Michael Smethurst is a Senior Information Architect at BBC Audio and Music interested in building highly linked data driven websites that are accessible for people, machines and search engines. Michael gave a plenary talk entitled "How the BBC make Web sites" with Matthew Wood.

David Newman is a Lecturer in Information Systems in the Queen's University Management School. At Queen's he has researched groupware use in co-operative learning, critical thinking in online and face-to-face discussions, and the use of the Internet by community groups. He ran a 0.5Euro million cross-border research project into electronic public consultation and then took part in the team evaluating the Irish Parliament's pilot e-consultation on the Broadcasting Bill. He is just starting a new European project which will get thousands of young people discussing Internet governance on their own Web 2.0 sites, then collect their creative ideas and feed them to national and European policy-makers. David gave a plenary talk entitled "Hub Websites for Youth Participation".

James Currall is a statistician who has always worked in multi-disciplinary environments. He has been involved in the support of software, ICT planning and user support and training at the University of Glasgow for nearly 20 years. His main job currently is as Director of Information Strategy where he interacts with records managers, archivists, librarians, information technologists, academics and university managers. From a position of being none of the above, James has on a number of occasions been described as an iconoclast as he does not hold dear much of the 'baggage' that these professions have accumulated through time. For two years he was on secondment to the University Learning and Teaching Centre, transforming the support of the University Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle) from a tool for enthusiasts into a well supported and managed service, during which time he was very much involved in the management and strategic planning of ICT in Learning and Teaching. James is also a Senior Research Fellow in the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII), where he has, for the last ten years, been developing applied research into information issues drawing on his service and strategic experience and also more theoretical work on the nature of digital objects and the problems associated with their management, security and retention. James has been involved with the highly successful Glasgow MSc course in Information Management and Preservation since its inception, in which he teaches about the transition from storage of information on physical to digital media, the management and preservation of digital materials, information security, the role of numbers as information and a variety of other topics including risk and information management as an investment. In this latter context he was the Project Director of the espida project which developed a sustainable business-focussed model for digital preservation. James gave a plenary talk entitled "What is the Web?".

Mike Nolan is Head of Web Services at Edge Hill University where he is responsible for development of external Web sites and a portal service for staff and students. Michael regularly posts about HE web development topics on the Edge Hill Web Services blog and is a regular participant (and hence speaker!) at BarCamps around the country. Mike chaired the final morning session and facilitated the Developer's Lounge Show and Tell session.

Marieke Guy is a research officer in the Community and Outreach Team at UKOLN. She has recently worked on the Good APIs project, which aimed to provide JISC and the sector with information and advice on the factors that encourage use of APIs. Last year she was involved in the JISC PoWR (Preservation of Web Resources) project. Since returning to work after her third lot of maternity leave (!) Marieke has become a remote worker and is the remote worker champion at UKOLN. In this role has worked on a number of initiatives aimed specifically at remote workers and written several articles on remote working and related technologies. She maintains a blog entitled Ramblings of a Remote Worker.

Damian Steer is a senior technical researcher at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. He is part of the Web Futures group, which focuses on the use of new web technologies in Higher Education. Web Futures has been particularly concerned with the semantic web / linked data, authorisation, the social web, and more recently mobile web technologies. Recent projects include: Research Revealed, which is examining the integration and exploitation of research information; Visualising China, an exploration of a historical photograph collection; and Mobile Campus Assistant, which makes existing campus-related information available to University of Bristol students via their location-aware smart phones. Damian will be giving a plenary talk entitled "Mobile Web and Campus Assistant".

Jeremy Speller has been involved with the UCL Web presence since 1995. Having headed UCL Web Services for a number of years, Jeremy is now Director of Learning & Media Services which, along with the Web, covers AV, design, learning technology, multimedia and photography. Prior to becoming a full-time Web "operative", Jeremy's background was in planning and statistics at UCL and previously at the University of Birmingham. Way back when he ran the Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme at what was then CVCP. Jeremy will be giving a plenary talk entitled "It's all gone horribly wrong: disaster communication in a crisis".

