovation surfacing in the desktop mouse. Optical technology is behind this and Agilent's name was always cited. In order to gain a better insight the WAVE Report visited Agilent and spoke with the company's marketing manager, Mike Walters. Agilent's success is due to their optical tracking technology. Its heritage is the innovative product released by HP called CapShare 910. This short-lived device was a handheld information appliance that could be waved over a 3 swath of a printed page multiple times. The stitching software would assemble the page as a whole into an Adobe Acrobat document. Agilent claims that the product failed because of its high price point, so in order to leverage the technology, the company, a spin off of HP, sought applications in the optical and digital processing IP market. The unexpected application turned out to be a non-mechanical optical mouse. Microsoft was the first to use this in its Intellimouse, and Agilent gives them credit for their excellent marketing which resulted in many desktop sales. More recently, Logitech has taken optical mouse marketing to the next level with packaging that features blinking red LEDs to draw the consumer's attention to the mouse technology. With the introduction of a cordless optical mouse, Logitech has integrated the freedom from the mouse pad offered by optical mice into their larger cordless freedom message. The basis for Agilent's direction is a vision that encompasses imaging for communication. This vision will increasingly support a wireless future, and the most recent chip from the development effort with Logitech is an example of where this technology is headed. Within Agilent's definition of communication is on-the-fly temporal imaging such as video and other short time-interval images. Not included, for example, would be archived images from high quality digital still cameras. Within this vision is the mouse, which they define as an imaging sensor that communicates position. Agilent supplies the chip and lens design used in virtually all the optical mice sold today. The market for the mouse is 150m/year with 1/4 being sold at retail and 3/4 to original equipment manufacturers OEMs . The retail market is a less cost- sensitive market, but performance and product differentiation are key. In the OEM market, on the other hand, virtually everything is based on price, driving to the lowest unit cost. Thus, on a strategic basis Agilent must think and develop in terms of two markets. Agilent's overall market objective is a world where there are no more ball mice. The first generation chip set is called HDNS-2000, and is the basis for all optical mice sold today. The chip set works by imaging the surface at 1,500p/s and, using frame-to-frame correlation techniques, a delta X and delta Y is derived. It has a PS/2 output as part of the chip. The second generation chip set, called the ADNS-2050, has been sampling since February 2001 and will be available in volume in July 2001. This chip has an improved design which allows it to operate on more surface types, works at a 14 /sec movement rate and is 800dpi. The PS/2 interface has been removed from the chip, and as with the HDNS-2000, the user of this chip must also purchase a microcontroller. An important market announcement was made at CeBIT when Logitech announced the Cordless MouseMan Optical. The mouse is compatible with the company's other mouse products and operates at the same frequency: 27MHz. More importantly, the battery life AA batteries is 3 months or better. Logitech is using an Agilent chip, a custom ASIC, and is using some of Logitech's IP from both the HDNS-2000 and the newer ADNS-2050. On the show floor, other mouse companies claimed that Logitech was at a significant market advantage given this superior battery lifetime. Mice that use the HDNS-2000 in a wireless mode have a docking station and a battery life of approximately 8 hours. It was claimed that the chip used by Logitech is part of an exclusive agreement between Logitech and Agilent. Agilent would not comment on the terms of the agreement between the two companies, nor comment when it expected its low-power design to surface in the broader market. Recently Agilent and Cypress announced an agreement to develop a next generation mouse chip set. Agilent will refine its mouse chip and Cypress will do the development on the microcontroller. These parts, tentatively called Cy7C639X and ADNS-29XX, respectively, will be sold independently by each firm. The end result of this agreement, though, will be two product families - one for the retail market and the other for OEM, which was described as a very low cost 2 chip set. A key strength of Cypress is its ability to put flash memory into the microcontroller. This allows for customization of the mice by OEMs. The microcontroller will also provide the USB and PS/2 interfaces. When asked by the WAVE Report if the ultimate target for cost reduction would be a single chip, Agilent claimed that it was too early in the development process for such a product to surface. Optical mouse technology is an excellent example of the integration of digital technology with optics. The mouse as a fixture on the desktop is largely taken for granted, but it too has an impressive array of technology. This is an important space to watch as the mouse becomes wireless and assimilates additional technology. The Logitech product is the first in a wave of innovation in pointing devices that have no wires. Agilent has done an excellent job of moving its IP from an innovative product, in the CapShare 910, to a mass-market product, which increasingly will dominate every desktop. http://www.agilent.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1253.htm Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST According to Win Info, Microsoft has announced that sales of its Pocket PC platform have surpassed 1 million units in the year since the company first released the product. The company also noted that sales of Personal Digital Assistant PDA devices are growing and claim that Pocket PCs account for more than 26 of all devices that sell for 350 or more. Pocket PC sales have surprised analysts as well, particularly Compaq's iPAQ, which has never been able to stay on store shelves despite constant production increases. Microsoft says that growth of the platform has resulted in more developer interest, new applications as well as enterprise commitments. Pocket PC device sales still trail Palm OS-based device sales, but the gap has closed dramatically in recent months http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1254.htm Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST Symbian and Opera Software announced an agreement to include Opera as the default browser in Symbian's reference designs for Communicator devices. Symbian's reference designs for Communicators enable a range of pen and keyboard based devices to be developed by Licensees, combining voice and data communications with Internet and data capabilities. The first device scheduled to ship will be the Nokia 9210 Communicator which will be available in H1, 2001. Opera version 5 for Symbian includes the following technologies: JavaScript support for JavaScript objects and form controls; ECMAScript regexp object; support for HTML event handlers; and the SSL handling of certificates, FTP, 128-bit encryption, SSL 2 and 3, TLS 1.0, CSS1 and CSS2, XML, HTML 4.01, HTTP 1.1, ECMAScript version 3, and JavaScript 1.4. http://www.symbian.com http://www.opera.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1255.htm Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST The SCTE Society for Cable Telecommunications Engineers and ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute announced that a suite of specifications defining an IP architecture has been achieved. These specifications define an end-to-end system for delivery of communication services including telephony to the homes of cable customers. The system is based on Internet protocol IP and packet transmission to solve the current problems of Internet based telephone calls. The IP-based cable architecture is referred to as IPCablecom and has found international support from standards organizations including ETSI, SCTE and the ITU-T. The set of 12 IPCablecom documents defines the requirements for signaling, quality-of-service, codecs, client provisioning, billing event message collection, PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network interconnection, and security interfaces necessary to implement a single-zone IPCablecom solution for residential Internet protocol voice services. A zone is expected to typically support from tens of thousands to a few hundred thousand subscribers. Eventually, IPCablecom service providers may interconnect their networks to form a national or even international footprint. SCTE has approved the full set of IPCablecom documents as a standard and that standard has become the purchase specification for cable operators throughout North and South America. The ITU-T approved the majority of the documents in March for worldwide use. ETSI has accepted and is continuing to develop the suite as a set of technical specifications and is using the ITU-T J.160 Recommendation as the framework to add European specific requirements. CableLabs started a PacketCable initiative at the request of the North American, South American, Japanese, and European cable operator and vendor communities. This evolved into IPCablecom, which builds upon digital cable modem architectures specified in ITU Recommendation J.112 that was developed by SG-9 for global use. These alternative architectures are currently DOCSIS and EuroDOCSIS Data over Cable Service Interface Specification , and the return channel for cable of the DVB project. For some time there has been cooperative work ongoing on high-speed cable modems and IPCablecom with ETSI. http://www.cablelabs.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1256.htm Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST TC entertainment electronics announced a TV-technology tivion, a service that integrates digital set-top-box functions in a home- network-package that includes hardware for under 25. tivion enables viewers to watch two live shows simultaneously or watch one live show while recording another. Users can also can pause live TV and interact with television shows, with parallel Internet- and PC- access. Features supported by tivion include: Fax/e-mail on/from TV; send receive; store on hard disk Receive or make phone calls from a TV-Screen caller-ID display Printing capabilities Hands free communication, with picture-Tel webcam optional Text processing, simultaneously with TV Commercial blocked TV auto-switch back after commercial ends TV-PC home network Additional TV-features include instant replay, rewind and fast- forward at multiple speeds, digital video recording, listing search up to 30 days in advance Internet and interactive TV and picture in picture technology for Internet surfing while watching TV . http://www.tivion.org http://www.telecontrol.de http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1257.htm Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST At the Domotechnica trade show in Cologne, Germany, Ubicom formerly Scenix , a provider of Internet Processors and networking software that enables device-to-device communication, and Arcelik/Beko, one of Europe's white goods manufacturers, demonstrated a networked home application, consisting of a Beko- brand refrigerator, oven, TV, washing machine and dish washer. All of the appliances were linked using Bluetooth wireless technology and relied on Ubicom's communication chips and software to provide the device management and networking capabilities. Internet access for the appliances will be added in the future using Ubicom's technology. As the first public showing of Arcelik's Digital Living project, the demonstration illustrated how such smart devices can take advantage of wireless networking in a variety of ways to improve the ease and quality of life. For example, power management was shown by having the appliances simulate sequential operation during the hours of cheapest electricity, so that their various cycles - such as defrosting and clothes washing - did not occur simultaneously, thereby ensuring optimum energy usage and lowest cost. Arcelik expects to make their networked appliances available for widespread use in people's homes in the year 2003. The Ubicom chips in the demonstration helped to convert the appliance's internal data format into the Bluetooth wireless network format. Because of Ubicom's software-based design methodology, its chips are able to support a variety of physical interfaces, from simple UARTs universal asynchronous receiver- transmitters to Ethernet and other network protocols. For instance, Ubicom's IP2022 Internet Processor is part of a family of Ubicom Internet Processors that can be programmed, and reprogrammed, using pre-built software modules and configuration tools to create single-chip solutions for device-to-device and device-to-human communication applications. It is optimized for Internet and network connectivity solutions, and is suited for use in the node and bridge/gateway portions of the Internet infrastructure. The IP2022 offers capabilities that are specifically intended for the development of integrated connected devices, from the communication physical layer interface through application code. Since that demonstration, Ubicom has announced partnerships with two Bluetooth wireless technology developers in an effort to provide high-performance, low-cost wireless connectivity solutions. The agreements with Signia Technologies and Adamya Technologies will link Ubicom's Internet Processor chips and networking software with Bluetooth communications hardware and software. This will allow manufacturers of office equipment, home appliances, computers, and a range of other devices to incorporate wireless communications capabilities and Internet connectivity into their products. http://www.ubicom.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1258.htm Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST MobileQ has announced a customizable multi-lingual mobile portal creation product, called MobileQ MyScape, which enables wireless Web users to manage and navigate Web sites on a wireless device as they would on their desktop PCs. Bell Mobility, a wireless service provider in Canada, is the first customer that will provide MyScape with their wireless Web service. MyScape, which is based on the MobileQ XMLEdge platform, is a mobile portal customization product that incorporates drag-and- drop editing features, so that subscribers can customize the Web content they access from their wireless phone, personal digital assistant PDA , or pager directly from their PCs, rather than depending on content provided by their carriers. MobileQ has designed MyScape to directly address the needs of global service providers as they offer cross-border customer audiences and diverse user groups a multi-lingual product that supports any language character set Bell Mobility's My Mobile Browser serves content in both French and English . The personalization features of MyScape enable service providers to create specific Web portals for different groups of users, with customized interfaces. The menu management features of MyScape allow service providers to control the applications and content they deliver to users, rather than relying on third-party aggregators. For mobile users, MyScape reduces the amount of Web surfing time required to access premium content. MyScape enables carriers to offer corporate customers the ability to integrate e-mail and other business applications, such as sales force automation into a mobile enterprise portal. http://www.mobileq.