Tomorrow at 6pm New York time, Global Learn Day 8 will take off online while bringing together academics, professors, trainers and technologists from all countries around the world in a real-time non-stop show lasting 24 hours.
This is a fascinating grassroots live conference utilizing VoIP technology and cost-effective presentation facilities with the mission of "increasing and accelerating affordable access to education", worldwide.
GLD8 gives the opportunity to those of you who have not been exposed to online events, where people talk and present in real time (without the use of the telephone), to get some really good idea of how inexpensive conferencing technologies can really bring people together in an effective fashion.
The event is a grassroots opportunity that is unique, for what I have seen in its genre. By bringing together people interested in better access to education, cost-effective technologies and new forms of cooperation/collaboration, Global Learn Day provides a unique stage for meeting the voices that make a difference from the roots.
If you are into education, like to see the use of real-time communication technologies by a diversified groups of academic users from around the world, GLD8 is an event worth coming by to see.
The event unfolds by having guests take the podium from all regions of the world in a sequence starting in the South Pacific and terminating in Hawaii after 24 continuous hours of live presentations.
John Hibbs of the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Global Education is the director/producer behind the event. Professor Hibbs can be found most of the time between now and the event launch inside the public event room coordinating and setting up people and presenters until the very last minute.
To get to the backstage, to setup, test your PC (only Windows supported) and your ability to login, just head off to this page and find the access point to the Conference Auditorium on the left side of the page.
The event can be recorded at will by any attendee via the integrated facilities provided by TalkingCommunities (a branded version of the original iVocalize technology I have also been using in my Kolabora Live! Buyer's Review events this year). The recording includes any of the text chat exchanges, the Web pages/Powerpoint slides shown and all of the audio streams. (Windows Media Encoder is required for this to work, you will also be able to)
Access from here too:
http://www.tcconference.com/edu/index.pl
I highly recommend at least a short visit to it during the 24 hours of its non-stop show.
I have attended last year, thanks to great advice from Andrius Kulikauskas, and was positively impressed by what I saw.
On this page you can find an online agenda of the event by looking at the regions of the world listed in the left column. For each region there is a precise start reference time listed and then a short list of discussion panels and individuals who will moderate them (here is one example from the European page) .
You can join in the event room anytime after 6pm NY time tomorrow (Saturday Nov. 20 2004). I will be there myself for the opening and then again during some parts of the event on Sunday.
****Update****
(Sat. 20th 11:27am GMT+1)
Sunday at 13 noon NY time (18 GMT) Stephen Downes will provide the introductory keynote to the Americas. As Stephen is NOT a man of formally wrapped institutional talks, but an aggressive visionary researcher, developer and writer about the education horizons we are both creating and dreaming for our future, I strongly invite you to be present for this key session.
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Here is some interesting information about the European and Asian region presentations to take place at GLD8.
Lots of interesting stuff.
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I myself will be joining in earlier tomorrow morning (8 am for the Americas) during both the European and the Latin America coverage hoping to get a chance to share my personal summary take on the 10 key technologies and approaches that will change the world of education.
Though I am not officially slotted for this presentation, I will actively push to get a little space and my face in front of everyone.
Get in early as seating may be limited (150 seats available from what I can see now).
To find out more about Global Learn Day please see this official resource page by GlobalSchoolNet.
List of Round Table Topics.
****Update*****
(Mon Nov 22nd 6:35am GMT+1)
Stephen Downes audio recording of his introductory keynote to the Americas given at GLD8, yesterday Nov. 21st at 7pm (GMT+1) from his Vancouver hotel room.
