Summer 2007
Next-generation videoconferencing technology comes to Northern Ontario
Contact North/Contact Nord 'beams' in speakers in 3D
Contact North/Contact Nord, Northern Ontario's Distance Education and Training Network, is bringing next-generation 3-D videoconference technology to Northern Ontario and will soon make the technology available for teaching and learning applications in the north.
Pat Dion, Director of Information Technology at Contact North/Contact Nord, gives a virtual high-five to Teleportec technician Gary Rockwood.
Representatives of northern educational and healthcare institutions got a glimpse of the new equipment at a live demonstration of the three-dimensional videoconferencing technology (or 'teleported' technology) supplied by Teleportec Inc. This equipment provides the ability to 'beam' instructors, medical professionals and presenters into classrooms, hospital rooms and meetings to interact with participants in real time.
What is unique about this technology is the amazing lifelike-ness of the people 'beamed' in: remote participants appear life-size on a glass unit in apparent 3-D.
"Using this next-generation technology, we can experiment with the opportunity for instructors and teachers to appear live and life-sized within an apparent 3-D environment in virtual classrooms equipped with standard videoconferencing technology," said Pat Dion, Director, Information Technology, Contact North/Contact Nord.
The demonstration featured James Young, Chairman of Teleportec Inc., who was 'beamed' to Contact North/Contact Nord's Sudbury and Thunder Bay locations from the company headquarters in Dallas, Texas. A total of 52 Northern Ontario IT professionals and industry/educational executives took part in the demonstration and question and answer session.
Part of James Young's demonstration involved showing a video of an open heart surgery to exhibit the lifelike and 3-D quality of the images - a useful tool for remote medical education. Viewers in Sudbury and Thunder Bay were impressed by the high quality visuals and potential for distance learning opportunities, says Dion.
Contact North/Contact Nord is installing a unit at both locations and expects to have them in place by September. The organization will make them available to educational and healthcare institutions in the region interested in using the new technology for meetings, teaching, training or demonstrations.
For more information, please visit www.contactnorth.ca.
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