It's official, FM is a "better way of working"
KMi Reporter, Wednesday 30 April 2008
Alan and Peter at the Gala Ceremony

The Whole OU team and a Judge (Peter Blair from the UK Government CLG)

The Open University Team

Story in the Independent Supplement (Yes that is Peter's hand ;-)
The award to the FlashMeeting team from the judging panel noted that "The key environmental benefit of FM is the promise of reducing carbon emissions" by providing a genuinely better way of working, online, at a distance, and reducing unneccessary travel. "When you do have to travel to meet", said KMi Director, Peter Scott, "you should ensure that your physical meeting is as effective as possible! FM helps create some new forms of live online events to do just that. Perhaps even making the plane ride unnecessary!" One of the features of FM particularly liked by the judges was the way that each event carries a carbon footprint calculation to show its environmental impact; had the event been a physical meeting. "It is a simple awareness raising feature", noted KMi business manager, Alan Fletcher, "but it does help event participants to think a little more about their impact on the world, and getting the most from their meetings".
It was a good evening for the Open University overall, as the OpenLearn project was also award a "Highly Commended" in the category of "Reaching the Digitally Excluded". In fact, FM is also available free to users of OpenLearn, so the evening was a double win for both the University and the Institute.
Related Links:
- The FlashMeeting Project
- A blog entry by Laura Dewis
- The OpenLearn Project
- eWellbeing Awards by SustainIT.Org
- Independent Newspaper Supplement (Tuesday 6th May 2008)
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