Keynote Speakers
 

"Knowledge Gathering as it changes with new Technologies" By Professor Hermann Maurer, Graz University of Technology, Austria

Abstract

The Web has caused a revolution of how we can access information today, how we easily get answers to many problems, and how we learn. However, one must not overlook that the Web also has some inherent dangers that are more and more emerging. With all enthusiasm we have for the Web we should also be aware of some of the subtle and some of the not so subtle dangers. In my talk I will address some of the issues we should be aware of. One item is the dangerous loss of privacy (due to many organizations collecting detailed profiles on all of us, but also on organisations, economic developments and other issues), some of the loss of privacy also due to an unheared of exhibitionism in social networks. Also, information on the Web is often trusted much too easily, leading to a distorted view of reality. Many of the communciation tools lead to a loss of concentration and understanding, the latter enhanced by the dangerous copy/paste syndrome. As Tra Brabazon has stated: "Researching is being replaced by searching". Also, it is overlooked that the convergence of mobile phones with powerful PCs will give us excellent personal assistants, but will also obviate the need to learn many things humans have had to learn for generations. Thus it seems that we have to completely re-think education and e-Learning: While myriads of attempts are made HOW to improve teaching with technology, the main issues may rather be WHAT and WHEN we teach things, since so much (will be or) is available everywhere at our fingertips. Finally, can we really trust technology, or could it fail us at some stage on a gigantic scale?
 

Bio

Study of Mathematics at the Universities of Vienna (Austria) and Calgary starting in 1959. Mathematician-programmer with IBM Research in Vienna 1964-1966. Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Vienna 1965.

Appointment for Computer Science at The University of Calgary 1966-1971.
Full Professor for Applied Computer Science at the University of Karlsruhe, West Germany, 1971-1977, Visiting Professor at SMU (Dallas), University of Brasilia (Brazil), and at the University of Waterloo, during the same period, for three months, each. Full Professor at the Graz University of Technology since 1978, Dean of the new school of computer science 2004-2007.
Director of a number of Austrian Research Centers. Adjunct Professor at Denver University 1984-1988; Professor for Computer Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Advisor to the University of Malaysia at Kuching (UNIMAS) since 1998. Visiting Researcher at Edith Cowan University (Perth, Australia) in 2003.

Maurer received a number of awards, among them the Prize for Merits for Information Processing in Austria, the "Enter-Price" of the Styrian Chamber of Commerce in 1999, the Integrata-Prize (for Human Software) in 2000, the 'AACE Fellowship Award' of the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education in 2003; he became Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences in 1996 and a member of the Academia Europaea in 2000. In 2001 he was awarded the "Austrian Cross of Honours for Arts and Science Class I", and also in 2001 the "Large Medal of Honour of the Province of Styria". He received the Honorary Doctorate of the Polytechnical University of St. Petersburg in 1991, of the University Karlsruhe, Germany, in 2002 and of the University of Calgary in 2007. He was appointed member of the advisory board of the Web-History Society in May 2007.

Maurer is author of twenty books, more than 650 contributions in various publications, Editor-in-Chief of 'Journal of Universal Computer Science', Co-Editor and member of over a dozen Editorial Boards adn Program Committees. He is founder of the Conference series ED-MEDIA , E-Learn and I-KNOW. He was project manager of a number of multimillion-dollar undertakings. Successful supervision of more than 400 M.Sc. theses and more than 50 Ph.D.s.

Maurer has travelled extensively and has given some 900 external talks. His research interests have included compiler design, formal languages, automata, algorithms and data-structures, networked multimedia systems, electronic publishing and applications to university life, exhibitions and museums, Web based learning environments, social implications of computers, and computers in Science Fiction. His Hobbies include: Writing Science Fiction, hiking and SCUBA diving. He is member of the ACM, GI, OMG, OCG and the WG 3.6 of IFIP. Stil more on his Website www.iicm.edu/maurer

 

"Social Learning in the Network Era" By Jay Cross, Internet Time Group, Berkeley, California, USA

Abstract

The net changes everything, including how people work and the basic tenets of instructional design. Knowledge work and learning itself are becoming indistinguishable. Through examples of network-based learning and collaboration, Jay will provide insight into learning in an unpredictable world where change is the only constant, everyone becomes a leader, the output of work is intangible, workers learn from one another, and life is in perpetual beta. He will also discuss the latest innovations uncovered by the non-profit group, the Learning Irregulars.
 

Bio

Jay Cross is a champion of informal learning, web 2.0, and systems thinking. His calling is to help business people improve their performance on the job and satisfaction in life. He has challenged conventional wisdom about how adults learn since designing the first business degree program offered by the University of Phoenix three decades ago. He is the author of *Informal Learning*: *Rediscovering the Natural Pathways that Inspire Innovation and Performance* and numerous other books and articles. Every day, thousands of people read his blogs, Internet Time and Informal Learning Blog. Jay is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School. He and his wife Uta live with two miniature long-haired dachshunds in the hills of Berkeley, California.