A Virtual Convention on Students’ Quality Circles
Waqas Ahmad
Jack Holmes
Paula Malysevaite
Edited by
Richard Ennals
Emeritus Professor, Kingston Business School
Corresponding author: richard.ennals@gmail.com
Kingston University
Kingston Business School
Working Paper 2014/2
Abstract
Kingston Business School is hosting the 17th International Convention on Students’
Quality Circles in June 2014. It is clear that international demand for places exceeds
the capacity of the Kingston Hill campus. Kingston students of Global Information
Technology in 2011-12 explored how the new technology might help to solve this
problem, by enabling the holding of a virtual convention. Three students: Waqas
Ahmad, Jack Holmes and Paula Malysevaite, leading members of the Students’
Quality Circle SQC Kingston Hawks, are now members of the Convention
Organising Committee. This edited Working Paper, drawing on their research reports,
is intended to assist preparations for the virtual convention.
Keywords: social media, software, Students’ Quality Circles, videoconferencing,
virtual events,
2
Setting the Scene
Waqas Ahmad
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction: .............................................................................................................................. 4
2.0 Diversity & Internationalisation: ........................................................................................ 4
2.1 Deploying Diversity as a tool for Internationalisation: .........................................................4
3.0 Student Quality Circles: .......................................................................................................... 5
3.1 SQC convention in 2014: ...................................................................................................................5
3.2 Technology options for talks and lectures: ................................................................................6
3.2.1 Creating customised Live streaming: ................................................................................................. 6
3.2.2 Use of YouTube: ........................................................................................................................................... 6
3.3 Technology Options for second track of activities: ................................................................6
3.3.1 Further use of Google +: ........................................................................................................................... 7
4.0 Use of established Virtual Platform: .................................................................................. 7
4.1 Suitable Virtual Platforms for the SQCs convention in 2014: .............................................7
4.2 Intercall Virtual Events: ...................................................................................................................7
4.2.1 Welcome and registration of participants: ....................................................................................... 8
4.2.2 Conference Centre: .................................................................................................................................... 8
4.2.3 Exhibition Halls: ......................................................................................................................................... 8
4.2.4 Resource Centre: ........................................................................................................................................ 8
4.2.5 Networking Lounge: ................................................................................................................................. 8
4.2.6 Mobile Assistance: ..................................................................................................................................... 9
4.2.7 Administrative Tools: ............................................................................................................................... 9
5.0 UNESCO ASPnet: ....................................................................................................................... 9
6.0 Grundtvig Project: ................................................................................................................... 9
7.0 Pakistan in the context of the 2014 convention: ....................................................... 10
7.1 Case study for commercial use of QC approach in Pakistan: ........................................... 10
7.2 Advantages of holding Virtual event: ....................................................................................... 10
7.3 Collaboration with PIQC Institute: ............................................................................................ 10
8.0 Recommendations: .............................................................................................................. 11
9.0 Personal Activity Log: ......................................................................................................... 12
10.0 References ............................................................................................................................ 13
11.0 Appendix ............................................................................................................................... 13
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1.0 Introduction
Kingston Business School is due to host the 17th International Convention on
Students’ Quality Circle in June 2014. This convention offers great potential while
linking the SQCs across borders of subject, age and nationality. The main theme of
the upcoming convention is not to end the process when we finish the event, but to
make it the beginning of an international movement for continuous development. This
will also enable Kingston University to collaborate on different projects such as
UNESCO ASPnet and Grundtvig, by using a single platform. This report evaluates
the different Information and Communication Technologies available in order to
make this convention global and international in real terms. The recent opening of
new Business School building presents the latest technological opportunities; from
these technologies we can take full advantage in our convention. The different
technological routes available have been discussed in this report with more in depth
view of one of the most suitable virtual platforms for the event.
2.0 Diversity and Internationalisation
Internationalisation provides an opportunity for domestic students to gain
international exposure, otherwise the society can suffer by not having their youth
prepared for the realities of the modern world. The international element can be
taught and developed through relevant curriculum, but nothing can beat the
experience of the people you learn from and those you learn with. In Bourn’s words:
“Enabling graduates to develop the appropriate knowledge, skills and values to be
effective in a globalised world would seem to be a necessary component of being
‘world-class’, an aspiration of so many higher education institutions.” (Bourn n.d.: 4)
At Kingston University we have representation of students from over 100 countries.
These international students make a significant financial contribution towards the
university. “Changes in government policies and the social and economic context
within which universities operate have resulted in increasing pressure for them to […]
internationalise their curricula” (Leask 2000, 1). Although UK is not in a competitive
position on a financial basis, as the cost of a degree in the UK is relatively very high
for overseas students, they can easily compete on basis of quality, by making
education a pillar of society and human development.
2.1 Deploying Diversity as a tool for Internationalisation
In order to effectively deploy this resource of diversity for internationalisation and
competitive advantage of Kingston Business School, we need to create and develop
an atmosphere of inclusion. The main purpose for creating such environment is to
connect students from different backgrounds which will enable them to share ideas
and enhance collaboration. Technology can play a vital role in terms of bridging this
gap, the recent development of “Groups for Schools” on Facebook or similar
platforms can be used to share lecture notes, assignments and even discuss classes.
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Mentoring is another good practice to gain full value from the diversity of the
students. Simply stated, mentoring should create relationships that are cross gender,
cross cultural and cross ethnic in nature (Guillory, 2002). There has been some great
work done at Kingston University and still going on in terms of Student Quality
Circles. This provides a great opportunity for peer support, and getting real
information about what actually is required by the students. This bottom up approach
also brings a real challenge for executives as they need to sit down with students and
experience diversity from a different point of view, which will ultimately enable them
to increase the organisation’s competitive advantage for future success. A practical
example of such approach, The London School of Economics and Political Sciences,
which has over half of its students from outside the UK, is successfully using a
Student Mentoring Scheme where existing students help newly arriving students
adapt to change easily.
The international convention on Students’ Quality Circles in 2014 will provide an
excellent opportunity to internationalise through social events. This event will provide
an opportunity for home students to mingle with their international counterparts. With
technological opportunities provided by the new Business School building, we can
organise a low cost event for a larger audience, specifically targeting few of the top
Non-EU countries which are sending overseas students to the UK.
3.0 Student Quality Circles
The world we are living in is increasingly instrumented, interconnected and
intelligent. We are experiencing a revolution, and information is at the heart of it. This
rapid global change requires a continuous improvement process, which means an
ongoing effort to improve efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility. In order to better
prepare our new generation for the future, these changes require us to shift our
priorities from only providing the academic excellence, but also looking for ways to
make the education more value based. The Student Quality Circles as part of the total
quality management programme at academic level can make the education system
more meaningful, by shaping the attitudes and personalities of the citizens of
tomorrow.
3.1 SQC convention in 2014
The convention on Students’ Quality Circle in 2014 is part of a series of conventions
held to focus on the need to adopt the Quality Circles approach to develop academic
study and meet the demands of the new millennium. The QCs approach is an initiative
to develop the “Total Quality Person”, and empower the students to find innovative
solutions to their problems, while working as a team. These kinds of programmes
have great potential to develop the spirit of teamwork, build fundamental shapes of
character and ultimately make us Total Quality Persons. Looking at the history of
SQC conventions, we can see that in all of the past conventions physical presence was
the primary way of participation. We are facing the challenge of holding this
convention in 2014 at Kingston University with very limited resources in terms of
physical presence of the audience. We need to consider the socio technical approach
and organise a virtual convention, and not just a conventional physical event which
would be restricted to a rich elite.
5
3.2 Technology options for talks and lectures
There can be many different approaches in terms of which technology to be used
for the event. We can learn from past events that there tend to be two distinct
tracks of activities within the same convention.
3.2.1 Creating customised Live streaming
Firstly there are a succession of keynote talks and special lectures by visiting
dignitaries. Mostly these lectures or talks involve communication in one direction,
and require less interaction from the audience. In this case we can use the option of
live web streaming in order to make those lectures available to the world. During the
research it has been found that there is no independent website for the SQC
movement. It will be wise to consider the option to create a very specific website
about the movement and we can also use the similar site for our activities in 2014
convention. We can provide the option of leaving comments as the viewers are
watching, which will give the opportunity to get some feedback in terms of the quality
of the streaming and also if they have specific questions they need to ask from the
speaker.
3.2.2 Use of YouTube
The second option we have available is the medium of YouTube. It also provides the
option of live streaming, and has been used widely across the world. We can create a
specific channel on YouTube which we can use for live streaming, and later on store
all of the lectures and case studies for the purpose of future use as a part of an
ongoing process of learning. The technological facilities provided by the new
Business School building will administratively make this kind of arrangements very
easy.
It can be argued that such arrangements have not been used in the past on such a large
scale, and we have no idea about the reliability of such services. In order to address
this issue a pilot study can be launched. We could arrange one or two lectures to be
delivered in the forthcoming conferences in Mauritius and Lucknow by using the
options discussed above. We can then collect feedback from the students as well as
academics, about their opinion for such technology to be used for future events.
3.3 Technology Options for second track of activities
In terms of the activity where there is a focus on the work of students done by
working in Quality Circles, we can use the similar option with some added features as
this activity requires more interaction. It will be easier if all of the students across the
world, who have something to share, can create a short video presenting their work.
These videos can be collected before the event by the central team at Kingston. We
can process all of those videos and play them using the same medium discussed
above. Each video can be given a unique identification, and viewers will be asked to
leave their feedback about each video. In order to collect feedback and questions we
can use the mediums such as Facebook and Twitter. All of the feedback and questions
can be sent back to the specific circles so they can prepare their answers. After
sharing the work of teams with everyone, although it will be challenging, we can
manage to arrange teams of students from each country to connect with us via any
6
medium such as Skype or Google+. We can then hold an interactive section where
each team will comment on any feedback or questions provided by the audience.
3.3.1 Further use of Google+
Google+ is a relatively new technology introduced by Google. Although it is not quite
as popular yet as compared to Facebook and Twitter, it provides the technological
options which can facilitate the Quality Circles approach. The students can use this
technology to keep in touch with their peers at any time suitable for them. There is
also the option for Hangout, which is a video conference with up to nine people at a
time. In context of the convention in 2014, Google + can be used for the purpose of
sharing the work of circles from across the world. It can then follow on the question
and answer session among the groups.