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1259.htm Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST According to ZDNet, Cirrus Logic, which has as large share of the market for digital audio players and other portable consumer electronics, says it will begin building Bluetooth into its Maverick embedded processor. The chip company said it will license Bluetooth wireless technology from Silicon Wave, and will begin developing a version of Maverick with an integrated Bluetooth baseband and radio interface. The processor will both handle the Bluetooth software and power the portable device; no additional baseband processor will be required, making it relatively inexpensive to give devices Bluetooth functionality. Manufacturers using the Maverick chip will only need to add a single-chip radio modem from Silicon Wave to add Bluetooth to electronics devices like PDAs, Internet TVs and set-top boxes, eBooks and Internet audio players. Cirrus claims that Maverick chips are used in 70 of portable Internet audio players. Bluetooth is a wireless technology designed to link different consumer gadgets to PCs, peripherals and one another. It has been the focus of widespread hype - driven by its backers, companies such as Ericsson and Nokia - but has been slower than many had hoped in arriving on the market. Maverick chips run a variety of operating systems, including embedded Linux, Windows CE, EPOC and Palm OS. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1260.htm Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:00:00 EST TeraBurst Networks, a developer of carrier-grade optical core switching systems, today announced a family of products, the Optical Management System, OMS 2100 and OMS 2200. TeraBurst's wavelength-level switching systems are based on a hybrid OMO optical-millimeter wave-optical technology that combines digital quality and photonics and are designed to enable carriers to manage their optical channel capacity including DWDM, drive revenue opportunities, differentiate themselves through value- added services, and reduce operating expenses through network management. TeraBurst's OMS 2200, which switches wavelengths at line rate from OC-3 to OC-192, offers system capacity of up to 640 Gbps, in a compact half-rack footprint. TeraBurst's bit-rate and protocol transparent switch technology is designed to operate up to OC-768 40 Gbps speeds, enabling customers to scale to meet network demands in the future. Applications of the OMS 2200 include deployment in networks where wavelength-level switching is required and the need for scalability, large capacity, high data rates, and fast provisioning is greatest. TeraBurst's OMS 2100 is a smaller member of the Optical Management System family with a capacity of 200 Gbps, in a compact one-third rack footprint. Applications of the 200 Gbps OMS 2100 include deployment in the regional/metro markets, carrier/data hotels and interconnectivity between enterprises where cost- effective bandwidth management is required. The OMS family of solutions offers low initial investment, pay- as-you-grow scalability, a compact footprint and energy efficient design. The OMS management system is designed with a graphical interface for remote provisioning, security, performance, and fault management. Beta versions of both systems are currently available. Limited customer availability of the OMS 2200 is scheduled for September 01, while the OMS 2100 is scheduled for October 01. http://www.teraburst.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1261.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Infowave Software, a global provider of software that connects enterprise applications to wireless devices, has shipped Version 4.0 of the Infowave Wireless Business Engine. Enterprise customers can deploy wireless and connect to their messaging and corporate applications with added support for Exchange 2000 and mixed environments, support for 2.5G networks, and integration of SecurID. The Infowave Wireless Business Engine 4.0 includes a number of features, including the following: Smart formatting and filtering, optimizing the way important data appears on a particular device Support for Exchange 2000 and mixed Exchange 5.5 / 2000 environments for simple implementation during network migration Wireless network intelligence that gives IT managers the ability to support a complete set of network protocols so users can connect simultaneously using CDPD, GSM, GPRS, TDMA, CDMA, or Mobitex Security features like support for RSA's SecurID, the ability to disconnect a mobile device from its wireless connection if it has gone idle, and server-side activity/inactivity time-outs forcing re-authentication and preventing unauthorized access by others The flexibility for users to work interchangeably between devices, like a WAP phone, a laptop and a PDA Infowave builds wireless business solutions that connect mobile workers to the information they need to be more productive and competitive. The Infowave Wireless Business Engine 4.0 provides secure and reliable wireless access to web-based applications, the Internet, corporate intranets, Microsoft Exchange, and Lotus Domino. http://www.infowave.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1195.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Arius3D announced that color point-cloud data obtained from the company's Foundation system can now be used in INUS Technology's RapidForm2000. Arius3D is a content creation company that captures data at near microscopic levels, resulting in photo- realistic, 3D color images. The combination of these technologies presents digital content developers with another solution for developing 3D content for Web applications, entertainment, design, and engineering. Arius3D Foundation is a technology that simultaneously captures geometry and true color from real-world objects. The results are unaffected by the light in the room, allowing creative and application teams to use the data without expensive manual manipulation. Data captured from 3D color point clouds contains all of the information required for creating workflows for building content in any 3D application. Microscopic resolution, together with true color and no light artifacts, allows image users to focus entirely on their application. RapidForm2000 provides an editing tool for NURBS curve and surface modification, which is called physics-based deformation. With the deformation functionality, users can modify 3D scanned models in an intuitive way by pushing or pulling curves and surfaces. http://www.arius3d.com http://www.inustech.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1196.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST XM Satellite Radio's second satellite, Roll, has been launched and is on its planned path toward orbit, completing the company's satellite launch program. Liftoff occurred at 6:10 p.m. EDT on May 8th, off the Sea Launch Company's Odyssey Launch Platform in open waters of the Pacific Ocean on the equator. The first signals from the satellite were captured by a ground station in Perth, Australia, at 7:20 p.m. EDT as planned. Roll launched from 154 degrees West Longitude. Its final position will be at 85 degrees West Longitude. A 200-foot Zenit-3SL rocket lifted the 10,289 lb. digital audio radio satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit As Roll heads for orbit, XM's first satellite, Rock, has settled into geostationary orbit at 115 degrees West Longitude, completed its deployments - radiator panels, antennas and solar rays - and begun to transmit and receive test signals. Rock is scheduled to begin broadcasting in mid-May to prepare for commercial service late this summer. All three XM satellites - Rock, Roll, and a spare which is built and in its final testing phase - are Boeing 702 models, manufactured by Boeing Satellite Systems, a business of the Boeing Company. The XM spacecraft carry a digital audio radio payload built by Alcatel Space Industries. The payload features two active transponders, each with 16 active and six spare 228- watt traveling wave tube amplifiers generating approximately 3,000 watts of RF signal power. XM plans to create and package up to 100 channels of digital- quality sound and provide coast-to-coast coverage of music, news, sports, talk, comedy and children's programming. http://www.xmradio.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1197.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST In WAVE 0123 we summarized the US and European home networking markets and began discussing specific sessions at IRR Telecoms' Home Networking European Congress. We will finish the conference discussion in this issue. Providing Services for the Networked Home by Exploiting the Capabilities of Residential Gateways - Learning from the Experience of NTL NTL is the largest cable company in the UK. It has 2.5m subscribers and 800,000 on its digital infrastructure. The cable plant in the UK is different from most of the world. Along with the coax is also pulled a copper pair. As a result nearly all the cable subscribers have telephony and do not use BT. NTL is the 2nd largest telephone company in the UK after BT. NTL will not be offering VoD but potentially over the digital IP structure when the demand merits. In addition, they feel it is capable of offering limited video conferencing, however, this is constrained by the return path bandwidth. Currently NTL has 35,000 cable modems installed and their installation rate is limited. With this installed base they are the largest broadband supplier in the UK, even beyond BT. An interesting issue which is forcing NTL to look at home networking is the location of the STB in the home. For the current installations they bring an independent DOCSIS box and this is installed near the PC. However, for another part of the network, the current STB is already a DOCSIS modem but it is located near the TV. Unfortunately, in a vast majority of the homes the PC and TV are not close - thus the need for some form of home networking. They offer the cable modem in two tiers - 64Kb/s and 512Kb/s and very few take the lower rate. The DOCSIS modem costs 140 lbs or can be rented for 5 lbs. Almost no one buys the modem. NTL does not limit the number of home side users - up to 32. They are not restricting use including Napster. NTL does not sell home networking equipment. They only recommend it. From this ensued an extended discussion on Fair Use, home networks and the current mess. This actually took place over a number of session and we will include it here. Fair Use Home networking is caught in a quagmire. A key value proposition in the home is moving media about - audio or video. The concept of fair use is that the consumer is allowed to make copies for use in the home. In the UK it is against the law to prohibit this and similar legal positions are present in other countries. The US has the same principle but not stated so strictly. Hollywood is seeking regulation stating that no copies can be made from digital content. They are active in many of the standards bodies. It remains unclear, and a significant impediment to the market, when there is vast uncertainty in what can be done with media on a home network. Hollywood has recognized that the quality of analog signals can be sufficient that it also represents a threat. Recently, efforts have begun to limit the output from devices which accept analog signals. In particular, the resolution would be limited to low resolution. Much discussion ensued on this point. Seeking to cap analog quality is a cat out of the bag issue. That is, it is very hard to go backward and constrain the installed base of equipment. This is a messy issue with the interests of Hollywood seeking the broadest possible controls on content. Strict implementation of DRM Digital Rights Management has the potential to severely limit what can be done with digital or even analog content. Hollywood will be fighting every step of the way to implement any movement of content in the home. In the end it could well stifle one of the major content sources for home networks. Delivering Personalized Home Networking Services with a Set Top Box - Thomson Multimedia and EasyPlug They began the talk with some interesting market data: In 2001, the consumer is aware of the Residential Gateway but not interested in buying it; 69 of households would like to network video throughout the home. Thompson is backing a home network based on the following: MHP Home Network standard 1.0 released in 2000 Control for home AV devices with HAVi; Local storage in the STB; XCA for home DRM; 1394 for Video transport; COMMEND - COnsumer MultiMedia Networks in Digital; HN2R - HomeNet2Run; and HiperLAN2 Thomson's conclusion is that the STB is the entry residential gateway. Delivering Personalized Home Networking Services with a STB - Session 2 - Pace Micro Technology Pace is a UK based company that has been in business since 1982. Their expertise is in all forms of video delivery to the home. They are now looking seriously at the Residential Gateway market. Their perspective is from the video side and was shown in the comment: The home killer app for the last 60 years has been television. The market for home networks is estimated to be: 2001 - 4.3b 2002 - 9b 2003 - 29.2 2004 - 43.9 2005 - 62b in the US and Europe Pace sees the market as being all about services. They divide the market into 4 sectors: entertainment, communications, home control and security. The strongest business model is in home control and in particular on the power side. Their strategy is based on the following: Triple Play - convergence of TV, data and telephony; No New Wires - use what wiring that exists and supplant the rest with wireless; Solution for today - the box must be available now with technology that works today; Gateway expandable by 3rd parties. The real surprise was that the wireless component is based on DECT. This is only 550Kb/s and drew questions from the audience. They did state that when 802.11b is available at low price points they would adopt this. Their product concept is very much based on here and now. Consistent with this they feel that wireless video is 2 years away. It was stated that the production of 802.11b chips is running at 1m units/month. Developing a Modular Gateway Device to Enable End User Customization - Learning from the Greenwich Millennium Project - BT This was a very interesting talk given its simplicity. BT worked with Greenwich Millennium Village Limited GMVL to install home communications in a new housing development near central London and Greenwich. There will be 2,000 homes on the site. The end result, in terms of what BT installed for each home, was a Home Distribution Unit HDU . This is capable of taking PSTN, ISDN and ADSL in and then feeding the home. The box is basically a distribution panel. It is not: a