videoconferencing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The first Dialogue in the series, Uncovering Barriers to Women’s Political Leadership: Virtual Dialogues Leading to the International Colloquium for Women's Empowerment took place on Thursday 22 January.

This Dialogue featuring an interview with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first democratically elected female president, pictured here during the Dialogue. More than 100 people took part from locations in Liberia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. Using facilities provided by the GDLN network, this event used both videoconferencing and live streaming to connect the sites. Participants included the Minister of Women Empowerment of the Republic of Indonesia, Prof. Dr. Meutia Hatta Swasono and Minister for Industries, Trade and Marketing in Tanzania, Hon. Mary Nagu.

More information about these Dialogues is available on the Virtual Dialogues web site.

The Virtual Dialogues Secretariat announced today that the Minister of Women Empowerment of the Republic of Indonesia, Prof. Dr. Meutia Hatta Swasono,will join the first Virtual Dialogue taking place on Thursday 22 January. Dr Swasono will provide a summary of this virtual discussion on Women in Leadership which links sites in Cairo, Dar-es-Salaam,Colombo, Moldovia and of course Jakarta where she will be located.

At the heart of this Dialogue will be an interview with President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first female President and it will include local discussions as well as an open moderated discussion with President Johnson-Sirleaf linking participants in all sites. Visit the Virtual Dialogues web site for more information.

The Women's Dialogue is a 3 part series of virtual dialogues starting on 22 January 2009 featuring live interviews and participation of current and former female Heads of State including Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and President Tarja Halonen interacting with a global audience of future leaders. The purpose of these dialogues is to produce recommendations and solutions on how to break down barriers to leadership which will be presented to the Women’s International Colloquium being held in Monrovia, Liberia March 7-8 2009.These dialogues are facilitated through the GDLN network of centres and are being produced by ATiT.

On Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 October 2008, ATiT provided the video production services for a successful training session of the European Academy for Gynaecological Surgery (EAGS). Endoscopic as well as other camera images were transmitted via IP videoconferencing as well as terrestrial microwave links between the operation theatres of the Hospitals of Zuid Oost Limburg (Genk) and Heilig Hart (Leuven) and the EAGS Auditorium in Leuven (Belgium). An additional connection transmitted the same programme for part of the day to the ESGE Live Demonstration Workshop 2008 in the Military Medical Academy in Sofia (Bulgaria).