4.0 Use of established Virtual Platform
Holding a virtual event provides a chance to bring thousands of attendees to an event
from around the globe. These events are also becoming popular among big
organisations, as they provide an economical and environmentally effective way to
reach the wider audience. These events also provide different ways to connect with
the audience, as well as enabling the audience to make connections among
themselves. One of the great success factors for these kinds of events is that they are
available as a persistent environment, even after the live part of the event is over.
4.1 Suitable Virtual Platforms for SQCs convention in 2014
The Quality Circle convention in 2014 is going to be a partly virtual event due to the
limited resources available. It has been found during the research that there are a
number of platforms that can be used for the upcoming convention. Mostly these
platforms provide similar approaches and options to hold a virtual event. All of these
platforms take the same approach as has been described in the previous section. They
provide opportunities to connect to the participants; participants can connect among
themselves and exhibition halls with private booths which can be used for the
activities of the students. There are number of companies providing such platforms,
list of some of these companies have been provided in appendix. They all slightly
differ from each other in terms of the functionality provided. In context of the
convention in 2014 a brief account of one company and services provided by them is
discussed in this report.
4.2 Intercall Virtual Events
This is a U.S Company providing a cloud based platform to organise virtual events for
enterprises and small businesses. This platform provides the solutions ranging from
basic audio conferencing, collaborative web meetings, video conferencing to virtual
events and unified solutions. They also provide the options of producing the client’s
own video and audio content, polls, blogs and forums in a highly compelling virtual
environment that will attract audience to come back. The following is a brief account
of services provided by the Intercall platform, and can be used for the convention in
2014.
7
4.2.1 Welcome and registration of participants
Intercall provides the option to create an introduction page or even a micro website
within their platform, providing all of the initial information about the event. This
page can also be used to provide the information about the schedule of programmes
and navigate the audience accordingly.
Once an attendee gets an overview of the event, they will be asked to fill up a
registration form depending on the level of details we require from them, which can
be used for tracking purposes. After the registration there is an option for a live
presenter to welcome the attendee, or the option of a welcome video can also be used.
4.2.2 Conference Centre
This application can provide an in depth solution for the track of activities involved
keynote speeches in the 2014 convention. It allows the options of live web streaming,
slide share and interaction through social media such as Twitter and Facebook. There
is also an opportunity to hold an interactive question and answer session, with either
live or pre-recorded video participation by the audience. After the live streaming is
over, we can then upload the lectures or speeches as webcasts with subtitles in
different language. This will provide another great opportunity to share the vision of
the Quality Circles approach with the audience who do not have English as their first
language.
4.2.3 Exhibition Halls
This application can successfully be used for the second track of activities in 2014
convention. It allows the opportunity to create virtual information desks for each
country, where attendees can engage with experts, peers and partners from that
specific country. These booths serve both as repositories of information, and as a
communication vehicle. All of the necessary information about the specific country’s
work can be uploaded in that booth’s information kiosk, which then can be passed on
to the attendees’ virtual briefcase for their future reference. The direct live chat is
possible between booth representative and attendee, with a further option for both of
them to add more people in their chat. The chat among these people can be translated
simultaneously into the language of their choice.
4.2.4 Resource Centre
The resource centre plays the role of library for the attendees, where we can upload
all of the information that we want to share with them. Attendees can download and
save any information required in their virtual briefcase.
4.2.5 Networking Lounge
This lounge is designed to hold communication between audience, speakers and
subject matter experts. This provides a great opportunity to learn directly from others
as well as share the attendees’ personal vision. They contain open live chat with a real
time translation option in more than 50 languages, instantly minimising the
8
communication gap. Attendees can also identify like-minded people, exchange
contact details and start a private or group chat among them.
This platform also provides the option to share the contents from Facebook and
Twitter, which attracts more audience to the event.
4.2.6 Mobile Assistance
The growing use of mobile technology gives us another challenge, but Intercall even
provides the solution for this problem. Intercall Mobile Assistance allows
participation in meetings with a single click on the Smartphone. They provide
services on the platforms of iPhone, Blackberry and Android.
4.2.7 Administrative Tools
Intercall provides an easy to use package of administrative tools. Depending on the
services required, it provides the option of self service and full service virtual
environments. The organisation console allows creating, designing and managing the
event according to our personal needs. We can even make changes during the live
events to suit our needs. After the event it provides all of the statistical data, giving an
overview about the number of attendees for each part of the event. It also provides the
option to track the activity, interest and demographics for each attendee.
5.0 UNESCO ASPnet
There is a huge correlation between the theme of UNESCO’s ASPnet project and the
practical use of Students’ Quality Circles. It will be far easier to address the issues of
delivering quality education, human development and understanding the education
needs of students by the use of Students’ Quality Circles. The practical use of Quality
Circles in educational institutes has shown the significant improvements in all of the
above areas. The use of a virtual platform for the 2014 convention will allow us to
highlight the correlation among these projects and open up new opportunities by
working in collaboration with international partners. As discussed in the previous part
of the report, we can create a booth for the ASPnet project, providing all of the
necessary information. We can also invite the large number of ASPnet member
schools in the UK to participate in our event remotely. It will ultimately raise the
awareness and open up a new era of development.
6.0 Grundtvig Project
This project will provide a real case study for the 2014 convention. We will have the
solid foundation of international partnership and network which we can then take
forward. Each of the partners in this project will bring experience of a particular
focus, which will help us spread the SQC approach further into the work
environments.
9
In the global context of this project, it will be wise to use the above discussed
technology for Grundtvig project meetings at a relatively low scale. This will give us
the insight of such technology and also pilot the process of communication and
change.
7.0 Pakistan in the context of the 2014 convention
The Students’ Quality Circles in education can open up a new era for Pakistan to
become a hallmark of quality and excellence. This approach can certainly provide a
link for sustainable youth development in developing nations like Pakistan. The
Human Development Index of South Asia as a region increased from 0.356 in 1980 to
0.548 in 2011, comparatively Pakistan stays at 0.504, placing it below the regional
average (UNDP, Human Development Reports 2011).
This indicates that there is a real need to address the issue of quality in every aspect of
life in Pakistan. The SQC case studies are evident for the power of young creative
minds addressing practical problems and building partnership, while engaging locally,
nationally and internationally.
7.1 Case study for commercial use of QC approach in Pakistan
This has been found during the research that the Quality Circles approach has been
used commercially in Pakistan. The Pakistan Tobacco Company, which has more than
8500 employees worldwide, produced nearly 17% share of the global market of
cigarettes in 2005, has successfully used SQC tools as part of their Total Quality
Management programme. (Quality through People, 2007)
7.2 Advantages of holding a Virtual event
The virtual holding of a convention on SQCs in 2014 will provide a great opportunity
for participants in Pakistan to engage internationally. It does not only eliminate the
barriers of distance and its financial aspects but also provides a wealth of information
for them to be used in the future. Although English is one of the complementary
element of the academia but generally the level of understanding of language for
school and college students is not very advanced. The virtual platform provides the
option of making all the necessary information available for them in Urdu. Another
advantage for students in Pakistan will be to make contacts with like minded students
across the globe through this event. These contacts will enable more collaboration and
learning from cultural differences, as well as helping to obtain a more positive image
as a nation, in the western world. The channels of collaboration established through
the convention can later be used for the UNESCO ASPnet and any future projects.
7.3 Collaboration with PIQC Institute
The PIQC Institute of Quality in Lahore Pakistan is a higher education institution
which has been working since 1995 to share the best practice in education. They hold
regular national and international conferences addressing the issues of ‘Total Quality
Management’ in academic and business context. The connection with this institute
can be established before our convention in 2014, and we can have a large number of
10
audience, including academics and business institutions in Pakistan. It also gives the
opportunity to introduce them about the efforts of the World Council for Total Quality
and Excellence in Education to collaborate in real time and share experiences.
8.0 Recommendations
The annual convention in 2014 can become a groundbreaking virtual event, enabling
us to take another approach to socio technical systems. The option of holding a virtual
event is not only environmentally friendly but also economically feasible,
administratively easier and will provide the participants a platform to keep the debate
up and going.
First of all there is a great need to create a website for the World Council for Total
Quality and Excellence. This should work as the first point of contact with details
about all the current projects running, and also provide case studies about the success
of QCs in different aspects of our lives. This will also enable us to make new contact
and keep up with the continuous process of improvement. The website should be
accompanied by a Blog where Quality Gurus can spread their knowledge through
which new connection can be made. This project can be undertaken by the students in
different countries, collaborating with each other and working together.
Although most of the virtual platforms use some well known technologies such as
YouTube, and Social media sites, it can be costly to customise such technologies to
create a platform of our own. The platforms such as Intercall can be customised more
easily and cost effectively for our convention. So, the next step should be to test the
functionality and reliability of such platforms during our conferences in 2012 and
2013. It will provide us a good idea about the suitability of such platforms, and give
us an experience on which we can then develop further. These platforms are relatively
new, so no statistical data has been found in terms of their use although some of them
have big names in their list of corporate clients such as Microsoft, IBM, and HP etc.
There is a long term advantage of making all of the knowledge available across the
globe by adopting the virtual track for our convention in 2014. The new Business
School building provides all of the necessary technology required for such event to be
successful. The virtual platform will also enable the participation of UNESCO partner
schools across the UK and other academic institutes which have shown great interest
in the past. All in all the advantages of holding this convention virtually outweighs the
challenges faced by it.
11
9.0 Personal Activity Log
In the preparation of this report a lot of information has been used from various
platforms. All of the lecture materials and extra material uploaded on Studyspace
have been read, in order to understand the different technological options available to
us. Some further reading was done from the online books, in order to provide logical
solutions for the convention. Extensive research has been done in terms of finding the
most suitable established virtual platform for the 2014 convention. There are many
case studies available over the internet from some big corporations using similar
platforms for their growing international needs. The suitability was analysed by
reading some of the case studies.
After choosing Intercall as virtual platform, their website and marketing videos were
analysed in order to see the suitability of their platform. Some of their corporate
clients uploaded their views on YouTube after using their event. Some of these videos
were being watched to see the reaction of the participants.