LAN hub; an active gateway; a home control system or a computer. It just enables cable transport in the home. The key point throughout this talk, in spite of it being a new residential development, was cost, cost and cost. The end result is that the HDU enables much but the implementation and connectivity is left up to the homeowner after they move in. Packaging Services That Can Be Enabled with the Residential Gateway and Creating for Home Network Services - Siemens and EA Technology Siemens made all the other home gateway projects look trivial. This had everything. There was even a proposal for sub-gateways in the home for segmented media transport and services. The home was looking like a Data center. When asked about the price of the existing Activy 200 unit he sidestepped the question. Attached to the Siemens talk was one on power management by EA Technology. Consumer Services Bundling and Communications Gateways - EA Technology EA Technology is a research firm that supports the power industry. They obviously have extensive connections with the regulatory environment, the power industry and ongoing research. The presentation was an extract from an extensive market and business feasibility study they have done for services based on power. One of the last charts was one which showed the ROI Return on Investment of an implementation. However, when it was presented the speaker stressed the role of services to the cost recovery and profitability. The WAVE Report asked the question - are you telling us the economics do not work if this is based on the gains from power only? Basically the answer was - yes. This flies directly in the face of what was presented in the Enel project that was described first. Examining the Rapidly Evolving Home Networks Value Chain and Understanding Customer Ownership Issues Arising From Delivering Home Network Services - Coactive Networks This was another powerline presenter. His emphasis was on telemetry services. Some of his assessment and market data were interesting. Shared Internet access is a part of the value proposition of broadband delivery but unlikely to create additional service revenue; Voice and video have robust demand but the retail alternatives present barriers to accomplishing using home networking and ultimately drive the prices down; 57 of multi-PC households would find intelligent control over lights, appliances and other electronics useful; and 70 of homeowners like the idea that a home would notify them, remotely, if something was wrong with the system in their home. In implementing home control, usage patterns have shown that a web interface is used for the first 1 - 2 weeks, but after that time, a WAP phone dominates monitoring and control. A key reason being that the information content can match the limited phone screen and any where access is more important than screen size. It is Coactive's view that utilities will drive the near term market for home telemetry. 3rd party solutions will be nice to have but there must be one flagship service that works. From this assumption comes the deployment scenario where every device is connected to the network in the home. Coactive's product is based on its IOConnect Architecture, which they described as based on distributed object technology which is include in the residential gateway. This is similar to CORBA. Bluetooth Residential Gateway - Inventel Inventel described their residential gateway as BlueDSL. From the US, and even the audience here, the use of Bluetooth was questioned. Yet, in the context of Europe the response made sense: The data rate from BlueDSL matches that of the DSL connection; There is not a need for high-speed connection between PCs as this is not a significant part of the market; Bluetooth enables wireless at low costs; Bluetooth ensures worldwide availability of wireless connectivity within the home; and Supporting Bluetooth means that many Bluetooth devices are automatically interfaced to the residential gateway - including cell phones. In spite of these advantages there were still doubts about this as the best wireless standard to use. Determining the Usage Patterns of Home Network Applications: Learning from Trials Undertaken by WR P with Home Networks Product Manufacturers - WR P WR P was formed in June 2000 as a spin-off of Metloni Elettrodomestici spa, which is the 3rd largest white box appliance manufacturer in Europe. The premise of the presentation, and the company, was that white goods will benefit in the market from innovation. Examples of this include: remote monitoring, tele alarm, energy management and pay per use. WR P has gone to some length to understand the issues with white box goods in a network. Bandwidth is typically less than 10Kb/s, peer-to-peer is the best architecture, TCP/IP is the standard interface and three trials have been run in: Milan, Rome and now in Paris. In the Milan trial Cisco was the team leader. Some quotes include: Powerline will support up to 4-5Kb/s; Customers want more and to pay less; Appliances are typically changed every 7-8 years; and Old appliances can be retrofitted with network connectivity with an inline powerplug. I thought that I had seen it all but WR P showed a clothes washer as part of their home network, which worked on a pay per use basis. The machine also supports remote monitoring, extended warranty and software upgradability. The WAVE Report asked the question: is this not a classic example of technology in search of a market? Who wants software upgrades to a washer? All the value in this proposition is with the manufacturer of the goods not with the consumer. The answer provided was not an answer. In answer to a follow-up question from another individual it was stated that over the lifetime of the pay per use washer the net cost to the consumer would be the same. Even then the speaker admitted it was a difficult sell. Gatespace The WAVE Report spoke with Gatespace about their product. This is the OSS for home networking - the back office. It uses OSGI, which they claim to offer significant advantages to service developers in terms of ease of use, development and deployment. They have implemented a distributed service platform and it could be called the OS for home networking services. It appears that there are at least two companies in this market space: Gatespace and Oneline. This is critical to 3rd party services. If the home is a platform, there must be a corresponding service supply platform, which is largely transparent to the consumer. There is a parallel with the OSS used in local telephony and a 3rd party service is long distance, which is billed by the ILEC. Some of the attributes of the OSS include: security, scalability and flexibility in supporting new applications. In all the excitement in this service oriented market space, to make home networking pay, we have seen little about the back office functions. Having a robust OSS is critical to the market, if it is to scale to large numbers of consumers. Creating an Effective User Interface for the Intelligent Home - InnovaTECH This company makes home control systems which manage: lighting, audio, video, safety, telephony, security and motors. This was not about home networking but making system control in the home that works. They supply a product called Q-Touch that allows the on-site contractor to implement the GUI for home control. It was quite robust and complete. They said it all with the following quote: The challenge in home automation is not the technology. The real challenge is the user interface. In the home networking market this appears to be largely taken for granted. In a data centric world, home networking is about extending computing into the home, yet, as InnovaTECH demonstrated when the network goes beyond the computer there are many issues to be addressed to make home control usable. Panel Session - Debating the Business Case for Current and Future - End and Back - End Home Networking Interesting points made include: There is no killer app in the home - consumers have time but no money while businesses have money but no time; Homes have many of the same problems with networking as businesses - BUT - less users on the network and less money, more patience; There are significant cultural differences in attitudes towards home networking; Europe is interested in communications and sophisticated control home ; Japan wants entertainment and climate control; US is focused on computing; Germany has 36m homes, 2m homes are built new or refurbished, it is estimated that it will take 30 years to implement home cabling; Konnex Association is seeking to be a standard system platform for home networking; Powerline networking in North America is subject to regulation in Canada; Canada is in the process of a rule making which would limit transmission to 1.7MHz on powerline; According to NAFTA, the FCC can adopt this rule without retest; and If this rule is put in place it could significantly limit the bandwidth over powerline in the US. The NTL broadband service described yesterday is a flat 20 lbs for the 512Kb/s service The retail price to install NTL broadband is lbs 150; This will put the cable modem anywhere in the house and near the PC; A premium service bundle with 21 services has been defined for 200/year - it is not clear that this will work in the market Examining Interference Problems Between WLAN, Home RF, Bluetooth and other 2.4GHz Radiation Sources - CSR Jennifer Bray at CSR has been running tests on interference and propagation. The results were very interesting. Self-interference in Bluetooth is a non-issue. It would take 28 fully loaded piconets, with 8 devices per piconet, all running at the same time, to reduce the data rate by 50 ; The impact of Wi-Fi with Bluetooth operating was presented graphically. This is based on a white paper by TI. When the two emitters at 10m apart the Wi-Fi bandwidth drops to 3mb/s when the receiver is 230' away from the Wi-Fi transmitter. However, when the distance between the emitters is dropped to zero the Wi-Fi data rate drops to 0 at 175'; Similar results were presented on the bandwidth from Bluetooth when Wi-Fi is running. When the two emitters are 10m apart the impact on the Bluetooth data rate goes from 550Kb/s to 500kb/s, at practically any distance Bluetooth will operate to. However when the emitters are next to each other at 20' the Bluetooth bandwidth drops to 0; These results may sound grim but the point was made several times - the informed placement of the emitters has a major impact on performance. Many of these issues can be avoided. However, this assessment, with a different conclusion, also relates to the consumer market which we will address below. Additional points made in Jennifer's analysis include: Propagation tests have been run in various environments, which included both homes and offices: Solid walls are a major attenuator; Metal, in any form, limits propagation: Modern metal furniture in a room will impact the propagation, in many cases serving as a reflector; Foil barriers in walls to halt fire or to serve as insulation backing will block propagation between rooms; A room full of individuals will limit propagation because individuals are mostly water and this is a microwave absorber; Propagation under flooring varies widely based on the materials, water content and soil characteristics; There is considerable variation from home to home, in terms of the coverage in a home; based on all the factors above; and Microwave ovens only seem to interfere with cordless phones. The output from a spectrum analyzer was shown with a frequency time axis, which illustrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a microwave oven. This was an excellent method of showing the impact that the modulation schemes have on the potential for interference; An American company, which she could not recall, is coming out with a microwave-powered electric light. Sufficient concern has been raised about the potential for interference that HomeRF has apparently petitioned the FCC to see that its emissions fall under the rules for the ISM band; In response to a question about the interpolation of these results to 5.8GHz where 802.11b is Jennifer responded, It does not bode well for 5.8GHz. What does this mean to the consumer market? Her assessment here was also interesting. The home market is much more difficult that the office environment. The reasons are: Interference is a killer for isochronous data transmission. Modifications to transmission as a result of interference are very noticeable with audio. In video this can be seen as artifacts. However, these are not important considerations in the office; Video will severely impact wireless use in the home. It will use all the available bandwidth and as a result will be less tolerable of interference issues; Users do not understand the technology and do not want to understand it; If the consumer has to read a manual for installation the product is too hard to install; Data problems and co-existence is not an issue in that both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi degrade gracefully and data does not have the same delivery requirements as isochronous content. Enabling Multiservice Delivery for Home Networks with Chip-Level Integration - Inari Inari is a spin off from Novell. They began in the retail market selling a 350Kb/s powerline adapter. It was a failure. They have shifted to making silicon for this market. The first product with their silicon has been introduced by Thompson and sold under the RCA brand. It operates at 2Mb/s and is for premises networking in the home. Todd Green the director of marketing gave the presentation. He had many pointed observations of the market, which appeared to have come from the experience with their initial product for networking the home. Printer sharing will not make the market for home networks take off. Printers cost less than the networks. There is little need to share files between two home computers. Adults are not interested in the files their children store. My MP3 files are very different than those of my children. The Internet Appliance companies have backed from the market. The price points did not match the market. Devices for the home market will be sold on the basis of function not speed. Application specific devices will be what takes off for the home market. Internet appliances should do only one or two functions well; QoS requirements will be device specific - audio is different than video, etc. As a result the market will require specific end-to-end technical solutions to meet the market requirements for functionality. Everyone is after everyone else's money: Power companies want monies being spent on cable; Cable companies want monies being spent on the phone; and Phone companies want monies being spent on cable and entertainment. The market criteria for easy of installation is the same as a power plug. Every outlet is a connection point. The home networking technology must be buried in devices in order to drive the cost out. Consumers demand: Lowest cost solution; System and device stability; Ease of use and setup; and Deterministic performance; All of the existing home network solutions add value to people's lives where it is a luxury. The technology goal is to send HDTV streams at 18Mb/s - this is the focus at Inari; The market has not yet succeeded in delivering what the users require. The Inari products are focused on the home premise market. However, they are working on an access solution. Currently, Inari is evaluating silicon which will support 12Mb/s. Being a silicon company they also voiced a familiar chorus - the market will gravitate to single chip solutions. The gateway, modems, wireless and other functions will collapse into a single chip. Evaluating Plastic Optical Fiber and IEEE 1394 as a Robust and Future-Proof Link Around the Home - FIRECOMMS FIRECOMMS builds optical components for plastic fiber optic systems. 