Fall 2006 Internet2 Member Meeting
Bridging Asia and the U.S.: Distance Learning using Advanced Networks
December 06, 2006, 1:15 PM – 2:30 PM
Location: CC10 A
Suphawadee Ratanamart, King Mongkut Institute of Technology Ladkrabang
Manas Sangworasil, King Mongkut Institute of Technology Ladkrabang
Panjai Tantatsanawong, UNINET
I was happy to meet both Panjai Tantatsanawong and Wichan Lertwipatrakul after their session. MIAD has a number of design students from Thailand studying in Milwaukee while sending MIAD Faculty to teach in Thailand since 2002.
Now as high speed academic networks are bridging Thailand to America on Internet2 new possibilities emerge to benefit MIAD.
We have such a strong impact in design from our Thailand students that this advancement can only benefit our students and the emerging Art communities in both Milwaukee and Thailand via UniNet and Internet2.
In the fall 2005 semester I was invited to share insights regarding advances in computer networks and Web2.0 technologies with several students from Thailand. I was very impressed with their design work. While teaching at MIAD in the 2001 spring semester it became clearer to me that our Thailand program is sending students who are determined, focused and inspired to develop really powerful design.
The CommDesign Fall 2005 class project was to author a magazine layout and then migrate that content to the web. 
In a series of interviews I was able to help one of our Thai students consider the following project. A textile magazine permitted a subscriber to review and cut-out design patterns for different textiles.
But online the power of a Web2.0 website empowers a subscriber to search for specific textiles within a given zip code radius. Via Flash a design pattern can be created based upon textiles in-stock at stores within the subscriber’s home, studio or client business location. After submitting the design based upon available materials, the subscriber could choose to pickup those materials in person or if textiles were out of stock — they could be shipped via FedEx or UPS when available. I hope this was able to empower our Thai designers to think about the impact of global networks.
As a result of this session today we have an opportunity to better assist our Thai students with potential video conferencing opportunities to schools in their home country.
Technorati Tags: Internet2, Chicago, Thailand, MIAD, UniNet, web design,
Web2.0