James Lappin is a records management consultant and trainer. He writes on records management topics for his blog Thinking Records. James is the co-author of Northumbria University's 'Investigation into the use of SharePoint in UK Higher Education Institutions' published in January 2010. He is an accredited trainer for the European Commission, for whom he provides records management training. James obtained his MA in Archives and Records Management at UCL in 1994, after which he held records management roles at The National Archives, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and the Wellcome Trust. He worked as a consultant and trainer for TFPL between 2004 and 2008, before founding his company Thinking Records, at the start of 2009. James will be giving a plenary talk entitled "The impact of SharePoint in Higher Education" with Peter Gilbert, part of the Doing the Day Job session.

Marieke Guy is a research officer in the Community and Outreach Team at UKOLN. She has chaired IWMW for the last 4 years (with one short-break in which she had a baby!). Marieke is currently working on a digital preservation guide for JISC. In the past she has been involved in many JISC and cultural heritage projects from the technical (Good APIs, ePrints, Subject Portals), to the not-so-technical (Web 2.0 workshops for museums, libraries and archives) and the in-between (JISC PoWR, Nof-digitise, Ariadne). Marieke is UKOLN's remote worker champion and last year won the Remote Worker of the year accolade. She has worked on a number of initiatives aimed specifically at remote workers and written several articles on remote working and related technologies. She maintains a blog entitled Ramblings of a Remote Worker. Marieke is co-chair of the event and will be giving the welcome with Brian Kelly.

Jeremy Speller has been involved with the UCL Web presence since 1995. Having headed UCL Web Services for a number of years, Jeremy is now Head of Media Services which, along with the Web, covers AV, illustration, multimedia and photography. He is currently working integrating the new department to provide rich media services for UCL customers. Jeremy is at present directing a major project to deliver podcasting production and delivery at the institutional level. Prior to becoming a full-time Web "operative", Jeremy's background was in planning and statistics at UCL and previously at the University of Birmingham. Way back when he ran the Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme at what was then CVCP. Jeremy facilitated a workshop on "Top-down Bottom-up Podcasting: Institutional Approaches to Scaleable Service" with Nicholas Watson.

Andy Ramsden has recently started as the Head of e-Learning at the University of Bath. In this capacity he is charged with contributing to both the strategic and operational aspects of elearning development at the Institution. In terms of his own research, his interests are in the effective uses of emergent technologies for teaching and learning. In particular, the use of Web 2.0 and mobile technologies on the learning and teaching landscape. He regularly presents and facilitates workshops on this and other topics with the UK. He also sits on the Steering Group of the nationally funded Podcasting for Pedagogical Purposes SIG. Many of his findings and reflections on the use of emergent technologies within Higher Education can be found on his mobile-learning blog. Andy facilitated a workshop on "Embracing Web 2.0 Technologies to Grease the Wheels of Team Cohesion" with Marieke Guy.

Martin Poulter is the ICT Manager of the Economics Network, a Subject Centre of the HE Academy. Based at the University of Bristol, Martin runs Web sites aimed at Economics teaching staff, students and prospective students. He also runs the Ancient Geeks community blog . His academic interests are Philosophy and Psychology. Martin facilitated a workshop on "The Real Information Environment" with Kwansuree Jiamton.

Mike Nolan is is Web Applications Project Manager at Edge Hill University where he leads the development team. Recent projects include a revamped corporate Web site and the university portal. Michael regularly posts about HE Web development topics on the Edge Hill Web Services blog. Mike facilitated a workshop on "Stuff what We're doing at Edge Hill University".

Tom Natt is a Web Developer working at the University of Bath. He has worked on a selection of institutional projects including wiki and instant messaging software and is currently looking at institutional repositories. In his free time he working on a selection of Web related open source projects. Tom facilitated a workshop on "What's the Point of having Developers in a Web 2.0 World?" with Phil Wilson.