1394 has a role in shaping home networking. Why? IEEE P1394b, which is expected to be approved in July 2001, has significant provisions for fiber optics; Multi-Mode fiber is required out to 100m when the data rates are 400, 800 and 1600Mb/s; Hybrid Glass/Plastic can support distances to 100m and rates of 100 and 200Mb/s; Plastic Optical Fiber POF will go to 50m and support rates of 50 and 100Mb/s. IEEE 1394 wireless, in spite of being demonstrated at COMDEX, may not be practical due to propagation issues. It is not included in the specification; IEEE 1394 is the accepted transport for streaming video, especially in digital camcorders; IEEE 1394, using POF, has been in automobiles since 1998, and its use is expected to dramatically rise; Costs favor POF, over even copper, at data rates above 8Mb/s in the automobile; Two new light source technologies, RCLED and VCSEL, are expected to significantly increase the value of POF for high bandwidth distribution, including in the home. The talk was ended when the presenter held up a black cable that could be laid under a carpet and no would know it existed. WAVE Comments We saw some very creative approaches to home networking. Much of this was well outside of the US view of the market. There are some cultural differences here but the vast majority of the issues are shared. What was different is that Europe is taking a much broader view of the market - it is not just about computers in the home. There are important lessons to be learned. However, in the end they are still struggling with the same issues as the US - no one has a clear idea what services will stick with consumers. There is much speculation, with entertainment leading the pack. However, the very difficult environment being created by Hollywood is likely to put home entertainment networking years off. The perspectives are different here in London and Europe, the struggles to make it work are the same. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1198.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST The African country of Rwanda formally the Rwandese Republic has deposited its instrument of acceptance of the World Heritage Convention. The Convention entered into force for Rwanda on 28 March 2001. There are now 163 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention. For a complete list of States Parties to the Convention, see: http://www.unesco.org/whc/wldrat.htm or www.unesco.org/whc/toc/mainf5.htm frame version http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1199.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST This UNF - WHC - UNEP and RARE Center for Tropical Conservation project is now up and running. The project financed by the United Nations Foundation UNF, UNESCO World Heritage Centre WHC and UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics DTIE , Paris, France, and six World Heritage sites inscribed for biodiversity: Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino Mexico , Komodo National Park Indonesia , Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve Honduras , Sian Ka'an Mexico , Tikal National Park Guatemala , and Ujung Kulon National Park Indonesia has been launched and is marching ahead with full force. The project strongly focuses on on-the-ground activities designed to involve the full range of stakeholders, especially local communities, site managers, key government and non- governmental stakeholders and the private tourism industry. The work aims at developing a replicable approach for World Heritage sites to preserve biodiversity using sustainable tourism. March, April and May were extremely active months for the project personnel. Two missions, headed by Art Pedersen from the World Heritage Centre, were undertaken, one to Tikal National Park World Heritage site in Guatemala and the other to Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve World Heritage site in Honduras. These were intensive missions to assess host country management needs at the two WH sites. In addition, at Tikal National Park a workshop involving key stakeholders was carried out using an innovative participatory approach to biodiversity threat assessment identifying where and how tourism could be used to mitigate the identified threats. This technique will be used at all the sites producing site- specific objectives from those who know best: site staff, local communities, and local operators. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1200.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST The United Nations Cyberschoolbus was created in 1996 as the online education component of the Global Teaching and Learning Project, whose mission was to promote education about international issues and the United Nations. The Global Teaching and Learning Project produces high quality teaching materials and activities designed for educational use at primary, intermediate and secondary school levels and for training teachers. The vision of this Project is to provide exceptional educational resources both online and in print to students growing up in a world undergoing increased globalization. In the annual game, Professor's Postcards , students track our eccentric professor as she travels around UNESCO's World Heritage Sites and sends back picture postcards with clues of her whereabouts. Cyberschoolbus, the website of the UN's Global Teaching and Learning Project, has just begun a new six-week cycle of cards. Visit them at http://www0.un.org/cyberschoolbus/postcards/index.asp and see how well you do. How to participate Each week between April 17 and May 19, the Professor will send Cyberschoolbus a postcard with clues from one of over 600 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and we'll put it up on our site. You must figure out and name the correct World Heritage Site, for one point. The Professor's bonus question is worth half a point. You may play Professor's Postcards by yourself or as a class. At the end of the six weeks, between 21 May and 27 May, simply send in all your answers at once to cyberschoolbus un.org with the words Professor's Postcards in the subject line. If you send them week by week they won't count! On Wednesday 30 May we will post the Professor's answers from her mysterious itinerary, and the names of the winners. Good Luck! http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1201.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST BELLARY: Managing Trustee of The Kishkinda Trust TKT Shama Pawar Shapiro urged the state government and the district administration to work together for implementation of management plan for the Hampi world heritage site. In a letter the chief secretary, Government of Karnataka, through the deputy commissioner of Bellary, she said the UNESCO's selection of Hampi as a world heritage site was an important recognition given to one of India's creative magnificence. It gives an opportunity to preserve and enhance this rich heritage. She further stated that the managing of this site at an international standard involved national, central and local government expertise together with international inputs. At the same time, she said one should not overlook the fact that the long term success of the projects depended on the whole-hearted cooperation and involvement of local people in all aspects of the process. TKT would like to offer its services in the further development and implementation of the management plan. Particularly, TKT can be of effective assistance to local heritage preservation, education, and aspects leading to people participation in the management of Hampi sites. To begin with, Shama proposes a few points to be impemented: Firstly, to create positive awareness of the importance of the heritage site designation and master plan. For this process, one can use a slide show showing different examples of development, both harmonious development and destructive development, using examples. Organising events will also help promote, enrich and expand the Hampi conservation project. Creating a video documentation of a cross section of local viewpoint about the development in general and heritage site in particular. Local gatherings for group discussions for the development of community awareness, inputs, and trust in the process. Implementing programmes of economical development that could lead to long-term sustainability of sites. On-site consultation to help people build harmoniously the environment and heritage of the area. Creating richer mixture of jobs to keep the talented local youth from migrating to the cities and to develop more of the necessary skills and attitudes for managing the sites. TKT's diverse national and international contacts could be put to use to attract the energy and constructive ideas to help make the world heritage site an outstanding success. She stressed on clearly formulating visitors' service objectives which need to be discussed with the site commission, local authorities and tourist bodies to ensure that the best possible planning and implementation materialises. She added that tourism policy should take into consideration factors like useful distinction for various categories of visitors such as vocationals, day visitors, school bodies etc. A significant proportion of revenue earned from tourism should be applied for the benefit of conservation. The best long-term interest of the people living and working in any host community should be the primary determining factor in selecting options for tourism development. She added that the education programmes should assist and invite tourists to respect and understand the local way of life, culture, history and religion. She concluded with the note that in near future in a proactive way worked together for the cause of Hampi and finally be able to create an example of well-managed heritage site that will inspire numerous sites at similar cross roads all over the country. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1202.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST The document 'Successful Tourism at Heritage Places - A guide for tourism operators, heritage managers and communities' was launched Wednesday 9 May, in Brisbane. The document is available for viewing, downloading or ordering from Wednesday on the Australian Heritage Commission's web site at:http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/explore/tourism/index.html Please forward this email to anyone you know who might be interested. Thank you Australian Heritage Commission and CRC for Sustainable Tourism Here is a bit more information: ___________________________________________ Successful Tourism at Heritage Places - A guide for tourism operators, heritage managers and communities. A joint project of the Australian Heritage Commission, CRC for Sustainable Tourism and Department of Industry Science and Resources, with supporting partners the former Tourism Council Australia, Ecotourism Association of Australia, Aboriginal Tourism Australia and the Australian Tourism Commission. Australia's unique heritage places are one of tourism's biggest assets. Special guidelines launched today aim to keep them that way. 'Heritage places can lure both national and international tourists,' the Chairman of the Australian Heritage Commission Peter King said today. 'But we need to make sure we don't love them to death, and destroy the very qualities which attracted people in the first place.' To help prevent this, the Australian Heritage Commission and the Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism have produced a users guide targeted to tourism operators, communities and heritage managers. Launched in Brisbane today, Successful tourism at heritage places: a guide for tourism operators, heritage managers and communities, contains vital information about responsible use of Australia's heritage places for tourism. It provides advice and case studies about managing, promoting and protecting heritage places. 'Tourists are now attracted not only to our national icons, but to fascinating sites in many places off the beaten track,' Mr King said. 'But this can set up a tension between tourism and conservation. The Successful tourism at heritage places project was initiated to emphasise the potential contributions that tourism can make to conserving heritage assets.' Editor's Note: Peter King, Chairman of the Australian Heritage Commission, is also Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1203.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Ecotourism Association of Australia National Conference Rottnest Island, Western Australia 23-26 October 2001 Rottnest Island provides an excellent range of conservation, tourism, recreation, heritage and community issues for delegates to examine. The conference theme - The Choice of Sustainability - will look at the future of ecotourism and its needs in terms of long term planning, solutions and outcomes for the environment and for business. As we approach the International Year of Ecotourism 2002, an examination of the long-term sustainability of ecotourism is warranted. The conference promises to be the best ever so start planning now. You won't want to miss this exciting ecotourism event for 2001. Check out our web site for further details as well as the Expression of Interest form. Contact: Tony Charters, 2001 Conference Convenor, telephone 61 7 3535 5493, fax 61 7 3535 5445 or email tony.charters tq.com.au, website: http://www.ecotourism.org.au http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1204.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Please be informed that the report of the World Heritage Education Project Sub-Regional Workshop for Southeast Asia, which was held in Sukhothai, Thailand, from 13 to 20 February 2000, has recently been published. The 72-page report is entitled: World Heritage in Young Southeast Asian Hands: A Workshop on the Introduction and Evaluation of the UNESCO World Heritage Education Kit. Participating countries were: Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. One of the main outcomes of the workshop was the formulation of country action plans for the national implementation of the World Heritage Education Project and the World Heritage Education Resource Kit. Plans were drawn up for a 4-year period to guide each country in the implementation of selected activities of the World Heritage Project and its tool the Kit in close coordination with national education and heritage agencies. The plans are prepared to implement various actions step by step according to the need and capabilities of each country. Sukothai Workshop Report at a Glance TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Heritage Preservation Should Start with the Young Summary of the 1997 Beijing Asia-Pacific Youth Forum Country Reports From Beijing to Sukhothai Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam Purpose and Objectives of the Sukhothai Sub-regional Workshop The World Heritage Education Resource Kit and its Assessment 1. Kit Contents, 2. Kit Activities, 3. Kit Evaluation ACTION PLANS Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam From here to the Philippines and on into the Future Criteria for the inclusion of cultural and natural properties on the World Heritage List World Heritage Sites in Southeast Asia Annexes Detailed Kit Evaluation Results Detailed Country Reports List of Participants National Commissions for UNESCO in Southeast Asia For further information, please contact: Regional Advisor for Culture in Asia and the Pacific, Email: culture unesco-proap.