Conference Announcement:
Information and Communication Technology in the Arctic
October 20-21, 2003
Akureyri, Iceland
For more information see: http://vefir.unak.is/ICTConference
Registration deadline: September 10, 2003
The Icelandic chairmanship of the Arctic Council is preparing an
International Conference on Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) in the Arctic: Opportunities and Obstacles for Sustainable
Development, Education and Telemedicine.
The aim of the conference should be to ask and discuss critical
questions relating to the use of ICT, associated technical and social
issues and benefits to Arctic residents. The conference is also invited
to suggest collaborative actions among Arctic countries to promote ICT
development based on best available practice. It will bring together
individuals of different backgrounds, policy makers, academics, people
from business and industry and representatives of Arctic communities in
order to improve the quality of life and contribute to healthy and
vibrant communities in Northern rural areas. Many participants at the
Arctic Council Senior Arctic Officials' meeting in Iceland, 23rd-24th
October, 2003, are expected to attend.
The conference will be organized into a plenary session in the morning
of October 20th, two parallel workshop sessions in the afternoon and a
round-table discussion on the 21st. The plenary session on the first day
should provide an overview of the current status of ICT infrastructure
in the Arctic and the challenges for building an Arctic ICT community
that is comprehensive from the point of view of geographic reach and
technological access. The role of an Arctic ICT system in creating a
sustainable economy should also be examined and the importance of giving
the rest of the world access to the North through an Arctic Information
Highway. The two parallel workshops will examine distance education on
the one hand and telemedicine on the other. They will focus on best
practices in these fields, the need to build on what has been achieved
and make appropriate recommendations for future collaborative actions.
The conference will conclude with a round-table discussion in the
morning of October 21st summarizing the discussions on the previous day
and formulating its conclusions.
Working language of the conference will be English with simultaneous
translation into Russian
The conclusions of the conference will be presented to the Senior Arctic
Officials' meeting in October. All presentations will be made available
on the Internet.
Contact person: Yana Alexandrova, ICT Conference Coordinator, University
of Akureyri, e-mail: yana [at] unak.is