In progress at UNHQ

PI/1053

REVAMPED AUDIO/VISUAL PAGE TO BE LAUNCHED MAKING UN RADIO NEWS AVAILABLE OVER INTERNET

27 February 1998


Press Release
PI/1053


REVAMPED AUDIO/VISUAL PAGE TO BE LAUNCHED MAKING UN RADIO NEWS AVAILABLE OVER INTERNET

19980227 A revamped United Nations Audio/Visual Page will be unveiled by the Office of Communications and Public Information on 4 March, making UN Radio News in both English and French available as streaming audio over the Internet, thus strengthening the existing United Nations presence in cyberspace.

The effort is part of the United Nations reform process to accelerate the use of information technology in reaching a wider audience in the most cost-effective manner. The artistic and functional "facelift" is part of a series of improvements that will be introduced in the coming months to make the United Nations website a more attractive and useful one.

The new Audio/Visual Page is organized in four parts: UNTV, UN Radio, UN Photo, and Archives of Multimedia Assets. The page has an attractive spinning globe and the user can tune into the latest UN Radio News by clicking on that animation. A news ticker containing the highlights of United Nations stories is located in the lower portion of the page.

The addresses to access the new Audio/Visual Page are http://www.un.org/av (English) and http://www.un.org/french/audiovis (French).

Coordinated and maintained by the Office of Communications and Public Information, the United Nations website was launched as a pilot project in June 1995. It has come a long way since then, serving information about the activities of the Organization in English and French to users all over the world. In 1997, the United Nations website registered an almost 300 per cent increase in accesses, with over 42 million accesses from over 114 countries on every continent.

The strengthened presence of the United Nations website on the Internet complements the work of the United Nations to mobilize the capacity of the Organization to ensure that the benefits of the new information technology are made available to all countries.

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For information media. Not an official record.