In order to analyse the suitability of a virtual event in the context of Pakistan, the
reports from the United Nations were researched. It has been found that only 16% of
the population in Pakistan has some kind of internet connection. Although the number
is small but it is growing dramatically with the availability of Smartphone. During the
research I came across another higher education institute working on similar issues as
WCTQEE. They also hold international and national conventions and have links
across the country. While recommending virtual event in context of Pakistan, I
recalled the personal challenges faced by me while I was in Pakistan.
There were also group discussions being held among peers to evaluate different
options. It enabled me to brainstorm ideas and learn their perspective about a specific
technology. This project provided me a chance of engaging in a real project. I do hope
that ideas provided in this report will be helpful for a successful convention in 2014.
A list of some resources used for research purposes is attached in the appendix.
12
10.0 References
Guillory, W.A (2002, July). The Unifying Force of Diversity. Executive Excellence,
19, 7-8
Leask, B. (2000) Internationalisation: Changing contexts and their implications for
teaching, learning and assessment. Proceedings from the ASET-HERDSA
Conference.
Bourn, D. (n.d.). Global Perspectives in Higher Education: The contribution of
development education. Unpublished paper
http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/PAK.html (Accessed on 25/04/2012)
http://www.piqc.edu.pk/casestudies/Turab_Ali_Khan_Quality_Through_Healthcare_
Quality_Case_Study_PIQC.pdf (Accessed on 22/04/2012)
http://www.piqc.edu.pk/ (Accessed on 22/04/2012)
http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2011/ (Accessed on 25/04/2012)
Ennals R. and Hutchins D. (eds.) (2013) Communities of Circles. Special issue, AI &
Society, 27.3. (electronic publication 2012).
McEwan A.-M. (2012). Smart Work: The Next Wave. Gower, Farnham.
Teixeira R. (ed.) (2011). Higher Education in a State of Crisis. Nova, New York.
https://www.alumni.lse.ac.uk/olc/pub/LHE/filemanager/mentoring/default.htm
(Accessed on 20/04/2012)
11.0 Appendix
Virtual Platforms:
http://www.intercall.com/
http://www.hyperfair.com/
http://www.3d-virtualevents.com/
http://social27.com/
Contact of PIQC in Pakistan and Case Study of Pakistan Tobacco Company:
http://www.piqc.edu.pk/
http://www.piqc.edu.pk/icqi/
http://www.piqc.edu.pk/Case_Studies_TQM_PIQC.php
Some random Sources of information:
http://www.itu.int/en/Pages/default.aspx
http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2011/
http://mashable.com/
http://techcrunch.com/
http://www.websummit.net/people/london-web-summit/
13
Technical Challenges
Jack Holmes
Executive Summary
The 17th International Convention on Students’ Quality Circles is to be held at
Kingston Business School in June 2014. Bi-annually the convention is held in
Lucknow, India, attracting around 3,500 attendees. It is not possible for Kingston to
support this scale of event, due to physical resource shortages. Therefore the stage to
host the first truly global virtual convention has been set. This report identifies the key
pieces of technology required to ensure the virtual convention is a success.
It has been recognised that the aims of the convention in terms of technological
involvement are to run a two track convention made up of Keynotes and Workshops.
Furthermore the convention should be providing real-time updates, and create an
online resource which can be used beyond 2014 for future reference, providing
detailed records of keynotes, workshops, debates and discussions which went on at
the convention. Not only physically but also virtually. Technical requirements have
been drawn up and a number of technical solutions have been recommended to ensure
the convention is available worldwide, no matter what level of ICT is available.
The keynote track is recommended to be live streamed, this allows virtual participants
to watch what is happening in the event, although there is no channel for
communication with the speaker. However the attendees, both virtual and physical,
will be encouraged to use Twitter as a method of sharing their thoughts and opinions
on what is being discussed on stage.
Workshops are more interactive, and so present a more complex communication
problem. The virtual and physical attendees need to be able to communicate and work
together in real-time. Therefore Google+ has been recommended, as it offers superior
video conferencing compared with its rivals; it also allows those not participating in
the workshop to watch everything live as it happens.
Real-time updates are text and image posts which are available publicly for those
unable to view the video streams. Two technologies have been suggested. Twitter will
provide short bursts of information about the main topics being discussed and
headline news from the event, while Tumblr will be used as a blogging platform to
give a more in-depth analysis of events as they occur throughout the convention.
Creating an online resource for future reference is a key aim, ensuring the
sustainability of the event after 2014. It has been recommended that a custom site is
developed to ensure that information is easily accessible. However two hosting
partners have been identified. These have been chosen to reduce the cost of hosting
the website, integrate a deeper level of interactivity on the site, and also to aid people
sharing the resources across their own social networks. YouTube will host all video
content from the event, and Slideshare will host all slide decks and presentations
which are used.
14
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... 14
Table of Contents ......................................................................................................... 15
1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 16
2.0 Aims of the Convention ......................................................................................... 16
2.1 Keynote Track ............................................................................................................... 16
2.2 Workshop Track ............................................................................................................ 16
2.3 Real-time updates .......................................................................................................... 17
2.4 Online Resource ............................................................................................................ 17
3.0 How technology can support the aims ................................................................... 17
3.1 Keynote Track ............................................................................................................... 18
3.2 Workshop Track ............................................................................................................ 19
3.3 Real-Time Updates ....................................................................................................... 20
3.4 Online Resource ............................................................................................................ 20
3.5 Overview ....................................................................................................................... 20
4.0 Incorporating Asia ................................................................................................. 21
5.0 Cases Studies ......................................................................................................... 21
5.1 London Web Summit .................................................................................................... 21
5.2 Tomorrow’s Web .......................................................................................................... 23
5.3 Learning’s from the cases ............................................................................................. 23
6.0 Advisable technological applications for Kingston 2014 ...................................... 24
6.1 Keynote Track ............................................................................................................... 24
6.1.1 Livestream ............................................................................................................. 25
6.2 Workshops .................................................................................................................... 25
6.2.1 Google+ ................................................................................................................. 25
6.3 Real-Time Updates ....................................................................................................... 26
6.3.1 Twitter.................................................................................................................... 26
6.3.2 Tumblr Blog........................................................................................................... 27
6.4 Online Resource ............................................................................................................ 27
6.4.1 YouTube ................................................................................................................ 27
6.4.2 Slideshare............................................................................................................... 28
7.0 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 28
8.0 References .............................................................................................................. 29
9.0 Log ......................................................................................................................... 30
15
1.0 Introduction
Kingston University has been approved as the host of the 17th International
Convention on Students’ Quality Circles in June 2014. The 2014 convention forms
part of an annual series of events taking place around the world. The conventions aid
and promote the Students’ Quality Circle concept on a global scale, bringing together
champions in the field, and inspiring attendees to go forward and implement the
concept at their home education establishment.
Every alternate year the convention is hosted in Lucknow, India, offering attendance
and accommodation places for around 3,500 people. Kingston Business School is
limited physically by resources, resulting in the inability to host anywhere near the
scale of their Indian counterparts. Kingston does however have the opportunity to
build a convention which breaks the physical barriers by implementing a number of
technological systems allowing for virtual participation from attendees globally.
This report investigates the challenges faced by Kingston Business School and
suggests viable technological solutions to allow the hosting of a truly global virtual
conference.
2.0 Aims of the Convention
Primarily the convention aims to inform, educate and inspire attendees within the
context of Students’ Quality Circles. The convention takes the form of 4 days, split
into two tracks, offering a range of experiences to attendees.
2.1 Keynote Track
Keynote presentations are offered to large groups of around 200 people. These offer a
great solution to conveying a lot of information to a large mass of people extremely
effectively. This track is very much one-way communication: mostly the speaker
conveying their message to the audience. There is little opportunity for question and
answer sessions with groups of this size. Hence the technology chosen to immediate
this track is unlikely to require the virtual attendees to interact extensively with the
speaker. The ability of both virtual and physical attendees to comment and discuss the
topics in real-time whilst the speaker is talking should not be ignored. This concept is
explained in figure 1.
2.2 Workshop Track
Workshops include a range of further smaller discussions and practical exercises for
attendees, making up the second track. Each session should contain no more than 70
people, finding the balance between physical and virtual attendees is a key area for
further research. These sessions held in smaller rooms offer a chance for discussion
and debate around specific subject areas. The virtual participants will very much be a
part of these sessions and need to be included in the discussion and even present to
the other virtual and physical attendees. See figure 2 for a detailed communication
map.
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2.3 Real-time updates
Provide a stream of real-time news and updates from the event, allowing attendees
who cannot be a virtual participant to watch in real-time updates and offer their
opinions on the subjects being discussed. For instance if people do not have adequate
bandwidth to stream the live event, or are in situations such as work or travel which
do not allow for their constant attention, but still want to know what is happening,
will have the ability to do so.
2.4 Online Resource
We should offer a long lasting source of high quality resources and records. Not
simply what keynote speakers have said but of the discussions which have taken place
and leanings taken away and shared globally. Resources should be organised logically
to allow easy access for use as reference in the future.
3.0 How technology can support the aims
Technology will play a key part within the 2014 Convention. Kingston Business
School has the advantage of a brand new building especially equipped to support new
ways of learning, with digitally advanced teaching rooms, large open study areas and
high speed internet access.
Each of the four aims will require a different technological solution to achieve the
best experience for attendees. This is likely to result in a mixture of technology being
used to achieve the optimum solution. Utilising a mixture of technologies has both
advantages and disadvantages.
The biggest advantage to using a custom mix of technology is ensuring each aim, with
different needs and requirements have them met exactly by technology optimised for
that purpose. For instance Livestream broadcasting software is amazing for one-way
communication, however it falls down in two-way communication. Hence Livestream
would be ideally suited for the Keynote track however would fail when it came to
workshops or providing a reference tool. Furthermore, by using multiple technical
systems if one system fails the remaining systems will not be affected, resulting in
only a partial loss in digital communication from the event.
However employing a multi-technological approach has its disadvantages. More
research is required to find individual systems for each task and planning the
implementations will take longer. Also the technical team will have to become
familiar with multiple systems as opposed to just the one. A potential solution to this
could be outsourcing part of the work to third parties; this is discussed in section 6.