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1205.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST How can tourism make a greater contribution to poverty reduction? Recent research assessed practical examples of 'pro-poor tourism strategies' in order to identify lessons and good practice. Pro-poor tourism strategies aim to unlock opportunities for the poor within tourism - whether for economic gain, livelihood benefits, or participation in decision-making. The findings are available on http://www.propoortourism.org.uk. You will find: a 4-page policy briefing Pro-poor tourism strategies: expanding opportunities for the poor. a full report Pro-poor tourism strategies: making tourism work for the poor. A review of experience. 60pp. six case studies of pro-poor tourism interventions, from South Africa, Namibia, Uganda, Nepal, Ecuador and St Lucia. And more! If you do not have web access, and would like copies by email or post, please send an email to Patsy de Souza at p.desouza odi.org.uk specifying which you would like. If you would like to remain on our pro-poor tourism email notification list, please reply to ppt odi.org.uk and put subscribe in the message heading. If we do not hear from you, we will not trouble you again. These papers are the first in their series of PPT policy briefings, reports and working papers. If you would like to publish your findings on pro-poor tourism within the series, or have any other comments, please contact us on ppt odi.org.uk This work is a result of collaborative research between Caroline Ashley Overseas Development Institute, UK , Dilys Roe International Institute for Environment and Development, UK and Harold Goodwin Centre for Responsible Tourism, University of Greenwich, UK , and in-country case study collaborators. It is funded by the UK Department for International Development. Thank you Caroline Ashley, Dilys Roe and Harold Goodwin http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1206.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST International Seminar on the Management of Private Property in the Historic City Centres of the European Countries-in-Transition English, French Spanish http://www.unesco.org/culture/heritage/meetings/ International Code of Ethics for Dealers in Cultural Property http://www.unesco.org/culture/legalprotection/committee/html_eng/e thics.shtml The following websites are now available in Spanish: International Safeguarding Campaign of the Cultural heritage of the city of HUE - 1981 http://www.unesco.org/culture/heritage/tangible/hue/html_sp/index_ sp.shtml International Safeguarding Campaign of the Principal monuments and sites of ETHIOPIA http://www.unesco.org/culture/heritage/tangible/ethiopia/html_sp/i ndex_sp.shtml The following website is now available in French: International Safeguarding Campaign of the Monuments and ancient sites of PAHARPUR VIHARA as well as those of the mosque-city of BAGERHAT - 1985 http://www.unesco.org/culture/heritage/tangible/bagerhat/html_eng/ index_en.shtml http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1207.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 21 to 25 May: Asia Pacific Forum on Karst Systems and World Heritage. Gunung Mulu National Park, Malasia. Information: hansfr ait.ac.th http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1208.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 31 May to 1 June: Colloque: Patrimoine et paysages culturels. WHC, Renaissance des Cit s d'Europe ... In Saint-Emilion, France. Information: http://www.renaissancedescites.org/Actualit .html http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1209.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 20 June: To Be A Pilgrim: Meeting the needs of visitors to Cathedrals and Churches in the UK . Conference organized by ICOMOS-UK. Information: icomos.uk btinternet.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1210.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 20 to 26 June: Conservation of World Heritage Sites , EUROPARC Expertise Exchange, Bieszczady National Park, Poland. Information: http://www.europarc.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1211.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 25 to 30 June: 25th Session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee. UNESCO Headquarters, Paris http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1212.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 25 to 30 June: 25th Session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee. UNESCO Headquarters, Paris http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1213.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 25 to 28 June: Asian Places in the New Millenium, World Congress of the International Federation of Landscape Architects IFLA , Singapore Information: http://www.asiabuilders.com/ifla/ , ifla mfasia.com.sg http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1214.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 5 to 9 July: Meeting of States Parties from the Alpine Arc, Turin, Italy. Italian Delegation . http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1215.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 13 July: Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop for the Preparation of Periodic Reports on the World Cultural Heritage Sites. Kyongju, Republic of Korea. Information: f.jing unesco.org; sypark mail.unesco.or.kr http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1216.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 14 July: Regional thematic Expert meeting on World Heritage Vineyard Landscapes. Tokay, Hungary. Hungarian Ministry for Cultural Heritage, WHC . Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1217.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 15 August: Inscription ceremony for the Monastic Island of Reichenau, Germany, in the presence of the Minister President of the Land of Baden-Wuttemberg, Dr. Erwin TEUFEL http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1218.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 24 to 26 August: Meeting of Site Managers of all Nordic sites, Jelling, Denmark http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1219.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 2 to 9 September: World Heritage Youth Forum, Karlskrona, Sweden. Information: kerstin.lundman education.ministry.se http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1220.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 4 to 12 September: Regional Thematic Expert Meeting: Asian Sacred Mountains, Japan. Information: m.rossler unesco.org http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1221.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 6 to 8 September: Global Monitoring for World Heritage Sites' Periodic Reporting System. Workshop. ISPRS Commission VII, Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NATO . In Sopron, Hungary. Information: http://geoinfo.cslm.hu/events/SAT/LeafletSAT.pdf, be cslm.hu http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1222.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 18 to 21 September: CIPA 2001 International Symposium on Architectural Photogrammetry and Documentation of Cultural Heritage, Surveying and Documentation of Historic Buildings, Monuments and Sites: Traditional and modern methods . ICOMOS- CIPA, ISPRS Committee on Documentation of Cultural Heritage . In Potsdam, Germany. Information: http://www.fpk.tu- berlin.de/cipa2001; e-mail: cipa2001 fpk.tu-berlin.de http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1223.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 19 to 23 September: 4th International Conference on Archaeological Prospection. Austrian Academy of Science, AARG, CIPA - ICOMOS / ISPRS Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage. Vienna, Austria. Information: http://www.univie.ac.at/archeo2001/, archeo2001 zamg.ac.at http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1224.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 24 to 27 September: 19th IPFRA World Congress International Federation of Park and Recreation Administration , Cape Town, South Africa. Information: http://www.ierm.org.za/Congress/Index.htm, ierm vdw.co.za http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1225.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 27 to 29 September: Symposium on the history of Earth Sciences in Austria with a focus on the UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape Hallstatt Dachstein Salzkammergut. Austrian UNESCO Commission . Information: http://www.hauser.cc/hallstatt http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1226.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 22 to 26 October: International Workshop on the Preservation, Conservation and Management of Zhoukoudian China and Sangiran Indonesia World Heritage Sites. Solo, Indonesia. Information: f.jing unesco.org, p.delanghe unesco.org. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1227.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 23 to 26 October: Ecotourism Conference: The Choice of Sustainability. Ecotourism Association of Australia . Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Information: http://www.ecotourism.org.au/conf2001/welcome.htm, tony.charters tq.com.au http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1228.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 1 to 3 November: Conference on Railway Heritage and Development: Balancing the Past, the Present and the Future. Soegijapranata Catholic University Semarang, Indonesia. Information: http://www.unika.ac.id/railway/railway.htm http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1229.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 6 to 7 November: XIIIth General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 1972 . UNESCO Headquarters, Paris http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1230.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 8 November: Fifth Extraordinary Session of the World Heritage Committee to elect new Bureau members . UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1231.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 7 to 9 November: 3rd International Seminar on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions. University of Minho, Azur m, Guimar es, Portugal . Information: http://www.civil.uminho.pt/congress/historic.html http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1232.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 7 to 8 December: 25th Extraordinary Session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee. Helsinki, Finland. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1233.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 11 to 16 December: 25th Session of the World Heritage Committee. Helsinki, Finland. Information: http://www.minedu.fi/minedu/whmeeting/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1234.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Opera Software launched Opera 5.0 for Linux, providing the Linux community with a full-featured and stable Web browser. In addition to the usual Opera features such as speed, size and stability, users will find features not yet implemented in the Windows version. The customization possibilities for user settings, additional drag-and-drop features and the Hotlist search function are features only available in the Linux version. Opera 5 for Linux supports the following technologies: - Fast rendering of pages. - Toggling of image and documents settings. For even faster browsing, images can be turned on/off with just the press of a key. - Drag-and-drop features familiar to Linux users. - Keyboard navigation and early implementation of Opera's mouse gestures. - Multiple windows support. - Resume interrupted download sessions. - Small size. Opera is only a 1,5 MB download with Qt dynamically linked, and 3 MB with Qt statically linked. - High quality zooming. Opera can zoom in on a page up to 1000 . - A search capability with the added possibility of searching the user's own Hotlist. In the search feature, users can migrate between search engines, and search for terms, domain names, audio/Mp3s, images, video, stock quotes, books or company information. Opera 5.0 for Linux supports the following technologies: 128-bit encryption, TLS 1.0, SSL 2 and 3, CSS1 and CSS2, XML, HTML 4.01, HTTP 1.1, ECMAScript, JavaScript 1.3, partial DOM and WAP/ WML. Support for Netscape plug-ins will be released in the weeks to come. As with Opera 5 for Windows, Linux users can download this version for free in an ad-sponsored version or opt to register their copy for 39. http://www.opera.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1235.