The theme of this year’s conference is “Workplace policy in 2010 and into the future”.
I'm afraid I've been a very slack blogger over the summer - a range of existing and emerging research projects, and various other have got in the way. More on many of these soon; for now, I wanted to point to the latest report released by the Pew Internet research centre, "The Future of the Internet IV". In this series of reports, Pew presents the responses of high-profile experts from industry and academia to a series of controversial questions about the future of the Net. To stimulate responses on each question, Pew offered two relatively extreme scenarios of what the future may look like.
There's coverage of the report in a number of leading technology and culture publications, including ReadWriteWeb and Fast Company. For the latest edition, I was asked to contribute my thoughts, and I'm happy for some of those responses to have made their way into the report itself. For completeness's sake (and perhaps to see in ten years' time how far off the mark I was), here are my answers in full:
Will Google make us smart or stupid?
By 2020, people's use of the internet has enhanced human intelligence; as people are allowed unprecedented access to more information, they become smarter and make better choices. Nicholas Carr was wrong: Google does not make us stupid (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google).
By 2020, people's use of the internet has not enhanced human intelligence and it could even be lowering the IQs of most people who use it a lot. Nicholas Carr was right: Google makes us stupid.
SnurbThe purpose of this site is to promote a national project on the digital games industry workforce in Australia. The site is designed in a way to encourage stakeholders to share their views about the current and future state of the industry, and what this means for the skilling of workers. The site promotes the Creative Benchmarker Survey and Workers Survey. It also includes links to job sites, job advice, and research resources. For more information about the project, click here.
As part of the Scenario Planning exercise for the Games Industry Skills Project, we have started a SWOT exercise to identify critical success factors for the Australian games industry. The exercise involves identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the games industry. We have a lot of good information about industry weaknesses, threats and opportunities but very little information on the strengths of the Australian games industry. If you would like to help us to identify critical success and strengths, please complete one or more of the below polls and/or provide us with comments about strengths of Australian games developers.
This paper contends that the hype surrounding the steep rise of social media networking website use has tended to mask the reality of a corresponding growth in online fraud and crime.
A conversation about 'open government' in light of the recent report of the Government 2.0 Taskforce.
Dr Nicholas Gruen, Chair of the Government 2.0 Taskforce presents a Library Lecture on the Gov 2.0 Taskforce Report.
Buffeted by streams of information coming via their Blackberries and laptops, this elite live with only one eye on the here and now.
The Program is a nationwide what's on guide, providing the latest info on events, festivals, gigs, performances, theatre shows, exhibitions and loads more
David Marr hosts a discussion with Margaret Simons and Michael Gawenda about the current state of the media, in particular the print media, and the challenges presented by new online media outlets.
Part one
This essay is based on a study that explores the relationships among multilingualism, technological change and the generation of novelty.
This essay examines the central issues raised by illegal file sharing and the future for record companies in an environment that increasingly demands flexibility.
The 2-day multi-sector conference will feature library tours, video streaming, a conference dinner and an associated exhibition with library industry suppliers.
Key speakers at this two-day conference held in December 2009 included NBN Co. CEO, Mike Quigley and Jeff Cole, Director USC Annenberg School, who outlined the potential of the NBN for Australia's digital economy. The forum was co-chaired by Dr Paul Twomey and participants included leaders from all parts of Australia.
