Changes between Version 1 and Version 2 of wef-report

Timestamp:

Sep 13, 2011, 5:25:17 PM (14 years ago)

Author:

Mallory Knodel

Comment:

--

wef-report

@@ -1 @@
-==EXPANDED/INTERLINK REPORT==
+== EXPANDED/INTERLINK REPORT ==
 
-===Political Climate===
+=== Political Climate ===
 The political climate of the Palestine World Education Forum was the inspiration for a decentralized event. Because Palestinians have been displaced all over the world, a truly Palestinian forum event needed to be held in multiple locaitons. Therefore, workshops and conferences were scheduled in dozens of cities in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Palestine 1948 territory, and Lebanon.
 
@@ -10 +10 @@
 Choices about how to conduct the technology were made by volunteers and leaders of the World Social Forum and in conjunction with the Palestinian Organizing Committee. Namely, choices to use free and open source software such as Drupal and Red5 were integral to the success of the technology eat the forum.
 
-===Overview of the Logistics & Timeline===
+=== Overview of the Logistics & Timeline ===
 (For reasons explained below, the following describes only what was planned for the West Bank locations.)
 
@@ -23 +23 @@
 The final day, no events were streamed due to the lack of Internet access.
 
-===Intrastructure and Equipment===
+=== Intrastructure and Equipment ===
 The needs for the planned technology projects of the WEF required server hosting, software and software development, audio-visual equipment, Internet access at many of the forum locations. The server which hosted email and the primary website was paid through a local Palestinian company but was ultimately housed in the United States. Software used for the website and the telecommunications projects included Drupal, Red5, and Skype (which is proprietary software). The Drupal site was created and maintained by Alternatives International and May First/People Link technologists. Red5 and Big Blue Button was developed by unweb.me and implemented for use on May First/People Link's servers in the US via an interface on the main WEF website.
 
 Five kits consisting of cameras, microphones, speakers, projectors, and laptops were required for the Expanded Activities. It was also planned that three sets of equipment would be needed for video streaming from the West Bank, which included a digital video (DV) camera and laptop. Internet access was required at all locations in order to connect to the streaming server and for Skype connections.
 
-===Volunteers===
+=== Volunteers ===
 In order to connect the five main regions of the forum (Gaza, West Bank, Jerusalem, Palestine 48, and Lebanon), local organizers were asked to identify a contact for technology work. Palestine 48 was visited in-person to coordinate this work as well. In the end, only West Bank was able to work with its volunteers to broadcast and connect with Skype its activities via the organizing work described in this report. Other locations implemented technology to record, photograph, and broadcast their event in other ways. This was the main barrier to creating shared plenary sessions, such as was outlined in the political goals above.
 
 Volunteers in the West Bank were trained over a three week period to use Skype and Red5 via the WEF website. Thirteen total individuals were present for the forum event in the West Bank, although dozens went through the trainings at least once. During the decentralized day in the West Bank, at least two volunteers worked together to setup both Interlink and Expanded Activities in their locations, with full equipment kits.
 
-===Email, Website, and Newsletters===
+=== Email, Website, and Newsletters ===
 Email was the primary mode of communcation for many of the WEF organizers. Because the WEF was an international event, many emails were sent to participants to confirm their workshop events. The main organizers of the WEF office in Ramallah all used email to maintain these communications.
 
@@ -40 +40 @@
 Since email was an important means of communicating, the website was designed to coordinate newsletters. The organizing team was able to write weekly, and during the forum daily, communications to participants about important information, summarizing what was published on the website.
 
-===Interlink===
+=== Interlink ===
 The WEF was conceived as a solidarity event across multiple organized locaitons. Also, it would conceivably reach participants in many locations around the world that would not be able to physically attend. For these two needs, there was one solution, which came to be known as Interlink. Interlink is technically, live video streaming through the main website. To connect the organized locations of the WEF, each venue would display the live stream of the other with audio-visual projection. Thus, the need for a conferencing system was fulfilled. Also, anyone in the world with Internet access could view the same stream from their location. Thus, the need for a global connection was fulfilled. Chatting capabilities were also developed to allow for a viewer of the streaming video to communicate with others watching the stream as well.
 
@@ -49 +49 @@
 So, despite the implementation of the software and purchase of the audio-visual equipment, without Internet access, the Interlink system was not successful. However, this did not impact the success of the solidarity of the event between locations in Palestine and throughout the world.
 
-===Expanded Activities===
+=== Expanded Activities ===
 (The Expanded organizers might elaborate on this report in a separate document.)
 
@@ -56 +56 @@
 Skype was used with small kits, including a web camera, microphone, laptop, projector, and speakers. 30 events were scheduled, approximately 20 of them were held, with a total impact of 200 people participating simultaneously around the globe with the WEF event. Again, Internet connectivity was a huge barrier for some Expanded events, which were held only in the West Bank. No Expanded events were scheduled for other locations in Palestine. 
 
-===Conclusions and Recommendations===
+=== Conclusions and Recommendations ===
 The successes of the technology of the WEF include implementation and use of the website, participation and training of volunteers, and equipment supplies.