In a dazzling gala ceremony in London, KMi was the winner this evening of an eWell-being award for FM online-meeting technology in the category "Better Ways of Working". The eWell-being awards were hosted at London’s Globe Theatre on the banks of the Thames, on April 30th 2008. The awards are presented by the UK Centre for Economic and Environmental Development for National excellence in promoting eWell-being; for the benefit of people and the environment.
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)