Kwansuree Jiamton is the ICT Manager at the Health Sciences and Practice Subject Centre; part of the HE Academy. Working at King's College London since 2000, she has an active role in Web site development and interoperability, e-learning projects and strategic planning. Kwansuree facilitated a workshop on "The Real Information Environment" with Martin Poulter.

Stephen Emmott is the Head of Web Services at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He previously worked as the Editor of the King's Information Service at King's College London (1997 to 2000). Stephen facilitated a workshop on "Tactics to Strategy, and Back Again".

Mike Ellis has just emerged from 7 years working as Head of Web for the National Museum of Science and Industry, UK, which comprises the Science Museum in London, Media Museum in Bradford and Railway Museum in York. Mike is now working for a Bath-based company called Eduserv who are a not for profit IT services group. Mike's interests are in user generated content, Web 2.0, ubiquitous computing and innovation and how to lever these for maximum benefit in cultural institutions. Mike facilitated a workshop on "Mashups: More than Maps".

Dr Miranda Stephenson was heavily involved in establishing the National Science Learning Centre which is based on the University of York campus. Miranda welcomed delegates to the University of York at the start of the Institutional Web Management Workshop 2007 event.

Drew McLellan has been hacking on the Web since around 1996 following an unfortunate incident with a margarine tub. Since then he's spread himself between both front- and back-end development projects, and now works as a Web Developer for Yahoo! Europe in London, UK. Drew gave a plenary talk on "Can Your Web Site Be Your API?".

Adam Hulme is an Account Manager for Maxsi. Maxsi are developers of eVisit Analyst, a range of advanced Web site analysis tools used by universities such as Northumbria and Exeter. Adam participated in the panel session on "Dealing with the Commercial World: Saviour or Satan?"

James Currall will be giving a Plenary Talk on The Tangled Web is but a Fleeting Dream ... but then again... "Just a quick phone call to ask you if you could set up something to archive the University Web site, it should be pretty straight-forward for someone with your technical know-how." It is only a matter of time before someone in "Corporate Communications", the " Freedom of Information Office" or some similar department comes to you with this sort of request. How would you (have you) react(ed) to it? Many acres of virtual text have been penned on the subject of Web archiving (a fair proportion of them no longer available because the sites no longer exist:-) One of the major problems, which is well illustrated by the Wikipedia article on the subject, is that most authors have concentrated almost entirely on "How?" to do it and the (technical) difficulties that arise. The speaker will argue that "How?" is the least of your problems. What is your institutional web site for and what purpose is archiving it supposed to serve. To put it another way, the questions: "What?", "Why?", "When?" and "Where?" come well before deciding if the "Who?" is you, or trying to determine "How?". As usual Currall asks awkward questions and never seems to provide any useful answers, just turning seemingly simple problems in complex, issue-strewn minefields. He hasn't written the talk yet, but you can be sure that it will raise some very fundamental issues and give you something serious to think about and discuss and aside from manufacturing Shakespearean quotes, will probably quote from the most read book in the English Language, although you might feel the need to check that he isn't just making it up!

Rob Bristow, JISC as Programme Manager for e-Administration gives a plenary talk on Institutional Responses to Emergent Technologies - What JISC is Doing. As users of all sorts become more familiar with new technologies (including both Web 2.0 type software tools and user-owned devices) and become used to, and expectant of, managing their own data through 'self-service' applications and systems, questions are asked of institutions as to how they will respond to these new demands. JISC has been investigating this area through strands within its e-Learning and Users and Innovation programmes which have been focussed in the main on the learners' and users' experience. JISC has recently funded a further series of projects that address the way that institutions are responding to these new challenges, looking at organisational policies, practice and strategies, as well as funding pilot projects that demonstrate actual institutional responses. This work is in its early stages but the scope of the responses to the call for projects and some of the early results of the landscape study will provide some interesting real life information about institutional responses from across the sector. This talk will describe the work that JISC is doing and relate it to the Institutional Web Manager world.

