UH video project
By Alisa LaVelle
puts people face to
face, around theworld
Star-BulletinLocal farmers next week are expected to question an official in Washington, D.C., about new U.S. Agriculture Department regulations.
But no one will be catching a plane for the face-to-face session. Instead, they will be using video teleconferencing equipment recently installed by the University of Hawaii's Agriculture Development in the American Pacific project, said project manager James Hollyer.
"It's amazing to be talking to a person at USDA in Washington like they are in a small window," Hollyer said, referring to the 50-inch televison screen that will be used.
The equipment, provided by Agriculture Department funds, allows two-way, real-time video teleconferencing with educators, scientists, extension agents and others with similar setups in the state, Pacific area and around the world.
Transmission is through networks like PEACESAT and the university's Hawaii Interactive Television System, or HITS.
The recently installed system needs only one person to operate and uses technology that tracks a speaker's voice, and then zooms in to get a better picture of the speaker.
"The equipment decreases costs for people to attend conferences and increases education and information's reach," Hollyer said.
The agriculture development project is part of the UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Dean Charles Laughlin said the college "has always been a leader in getting information to clients" and the system will help expand that capability.
"We hope to be able to make use of similar sites that are being installed at rural hospitals and educational sites throughout Hawaii and the Pacific," he said.