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST PaceBlade is a startup in Taiwan but not with indigenous Chinese as founders. The principals have experience with Aqcess Technologies flat panel products and notebooks. The points of interest include: The Pacebook is a notebook replacement that removes the display panel from the keyboard. It has a carrying case that is a part of the product ID. The only connection between the display panel and a full keyboard is IR, with Bluetooth, to be used when the prices are more reasonable. Having an independent screen and keyboard provides considerable advantages: The ergonomics may limit the potential for repetitive stress injuries; The design of the case is such that the keyboard protects the screen; There are many opportunities for accessories, including fashion items such as the case ; The display can operate in portrait and landscape modes; and The display panel can be transported. The panel uses the Transmeta microprocessor chip, provides for 7 hours of undocked use and is handheld. The product was first shown at CeBIT and a very strong response was claimed. All of the components are contained in the display panel not the keyboard. The keyboard is lightweight and low cost. Although there are working prototypes being used for demonstration, the first production is scheduled in June with progressive ramps in the months to follow. FIC is the production partner. The PaceBook comes with a Transmeta Crusoe 600MHz processor, 4MB SMI Lynx graphics controller, 128MB SDRAM, 20GB HDD, 12.1 XGA TFT-LCD display with Windows ME or Windows 2000 OS. Optional accessories include CD-RW/DVD-ROM, wireless infrared remote control and CCD camera. Fixed Broadband Wireless Report by INSIGHT Research May 16 According to a report released by INSIGHT Research, although investors have developed a distaste for risky, capital-intensive businesses, subscriber demand remains high for always-on, high- speed network access. INSIGHT's report entitled Fixed Broadband Wireless 2001-2006 compares fixed broadband wireless with other high-speed always-on technologies to conclude that: T-1 is expensive and requires lengthy installation intervals; Fiber is expensive to deploy, which has limited its potential as a widely available network access solution; Digital subscriber line DSL is typically available only within 18,000 feet of a telephone company central office and is subject to quality limitations associated with aging telephone company copper access infrastructure; Cable TV systems capable of supporting two-way data communication services are limited in terms of upstream information-carrying capacity and by the fact that very few systems have been deployed in areas serving enterprise subscribers; and Two-way satellite-based services are subject to latency constraints and are extremely limited in terms of throughput. For these reasons, INSIGHT believes that SMEs small and medium- sized businesses will be attracted to FBW's low installation costs, rapid deployment intervals, and high reliability. INSIGHT does warn that providers must work to educate SMEs regarding these benefits with a simple, clear marketing message. The company's research suggests that strong marketing, flawless service, free trials and money-back guarantees will be just as important to sustained success as the price/performance advantages of FBW networks. INSIGHT's research projects a 3 billion revenue stream for fixed broadband wireless FBW service next year, with 93 of sales revenue attributed to SMEs. The report forecasts FBW subscribers and revenue for less than 11 GHz, greater than 11 GHz, and Unlicensed bands. INSIGHT segments subscribers by Small/Medium Enterprises, SOHO/Telecommuter, and Residential Consumers. Infrastructure shipments and revenues by equipment type - CPTP Access Links, PMP Base Stations, PMP Remotes, and PTP Transport Links - are also provided. This 165-page report is available for 4,195 hard copy . http://www.insight-corp.com/fixed.html http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1236.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Background - State of the Taiwanese Economy An estimated 140,000 workers lost their jobs during the period between August 2000 and February 2001. Of the 9.4 million employed workers in Taiwan, some 5.72 million were working for private businesses, 950,000 were government employees and 1.48 million people owned their own businesses. Of the 140,000 who lost their jobs during the six-month period, 139,000 were discharged by private firms. The number of private business owners also fell by 30,000. It has been estimated that Taiwan's employment rate could surge to a record high of 4.5 this year. Taiwan's manufacturing sector production fell by 4.95 in the first three months of this year as compared with the same period last year, marking the slowest growth since the first oil crisis struck in 1975. Taiwan's manufacturing production figures are not expected to make a turn for the better in the second quarter. The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research TIER recently readjusted Taiwan's overall economic growth rate for 2001 to 4.75 , about one percentage point lower than its forecast made in January. TIER also predicted that the annual growth in private spending and consumption this year will be a low 4.54 , mainly as a result of the continuing decline in the stock market which has not only caused most investors to lose up to half of their fortunes, but has also led to diminished spending and consumption. Private sector investment predictions are even more gloomy, with the annual growth in this area expected to be around 2.32 for 2001, mainly as a result of the fact that the overall investment environment has not improved in the short term and small- and medium-size enterprises have found it increasingly difficult to obtain soft loans, researchers said. The WAVE Report recently traveled to Taiwan for the TaipeiOpto Show. This is a small show compared to Computex but we found interesting items summarized below. This is the first TaipeiOpto show, it began on a weekend, and it was not a good time, economically, to start such a show. We believe the economic environment played a role in holding back companies from exhibiting. Further, there are two competing organizations seeking to claim the optics market, TOOMA and PIDA, yet, neither exhibited: Further, there is also a competing optics show in August that is larger. More than once we heard the term depression applied to the state of LCD and IT related business here. As we walked around Taipei on Saturday one could hardly describe the environment as depressed. Yet, as stated previously, there is an undercurrent here of layoffs and over capacity. The LCD fabs, largely set up for LCD monitors, have been overbuilt and the prices have been dropping. However, when it comes to displays that do not fit the monitor form factor, such as those for PDAs, the situation is quite different. These prices were described as stable. Exhibitors There were four threads in the exhibitors: DVD, fiber optics, equipment and general. Certainly DVD is the major optics market here. Taiwan makes DVD players, the optics components and disk fabrication facilities including equipment. Thus, this sector of the optics industry is very important and in large part a continuation for the CD-ROM business which the Taiwanese dominate. To our surprise the Taiwanese are beginning a role in fiber optics including DWDM Dense Wave Division Multiplexing , which is at the cutting edge of fiber optics. However, this was a small part of the overall exhibit space and also reflects the role Taiwan plays. The optics equipment category is also a very important one. Mostly what was on the floor was related to DVD or LCD production. Having Taiwanese companies in these areas is a boost to decreasing the capital investment for these technologies. The Taiwanese optical technology base is not one founded on the latest technology but in mass markets and using established technology. Further there is an obvious Taiwan Inc. myopia. Companies' license technology from outside, as in the case of both the LCD and semiconductor fabs, but when it comes to the supply chain everyone describes the base in terms of Taiwanese companies. Our take If it is in the family costs are much more easily controlled and driven out. FPD Industry Information was collected on the flat panel display industry that includes the following. The benchmark LCD panel is the 15 used in monitors. It has dropped to 250 due to oversupply created by too many suppliers in Taiwan. It is expected that the monitor price for a 15 display will drop to 300 by September. Taiwan expects to surpass Korea in LCD production in 1 year - a figure I doubt given the state of the economy. There are only 2 companies doing the small LCD panels in Taiwan: Unipac and Primeview. We only saw only Unipac panels on the show floor. Acer Displays and CPT are both working on LCDs for PDAs. However, mass production is not expected until Q4 2002. Acer Displays recently merged with Unipac. Smart Panels, which combine the drive electronics, color filters and other electronics with the TFT-LCD, are expected to further lower the cost of LCD monitors. Thus, in order to assemble a monitor it will only be required to add a power supply and case. This will render the value add of the current CRT monitor companies to zero as they seek to enter the LCD monitor business as there will no longer be a barrier to entry to the LCD monitor business. The current work on smart panels is being done by LG and Philips in a joint project. In Taiwan Chi Mei Optical is the only LCD fab working in this area. Companies of interest: Airlux Electrical Airlux does plastic optical components. These include lenses for optical mice, fingerprint scanners, and camera viewfinders. They also claim to be a ASIC design house that will integrate custom integrated circuits with optics. Their micro camera module is only 11mm square. Power On Electronics This company makes the control electronics for small LCD panels. The booth had a number of panels running video. Prices for small form factor LCDs are stable, in spite of the fact that prices for LCD panels for monitors are under pressure and declining. The reason is simple - there are only a few companies making small LCDs in Taiwan. Prices for the panels and combined panel control electronics are as follows: Panel Panel Only Panel Control Electronics Resolution 1.8 , 30 55 280 X 200 4 , 70 90 480 x 234 6.8 , 170 170 1152 X 234 It should be noted that a quantity of 1,000 was stated when the combined prices were supplied. All panels are by Unipac. The horizontal resolution is determined by the television display requirements and may not be adequate for digital displays. Thoughtek This is a company of 10 persons whose expertise is optics. This firm designs optical systems in both plastic and glass. They actually had two adjacent booths that showed Isuzu Glass and Nagano Optics - Thoughtek works with these companies. Isuzu Glass has a unique technology - the ability to make custom lens arrays for LCD projectors that are of molded glass. Many examples were in the booth and the surface quality was impressive. The reason that glass is important is that plastic breaks down under the heat of the illumination in projectors. Nagano Optics designs and builds many lenses from large zoom lenses to 1/7 CIF imaging lenses. Fair Cheer This is a conventional lens fabrication company. They grind lenses, are a supplier of rare earth grinding compounds and represent Schott in Taiwan. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1237.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST 3rdTech, developing products and businesses from university research, announced the latest HiBall-3000 Wide Area Tracker installation, and the first in Japan. The Communications Research Laboratory CRL , an independent administrative institution in Japan, purchased a HiBall-3000 System for research in communications systems using virtual reality, through NISSHO Electronics Corporation - one of 3rdTech's international resellers. The HiBall-3000 C-50 System, which tracks position and orientation within a 4000 cubic foot space, is being used with two 150-inch rear projectors and a 200-inch display composed of 16 individual DLP projectors. Participants sit in specially designed, fully wired, retractable auditorium seats for immersive explorations in communications system design. A custom ceiling moves the HiBall Tracker's Beacon Arrays into position above the immersive space during use, and retracts into a storage position at other times. The HiBall Tracker's autocalibration assures precise tracking even after these movements. The HiBall-3000 is an optical tracker based on technology first developed by the Department of Computer Science of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It uses a custom sensor composed of six lenses and photodiodes arranged to view arrays of infrared LEDs that mount on the supports of standard 'drop ceilings. The LED arrays can cover areas as small as 8x8 feet or greater than 40x40 feet. http://www.3rdTech.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1238.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Virtue 3D announced that SolidWorks has integrated Virtue3D as an additional viewing technology into its 3D Instant Website tool. SolidWorks is a provider of 3D computer-aided design CAD software for the mainstream market. Introduced last year, SolidWorks 3D Instant Website tool allows engineers to share their 3D CAD models with clients and prospects who do not have CAD software installed. 3D Instant Website allows SolidWorks users to upload their design data to a secure online site where others can access the model. Virtue3D compression technology will allow users to compress their models; for example, 3D CAD files can often be compressed to less than 5 of the original file size using Virtue3D compression technology. Rather than waiting for several minutes for an object to download, a file compressed using Virtue3D technology can be downloaded in just seconds. Virtue3D develops 3D rendering and compression technology for manipulating complex 3D content in networked environments. Based on geometric compression technology that compresses, simplifies and streams geometry, textures and motion, Virtue3D enables network-based 3D graphics applications to operate even over minimal network bandwidth with limited computing power. http://www.virtue3d.com http://www.solidworks.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1239.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Caligari, a provider of 3D authoring technologies, released trueSpace 5.1, a version of its 3D modeling program featuring support for Macromedia Shockwave3D and other web output capabilities. In addition, trueSpace 5.1 offers modeling tools, interface integration, compatibility with standard design formats, and an updated software developers kit SDK for 3rd- party plug in developers. The company also lowered the price for the stand-alone version of trueSpace, and launched a proTeam program - an array of online tools, training programs, libraries, and support services available on an annual subscription basis. Caligari's Shockwave3D Exporter plug-in streamlines conversion of trueSpace5.1 objects and scenes to Macromedia Shockwave3D and Director 8.5 formats, including all trueSpace geometry, materials, lights, views and animation. trueSpace can be used alone to create Shockwave 3D content, or as a 3D authoring complement to Macromedia Director. trueSpace5.1 also generates HTML files directly for export to Viewpoint format, providing a one-step solution for creating Viewpoint-based web sites. A Flash plug-in for trueSpace5.1 is currently being developed. Version 5.1 also offers: Integration of third party plug-ins into standard toolbars. Optimization of the UV mapping process. Area render and icon highlights. Safe-area guard lines for video output. Mouse wheel support for both zooming the eye and navigating around selected objects allows manipulation without the need to switch tools manually. Numerical editing of control vertices of NURBs curves and surfaces. SDK for 3rd party plug-in developers with support for NURBs- based modeling. Error reporting for IGES import/export. More than 200 additional modifications. trueSpace5.1 combines high-end modeling, rendering and animation power with an intuitive user interface that allows for real-time direct manipulation in a hardware-accelerated, integrated, 3D perspective workspace. Used for product design, web design, graphic design, and multimedia, the software delivers features including hybrid radiosity rendering, NURBS-based modeling tools and surfacing features. trueSpace5.1 also offers both linear key- framed animation and non-linear physics-based animation with properties such as wind, gravity, and collision detection. trueSpace 5.1 is available in two configurations. The price for the stand-alone trueSpace5.1 product has been reduced to 299 and includes 30 days of technical support. Tutorial courses are available for separate purchase. The trueSpace5.1 proTeam package, including version 5.1 software with Shockwave3D output, is 795 initially; annual renewal fees are 495. proTeam services include access to: Online training courses including tutorials with streaming animation, voice, and interactive content elements. An online forum moderated by tutorial course authors where proTeam professionals can exchange ideas and information. Product upgrades. Industry standard IGES, SAT, STL, Shockwave3D and Viewpoint format output. Online content libraries of models, scenes, materials, shaders, textures. The option for qualified users to participate in ongoing beta programs. In another announcement, Caligari released iSpace 1.5, a 3D web graphics and animation authoring package with support for Macromedia Flash output as well as the creation of a community- oriented surround portal to give professional designers access to an array of 3D tools, interactive training, content, and support services. http://www.caligari.