WCALIVE - BROADCASTING A MAJOR MEDICAL CONFERENCE ON THE INTERNET

Live video and sound from the 11th World Congress of Anaesthesiology i n Sydney, Australia were broadcast over the Internet using the CuSeeme software package as part of an ongoing evaluation of Internet-based t elecommunication in the delivery of Continuing Medical Education (CME) . This was the first time such a broadcast had been attempted from a m edical convention. The broadcast lasted for four days, during which a functioning combination of computer hardware and software was establis hed. Technical issues relating to broadcast of these real time signals over ISDN links and the Internet itself were addressed. Over 200 anae sthetists from around the world were able to 'attend' the plenary sess ions via the Internet. Evidenced by feedback received audio reception was quite good. Video reception was less successful for those receivin g the broadcast via a modem based Internet connection. The received si gnal in such circumstances was adequate to provide a video presence of the speaker but inadequate to allow details of 35mm slides to be visu alised. We conclude that this technology will be of use in the deliver y of CME materials to remote areas provided simultaneous viewing of hi gh resolution still images is possible using another medium, such as t he World Wide Web.