The current state of the Covid-19 pandemic has not deterred Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) from being productive by holding scientific conferences virtually and obeying the COVID-19 health protocol. The conferences were also supported with IT support and 50 Virtual Rooms provided by the Information System Bureau (BSI UMY) so that the academic community can participate virtually in conference events both nationally and internationally.
When contacted on Monday (19/10) Winny Setyonugroho, the BSI UMY Head of Website Affairs explained that the IT support and virtual rooms provided are inspired by broadcast television shows and provide the main stage as the main room or the main hall of the conference program, the room is located on the fifth floor of the AR Fakhruddin B Building. “The concept of using IT in a virtual conference is like a television broadcast that provides a main room that can broadcast from all places, but there are also standby guests as anchors or presenter. The presenter of the event acts like a news reporter by reading out the schedule of events on the Main Stage located at AR Fakhruddin B 5th Floor. The main stage, which was prepared at AR Fakhruddin B, was then broadcast online through several social media channels, such as Instagram and Youtube,” Winny explained when contacted via online.
Winny also shared that the IT support and virtual rooms were used for the first time at an international conference, the 4th ICOSI 2020 which was held on October 13-14 2020. “the IT support was utilized in the ICOSI 2020 event, namely by preparing the main stage as the main room for broadcasting online-based conferences. The 14 conference foci were also provided in the UMY buildings according to the Covid-19 health protocol. Then from the 14 foci, the event broadcasted 50 parallel rooms presenting research articles for two full days from morning to evening,” Winny explained.
Winny added that the purpose of having a main stage and several virtual rooms is so that participants can choose a theme or topic of conference discussion according to their respective fields. “The reason for the broadcast presenting the main stage and 14 foci on the main page of the conference at the ICOSI event which was held on October 13-14 2020 was so that all participants can move from one virtual location to another virtual location. With this, they can follow the speakers that they like and are most interested in according to the field of knowledge of each participant, so the participants have the freedom to see all spaces or choose the topic they are interested in without being limited to just one virtual room. With the IT support provided by UMY, especially the Information Systems Bureau, the conference provides facilities for conference participants to be more flexible in choosing a more flexible virtual room, “he added.
Then he explained that preparations for IT support were carried out two months before the event. “Next, we prepare the SOP for a virtual room, and two days before the conference we have a preparatory rehearsal for the conference to ensure all equipment is working properly and all moderators and operators are responsible for the smooth running of the event,” he added.
IT support and virtual rooms at the conference held by university will then be used at the 2020 UMY Grace (Undergraduate Conference) conference which will be held on 27-28 October as well as the UMY LP3M Community Service Conference which will be held in November. (Sofia)