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3.1 Keynote Track
This track involves a speaker or panel talking to a large group of attendees. The
majority of communication is one way from the speakers to the audience with little
amounts to correspondence between the two groups of people. Therefore the
technology to be applied to this track will require the virtual attendees to watch what
the speakers are saying, however participation in the sessions will not be required.
This however does not mean the virtual and physical attendees should not be able to
communicate and comment amongst each other during the keynotes.
Technical Requirements:
 Content streaming from Kingston Business School
 Physical and virtual attendees able to discuss and comment.
The communication requirements are outlined in the diagram below:
Figure 1 Keynote Communication Channel
Note: speakers may give physical attendees the opportunity to ask questions, however
this is not represented in the diagram as it is not a major part of the track.
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3.2 Workshop Track
This track involves smaller groups of attendees than the Keynote sessions, which are
designed to be much more interactive between the speaker, virtual and physical
attendees. To include presentations, debates and active question answer sessions, a
much more interactive technological solution is required, due to the multiple
communication channels. It is likely the solution utilised by the Keynote track will
not suffice for the workshop sessions.
Technical Requirements
 Content streaming from Kingston Business School
 Content streaming from other global locations into Kingston Business School,
for virtual attendees to deliver presentations at workshops.
 Virtual attendees ability to engage in discussions taking place in real-time,
either through video or voice.
 Physical and virtual attendees able to discuss and comment.
The communication requirements are outlined in the diagram below:
Figure 2 Workshop Communication Channel
Note: Speakers will not necessary be in physical attendance at Kingston Business
School.
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3.3 Real-Time Updates
This aim will be required in addition to the keynote and workshop technologies.
Aimed at providing a text and image based feed of what is happening at the
convention as it happens. It must be based on a technology which many users are
already familiar with and are already using. It is unrealistic to expect users who are
only going to be checking the updates occasionally to have to register, or learn how to
use a new piece of technology which they are unfamiliar with. To be most effective
the technological choice must be widely available and work on multiple platforms to
cater for those following the convention using desktop and mobile devices.
Technical Requirements:
 Available on mobile and desktop.
 Be able to share text and photo updates instantly and easily.
 Must be a well know service actively used already by the majority of
attendees.
 Must be able to track the updates and attendees responses.
3.4 Online Resource
This aim will help Kingston University prolong its reputation of hosting an eventful
and thought provoking convention. By organising the resources effectively people
will utilise the resource for years to come. There is always the possibility of taking the
resource forward to include records of future conventions held at other locations
around the world.
Deep consideration must be placed into the information architecture of the resource to
ensure the information held is easily accessible in the future. Too many conventions
simply leave all the content unorganised in a stream, which for future reference is of
very little help to the user.
Technical Requirements:
 Method of organising video, image and text resources from the event.
 Locating and downloading materials must be as simple as possible.
 Must be available worldwide.
 Should have the ability to add resources from future events if required.
3.5 Overview
This technical outline indicates that using one system to virtualise the 2014
convention is a very unrealistic option. No system is available on the market to
completely fill all the varying requirements of the convention; hence a collaboration
of technologies will be required.
The keynote track will require a content streaming service, allowing virtual attendees
to watch the event live or after the event as a recording. The workshops will require a
more complex system allowing attendees virtual or physical, and speakers to all
interact together having a shared experience.
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Real-time text and image updates will also be required for those who cannot fully
attend the convention, but want to keep a track of proceedings as they happen.
Furthermore a resource of recordings from the event must also be publically available,
providing access post event for future reference. This needs to be more than simply
recordings of the keynote speakers, but also a record of the conversations and debates
which took place not only in person but also on the digital platforms.
It is however important to ensure as few technologies are used as possible. Although
multiple will be required considerable consideration needs to go into evaluating the
systems to ensure attendees are not overwhelmed by the sheer number of systems
which they need to use in order to participate.
4.0 Incorporating Asia
The 2014 convention is a truly global event. It is clear that Kingston will not be able
to host an event to the scale of Lucknow, hence the virtual participation element of
the convention is of upmost importance. Recognising that the majority of virtual
attendees will be attending from Asia offers a unique challenge in terms of IT. The
convention needs to be cutting edge and use the standard technologies which
attendees from Europe, USA and other developed nations will expect, however must
also be available in developing countries.
Developing countries are an interesting proposition. Although landline infrastructure
is extremely minimal when it comes to mobile infrastructure the developing world
simply leapfrogged the developed world and raced full speed ahead (Yin Yang India,
2011). To further strengthen the case for mobile, Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman
at Google wrote in the Economic Times: “We expect a billion people in Asia will
have inexpensive, browser-based touchscreen phones over the next few years” (2011).
Although Asia is behind when it comes to wired internet, by the time the 2014
convention comes around, Asia will be comfortable using mobile internet on touch
screen devices. This therefore is of key importance when considering the technologies
which are being recommended, ensuring that they offer a high grade, easy to use and
well optimised mobile service.
5.0 Case Studies
5.1 London Web Summit
London Web Summit is an event for web professionals, with speakers from
established technology companies, venture capital firms and startups including
Google, Skype, Fab, Menlo Ventures, TechCrunch, PayPal, Blackberry and many
more. The event attracted 1,000 attendees for the one-day event (Web Summit, 2012).
The event consisted of three stages, the main stage with capacity for 750 attendees,
the digital stage, which held 250 people and the startup stage, which was capable of
holding 100 people. Each stage had a full day of keynote speakers and panel
discussions, which included question and answer sessions. The event did not have any
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workshop style sessions; hence there is no ability to research how these sessions could
be represented from this case.
The main stage was recorded in video format and
broadcast live using Livestream services. Livestream
offers, “turn key on-site camera and production
services, from single camera web-chats to highprofile multi-camera shows. Livestream have the
expertise and equipment to bring any event to life”
(Livestream, 2012).
The main stage was broadcast live from the event,
attracting 2,000 online followers, which is double the
amount of physical attendees (Web Summit
Livestream, 2012). Livestream were responsible for
rigging, filming, editing and broadcasting the entire
day’s event. Using a professional service to film and
broadcast dramatically increases the quality of the
events online presence, which helped it to attract such
a high number of online followers to the video
service.
Figure 3 Livestream Streaming Desk
London Web Summit also offered high quality real-time news updates using Twitter
and Tumblr.
Twitter offered a “one stop shop for all things London Web Summit.” (Web Summit
Twitter, 2012) Providing a constant stream of updates which the organisers used to
relay what was happening at the event and broadcast headlines of what was being said
by the speakers. Twitter provides a tried and tested method of communicating short
bursts of information from conferences. The organisers used the hashtag #LWS to
keep track of the tweets which attendees and people watching online were saying
during the event.
Twitter was also used as a method of informing attendees about what was happening
at the venue. As the conference had three stages running simultaneously, Twitter
proved to be very effective in keeping attendees up to date, and ensure they were not
missing anything.
Tumblr was used as a blogging platform to offer more extensive updates and news of
the discussions taking place at the Web Summit (Web Summit Tumblr, 2012). The
organisers planned to write more in-depth analysis of what has being discussed on
each of the stages, providing a resource for future reference. Unfortunately they did
not have enough people on hand to write in-depth pieces from all stages, resulting in
Tumblr being used more as an extension to Twitter, simply providing headlines and
photographs.
London Web Summit allocated three people to run the social media streams at the
conference. However they found they simply did not have time to write as much as
was required to make the blog work as an in-depth review resource.
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5.2 Tomorrow’s Web
Tomorrow’s Web is a “meetup for creative geeks and techies who like building or
creating things for the web (Tomorrow’s Web Eventbrite, 2012). The event is of a
smaller scale to that of London Web Summit. Attracting around 150 physical
attendees to the one day event, Tomorrow’s Web is much more targeted towards a
younger age range, however it still offers in-depth and thought provoking keynotes
from many well know figures.
Hosted at a smaller venue, the organisers
recognise that having a strong online presence
during and after the event is the key to expanding
and attracting more physical visitors each year. In
previous years the organisers have made use of
several social media services to aid in
broadcasting the event. These include: Facebook,
Twitter, Tumblr and Vimeo. The 2012 meetup
however made use of a new service provided by
Livestream, which combines the services from
Twitter, Tumblr, and Vimeo. The ‘New’ service
not only provides a live video feed of the event,
but also allows the organisers to post text and
image updates in a timeline below the live video
feed. Once the event is finished a copy of all
video, text and images which have been posted,
are stored in one place with no additional work
required by the event staff. A screen shot of this
service is shown in fig 4.
In addition to the Livestream New service
Tomorrow’s Web also used Twitter as a
standalone product to communicate messages out
to people unable to join the conference in person.
Using the hash tag #twmeetup the organisers,
event attendees and virtual attendees were
immersed in conversations whilst the keynote
presentations were taking place. Furthermore by Figure 4 Tomorrow's Web Livestream
utilising the hash tag capabilities on Twitter
organisers could keep track of the conversations taking place about their event.
5.3 Learning from the cases
Following examination of the London Web Summit and Tomorrow’s Web
conference, a number of key conclusions can be drawn upon to aid in the
technological selection process for the 2014 Convention.
Concluding the author’s research, and the specific cases reviewed, Livestream stood
out as the best option for live streaming events to a wide audience. However the
technology is limited, in that it can only work one way. Two-way communication is
not possible with Livestream, implying that the technology will be not suitable for the
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workshop track of the 2014 convention, but has the functionality required for the
keynote track.
Livestream New, the service that can accompany the live video streaming works well
for small-scale events. However it is limited, as content cannot be organised logically
and only appears in one stream. In a multi-track conference, this is likely to confuse
virtual attendees. Therefore Livestream New is not advisable for the 2014 convention.
Twitter was extensively used by both London Web Summit and Tomorrow’s Web.
Research indicated the system offers fantastic capabilities for the organisers to
broadcast messages to the world, whilst also allowing attendees to quickly respond
and comment. Twitter is advantageous in comparison with other forms of comment
and debate systems as it has extremely strong mobile capabilities. Being mobile is
key: it allows for the physical attendees to easily communicate what is happening at
the event whilst partaking in a workshop or keynote, eliminating the need for desktop
or laptop computers. This will greatly increase the amount of online activity
surrounding the event. Furthermore it has been established that many developing
countries have little access to desktop computers, however do have access to
smartphones capable of powering Twitter and other mobile web services.
