[Reader-list] Global Learn Day 5 on Sunday Oct 7

[A Mehta]

Hi,
I'm a keynote speaker for this event, see www.bfranklin.edu -- we also hope 
to show it live on Gyan Darshan, the educational TV channel of the Indira 
Gandhi National Open University, 1-2pm Indian Time, 7:30AM GMT. I would 
appreciate your comments on my short speech, which is at 
www.necaindia.com/GLD5.htm , and hope that you can participate in the 
24-hour event. Here is what John Hibbs, who organizes this every year, has 
to say about this:

"We think putting on a non stop 24 hour event that features exceptional 
people undertaking extraordinary activities from 24 time zones is something 
no one else even attempts, much less will have done for five years in a 
row. Free to anyone with an Internet connection. Or in some cases a radio. 
Made possible by volunteers who provide the fuel for a Voyage that begins 
on the left hand edge of the date line, in Fiji, and ends on its right hand 
side, somewhere in the Cooks...or is it the Marriana's?

We think few would dare to have on the same agenda scientists talking to 
the audience by ham radio from Antactica; and Africans talking from solar 
powered telecenters in Nigeria. We think it's pretty unusual that while in 
the South Pacific our friends there will carry our broadcasts by satellite 
to people who are scattered over an expanse as wide as all Russia.

We think the subject of Conflict Resolution is extremely important. Which 
is why we had long ago scheduled a stop in Burundi to visit with those 
close to the agonies of Rwanda. We think our stops in the UAE, Oman, Cairo 
and Karachi will give insights valuable to those who are far more than an 
ocean apart. And both our keynotes and our stops in New Delhi, Sao Paolo 
and Belfast will make clear the role of the radio.

We think our stop in Chicago to view recycling of old computers bound for 
Mexican e-learning centers in Baja will add to the example of some award 
winning South Americans who took 600 tired machines from America and turned 
them into 100 plus learning centers in outback Peru. Not to mention their 
work with Hispanics all over the American mid-West.

We think our stop in New Zealand with a young mother who makes her living 
on the Net and our stop in Australia about "A Development Vehicle in Remote 
Aboriginal Australia" are just different sides of the same coin. We think 
that Alfred Bork and Terry Redding are on to something when one writes 
intensively about very substantial reductions in costs and the other is 
passionate about the imperatives of lifelong learning. We think Guy 
Bensusan is blazing a trail where the learners are the ones out front. That 
more might be accomplished by working with those under twenty than by those 
over fifty.

We think the tools we use to make this event the most interactive 
conference of all time are not just the finest on the planet; but also the 
most affordable; and the best integrated.

We think our conference is the model of the future, not so much because of 
it's global reach or innovative technology, but because so much of the 
content is available in advance and all of it available from the archives. 
We think that the purpose of any real time meeting is as much to stimulate 
interest and excitement as it is for dialogue and debate. That while 
critical thinking comes best from quiet reading and deep reflection, 
nothing quite concentrates the mind like preparing for an event. And that 
you don't need to be belly up to the bar to have fun; or meet new friends 
with something compelling to say. Or learn about an activity worth 
listening to.

We also think that when our very long day is completed, a whole lot of 
people will better understand the prime message of GLD5 - that education is 
about convergence - radio, telecenters, e-education, e-training and e-jobs. 
That there is no single "solution". And, that even with cataclysmic events, 
changes in long held habits and long held practices is always slow, 
incremental and fragmentary.

Finally this. We hope to make clear our solid understanding of a message 
sent to us by one of our strongest supporters, Blaine Berger: It 
reads:  "Most people overestimate what can be done in one year; and 
underestimate what can be done in ten."

Global Learn Day5 is halfway to Ten. Is it really possible we will turn our 
dream to make Global Learn Day as big as Earth Day? That maybe, just maybe, 
others with deep pockets and great reach will (someday) join us to help 
prove our vision that Earth Day and Global Learn Day are also different 
sides of the same (planetary) coin?

Please forward this message. That is if you think GLD5 is exceptional. And 
please forgive duplicates. It is a small world."

Arun

Arun Mehta, moderator india-gii. To join a list which discusses India's 
bumpy progress on the global infohighway, mail india-gii-subscribe at cpsr.org 
http://members.tripod.com/india_gii is our neglected website.
To  reassure yourself as to the quality of content and volume of mail, 
please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/india-gii/messages


_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com