Starts: Tue, 04 Feb 2025 18:30:00 -0500
02/04/2025 04:00:00PM
Location: Montreal, Canada

Starts: Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:00:00 -0500
'Tis the season to celebrate with your alma mater!<b>&nbsp;</b>The <b>McGill Alumni Association of Boston (MAAB)</b> invites you to a festive holiday party to ring in the festive season with your fellow Boston-area alumni.&nbsp;<div><br /></div><div>Don your favorite festive attire and join us at <b>Street State Provisions</b> for an evening of good food and socializing in their private lounge. If you haven't had the chance to attend a MAAB social yet, this is a <b>perfect opportunity to meet your local McGill community</b> before the year is over.&nbsp;<div><br /></div><div>Your ticket includes your first cocktail, non-alcoholic beverages, and an array of hors d'oeuvres. You will also have the chance to win one of our fabulous door prizes. Space is limited; get your ticket today!</div><div><br /></div></div>
Location: Boston, U. S. A.

Smart planning policies and room for expansion is ensuring Melbourne keeps its affordability and acclaimed quality of life as it becomes Australia’s biggest city over the next few decades. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Melbourne will overtake Sydney in population by 2053, projected to be home to over 7.7 million people. Currently 4.35 million people live in Melbourne compared to 4.76 million in Sydney but more people are moving to Melbourne than other Australian capital city, drawn by a vibrant and cosmopolitan culture, great public amenities and transport infrastructure and a geographical location that allows the city to expand outwards to accommodate new arrivals at lower cost than other major Australian cities.

US-based global investment management firm, T Rowe Price (TRP), has opened a new office in Melbourne. Head of Australian business for TRP, Murray Brewer, said TRP in Australia is going from strength to strength.

Chobani Australia is exporting yoghurt to Singapore less than 18 months after the American company set up in Victoria. Within 18 months, Chobani has grown production at its A$30 million yoghurt factory in Victoria from 25,000 cases a week to 25,000 cases a day, and become one of the biggest yoghurt manufacturers in Australia.

A new Victorian Government medical technology strategy will position Victoria as an internationally competitive developer of medical technology. Victoria’s Medical Technology Industry Strategy will create more high value jobs and attract investment for the state’s advanced manufacturing sector.

Singapore's RedDot Brewhouse plans to establish a new independent commercial microbrewery and beer garden in Melbourne’s west. The new RedDot facility in Truganina (21 km west of Melbourne's city centre) will be the company’s first brewery outside Singapore.

International consumer management company, Gigya, has opened an office in Melbourne as part of its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region. The move comes after strong growth in 2013 for the US-based company, during which it processed more than 800 million logins for clients in 46 countries, including Tommy Hilfiger, the Independent, the Globe and Mail, KLM, L'Occitane, Next Media, Japan Airlines and Canon.

Fonterra has opened a new A$6 million ricotta manufacturing plant in north central Victoria that will deliver global opportunities for the Victorian dairy industry. Built with $250,000 grant from the Victorian Government, the Perfect Italiano Ricotta project demonstrates Fonterra’s ongoing commitment to maintaining a presence in northern Victoria and boosts the company’s Stanhope workforce to 126.

Australia’s world ranking for biotechnology innovation jumped from seventh to fourth on Scientific American’s latest ‘Worldview’ scorecard. The publication’s scorecard provides a balanced assessment of biotechnology innovation around the world and indicated that Australia’s biotech market is undergoing a resurgence.

The new Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (JAEPA), signed on 8 July 2014, will strengthen economic ties between the two nations. Japan is Australia’s third largest direct foreign investor with A$130 million worth of investment stock in Australia in 2013.

Wilcox Industries’ manufacturing and assembly facility in Victoria will be a joint venture with its Melbourne-based distributor and partner, Aquaterro – a leading supplier of law enforcement and defence equipment in Victoria.

