U.N. ambassadors to visit digitally

As part of the Focus Skidmore series, several of the college's organizations are teaming up to sponsor a teleconference between students and the United Nations Ambassador's Club to discuss climate change. Using an innovative technology unit termed the Tandberg system, students will be able to directly interact with panelists from around the world.

In response to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December, the environmental studies program along with Sustainable Skidmore, the Environmental Action Club and International Affairs are organizing the event, which will take place at 7 p.m. on Feb. 18 in Gannett Auditorium.

Through audience-involved discussion, the event aims to inform students on the outcome of the Copenhagen Conferences.

"We will come up with a few questions to ask the ambassadors to get them started, but if students would like to submit questions earlier, we can make sure those questions are on the docket," Erica Fuller, the college's sustainability coordinator, said.

As a prelude to the event, Lucy Van Hook, an independent carbon consultant, will be hosting "Debriefing Copenhagen from the Ground" at 7 p.m. on Feb. 15 in Davis auditorium.

Hunt Conard, director of Media Services, and Ben Harwood, instructional technologist, are responsible for providing the portable version of the Tandberg system for the teleconference.

"It's strictly portable. It's just a little, gray box that we bring in with a camera and microphone, and hook it into the system," Conard said.

The new unit, called the Tandberg C20, provides direct communicative capabilities, linking two sites together through visual and audible media.

"We've been using it in the regular classes. As long as they have a compatible unit on the other side, we can set it up in the classroom and communicate with other people directly," Conard said.

The system has connected the college with the U.N. two previous times, both of which linked students with the U.N. Ambassador Club, founded by Pakistan's Ambassador Ahmad Kamal.

Kamal will be the keynote speaker at this month's event. "His role is as a facilitator and he pulls in various colleagues depending on what you want to talk about. Because we wanted to talk about Copenhagen, he brought in Jonas Pastor, who was essentially responsible for the Copenhagen Conference, as well as the follow-up," Fuller said.

"Some people were calling it a success, some people were calling it failure, so we're interested to hear what he thought of the outcome."

Harwood believes Kamal's presence will spur debate among participants. "Ambassador Kamal, in particular, helps to organize the different members that will be on the panel. He is quite good at moderating the discussion and setting the issue up, setting an agenda that really favors debate," Harwood said.

"You really do get the impression, in the audience, that these are real issues. I think that's a real attractive feature of this video-conferencing, that it is very engaging and real."

Through the Tandberg system, Kamal and his colleagues will be able to communicate with the audience in real-time, with exceptional technological quality.

"The microphone is sensitive enough where you don't have to walk up to the front," Fuller said.

In addition to removing transportation costs, the system eliminates the by-product of fuel emissions produced by travel.

"We're hoping that this can serve as a model of a way to bring outside speakers to campus in not only a way that saves money but also that is lower in carbon emissions," Fuller said.

The convenience of the system presents more accessibility to a greater range of speakers. "You can have a much better chance of getting an expert in a field to talk to a class if he or she doesn't have to spend the time to come up here," Conard said.

Since the teleconference relies on conversation, student attendance is crucial to the event.

"I think it's a great event to look at what is happening on an international stage but also to help drum up some interest on what is happening on Skidmore's campus as well," Fuller said.