Events Archive
November Forum: Chaos, Hope, Privacy and the Rights of the Individual in an Online World
Date/time: Wednesday 25 November 2009 at 6:00pm
Speaker: Slade Beard, Director EcoThought Pty Ltd
Location: The University of Melbourne
Event flyer
September Forum: Moving To A Low Carbon Economy – Whose Job Is It?
Date/time: 3 September 2009 at 6:00pm
Speakers:
Megan Wheatley - Business Development Manager, Strategy & Policy, Suzlon Energy
Ian Porter - CEO, Alternative Technology Association
Paul Murfitt - CEO, Moreland Energy Foundation
Location: The University of Melbourne
Event flyer
Slides from Megan Wheatley's presentation
July forum: The Language and Meaning of Implantables for Humans
Date/time: 30 July 2009 at 6:00pm
Speaker: Dr. Katina Michael, Senior Lecturer, School of Information Systems and Technology, University of Wollongong
Location: ICT Theatre 2, The University of Melbourne
(Ground Floor, 111 Barry Street, Carlton South, Victoria)
Event flyer
May Forum: WOW, they’re uncontrollable: Online games, censorship and the crisis of control
Date/time: 13 May 2009 at 6:00pm
Speaker: Dr. Jeffrey E. Brand, Associate Dean and Head of School, Communication and Media, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bond University
Location: Melbourne University, Carlton, Victoria
Event flyer
An Industry Breakfast with Peter Coroneos
(A joint event with the WA Internet Association and iVEC)
Date/time: 8 May 2009 at 7:30am
Speaker: Peter Coroneos, Chief Executive of the Internet Industry Association
Location: John De Baur Room, The Melbourne Hotel, Cnr Hay & Milligan Street, Perth
Click on the images above to view a larger version.
Event flyer
Slides from presentation
December forum: The politics of next-generation broadband
Date/time: 3 December 2008 at 6pm
Speaker: Dr Ross Kelso
Location: Theatre 2, Ground Floor, ICT Building, Melbourne University, 111 Barry St, South Carlton
Event flyer
Slides from presentation
Annual dinner
Date/time: 3 December, immediately after December forum
Location: Lygon St, Carlton
Technology-based solutions to climate change: delivering success or failure?
Presented by: Dr Hugh Bradlow, CTO, Telstra
Date: 22/10/2008
Location: Telstra Executive Briefing Centre, Collins St, Melbourne
Our October forum was a presentation by Dr Hugh Bradlow, Chief Technology Officer, Telstra, on technology-based solutions to climate change.
A full report of the presentation will be included in our next newsletter.
Links:
Event brochure
Slides from presentation
Desktop Trade-offs: Privacy, Liberty and Security
Presented by: Dr Holly Tootell, University of Wollongong
Date: 22/11/2007
Location: Jim Potter Room, Old Physics Conference Centre, Melbourne University
The final technical meeting held by SSIT for 2007 was an interactive discussion on the privacy, liberty and security trade-offs people make when they use desktop technologies such as MySpace, Facebook, and the Google search toolbar, led by SSIT committee member Dr Holly Tootell from the University of Wollongong.
Links:
Event brochure
Engineers, Water, Energy and Social Responsibility: Engineering a Change of Paradigm for a Sustainable Future
Presented by: Professor Chris Ryan, Co-Director of the Australian Centre for Science Innovation and Society at the University of Melbourne and Director of the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab
Date: 27/9/2007
Location: Jim Potter Room, Old Physics Conference Centre, Melbourne University
SSIT held a successful forum, Engineers, Water and Social Responsibility, at Melbourne University on 27 September. The speaker was Professor Chris Ryan, Co-Director of the Australian Centre for Science Innovation and Society at the University of Melbourne and Director of the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab. He addressing issues of centralisation and distribution in water control and processing. While the topic is not traditionally of direct relevance to electrical engineering, the electrical engineers among the 25 participants were please to hear Professor Ryan describe the importance he sees for sensor networks and other network technologies to achieve economies of scale for technical support across many relatively small water processing sites. He saw this as changing the economics of large centralised water processing solutions. He also spoke of the importance of integrating heat-generating and water purification processes in contrast to dedicated large-scale power-intensive desalination technology being examined by some Australia state governments.
Links:
Chris Ryan's presentation
Event brochure
Social Issues Related to Global Warming and Energy
Presented by: Artur Zawadski, A./Prof Brian W. James, Dr Reza Hashemi-Nezhad
Date: 1/6/2007
Location: Lecture Theatre 5, School of Physics, University of Sydney
The very first meeting of the Sydney Society for Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) was held on Friday afternoon, 1st June. The meeting discussed “Social Issues Relating to Global Warming and Energy”, a very topical subject! About 30 people attended the afternoon and were treated to a number of talks relating to the latest technology being developed in the search for cleaner alternatives to the current energy sources.
