World guru of modern media to visit Australia

Erika Dauner
Thursday, 06 September 2007 11:38

WORLD GURU OF MODERN MEDIA TO VISIT AUSTRALIA

education.au National Seminar Series
Melbourne, October 2

U.S internet guru Howard Rheingold – responsible for first coining the phrase ‘virtual community’ – will visit Australia in October to explore issues as wide-ranging as terrorism, pop culture and the new economy.

Mr Rheingold is acclaimed as being - for two decades - at the leading edge of the cyberspace revolution, with a track record of predicting the way our lives, work, businesses and institutions change as a result of emerging technology.

He will be keynote speaker at the Melbourne Docklands on Tuesday, October 2 as part of a series of high profile national education seminars run by education.au, a  leading, not-for-profit agency established by Australia’s Federal and State Governments to ensure technology is being put to best use in schools, universities and training institutions.

Previous keynote speakers in education.au’s 2007 Transforming Learning Through ICT seminars have included Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and internet ‘high priestess’ Danah Boyd.

“With changes to technology coming at breakneck speed, Howard Rheingold is a very important visionary for the modern world,” said education.au chief executive Greg Black. “It’s vital that our educators and the wider community think about the impact of technology on our lives, whether it’s in how our kids interact  through to national security and the international economy.”

“It’s certainly very topical, with the recent race riots at Coogee Beach in Sydney fuelled by text messaging, and the allegations laid in Australia against Mohamed Haneef when his old SIM card became caught up in investigations into a terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport.”

Mr Rheingold, who teaches Participatory Media/Collective Action at the University of California, was in the early 1990s the first to predict and examine the transformational social uses of cyberspace in his book The Virtual Community, which forecasted the internet explosion of the next decade.

His latest publication, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution charts the next techno-cultural shift with the amalgamation of super-efficient mobile communications -- cellular phones, personal digital assistants, and wireless paging and Internet- access devices which allow people to connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime. He also considers the

dark side of this phenomenon, such as the coordination of terrorist cells, threats to privacy, and the ability to incite violent behavior.

With the title ‘A Vision for the Future’, Mr Rheinhold will speak on:
• What is the future going to look like in 10 years?
• What is the future of the internet beyond Web 2.0 and its impact on life, education and the workplace?
• Online social networking and virtual communities – what impact will these new technologies have on our future?
• Will new technologies make a new economic system?

The one-off seminar will be held at the Atlantic Group, Shed 14 Central Pier, Melbourne Docklands on Tuesday, October 2 from 9.30am-4pm. To book, go to https://secure.educationau.edu.au

Media, for further information, please contact:

Chris Rann, Rann Communication 08 8211 7771

education.au was established in 1996 by all Australian governments as a not for profit agency to provide innovative technology solutions for education and training.

It provides:

• online education and career services 
• access to international networks and alliances
• shared online services such as learning resources, news items and events
• consultancy services in technology
• workshops and seminars with renowned education and technology leaders

For further information visit www.educationau.edu.au