TMCnews Featured Article

To connect tens of thousands of youths worldwide to discuss global issues, Global Nomads Group (GNG) and Polycom have joined forces.

The GNG is using Polycom (News - Alert) RealPresence video collaboration solutions to support the company’s "Youth Talk" interactive video collaboration program, designed for students aged 14 to18 to build awareness and understanding about the United States and the Arab world, according to a press release.

As a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting international dialogue by partnering educators around the world, GNG has been conducting many programs which provide teenagers with a close view of remote locations and extreme conditions. Both companies have been working for 14 years to connect tens of thousands of youths globally to discuss numerous world topics.

"Through our Youth Talk program, we pair schools for a year, working with teachers in many countries to help break down stereotypes and stigmas," Chris Plutte, executive director of GNG, said in a statement. "Polycom video enables us to take kids places they could never go otherwise, as flying across the world is just not a feasible option. This year, young people in the U.S. are meeting face-to-face via Polycom video with their peers in classrooms around the world, including Jordan. It's a life changing experience for students in the program."

According to the release, Polycom donated the infrastructure and video endpoints making the range of GNG projects possible. One of them is the Polycom RealPresence Platform.

The Polycom RealPresence Platform facilitates secure video collaboration across any combination of environment such as on the road, at home, at work, in conference rooms or immersive theatres, and across any combination of devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops and office systems, thereby offering high flexibility.

The arrangement allows GNG to deliver a wide variety of educational and interactive programs without worrying about the technologies at the different schools involved – particularly Youth Talk, according to the source.

Recently, via the Youth Talk – which in the 2011-2012 school year connected four high school pairs, including schools in Manja, Jordan and Sharon, Massachusetts – Polycom RealPresence Platform enabled GNG to take U.S. students on a live visit to the border of Chad and Sudan where American teens connected with children who were living in refugee camps in light of the Darfur conflict.

"The vivid, impactful experiences we're able to share with children via Polycom video collaboration are incredible," said Plutte. "We even linked kids in U.S. classrooms to the natural habitat of mountain gorillas in Rwanda. We literally trekked up a volcano with a guide from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and were talking live with kids in the U.S. The students were remotely experiencing mountain gorillas in their natural habitat and were asking questions of a renowned expert.

“Thanks to Polycom, time and distance are no longer barriers to learning or knowledge sharing," he added.

GNG is also leveraging Polycom’s solutions to collaborate with ministries of education, teachers, donors and partners. They’re also rolling out Polycom RealPresence Mobile on the organization's tablets.

Polycom RealPresence HD Video Collaboration was recently used to create immersive 'face-to-face' experiences for participants in Long Beach and Palm Springs, California at TED2012.