A./Prof. Brian James presented a talk on ITER, the new fusion reactor being built in the south of France. ITER is a multi-national organization aiming to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion power. Australia is currently not a partner in the ITER organization but there are a number of researchers that are lobbying the Federal government to join in this conglomeration as there are many potential benefits for Australia.
Dr Reza Hashemi-Nezhad then presented a very interesting talk on the latest developments in nuclear fission. The latest reactors that are being built have increased reactor safety and the issues of fuel shortages and waste products have been solved. He also discussed what reactors of the future will look like and how nuclear energy could play a part in reducing Australia’s carbon emissions.
Our last expert, Artur Zawadski presented a fascinating look into the latest developments in the solar power industry. Mr Zawadski is the president of the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society (ANZSES), an organization that promotes scientific, social and economic development through the use of solar energy. Given the fact that Australia is the world’s sunniest continent, it is a perfect place to develop world-leading solar technology. ANZSES also have many outreach events, including Sustainable House Day coming up in September.
The final talk was a very brief presentation on clean coal by one of the meeting organizers.
All participants had been asked to fill out a survey which asked a number of questions on potential ways Australia could reduce its greenhouse gas emission and which technology would be the best to invest in to help achieve that aim. These questions provoked a stimulating discussion amongst all participants as there were a number of different viewpoints about new technologies that hadn’t been presented in the forum. Some participants believed that lifestyle changes were the most significant change people could make to help reduce climate change while others proposed using nuclear fission technology as major source of Australia’s electricity supply. Everyone was in agreement however that solar technology had the most immediate potential for change! To view the results of the survey click here.
All in all it was a very successful start to the Sydney SSIT group!
Click on the images above to view a larger version.
Links:
"What is Fusion" presentation by A./Prof Brian W. James, School of Physics, University of Sydney.
"Clean Coal" presentation by Katherine Newton-McGee.
"Advances in Nuclear Power Generation" presentation by S.R. Hashemi-Nezhad.
Solar Energy presentation by Artur Zawadski.
Surviving Engineering Disasters: Notes from the Field
Presented by: Tim Cousins, Engineering Systems Failure Analyst
Date: 16/10/2006
Location: IEAust Auditorium, 21 Bedford St, North Melbourne
The investigation and decision making process involved in the rebuilding after a technology related disaster involves much more than repairing technology. The human and social elements (“symbolic” damage) of a disaster must be addressed. If not, a second impact will be felt, typically six weeks after the disaster, which can threaten the reputation, if not the employment status of the engineer working to recover the disaster.
Distinguishing between physical damage and symbolic damage has important implications for understanding the way in which affected organizations will mobilise to defend themselves. If the damage is only physical, then the solution is usually simple - affect a physical repair. The communications are generally simple, concrete and direct. If, however, the symbolic belief systems of affected organizations are disrupted, then a range of psychological defences will come into play that can significantly impact on the judgment of the affected individuals. This often diverts the course of the physical recovery.
The presentation will be a distillation of real life experiences drawn from the presenters personal experience with over 1,500 different engineering systems disasters, including a $90M power station fire and $30M data centre contamination incident.
Good vs. Evil: The Internet and Society
Presented by: Professor Don Schauder
Date: 18/07/2006
Location: Monash Conference Centre Level 7, 30 Collins Street, Melbourne
From its brutal beginnings in chains and invasion, modern Australia has persistently sought to shape itself as a ‘good society’.
A good society is one where the ‘social contract’ is strong – where there is consensus about mutual obligations that make society both sustainable and supportive to its individual members. The alternative is, at some level, the Hobbesian vision of ‘war of all against all’.
Against a background of social theory, the presentation will explore how the distribution of power in society – for good or ill - is affected by the interchange of information. It will trace the ways in which the Internet (used here as shorthand for the entire range of convergent Information and Communication Technologies, or ICTs, can serve either to strengthen or weaken the overall cohesion of society and the life-opportunities of individuals.
The argument will use as examples movements such as the UN World Summit on the Information Society, current issues in ICT policy, and community networking research undertaken at Monash and other universities.
The presentation will seek to justify conclusions that ICT professionals – whether in the business, government or community sectors - must and can work towards positive human outcomes in an increasingly Internet-centred world, contributing to the building of the good society both in Australia and internationally.
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