A new wearable pressure sensor has been developed which could be used to monitor people’s health at anytime and anywhere. Researchers from Monash University’s Departments of Chemical Engineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication, produced the new sensor by sandwiching ultrathin gold nanowire-impregnated tissue paper between two polymer sheets.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has grown its Australian service locations to Melbourne. The expanded company will roll out Amazon CloudFront - a content delivery Web service that offers both businesses and developers an easy way to distribute content with low latency and high data transfer speeds.

Global ratings agency, Moody’s, has reaffirmed Australia’s AAA rating and stable outlook, consistent with recent assessments by Fitch and Standard & Poor’s. Australia’s sovereign credit rating is based on the nation’s highly resilient economy, high level of government financial strength and low level of event risk.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has reaffirmed Australia's triple-A credit rating and stable economic outlook, stating that the sovereign credit ratings on Australia benefit from the country's strong institutional settings, its wealthy and resilient economy, and a high degree of monetary and fiscal policy flexibility. “These factors provide Australia with a strong ability to absorb large economic and financial shocks, as was demonstrated during the global recession in 2009,” S&P said.

Australia remains a top 10 global destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) for a third straight year after attracting US$50 billion in foreign direct investment in 2013, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2014. Over the three years to 2013, FDI flows to Australia rose nearly 55 per cent to US$171 billion from US$110 billion over the previous three years. This impressive growth has expanded Australia’s share of global FDI inflows to 3.8 per cent in 2011-13 from 2.5 per cent in 2008-10. In contrast, developed economies’ share of world FDI inflows fell to 44 per cent in 2011-13 from 53 per cent in 2008-10.

Singapore’s Fatfish Internet Group will open a new office in Melbourne to help boost its business in the Australasian region. Founded in 2011, Fatfish invests its own funds and money from the Singapore government in IT start-up companies and those in growth stage.

San Francisco-based IT company, Zendesk, is expanding its operations in Melbourne to take advantage of Victoria’s strong information technology skills base. “Our head of product and engineering says Melbourne is the best place for us to hire right now because of the combination of expectations, talent and production,” said Mikkel Svane, co-founder and chief executive of US-based Zendesk.

Former US President Bill Clinton has told delegates at the 20th International AIDS Conference, AIDS 2014 in Melbourne, that finding more economically efficient ways to respond to HIV is vital to saving lives and preventing the spread of the virus. Mr Clinton’s speech was made to over 2,000 people at one of the most eagerly anticipated sessions at the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne.

New Zealand-based hydraulic equipment specialist, Transport Hydraulic Solutions (THS), has opened a large manufacturing facility in the Melbourne northern suburb of Campbellfield (26.5 km north of the city centre). “A growing number of Melbourne clients are located around this area, and for those who are based further away, our office is right near the freeway where the Western Ring Road and Hume Highway intersect,” said Managing Director of THS, Brenden Lyons.

Fleet management service provider, TR Fleet, recently launched TR Fleet Australia – the parent company’s first venture outside the UK. The Melbourne-based manufacturing business will offer a range of services in Australia and New Zealand, including a risk management tool to help employers comply with 2015 changes to workplace health and safety regulations.

Malaria is a devastating disease, affecting 200 million people worldwide and causing more than 600 000 deaths each year. In the past decade, great inroads have been made in reducing the number of infections, primarily through the implementation of insecticide-laced bed nets, and also reducing the death rate with combination therapies. However the emergence of drug-resistant malaria is rendering these therapies less effective, and there is an urgent need to develop novel therapies to cure malaria.

Indian learning solutions company, Dexler, has opened its Australian headquarters in Melbourne. Dexler Education (Australia) is expected to create 25 new skilled jobs in Melbourne following its 2014 acquisition of Online Learning Australia which had clients including AMP, ANZ, BHP Billiton, Bluescope Steel, Coles, Myer, NAB, Target, Telstra and Westpac.

Australia’s fastest-growing city, Melbourne, has again been recognised as the best city in the world to live, topping the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) 2014 Global Liveability Index for the fourth year in a row.