Tumblr is a popular blogging platform which lends itself well for conference
blogging. The ability to have multiple people posting text, images and video at the
same time makes for a perfect fit with a multi-track event. Furthermore the tagging
capabilities built into Tumblr further increases its suitability for multi track
conferences. Tumblr also offers exceptionally strong mobile optimised blog pages,
which further strengthens the case for the technology especially for an event with high
interest from Asia. This is explained further in section 6.3.2.
In addition, London Web Summit has proven that it is important not to underestimate
the amount of resources required to live blog an event of such scale. The 2014
convention in physical size will sit between the London Web Summit and
Tomorrow’s Web, however will attract considerably more virtual attendees. Therefore
it is of crucial importance that recourses in terms of people and time are allocated to
ensure a high quality and consistent media stream is upheld. One potential solution to
this issue could be to invite guest bloggers to the event with an interest in the field to
be blogging on behalf of the convention and post to the official 2014 convention blog.
6.0 Advisable technological applications for Kingston 2014
Reflections from the case reviews and the author’s own knowledge result in the
following key pieces of technology being recommended for use within the 2014
convention. This section is broken down by the key objectives.
6.1 Keynote Track
The keynote track should be a publicly available video stream which anyone can have
access to and watch the proceedings as they take place. As described by the
communication model in figure 1, there is no need for the speakers to communicate
with the online viewers, this is just not viable considering the potential number of
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online participants. However the attendees should be able to communicate with each
other, regardless of being present at the event or virtually attending.
6.1.1 Livestream
Livestream is unique in that unlike any of the other technologies under review for use
in the 2014 convention it has the capabilities of being used in two different ways.
Firstly it offers a platform to live stream video content online which anyone can do
from their home using their own equipment. Tomorrow’s Web utilised this service
effectively as the organisers have special interests in filming and photography.
Livestream also offer professional film and production services as demonstrated at
London Web Summit. This removes a considerable amount of time and effort from
the event organisers having to organise the setup, filming, mixing, production and
quality of the live stream. Livestream’s clients include Justin Bieber, Nike, IBM and
many more (Livestream Customers, 2012).
Therefore the Livestream platform provides two options for streaming the event. The
convention could take advantage of the camera and broadcast capabilities within the
university, and stream the event in-house simply using the Livestream software as a
broadcast platform. Alternatively, a budget could allow the convention organisers
commission Livestream to film and produce the keynote track. Although a higher cost
is associated here, it would relieve pressure on the organisers who will also be
running the workshop track and providing a live stream of information on social
networking sites.
It is worth noting that university camera resources will be limited, hence ensuring that
enough are available to cover all areas of the convention which will require video
recordings is of paramount importance. This could result in a potential requirement to
hire more equipment to meet the demand or hiring an outside contractor such as
Livestream to take some of the pressure off university resources.
The systems proposed to allow attendees to discuss and communicate during the
keynote track are outlined in section 6.3 Real-Time Updates.
6.2 Workshops
Due to the communication channels described in figure 2, it will not be possible to
make the workshops publicly available for all to attend virtually. There need to be
clearly devised number of participants allowed access. Neither of the case studies
offered a solution to this situation. Following further research and personal experience
the author has made the following recommendation.
6.2.1 Google+
Google+ offers a unique and well-suited video conferencing solution as part of its
network, which is free to join. As described by the Online Meeting Tools Review
(2011), “Google+ allows for rudimentary online collaboration between parties spread
across the globe.” The system allows for up to 10 participants to engage in
videoconference. Unlike many other services however, once the 10 places are full an
unlimited number of people can watch the conference whilst other attendees
participate live. This proves for an exciting opportunity. It would be possible to pre-
25
select the schools or classes, which will take part in the workshop. One group can be
presenting, one can be representing the physical attendees and the other eight places
can represent other groups partaking in the workshop. Google+ functionality then
allows anyone else the ability to watch the discussions and presentations live online,
without participation access.
A further advantage to using Google+ for the workshop track is that the entire
teleconference can be immediately uploaded to YouTube: the platform which will be
used to host video content as a resource after the event. This is explored in more detail
in section 6.4.1. Due to the complexity of multi video inputs, many other competitors
do not provide a video format, which can easily be hosted in YouTube and shared,
with all.
Google+ also boasts an unrivalled mobile experience, far superior to its main
competitor Facebook. The Google video conferencing feature works flawlessly well
on mobile devices, which further strengthens the reasoning behind choosing this
platform. In addition Google also creates the largest open source mobile operating
system in the world, Android. Six of the top ten mobile phones currently used in Asia
run the Android operating system which is optimised for Google+ integration (CNET,
2012). Google+ has applications and a mobile web service which are capable of
running on other mobile operating systems.
6.3 Real-Time Updates
Real-time updates offer solutions to the major limitations experience by the 2014
convention. Those are people who do not have the time available to spend 4 days
attending a convention, and those who do not have the internet connectivity or
bandwidth to partake in video conferencing sessions in person. The updates need to
be in the form of text and images, whilst being available to those with low bandwidths
and available on mobile devices. These factors influenced the decisions made when
choosing the appropriate technologies.
6.3.1 Twitter
Twitter is exceptionally light, in terms of a bandwidth solution to providing real-time
text, image and video updates. Available on desktop, mobile web, mobile apps and by
SMS, a basic cellular network and standard feature phone are the only requirements
for the basics of the service. Twitter is for those with little Internet access the most
effective way of participating in the event. Tweets can also be sent from feature
phones using the 2014 hash tag, these can easily be traced and allow other participants
to engage in a conversation with the original tweeter.
For those with a stable Internet connection, Twitter is still a very valuable resource.
The London Web Summit and Tomorrow’s Web conferences both made good use of
Twitter as a tool for aiding attendees to communicate with one another and with those
not attending in person. It is evident that people will be using Twitter during the
convention, regardless of whether it is being promoted as a tool. Hence the
convention organisers are best to encourage the use, and set a universal hash tag for
the entire convention. This will act as the link between all the individual tweets, so
participants can find out what others are thinking, share and debate in real-time.
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6.3.2 Tumblr Blog
Tumblr will offer those who are unable to attend in person a more in-depth real-time
feed of information. Above the 160 characters allowed in a Tweet, the Tumblr blog
will offer a platform for reflection of what has been discussed and debated during the
sessions. London Web Summit attempted to run a Tumblr blog, however did not have
the resources available to utilise it fully. Tomorrow’s Web have used Tumblr in the
past, but replaced it with an all-in-one social platform provided by Livestream. This
type of solution would not be appropriate for the 2014 convention due to the number
of attendees and the level of quality to be produced for the future resource site.
Tumblr is advantageous, over competitor blogging platforms, primarily because of its
social capabilities. Anyone can easily re-post or provide detailed comments and
reflections on the posts which the 2014 convention blog posts. This is of more value
than simple comments forms at the bottom of posts. Also Tumblr allows users to
easily follow the blog, meaning updates will instantly appear in their news feed.
Furthermore the tagging feature allows users to work in a similar fashion to that of
Twitter, with the hash tag to find other posts and images related to the event. Finally
Tumblr also has the most effective mobile web optimisation of any blogging platform.
The pages are perfectly optimised, scaling text and images perfectly on any size
screen on a mobile device.
6.4 Online Resource
Curating a long-term online resource, which offers a constant record of the learning,
conversations and debates which took place at the convention is the final aim.
Increasing the sustainability of the event and helping to ensure that the 2014
convention is remembered beyond 2014. The resources will be stored in a website,
where the information architecture needs deep consideration to ensure that all
resources are logically organised and easy to refer back to. Although the website will
be self built, a number of tools will aid in the creation and functionality.
6.4.1 YouTube
YouTube will be used as the video platform to host all of the video content after the
event. All Google+ workshops can be instantly uploaded to a YouTube channel.
Livestream broadcasts can also be exported and uploaded to YouTube after recording,
hence providing a wealth of video recordings from the convention in one place. As
well as being hosted within YouTube, the videos will be embedded onto the resource
website. This means that the site will benefit from all the advantages which come with
hosting video on YouTube, such as easy sharing and link backs, without the hassle
and expense of hosting the video directly on the website.
YouTube offers more than just a hosting platform. The 2014 convention can place all
videos into a channel which aids users in the discovery and sharing of more related
videos. Not only will it help to raise the profile of Kingston University and the 2014
convention, but also help users to find related videos on the subject area to broaden
their own knowledge and share that with their online social networks.
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6.4.2 Slideshare
Slideshare is the world's largest community for sharing presentations (Slideshare,
2012). The platform will be used in a similar fashion to YouTube, as it will host
content which will be embedded into the resource website. Hosting on Slideshare has
many advantageous. Firstly it removes the cost and time required to build a custom
slide sharing feature on the website, which is far superior to simply downloading a
PDF. Allowing the user to browse through the slides directly on the site offers a much
more enjoyable experience. Furthermore Slideshare has 130 million page views each
month, indicating it is the platform which people use to search for presentations.
Therefore having the entire 2014 convention hosted on Slideshare offers a potentially
enormous opportunity for people to discover the 2014 convention and Kingston
Business School.
Although the case studies reviewed did not use Slideshare directly, some speakers at
the events have uploaded their slidedecks to Slideshare. For instance Jason Goldberg,
CEO Fab.com uploaded his presentation from the London Web Summit and one
month later had over 27,000 views (Jason Goldberg, 2012). This demonstrates the
sheer power and force which bringing the online social element to these events can
have. To curate a custom platform would take considerable resources, however there
are multiple platforms available for free which millions of people are using every day.
7.0 Conclusion
This report has identified the aims of the 2014 convention and set aside key technical
requirements of the technology to aid in the achieving of those aims. Two London
based technology conferences were used as case studies to explore the technology
which is available and being used currently by conference organisers. The key
limitation of technology was identified when applying it on a global scale, in
particular investigating trends in Asia, where the majority of virtual participants will
be attending from. This research concluded that supporting mobile devices would be
one of the keys to making the 2014 convention a success at a global level.
