Conference Announcement:
Information and Communication Technology in the Arctic:
Opportunities and Obstacles for Sustainable Development, Education and
Telemedicine
20-21 October 2003
Akureyri, Iceland
For more information see: http://vefir.unak.is/ICTConference
Registration deadline: 10 September 2003
The Icelandic chairmanship of the Arctic Council is hosting an
International Conference on Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) in the Arctic, in Akureyri, on October 20-21, 2003.
The conference is intended to suggest collaborative actions among Arctic
countries to promote ICT development based on best available practices.
It is the aim of the conference to ask and discuss critical questions
relating to the use of ICT, associated technical and social issues and
benefits to Arctic residents. It will bring together individuals of
different backgrounds - policy makers, academics, people from business
and industry, ICT users, representatives of governmental agencies and
Arctic communities - to share ideas and experiences 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, October 23-24, 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
roundtable discussion on the 21st. The plenary session on the first day
will 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 in terms of geographic reach, technological access and
financial support. The role of an Arctic ICT system in creating a
sustainable economy should also be examined, as should 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 roundtable discussion in
the morning of October 21st summarizing the discussions on the previous
day and formulating its conclusions. A preliminary program is available
at http://vefir.unak.is/ICTConference
The working language of the conference will be English with simultaneous
translation into Russian.
The conclusions of the conference will be presented at 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
A registration form is available at the website or can be requested from
conference organizers.