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1240.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Equator Technologies, a provider of broadband digital communications and media processing infrastructure for the consumer electronics market, and Samsung Electronics announced a streaming media set-top box from Samsung running Equator's programmable BSP MAP-CA digital signal processor. The host-based SMT F300 set-top box will offer Video-on-Demand VOD , Interactive TV and time shift Personal Video Recorder PVR services. The box is targeted at ADSL consumers and will also be able to function as a residential gateway. The F300 will be in volume production in Q4 2001. By integrating Equator's customizable BSP MAP-CA digital signal processor into Samsung's multimedia home gateway and interactive set-top box, the companies will offer the broadcast market a multifunction set-top box solution. Because the MAP-CA digital signal processor enables streaming high-quality video at low bit rates, service providers will be able to stream a greater number of enhanced services through one box, while maintaining video quality. The BSP MAP-CA digital signal processor delivers 30 GOPs Billion Operations per Second of processing power, offering more than ten times the performance of other available solutions. The system-on-a chip solution delivers core functions through software rather than dedicated hardware and is designed for high- performance, video-intense broadband applications. By using software downloads to update the functionality of products, even after they are launched and in the field, the life cycle of the equipment can be extended, enabling companies to decrease their time-to-market and their time-to-revenue with broadband services and devices. The programmable chip allows service providers to offer more services and functionality, such as time shifting, video conferencing, broadcast media security, video security, VOD, DVD playback, and per viewer advertising. http://samsungelectronics.com http://www.equator.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1241.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST According to Broadcast Engineering, the FCC has issued an order that establishes rules for the mandatory carriage of digital television stations on cable TV systems. Must-carry will apply only to a single programming channel, analog or DTV, plus program-related material. In a Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making, the FCC is seeking further comment on this issue, including information on the need for dual carriage for the transition to DTV and the return of analog spectrum, present and future cable system channel capacity, and the use of retransmission consent for DTV signals. The specifics of the FCC's DTV must-carry rules are as follows: Retransmission consent: The Commission concluded that commercial television stations broadcasting in both analog and digital during the transition may choose must-carry or retransmission consent for their analog signals while electing to negotiate for retransmission consent for their digital signals. The Commission ruled that a station electing retransmission consent for its digital signal may negotiate with a cable operator for partial carriage, i.e. one channel, of that digital signal. Finally, for the time being, a television station may tie the carriage one channel of its digital signal with the carriage of its analog signal as a retransmission consent condition. Content of signal subject to mandatory carriage. The Commission ruled that the primary video entitled to mandatory carriage includes only a single programming stream and other program- related material. The station may choose which of its unrelated multiplexed signals is considered the primary video. Among the program-related materials that would also be subject to must- carry are closed captioning, V-chip data, Nielsen ratings data, and channel mapping and tuning protocols, but not e-commerce or Internet services. Channel capacity: Section 614 of the Communications Act requires cable operators to devote up to one-third of their activated channels to must-carry. The use of the term channels is no longer appropriate in a digital environment, where capacity is measured in megabits. Accordingly, the Commission revised the method for calculating a cable system's channel capacity by totaling usable activated channel capacity of the system in megahertz and dividing that amount by three. Signal quality: In Section 614 of the Act, commercial television stations must provide a good quality signal at a cable system's principal headend in order to qualify for must-carry. The Commission determined that for DTV stations, the signal strength level necessary to meet this requirement is -61dBm. Material degradation: The Commission found that cable operators may remodulate digital broadcast signals from 8VSB to 64 or 256 QAM. Cable operators are not required to pass through 8VSB signals, although the Commission noted that doing so might be a good option for cable operators early in the DTV transition. The Commission also found that cable operators may not carry a DTV signal in a lower resolution than that afforded to a non- broadcast digital programmer carried on the cable system. As to the statutory requirement that must-carry stations be carried without material degradation, the Commission found that a cable operator would not necessarily be materially degrading a DTV signal if it carries less than the full 19.4Mb/s transmitted by a broadcaster. Channel location: The Commission found that there is no need to implement channel positioning requirements for DTV signals like those that exist for analog signals, and that channel mapping protocols contained in the PSIP data stream adequately address a television station's channel positioning concerns. Set-top box availability: The Commission found that a cable operator is not required under the Act to provide subscribers with a set-top box capable of processing DTV signals for display on analog sets. Carriage on PEG channels: The Commission found that carriage of digital non-commercial educational stations and digital LPTV signals on unused public, educational or government access channels, with the permission of the local franchising authority, is consistent with the Communications Act. Basic tier: the Commission held that DTV signals carried pursuant to must-carry must be available to all subscribers on a basic service tier. In a related decision, the FCC ruled that a Florida digital-only television station is entitled to mandatory carriage rights on cable systems in its local cable market. The FCC granted the station's carriage request and ordered that as a transitional matter the station could elect whether its signal would be carried in digital or analog format. If the station elects analog carriage, it must provide at its own expense equipment to the cable operators to convert the DTV signal to analog. WAVE Comments As technical and detailed as this decision appears, it is a life and death issue for over-the-air broadcasters. With no consumers wanting to install antennas for quality digital reception, they are left with cable companies for delivery. However, cable MSOs realize that the spectrum over their cable plant is also valuable both for broadcasting to the home but also data services. Thus, to mandate must carry for local broadcasters limits the spectrum available for the core business of cable. The FCC has walked a fine line to seek a solution for all in this ruling. The broadcasters are critically dependent on cable for their future - a position they do not want to be in. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1242.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Broadband fixed wireless, in the unlicensed bands particularly, is a technology that can offer small and large service providers the ability to reach customers, gain revenues and take control of customer relationships. Yet intelligent network planning and design is a difficult task in this era of low margins and tight money supply. What is needed is a network plan that takes into account specific service areas, customer base, resources and expertise. For this reason, Shorecliff has developed a series of regional workshops designed to help carriers of all types to deploy well- planned, intelligent and viable fixed wireless networks. These workshops feature specific network design information, frequency re-use and bandwidth management education The six-hour tutorial includes business planning, wireless fundamentals, network design, performing site surveys, installing and testing access points, installing client sites and supporting the wireless network. Each workshop offers practical information taken from real-world wireless ISP deployments. The format is instructional and interactive, allowing audience members to hear from and learn from all individuals in the group. The following locations and dates are available: Location and Date Advanced Reg. Discount date Tampa Bay, FL - May 24, 2001 April 30 St. Louis, MO - July 9, 2001 June 9 Dallas, TX- Aug 8, 2001 July 8 Seattle, WA - Aug 13, 2001 July 13 Irvine, CA - Aug 13, 2001 August 7 Advance Registration Price: 199 Regular / On Site Registration Price: 299 Members of the WAVE Report get 50 off the regular conference attendance price - so make sure you specify you are a subscriber! http://www.shorecliffcommunications.com/wisp/ http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1243.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST We invite you to participate in the cast01 conference on intersections of artistic, cultural, technological and scientific issues of: LIVING IN MIXED REALITIES cast01 Conference on Communication of Art, Science and Technology September 21-22, 2001 / GMD - Schloss Birlinghoven, Sankt Augustin / Bonn, Germany cast01 invites submissions of innovative research, media art practise and theory. We are looking for ground breaking media art and inspiring research projects on topics like: Semantic Web, Mixed Reality, Advanced Interfaces and Future Media Spaces that symbolise the influence of information technology on patterns of life and work in a networked society. Proposed contributions english or german may be in the form of research papers or artistic presentations as well as blueprints and posters of developing concepts. Researchers, artists, theorists, practitioners and entrepreneurs are encouraged to submit interdisciplinary projects and critical reflections on the merging of the virtual and the real. Topics: Agents and Narrative Intelligence Artistic Productions / Mixed Reality Architecture Awareness, Memory Space and Knowledge Discovery Cultural Archives Distributed Systems and Parallel Architectures for the Web Hypermedia Formats XML, VRML, MPEG-4, MPEG-7 Interactive TV Mixed Reality Environments Performative Interfaces Tracking, Tracing, Vision Systems DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: May 31, 2001 Notification of acceptance: June 30, 2001 Camera-ready papers: July 15, 2001 Early registration deadline: July 31, 2001 reduced price PROCEEDINGS: Accepted papers and blueprints will be published in the Conference proceedings. A special issue of netzspannung.org journal of Art, Design and Innovation Research will be published with cast01 conference best papers. BEST PAPER AWARD: The best paper, artistic presentation, blueprint / poster and student presentation will be honored with the cast01 award. http://netzspannung.org/cast01 e-mail: cast01 netzspannung.org cast01 is organised by netzspannung.org and by the GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology. It is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research bmb f and by the European Commission. It is hosted by MARS Exploratory Media Lab: http://imk.gmd.de/mars http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1244.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST SynaPix announced that the company will debut scene reconstruction software, called SynaVision, an application that they claim will streamline the process of building textured 3D models to match recorded scenes in both broadcast and film productions. SynaPix will also demonstrate a version of its SynaMatch 3D matchmoving software, which reduces the labor and cost of matchmoving. Scheduled for beta testing this summer, the SynaVision application will streamline the process of building textured 3D models by allowing special effects artists to use real world film and video images as a starting point. While traditional modeling techniques are labor-intensive, SynaVision will allow artists to reconstruct a scene and objects within it using both geometric constructs and generative surfaces. Precise image registration will also allow users to register reconstructed scenes with the original Director of Photography's pixels. SynaMatch 3D matchmoving software reduces the labor and cost of matchmoving by recovering 3D camera path and 3D points from film and video. SynaMatch eliminates the need to build wire-frame CG models for frame-by-frame visual alignment and supports direct export of 3D camera path and 3D points to animation systems including Maya, Softimage, 3D Studio Max, and LightWave as well as Discreet's flint/flame/inferno. SynaMatch 2.0, improves the recoverability of scene data using geometric constructs. Features of the release include line and point tracking capabilities, batch auto tracking allowing users to select and auto-track multiple features in one batch process, geometric constructs for higher fidelity camera path registration, scene graph for full control of 2D, 3D, and geometric relationships, export of primitive scene data in addition to camera path, and resolution independence, for film and video. http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1245.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Cambridge Animation Systems has announced Animo for Mac OS X, Apple's operating system. Animo integrates 2D and 3D animation for development of feature films, animated television series, commercials, games and multimedia projects. Versions of Animo for Mac OS X will offer the same functionality as their counterparts running on Windows and IRIX operating systems. Users will be able to exchange files among Animo systems running on the three computing platforms. http://www.cambridgeanimation.