Following the findings concluded from the research it was decided that sourcing one
piece of software, which would satisfy all requirements, was unrealistic. Therefore a
mixture of technologies has been recommended. Livestream offers high quality
streaming services which would be appropriate for the keynote track. Google+ offers
mobile friendly video conferencing technology with the ability to watch if you are not
participating and upload instantly to YouTube. Hence Google+ was recommended for
the workshop track.
Real-time updates have been proposed to come in two forms, small bursts of
information from Tiwtter which people are accustomed to using at conferences. As
well as having a real-time updated blog hosted on the Tumblr platform to provide
more in-depth text articles. It is highly recommended that the resource website is
custom built, to meet the exacting requirements. Hosting partners such as YouTube
and Slideshare should be used, not only to save on hosting fees, but also to increase
the interactivity within the site and help drive traffic from other sources as people
research the topic.
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8.0 References
CNET (2012) ‘Asia's Top 10 phones’, [Online]. Available at: http://asia.cnet.com/cnetasias-top-10-phones-62060624.htm (Accessed: 26 April 2012).
Economic Times (2012) ‘Asia has been a leading innovator in mobile Internet
technology for years: Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google’, [Online]. Available at:
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-07-19/news/29791013_1_mobilephone-new-phone-smsbased (Accessed: 20 April 2012).
Jason Goldberg (2012) ‘The Fab Story’, [Online]. Available at:
http://www.slideshare.net/fabulis/the-fab-story-after-9-months-london-web-summitapril-19-2012 (Accessed: 20 April 2012).
Livestream (2012) ‘Our Customers’, [Online]. Available at:
http://new.livestream.com/broadcast-live/our-customers (Accessed: 16 April 2012).
Livestream (2012) ‘Production Service’, [Online]. Available at:
http://new.livestream.com/broadcast-live/production (Accessed: 16 April 2012).
Livestream (2012) ‘Web Summit Livestream’, [Online]. Available at:
http://new.livestream.com/websummit/LWS (Accessed: 20 March 2012).
London Web Summit (2012) ‘London Web Summit Speakers’, [Online]. Available at:
http://www.websummit.net/people/london-web-summit/ (Accessed: 16 April 2012).
Online Meeting Tools Review (2011) ‘Meeting Online With Goolge+’, [Online]. Available
at: http://blog.webconferencing-test.com/2011/07/15/meeting-online-with-google/
(Accessed: 22 April 2012).
Slideshare (2012) ‘Why You Should Use Slideshare’, [Online]. Available at:
http://www.slideshare.net/about (Accessed: 20 April 2012).
Tomorrow’s Web Eventbrite (2012) ‘Tomorrow's Web Meetup: April 21st 2012’,
[Online]. Available at: http://twmeetup2.eventbrite.com/ (Accessed: 16 April 2012).
Web Summit (2012) ‘London Web Summit Tumblr’, [Online]. Available at:
http://blog.websummit.net/tagged/LWS12 (Accessed: 23 March 2012).
Web Summit (2012) ‘London Web Summit Twitter Feed’, [Online]. Available at:
https://twitter.com/#!/WebSummitHQ (Accessed: 23 March 2012).
Yin Yang India (2012) ‘Asia Mobile Internet’, [Online]. Available at: http://yin-yangindia.com/tag/asia-mobile-internet/ (Accessed: 20 April 2012).
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9.0 Log
This log contains the meetings and discussions I had with event co-ordinators and
organisers as part of the research for this report.
19 March: Attended London Web Summit and spoke with Dylan Higgins, social
media coordinator for the event. We spoke about the technical choices they made and
why.
17 April: Met with Chris Leydon, Organiser of Tomorrow’s Web to talk about the
social media and streaming decisions he made for the conference.
18-20 April: Attended the UX London conference, however they used a very small
amount of social media and had a very small online presence, hence this case was not
used in the final report.
21 April: Virtually attended Tomorrow’s Web, watching the event unfold on
Livestream and monitoring social media activity on Twitter.
30
Vision
Paula Malysevaite
Table of Contents
1.0 Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 32
2.0 Organisational Objectives .................................................................................................................. 32
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
Global Communication ...................................................................................................................................... 32
Internationalisation of higher education .................................................................................................... 32
International Projects ........................................................................................................................................ 33
Lessons to be learned (ICT and e-learning) ................................................................................................ 33
3.0 Technology Solutions ........................................................................................................................... 34
3.1 The New Business School building ................................................................................................................. 34
3.2 Video conferencing.............................................................................................................................................. 35
3.3 Cloud computing .................................................................................................................................................. 35
3.4 Social Media Tools ............................................................................................................................................... 36
3.4.1 Social Networking ........................................................................................................................................................ 36
3.4.2 Facebook.......................................................................................................................................................................... 36
3.4.3 YouTube ........................................................................................................................................................................... 37
3.5 Website ................................................................................................................................................................... 38
4.0 Potential Partners ................................................................................................................................. 38
4.1 Samsung ................................................................................................................................................................. 38
4.2 Google...................................................................................................................................................................... 39
5.0 Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 40
6.0 Log of activities ....................................................................................................................................... 41
7.0 References ................................................................................................................................................ 45
31
1.0 Overview
To begin with, Students’ Quality Circles (ICSQC) have rapidly evolved as an
educational programme since 1994, when the first International Conference on
Quality Circles of City Montessori School in India was held (City Montessori School,
2012). The main purpose of this empowerment programme was, and still is, the
development of a personality. This continuous improvement is being achieved by
inspiring teamwork, unity, problem solving and building self-confidence. Therefore,
the idea of Quality Circles integration in education becomes a reality with every step
in the ICSQC movement.
The 17th International Convention on Students’ Quality Circles is planned to take
place in the United Kingdom in 2014. As a host, Kingston University has to organise
multilingual and multicultural events based on new technologies to ensure that the
convention will not be restricted only to a wealthy minority. Moreover, as an
international university, Kingston has a great impact on moving Students’ Quality
Circles programme to the next level. In other words, Kingston University is a home
for students from over 100 different countries around the world, thus it has a
possibility to influence different learning strategies, adaptation of different teaching
methods and therefore the growth of quality people.
2.0 Organisational Objectives
2.1 Global Communication
As the 17th International Convention on Students’ Quality Circles has to be broadcast
globally, it would be rational to focus on new technologies that have dramatically
changed over the last decades. For instance, not too long ago people used simple
mobile phones or relied on landline phone communication in order to contact others.
However, now almost every person is using digital mobile phones which have plenty
of useful and innovative functions such as global positioning system, Internet
connectivity or visual voicemail. Therefore, the access to global intercommunication
sharply increased as people rapidly adopted this technology. The statistics also
demonstrate that “mobile phone technology has contributed to narrowing the digital
divide, reaching a penetration rate of more than 80 percent of the population”
(ISSUU, 2011). However, there still are areas where access to global communication
has not been developed, or is restricted by certain regulations. In this case, failing to
build advanced communication networks negatively affects current education system
which goes in step with new technologies as the majority of educational institutions
are adopting digital learning. This means that places with broadband connections have
more opportunities to benefit from the convention that is planned to take place in
2014.
2.2 Internationalisation of higher education
According to the Economist rankings, the UK has the most open policy environment
for foreign students with a score of 8.7 out of 10 (British Council, 2010). As a result,
it is known that the number of international students in UK higher institutions has
doubled in ten years. For instance, Global Information Technology lecture in
32
Kingston University consists of people who come from 30 different countries. This
implies that universities in the UK have the largest diversity of foreign students that
bring different learning experience and diverse knowledge. Therefore, collaboration
of these students might be advantageous in terms of academic mobility and global
education. There are already ongoing educational programmes around Europe that
encourage the mobility of students, and help them to gain a global perspective
through cultural experiences (Research and Development Programmes, COMETT and
ERASMUS). However, none of these programmes are based on new technologies
which have recently become an integral part of multicultural education. The main
issue here is that the majority of universities around the world are slow in adapting
cyber learning environment. For this reason, Kingston University, as a host for the
17th International Convention, has a great opportunity to present digital learning and
its adaptation in higher educational institutions.
2.3 International Projects
Kingston University participates in a number of international projects including
ICSQC, UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet), World Council for
Total Quality and Excellence in Education (WCTQEE) and EU COHAB Project on
Distance Learning. Generally, all these programmes focus on growing quality people,
and empowering them through education. For instance, EU COHAB Project on
Distance Learning is based on integration of higher education through cultural and
educational mobility around the South Baltic Sea (COHAB, 2012). It is considered
that greater educational integration could be achieved by enhancing virtual learning as
it will allow access to shared information and geographic independence. As our
convention is planned to be international and available to a great number of
participants by using new technologies, collaboration with related projects could be
preferable. Joining forces with COHAB could be beneficial in terms of encouraging
digital learning in higher institutions and helping to adapt technological tools in
educational environment. Moreover, inviting all projects’ representatives to
participate in the 17th ICSQC could lead to a discussion of how to implement
everyone’s ideas and use each other’s resources in order to take full advantage. In this
instance, Kingston University could contribute by using technologies introduced in
the new Business School and making lectures available to all participants of the
convention for the educational purposes. Consequently, EU COHAB might extend
development of cultural and educational mobility from the South Baltic Sea to
globally and, for example, provide training of the staff in new technologies in the
majority of higher institutions. Collaboration with the international partners could be
beneficial to both sides and could accelerate the achievement process, however it is
important to make sure that the intentions and purposes of all projects are going in the
same direction.
2.4 Lessons to be learned (ICT and e-learning)
As was mentioned before, ICSQC focuses on students’ empowerment through
educational programmes. Therefore, it is important to discuss educational revolution
in higher institutions caused by the introduction of advanced information and
communication technologies (ICT) into education systems (Bouwman et al. 2005).
Nowadays the majority of universities all over the world offer blended learning,
which combines e-learning and classroom learning. It is considered to be the best way
33
to improve the quality of education and to address diverse student needs. For
instance, Kingston University has adopted this innovative learning method by
introducing online learning tool known as StudySpace and distance learning
(Kingston University, 2012). StudySpace as a virtual blackboard has become very
popular amongst Kingston University students, as it allows them to reach information
and to study any time they want. It is beneficial to especially foreign students who can
study and obtain updated material during the holidays back in their home countries.
