Announcement & Summary

Draft of 31 October 1996: The content of this talk will be developed here. Suggestions and comments welcome: tom.worthington@tomw.net.au

In checking my diary I have discovered that I am booked to talk at several events in the next three months around the world. Rather than just give the same talk many times, or try to write several independent talks, I propose to develop a theme over that time and present progress reports along the way.

So that this will not be a dry technical presentation I will make this a "road" story about a real journey across the world, across the 'net and through concepts. The serious purpose behind this is to argue that the IT systems now being built for public access will become very real and important to the general community and must be built with great care. Individual presentations will then explore aspects of building the infrastructure in Australia and internationally. These are not hypothetical issues to be acted on at some future point, but decisions to be made now, by the people at these discussions and events.

The journey really starts in 1994 when I left for a holiday in Europe, just having agreed to help write a paper about public policy and the information superhighway (as it was then known). It will end at the Australian Computer Society's NSW Branch Conference 30th Anniversary Dinner in Sydney in December 1996.

Some stops along the way are Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Melbourne, Sydney, the Snowy Mountains and a hot air balloon over Parliament House Canberra.

Presentations

1. Strategy for Information Technology Research in Australia, Steering committee meeting, 18 October 1996, Sydney
2. The New Digital Economy, initaa 1996 Conference, 1:15pm, 25 October 1996, Melbourne
3. Industry Futures Forum, 4:30pm, Sunday 27 October 1996, Melbourne
4. Electronic Mail in the Document Management World, AIIM 1996 Conference, 1:45pm, 29 October 1996, Canberra
5. Electronic Operations in the ACS: Paper, Presentation, Media Release, BCS meeting, UK, November 1996
6. Encryption & Electronic Commerce in Australia, 4pm, Friday 22 November 1996, Cambridge, UK
7. The ACS: 30 years of Radical Change, Chairman's Opening Address, ACS NSW 1996 Conference, 9am, 3 December 1996, Sydney

• Hi-tech tourist - Windsor and Cambridge, UK, November 1996
• Call for Broader Representation on Government Information Committees, Media Release, 25 October 1996
• Report on Interact 96, Sunday 27 October 1996, Melbourne Exhibition Center
• Hi-tech Tourist on the European Information Highway, ACS Canberra Branch Meeting, 21 July 1994
• Vision for a Networked Nation, 17 May 1994
• Other talks by the ACS President
• ACS Home Page
• Tom Worthington's Home Page