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1246.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Varimetric Solutions Announces Name Change and Product Updates Varimetric Solutions has announced a new corporate name, AutoSolids ASI , and in conjunction announced updated versions of it's product, AutoSolids, a 3D solid modeling software add-on for AutoCAD and AutoCAD-based products. Updated functionality in AutoSolids v2.0.3 includes support of Mechanical Desktop 4 and 5, and support for all versions of AutoCAD Architectural Desktop. AutoSolids supports AutoCAD Release 14.01, AutoCAD 2000, and AutoCAD 2000i, and all of their respective mechanical and architectural vertical market products. The RealView capabilities within AutoSolids R14 are now identical to those found in the AutoCAD 2000/2000i-based product, AutoSolids A2K. AutoSolids is an ObjectARX application that runs inside of AutoCAD, extending the solid modeling, viewing, and visualization capabilities of standard AutoCAD. Single-user licenses of AutoSolids list for 995, multi-user licenses are available. http://www.autosolids.com http://www.virtualheritage.net/news_blogs/1247.htm Thu, 31 May 2001 12:00:00 EST Parks Associates, a market research firm which focuses on the technologies and services for the home, put on the 5th Connections conference with CABA, the association that promotes home and building automation. This conference is the most focused one in North American on the home networking market. A number of insights came from this conference that complement and extend our coverage of the European Home Networking Congress WAVE 0123- 0124 . Conference Details Microsoft Keynote Microsoft showed demos of Windows XP during the keynote and it is a vast improvement for the consumer. At the same time the shipment date is now October 25th. Just in time for the Holiday season but barely. During the keynote, John Frederiksen announced that Windows XP plays DVD. Not quite. XP will recognize DVD disks and Microsoft is thinking about letting users go to web sites to download decoders to playback MPEG-2 video. Under these limited conditions Windows XP does playback DVD. The problem is that the 10 licensing fee for MPEG-2 destroys Microsoft business model for OS pricing. Also during the talk considerable emphasis was placed on the PCs role with media and home networking. Not having the ability to handle MPEG-2 is a glaring hole in that strategy. CEA Consumer Market Research in Home Networking Tim Herbert The Consumer Electronics Association CEA does 25-30 studies a year. Many are owner profiles seeking to understand how consumers use specific products. Tim reported on a recent study on home networking. The data was collected in March 2001 and was done with a sample of 1,100 online adults. Further, 3 focus groups were conducted, in April 2001, and the participants were in three age groupings: 18 - 35; 35 - 44; and 45 . The home electronics penetration rates in homes today are: Security Systems - 17 Electronic Locks - 4 Home Theater - 23 Camcorders - 39 Programmable Thermostat - 26 Intercom - 11 Wireless Phones - 60 PC - 60 The PC controls less than 5 of the following: lighting; appliances; heating/cooling; TV/stereo; and security products. The average US household spends approximately 1,000 on consumer electronics hardware and 900 on services. The US Housing market includes the following: 67 of US adults own a home; 43 of homeowners purchased a home for the first time in 1999; The typical buyer is 39 years old and has an income of 60,000; There were 904,000 new one-family homes sold in 2000 and The median sales price of a home is 169,000. Consumers, based on many surveys by CEA, are classified in terms of product adoption as: Early - 11 Middle - 24 Mass - 64 Of the total population 25 are classified as reluctant to adopt any technology. It was stressed, based on this and other studies, that consumers only spend a fixed amount per year on consumer electronics. When they evaluate new products this is evaluated against purchases that could support existing products. Thus, consumer electronics spending, at the individual family level, is a zero sum game. CEA summarized this as: Consumers are spending a lot on homes and electronics for the home...but there is a fierce competition for discretionary dollars. A supporting comment was that consumers are much more likely to improve their home, be it DIY Do It Yourself or otherwise, than they are their automobile. Are consumers aware of the terms in use for home networking? Home Automation - 32 Home Networks - 33 Smart Homes - 44 PC Networks for Homes - 43 When asked what a home network is the responses were: Sensing; Control; Remote; Connected; Remote Access; and Infrastructure. The views of home networks split along functions and computer centric: Functions Centric Homes with many electronic monitoring devices which are used for security, fire-smoke detection, malfunctioning vital systems alert and also for convenience such as garbage compaction and remote lighting. Computer Centric Everything in the house controlled by 1 central computer; Different devices in the home all hooked to a central control point. One area of considerable concern in the computer centric view is the lack of reliability of computers. For example, it was cited that the consumer did not want to get locked out of their home because it crashed. In terms of awareness about home networking and demographics the following came from the survey: Males are slightly more aware of terms than females; Females were most aware of smart homes while Males were aware of PC networks for the home; and Multi-PC households and home office households demonstrated high awareness levels. Where do consumers get information about home networking? Television Male - 59 Female - 65 Newspapers/Magazines Male - 48 Female - 37 Internet Male - 43 Female - 28 Friends/Family Male - 14 Female - 19 Retailer Male - 5 Female - 2 This latter response was cited as an indication of the lack of retail presence and education in the channel. What are consumer's preferences for home networking features/capabilities: Separate thermostat controls - 65 Thermostat/water heater automation - 65 Vacation setting - 61 Motion sensor lights - 59 Distributed Video - 57 Distributed Audio - 54 Advanced departure routines - 50 Caller ID via TV Screen - 49 Automatic responses to telephone call - 46 PC network for home PCs - 42 Music via the Internet Using existing Audio system - 41 Video conferencing - 36 Customized telephone messages - 35 E-mail notification - 35 Customized mixes of CD collection - 34 Digital Picture frames - 29 Networked video games - 26 Tim cautioned not to take the numbers literally but to look at the responses on a relative scale. That is, those surveyed are over 2X as likely to want distributed audio and video than networked games. This data is very striking. The position of the PC network is quite low. Consumers are seeking home control above all else. However, these results correlate with some of the European results - provide functions that make life easier. The PC does not do this in the mind of the consumer. We also find it very interesting that the lowest ranking was networked video games. What then are the characteristics of those that expressed these interests? Males and females had similar interest levels - unusual response pattern; 18-34 most interested in audio and video capability; Seniors most interested in vacation settings; Multiple PC households show relatively high interest in PC networks 58 vs. 32 ; and Home office households want more work productivity functions. How have the results changed from previous surveys? Much of the results are the same with the exception of e-mail notification that has dropped from 55 in 1998 to 32 in 2001. The reason was speculated to be the high level of junk mail, which has diminished the value of notification. What are the challenges that lie ahead, in terms of the consumer's perceptions? High levels of complexity must be eliminated; Skeptics on the technology; Reliability must be very high; The retail channel is undeveloped or does not exist; Installation and Maintenance must exist and be of high quality; Consumers do not want technology that gets obsolete quickly; Is there DYI support; and Cost must be low. WAVE Assessment - These results are very significant. Given that many of those surveyed already had a computer because the survey was done online it is striking how low the rating of the PC centric implementation of the home network was. More importantly, these results confirm that consumers want functions and features that make their lives easier. What is surprising is the consistency between these results and those that came from Europe. Role of Information Appliances David Armitage, Qubit Technology David had two Qubit tablets to pass out to the audience during his presentation that were wirelessly connected to the Internet. Based on the sales of this unit he drew some very interesting conclusions about the state of the market. The early adopters: are price insensitive; have extraordinary expectations for what the products will do; know the Internet well; broadband penetration is high; and they have busy lifestyles, limited time and NO patience. The new market is defined by these rules: Subsidization models are out; Advertising revenues are weak; Transaction participation models are unproven; Spending on Internet commerce is strong; Bricks and Clicks rule; and Consumers will spend for technology that works. Information Appliances have the potential for changing lifestyles. The technology must impact how we live to be useful; The technology must be present in the highest traffic areas of the home; Scheduling, messaging and managing are as important as surfing and There must be instantaneous results - Every second counts. The home can be divided into four functional areas: Utility Entry Way; Garage; Closets and Storage; and Halls and Stairs. Private Areas; Bedrooms; Bathrooms; Den or Study; and Wine Cellar. Community Area Kitchen; Family Room; TV Room; Playroom; and Porch. Task Areas Home Office; Exercise Room; and Hobby Room. To best target the home means that technology must match what we want to do where in the home. Spontaneous Tasks - done on non-PC devices Scheduling Messaging To Do Lists and Traffic, Weather, News, Stocks, etc. Planned Tasks Taxes; Investing and Homework. It is the high traffic areas where technology can make a difference and the PC does not fit. The PC fits the planned tasks when one has time to devote to the task and this is usually a planned event. It has been their observation that the average use of the Qubit is 30 seconds. However, what it is used in this short time varies significantly between a man and wife. David characterized the early adopter buyers as having low latency tolerance. Thus, when releasing new products for the home it is critical to pre- qualify the demographics for what the technology can deliver. WAVE Assessment - Very useful insights based on practical market experience. There is some bias with a pad that is not a PC, however, the time constrained environment of the early adopters set a usage pattern that is very plausible. We also note a degree of correlation with the CEA market assessment. Keynote Richard Green, Sun Microsystems Sun has been preaching that the Network is the Computer and now that has been accomplished. The next step is Act II The Net Effect. The Net Effect has the following components: Personal Computer is Reinvented TO Network Devices Applications and Platforms are Reinvented TO The Service Grid Large Scale Computing BECOMES Internet Data Centers Network is Reinvented TO The Information Utility The home is where this all begins to accomplish this transition. Then it fell flat. Sun pitched its Java story. Critical to the message was the claim that Java is essential to making the new phase of the Internet work. It is impossible to make this work without write once run anywhere software. In spite of these vast claims it remained unclear how Sun will address the home market other than provide multiple different versions of Java. Maybe their business model is all about selling a computer language and not really selling vision. Creating a New Market Space Ron Willis, Cisco Ron was promoting the Internet Home Alliance that is 9 months old. The IHA is to Enhance consumers' understanding, appreciation and adoption of the Internet Lifestyle. The components of the mission are: reduce confusion and complexity, educate the consumer and offer choice. The strategies for accomplishing this include: Influence consumer behavior regarding the Internet; Deliver consumer-centric solutions that solve today's dilemmas; Collaborate with ecosystems to achieve market potential; Publicize the benefits and reality of the Internet lifestyle to consumers; and Enable new levels of integration allowing for advanced solutions. He finished with the claim that Internet is the next general utility in the home. WAVE Assessment - This seemed earnest but hollow. The premise is that consumers will want the Internet lifestyle that others want to push onto them. Is this not wrong? Consumers make informed decisions on what they need and want and then spend money. Consumers will decide if they want products and lifestyle is more a Nike message. The CEA presentation on consumer interests, not the Cisco talk, reinforced the realities of seeking consumer's interests first. ShareWave This company is a force behind 802.11e, the QoS standards efforts for 802.11b a. They are a fabless silicon company. It is claimed if their technology, called Whitecap is used, it will enable the integration of data and voice/ audio/video. They make a MAC layer chip and are reliant on other fabless semiconductor companies to build the RF chip and baseband chips. Their first version of Whitecap will not interoperate with 802.11b and a, but the second version, due in August, will work with both. Currently Whitecap I, a proprietary implementation is being used in wireless networking products by Panasonic, PCMCIA cards, and Netgear. Their 801.11a implementation works with chips from the company Radita, which has been bought by Cisco. CableHome Cable Labs CableLabs, the R D arm of the cable industry, is seeking to have the premier position in home networking by making the MSO the services provider. The MSOs already have a major advantage of having a STB Set-Top Box in the home that is well along the way to being a residential gateway. Thus, the actions that CableLabs takes to define standards for transport and certification go a long way to set the agenda for the position of cable as transport of service well beyond video. Three projects were described: CableLabs Certified CableModems PacketCable OpenCable CableHome CableLabs claims that consumers want service providers to take end-to-end delivery responsibility for services. To do this CableLabs is extending the success of its DOCSIS specification for cable modems into CableHome. Upon this there will be a platform for the delivery of services. The vision of CableHome is to establish a set of interface specifications that will allow for the delivery of services to subscribers' homes using equipment that is compliant with those specifications. The objectives of the project include: Extend bandwidth advantages from cable to services delivered over it; Make the