Due to this reason, during the 17th International Convention lecturers, staff members
and students of Kingston University could share their experience of e-learning and
how it has met their individual needs. Lecturers could represent guest speakers and
talk about technology-enhanced teaching and students could prepare presentations
based on their e-learning knowledge. The most important lesson that should be
learned here is that the educational environment could be built virtually, rather than
only physically, in order to reduce cost and expand access to education.
3.0 Technology Solutions
3.1 The New Business School building
In order to provide the latest technology for this convention it is necessary to have
appropriate equipment and a suitable place to hold an event. Fortunately, a new
teaching building worth £26 million was opened in Kingston Hill Campus this year
(Kingston University, 2012). The new Business School was built using latest green
technologies in order to reduce environmental impacts and carbon energy use. The
main focus was to provide improved learning spaces, informal areas for learning and
modern teaching. The latter includes visualisers (digital visual presenters) that are
embedded in all teaching rooms joined together with interactive whiteboards
(starboards). These technological tools allow lecturers to share a much wider range of
information by displaying notes, carrying on an activity and showing its process on
the large screen to everyone in the class. Moreover, all these notes can be recorded
and posted on a server or web to present to students who were absent or for those who
need a revision. Thus, this kind of modern educational environment could be
beneficial for encouraging and enhancing digital learning to foreign students who
cannot afford studying in higher institutions abroad. As well it would accelerate
adaptation of technological tools in learning environment all over the world, in other
words, education would be available to much more people.
Regarding the 17th ICSQC, meetings with international partners could be held in the
lecture theatre (in the new building) as it is the only room with integrated video
cameras that could seat more than 30 people. Therefore, video conferencing will
allow holding the meetings in physical and virtual ways and will not be restricted to
certain amount of people. Furthermore, meetings might be recorded and uploaded
online in order to keep a track of discussed matters, made decisions and questions
raised.
In summary, with the building of a new business school and all technologies
integrated within, we have a great possibility to involve many more participants in
this convention.
34
3.2 Video conferencing
Widespread availability of this conference is one of the main concerns as it is planned
to make it accessible not only to those who can afford expensive travelling but to
everyone. In this instance, the 17th International Convention should be held as a
physical and virtual event to spread the word globally. Therefore, one of the solutions
to overcome virtual challenges could be telepresence, as it is the best way to
communicate with the people as if they were in the same room. Video conferencing
now offers stereo audio and advanced HD video systems which allow truly interactive
communication. For example, LifeSize Connections™ is the first company launched
cloud-based video conferencing platform that offers a full video solution with no
infrastructure hardware requirements (LifeSize Communications, 2011). Moreover,
LifeSize offers multiparty calling with up to 48 participants on a single call in 1080p
at a lowest price in industry. This means that there is a possibility to hold an
international conference virtually with over 40 participants and feel like everybody is
sat in the same room. Adaptation of this technology may reduce travel expenses,
encourage digital learning and improve participants’ productivity. In general, with the
increasing demand for video conferencing and communication technology, we can
expect IT systems managers to provide improved video communication that allows
talking with multiple people in multiple places by 2014.
3.3 Cloud computing
As discussed before, the 17th International Convention should take place not only in a
single physical location but also on a virtual platform. However, the organisation of
the virtual event might face such issues as necessity of buying expensive hardware for
video conferencing or investment in servers or software licensing. Thus, it is worth
considering holding the virtual event with the support of cloud computing based
companies which does not require additional equipment for video conferencing.
Currently IT businesses apply cloud computing to multiparty video conferencing as
for instance, Nefsis Company which “is a true cloud computing and parallel
processing application” (Nefsis, 2012). This cloud based service allows users to have
video conferences with anyone that simply has a computer and Internet connectivity.
Nefsis software is built to automatically apply the highest quality imaging of user’s
camera in order to exploit computer’s capabilities. The company offers free 14 day
trial of Nefsis Professional video conferencing service which allows testing quality of
the software and built-in features like desktop sharing, PowerPoint sharing, integrated
whiteboard or training movies showing. Moreover, only host has to have an account
in Nefsis to share live conference experience with participants who in this instance
can join the conference by clicking a link. Thus, this company has to be considered
when organising multiparty video conferencing at Kingston University in 2014
because it provides multi-layer security and features needed for effective meetings.
Moreover, regarding low budget predictions, the price for Nefsis cloud-based service
will be reasonable and affordable as the convention in the UK will last only for three
to five days.
35
Nefsis Cloud
3.4 Social Media Tools
3.4.1 Social Networking
In order to take full advantage of this convention, it is considered to use technology,
organisations and students as resources which should be brought together. Probably
the most efficient and easiest way to group convention’s participants is to create a
specific community online where the ideas, thoughts and news could be shared.
According to statistics, “social networking sites now reached 82 percent of the
world’s online population, representing 1.2 billion users around the world”(comScore
Data Mine, 2012). Thus, social networks like Facebook or Twitter could be used as
main social media tools in the 17th International Convention to represent not only
their utility in higher education, but also to spread the word globally. The purpose of
this ICSQC is to make it available to as many people as possible, thus by creating a
group on a Facebook page, it would be possible to make foreign students and teachers
aware about this project and discuss its idea. In this instance, participants and
interested parties would be always updated with the latest news of the convention and
would be able to discuss and comment decisions made in the meetings.
3.4.2 Facebook
Use of social networks could be beneficial not only for promotional activities of
ICSQC but also for higher education in terms of student empowerment. It is known
that about 60% of students use social networks in order to discuss educational matters
such as homework, teachers or access to learning material. In this case, it is worth
mentioning SQC Kingston Hawks who created Facebook group called Kingston
University – Business Faculty Student Forum in order to improve effectiveness of
36
course representatives. According to Business School students, this online group
forum allows them to freely express their opinions towards educational system in the
university and to be heard. This could be a great example of how to implement social
networks in higher education for beneficial purposes.
Facebook could be used as a communication tool to enhance the event by creating
awareness of the convention worldwide. For instance, Global IT students who are
interested in this project could create a group on Facebook and invite students from
their home countries to join in. Kingston University students would spread the word
globally about the International Convention amongst foreign students and could
collaborate to involve more participants.
3.4.3 YouTube
Technology recently became an integral part of every student’s life whether they are
learning or just socialising with others. Thus, they are expecting technology-based
stimulation and engagement from their teachers in the lectures as well. YouTube as
one of the most visited websites in the world could contribute to our convention in
terms of academic videos online. In 2009 YouTube EDU was launched in order to
provide free education that now allows millions of people to watch free lectures from
different universities including Yale, Harvard and many more (lifehacker, 2009).
Students could be encouraged to support their learning by watching academic videos
online as it helps to reinforce the material into the memory. Most of the students
already adapted this non-traditional learning method, however during the convention
it would be recommended to emphasize and hear students’ experience of this kind of
educational technique.
“Similar to YouTube, TeacherTube is a video file-sharing site where educators are
encouraged to share lesson plans, tips and other instruction-based films”(coverge,
2008). It means that YouTube meets both students and teachers requirements towards
education and empowers them to endeavour personality and knowledge development.
Therefore, Kingston University as a host for the 17th International Convention could
be a role model for other participants and, for instance, create its own YouTube TV
channel where people all over the world could find uploaded lectures, workshops and
events.
It would be a great idea to launch a YouTube TV channel for this convention, in order
to keep people updated of what matters are being discussed, how meetings are being
held and other relevant information. Creating a TV channel online would also help in
preparation for the convention in terms of promotional activities and wide
accessibility around the world. The videos uploaded would be informative, and would
show how it is planned to hold the event in order to distinguish it from previous ones.
Lastly, it will allow people who cannot physically be present to participate in the
convention by watching recorded meetings and commenting on YouTube TV
channel.
The most important thing students have to learn in university is that education is
continuous process which does not stop after getting a degree. For this reason, the 17th
ICSQC must be a permanent project, with the aim to empower new student
generations through technology-based education. Global communication between
37
students and teachers through Facebook or other social media tools could help to
achieve empowerment by developing communication skills, virtually working on
group projects or improving technological skills. Moreover, adaptation of these social
networks is beneficial in terms of developing links across borders with educational
institutions and countries.
3.5 Website
Unfortunately, the Students’ Quality Circles programme does not have a website
where participants and interested parties could find relevant information about all
conventions organised since 1994. However, it is possible to find data about different
conventions in a form of article on various websites. Therefore, it would be advisable
to create and design a website just for the 17th ISCQC in order to have an information
resource based on the Internet for promotional activities, international accessibility
and educational purposes. Documents which will be accessed through a web browser
should contain information regarding general vision of Students’ Quality Circles,
mission of the 17th International Convention which will be hosted at Kingston
University and brief explanation of how people could participate in the event
virtually. The main reason why the website should come into being is live streaming
videos, which will be accessible through this page to all people that will not be able to
participate physically. A chat forum with integrated translator program should be
implemented in this website as well, in order to allow foreign participants to comment
event lively. Moreover, the website would be used to upload recorded video
conferences and photos taken during the event to help sustain communication even
after the convention will come to an end. This will facilitate to maintain the 17th
convention in a continuous process and allow participants to keep on working on
issues raised during the event.
4.0 Potential Partners
4.1 Samsung
Samsung is one of the most innovative companies known worldwide. This company
actively participates in educational programmes by investing and donating large
amounts of money in technology to schools and universities (The Show Me
Campaign, 2011). Moreover, Samsung believes in a power of partnership which helps
to make a positive impact on education, especially in Asia and Africa. Therefore, the
company closely works with Google, Microsoft, the Adobe Foundation, University of
Cape Town (Mobile Innovation Lab and Apps), Kenya Institute of Education and
many more organizations and governments. Recently Samsung launched Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) program in Africa called Samsung Blue Education in
order to empower students through technology-based education (Samsung, 2012).
Regarding Samsung’s involvement in CSR initiatives towards education, the
assumption could be made that the company would be interested in the ICSQC
project. The main reason for this is that Samsung and ICSQC share a “common
passion for enhancing the quality of education” (The Show Me Campaign, 2011).
