New computer technology to aid disabled Bruins
Murphy Hall’s SAO installs new video-conferencing
By Tatiana Botton
A person’s face flashes on the computer screen, moving and
speaking with the clarity of a telephone communication. The person
is not in the computer room but in fact a few miles away.
No, this is not a science fiction story, it’s the most advanced
video-teleconferencing technology available, recently installed at
the Student Affairs Office in Murphy Hall.
Video-teleconferencing allows people to communicate from very
far places through their computer screens.
"People won’t need to come to UCLA anymore, they would be able
to telecommute, i.e. to work from home," said David Chien, a
computer technician from the Students Affairs Office.
People with the computer equipment necessary would be able to
work from home or attend meetings and conferences located in
distant places.
The material was temporarily lent to UCLA by Mark Thompson Right
Way Incorporated, a local company created in January 1993. Mark
Thompson, the corporation’s president, said he is dedicated to the
research, development and planning of incorporating this new
technology into the current telecommunication system.
"Trying this material will allow (UCLA) to know where the
current technology of video-teleconferencing is. It will help us to
plan for the future," said Chien.
Promoters stress that this material could help a very wide range
of users, from disabled persons with problems of immobility to
doctors that need the advice of a specialist located hundred of
miles away during a surgery.
The video-teleconferencing system installed at Murphy Hall links
Chien’s computer, located at the Student Affairs Office, to Douglas
Martin, the chancellor’s assistant on the American with
Disabilities Act (ADA) and 504 Compliance. It allows the people
from those offices to communicate face-to-face without moving from
their chairs.
Martin, whose office oversees preventing discrimination against
disabled people working at UCLA, said he initiated installing the
computers here because he is bound to a wheelchair and has limited
mobility.
"Every week I have to cross the campus from one side to the
other, but it takes me about an hour because the batteries in my
chair do not last long enough. The video-teleconferencing system
will be very helpful for my work on campus," Martin said.
Video-teleconferencing can be the solution to problems such as
his and others that concern the disabled community in relation to
their work. Hearing impaired persons will now be able to see each
other and communicate in sign languages instead of using a very
complex phone system.
UCLA is now waiting for the U.S. Department of Education to give
the school money to permanently install the equipment here. An
answer is expected in about four months.
"The grant fund will help UCLA to do a study of how effective
the video-teleconferencing system is for the disabled community and
for that we want to install a total of four machines," Martin
said.
While this technology is revolutionary, video-teleconferencing
technology was installed at UCLA two years ago in Powell Library.
That system is very expensive, then costing the university about
$100,000, not including the rent of the room where the equipment is
installed.
"They (at Powell Library) are using a private network, and if
they want to communicate with somebody outside their private
network, the price is very high," Thompson said. "Also, the people
using it have to schedule the video-teleconferencing call in
advance."
In contrast, the material installed in Murphy Hall  which
costs around $5,000 not including the price of the personal
computer  is not bigger than the size of a personal computer
with a small video camera. The machine requires very few
modifications, consisting of four special cards that need to be
plugged into the computer and a full duplex telephone, which allows
people to speak and see each other at the same time.
While the cost of such equipment has been reduced by half in the
last six months, many agree that this new system yields great
benefits for the relatively small amount of money invested.
"The cost of the material is very relative, if you think what a
round trip flight can cost for going to a conference located on the
other side of the continent," said Udoh Werner, one of the
associates at MTRW.
The video-teleconferencing system in Murphy Hall operates on six
simultaneous telephone lines, but can work on two or four lines
with reduced sound and image clarity. The telephone lines cost
between $36 to $40 per hour for the system installed at UCLA, and
would be around $84 per hour for a system installed on a personal
home computer.
But when the system links two different UCLA offices, then the
communication price between them is free.
"The price of the communication is really nothing if you think
of what people pay for a cellular phone call," Thompson said.
Along with differences in size and price in the the two systems,
they also each serve unique purposes in the university
community.
At Powell Library, the system is used to organize conferences
between the different University of California campuses, and during
the winter quarter a class of Armenian history will be taught with
students at Santa Barbara, Berkeley and UCLA. The desktop system at
Murphy Hall will be used exclusively by individuals communicating
with people in other offices.
UCLA is not the first UC campus to use or incorporate the
equipment of MTRW Inc.
Santa Barbara installed a "Multi Point Control Unit," that allow
them to have a simultaneous conference with as much as eight people
in eight different places, with all of them being visible on the
screen.
Irvine, which is installing similar equipment, plans to link
their Graduate School of Management to the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) and have professors from both schools teach in
tandem during the winter quarter.