Thus, it would be advisable to collaborate with Samsung and even combine Samsung
Blue Education and Students’ Quality Circles in order to implement technology-based
38
education and develop links across the continents. In summary, the company could
support the 17th International Convention in the UK not only financially but also
working hand in hand to organise the event.
Samsung CSR
4.2 Google
Google, like Samsung and other major companies, has an ethical responsibility to
society which is known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This kind of
commitment morally binds companies to make a positive impact on environment and
society while doing business. Google, similar to Samsung, has actively participated in
educational programmes since 2007 when the first project in China was organised.
The Google China Social Innovation Cup for College Students mission was based on
a concept of empowering China’s youth to become agents of social change (Google,
2011). Thus, collaboration with Google could be beneficial not only in terms of
financial support or provision of their products but also in sharing previous
experience of empowerment programmes as it is a basic topic of ICSQC.
Google’s mission is to organise the world’s information, and make it universally
accessible and useful to everyone. Consequently this company might be interested in
our idea to hold an International Convention which is planned to be accessible on a
virtual platform. The support concerning new technologies from Google could be
valuable, as last year the company contributed to a Stanford project and launched
39
three online courses which involved streaming Internet video and interactive
technologies (wiredacademic, 2011). Therefore, Goggle’s experience of broadcasting
lessons online could benefit our project by improving the convention’s availability to
more participants and avoiding the mistakes that were made in Stanford’s mission.
Lastly, Google offers Google Grants for non- profit organisations such as ICSQCs in
order to support such areas as “science and technology, education, global public
health, the environment, youth advocacy and the arts” (Google, 2011). According to
the Google website, this programme which also includes capability of AdWords
allows organisations to promote their websites and other relevant information via
advertising on Google. Hence, it is important to consider Google as one of the best
partners for the 17th ICSQC as this company’s contribution would help to achieve
better results.
5.0 Summary
The 17th International Students’ Quality Circles Convention will be a challenging
event to organise for Kingston University in 2014. The main reason for this is that the
event is planned to be available to as many participants as possible on a virtual
platform. In order to do that it is worth considering using appropriate social media
tools and multiparty video conferencing. Thus, in this report it was analysed how
Facebook, YouTube and Cloud Computing could contribute to the convention and
develop links with other countries virtually. Moreover, it was advised to create a
website just for this event to store information about previous conventions, aims of
the 17th ISCQC, recorded meetings and for further educational development of
Students’ Quality Circles. As well it was offered to go into partnerships with major
companies like Samsung or Google as they are keen on supporting educational
projects. These businesses could support this project not only financially but also by
promoting the event and providing their products.
It was also discussed what are the educational purposes of the 17th ISCQC and topics
which could be introduced during the meetings (digital, distance and blended
learning). Moreover, it was analysed how Kingston University could collaborate with
International Projects like COHAB in order to develop links with Eastern European
countries and involve more participants. Thus, this report summarised how the 17th
International Convention could be organised virtually, using appropriate technological
tools and what educational matters should be taken into account.
40
6.0 Log of activities
1
Activity Number
Date of the activity
28th March 2012
Matters discussed
First of all, I analysed assignment
summative and other documents
related to it. Then I decided to do a
research on previous conventions in
alternate years in order to have more
information
Other matters discussed:
I decided to find more information
about new building in Kingston Hill
campus as it may contribute to the
convention in 2014
2
Activity Number
Date of the activity
Matters discussed
Other matters discussed:
30th of March 2012
I wrote a letter to my course
administrator in order to get more
information about new technologies
provided in new building. I also did a
research on ICT and analyzed the
Global Information Technology
Report 2010–2011 based on this
topic
I wrote an overview of this project
which included brief description of
previous conventions held
3
Activity Number
Date of the activity
Matters discussed
3rd of April 2012
I arranged meeting with Dan Russell
who is a member of the Big Move
Team in order to get more
information about new technologies
in a new building located in Kingston
Hill. I also did a research on video
conferencing as one of my
41
recommendations for the convention
Other matters discussed:
I decided to take books about ICT
and its connection with education
4
Activity Number
Date of the activity
Matters discussed
Other matters discussed:
6th of April 2012
I decided to focus on digital learning
as an issue to discuss during the
convention. I analyzed two cases
based on virtual educational
environment (The Role of Virtual
Organizations in Post-Graduate
Education in Egypt: The Case of the
Regional IT Institute; Cyber Schools
and Special Needs: Making the
Connection)
I did a research on internalization of
higher education as it is a specific
definition and specific issue to
discuss
5
Activity Number
Date of the activity
Matters discussed
Other matters discussed:
10th of April 2012
I had a meeting with Dan Russell in a
new Business School. He gave me a
tour around the building by showing
and explaining the purpose of
building
it
and
integrated
technologies
I decided to talk with Barry Avery as
he has connections with Apple
company and discuss possibility to
get sponsorship for the 17th ICSQC
6
Activity Number
42
Date of the activity
13th of April 2012
Matters discussed
As social media tools are very
important these days, I included
information about this in my report by
giving suggestions how it can be
beneficial in preparation for the
convention and
for educational
purposes
7
Activity Number
Date of the activity
Matters discussed
Other matters discussed:
16th of April 2012
I sent draft about social media tools
to Richard Ennals in order to check
whether it is relevant to this project
As we had a lecture about Cloud
Computing, I decided to find more
information and include it in my
report
8
Activity Number
Date of the activity
Matters discussed
Other matters discussed:
17th of April 2012
I improved my assignment part about
social media tools in order to explain
how social networks (YouTube,
Facebook)
will
benefit
this
convention and help to develop links
across the borders
After talking with Richard Ennals, I
decided to look for information about
major companies that could go into
partnership with this project
9
Activity Number
Date of the activity
Matters discussed
Other matters discussed:
19th of April 2012
After conducting a research on
potential companies, I found that TV
channels, Samsung and Google are
options worth to consider
I looked for a website of ISCQC and I
did not found, thus I decided to
advice to create a website just for the
43
17th International Convention
10
Activity Number
Date of the activity
Matters discussed
Other matters discussed:
21st of April 2012
I wrote a brief summary of the report
in order to show main ideas I focused
on
I decided to reorganise the structure
of my report after discussing the
assignment with my course mates
11
Activity Number
Date of the activity
24th of April 2012
Matters discussed
I visited BLASC desk to check
grammar and fluency of sentences
before submitting my assignment
44
7.0 References
Vector Study (2008) Quality Circles. Available at:
http://www.vectorstudy.com/management_theories/quality_circles.htm (Accessed: 28 March
2012).
Academia (2012) A perspective from a students’ quality circle. Available at:
http://www.cmseducation.org/icsqcc/ (Accessed: 28 March 2012).
City Montessori School (2012) Invitation. Available at: http://www.cmseducation.org/icsqcc/
(Accessed: 28 March 2012).
Nelta Choutari (2010) Future of our nation is in Students’ Quality Circle. Available at:
http://neltachoutari.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/future-of-our-nation-is-instudents%E2%80%99-quality-circle/ (Accessed: 28 March 2012).
ISSUU (2011) Global Technology Report. Available at:
http://issuu.com/icde/docs/the_global_information_technology_report_2010-2011 (Accessed: 2
April 2012).
British Council (2010) Measuring and benchmarking the internationalisation of education.
Available at: http://www.britishcouncil.org/going_global_4_-_shaping_the_next_generation__j_ncnamara_a_williamson_-_pp.pdf (Accessed: 2 April 2012).
COHAB (2012) COHAB – A project in the INTERREG IV A South Baltic Programme. Available at:
http://www.cohab.eu/ (Accessed: 6 April 2012).
Bouwman, H., Hoof, B., Wijnhaert, J., Dijk, H. (2005) Information & Communication Technologies in
Organizations. London: Sage.
Tomei, L. (2008) Dynamic Adapting Information and Communication Technologies for Effective
Education. New York: Hershey.
Kingston University (2012) E-learning. Available at:
http://www.kingston.ac.uk/postgraduate/choose-kingston/flexible-study/distance-learning/
(Accessed: 6 April 2012).
Kingston University (2012) E-learning and assesment. Available at:
http://www.kingston.ac.uk/policy-and-practice/research/elearning-and-assessment/
(Accessed: 6 April 2012).
Kingston University (2012) Kingston Business School building. Available at:
http://business.kingston.ac.uk/about-us/kingston-hill-campus/kingston-business-schoolbuilding (Accessed: 8 April 2012).
Nefsis (2012) Video Conferencing Equipment. Available at: http://www.nefsis.com/Best-VideoConferencing-Software/video-conferencing-equipment.html (Accessed: 23 April 2012).
Nefsis (2012) Multipoint Video Conferencing via the Cloud. Available at:
http://www.nefsis.com/How-Multipoint-Conferencing-Works/index-multipoint-videoconferencing.html (Accessed: 23 April 2012).
Nefsis (2012) Video Conferencing. Available at: http://www.nefsis.com/Support-VideoSoftware/faqs-how-to-video-conferencing.html (Accessed: 23 April 2012).
45
Nefsis (2012) Nefsis Technology: Comparison to Tradition Video Conferencing Solutions. Available
at: http://www.nefsis.com/prf-nefsis-vhardwareonly.html (Accessed: 23 April 2012).
InfoWorld (2010) What cloud computing really means. Available at:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/what-cloud-computing-really-means031?page=0,1 (Accessed: 23 April 2012).
Cloud Computing Topics (2012) Cloud Computing and QoS Compatibility for Business Video
Conferencing. Available at: http://cloudcomputingtopics.com/2011/07/cloud-computing-andqos-compatibility-for-business-video-conferencing/ (Accessed: 23 April 2012).
comScore Data Mine (2012) People Spent 6.7 Billion Hours on Social Networks in October.
Available at: http://www.comscoredatamine.com/2012/01/people-spent-6-7-billion-hours-onsocial-networks-in-october/ (Accessed: 23 April 2012).
lifehacker (2009) YouTube EDU Brings Free Education to the Masses. Available at:
http://lifehacker.com/5185679/youtube-edu-brings-free-education-to-the-masses (Accessed:
13 April 2012).
converge (2008) Is Education Ready For YouTube? Available at:
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