Australian Computer Society

Internet Futures

by Tom Worthington, President of the Australian Computer Society

Lifestyle Futures Forum

At Interact96

3:00pm to 4:00pm, Sunday 27 October 1996, Melbourne Exhibition Center

Note: Audio recordings of sessions are available.

Announcement & Summary

Tom Worthington will join a panel of international guests and local industry identities, chaired by Robyn Williams (of The Science Show). The topic is trends, possible futures and issues related to the digital world. Tom will give an update on a three month project on the future of the organisation in the on-line environment. This follows from his work in on-line policy development and implementation for the Federal Government and will be followed by consultation with the President's of the world's computer societies, meeting in the UK on global electronic operations in November. Tom already has an on-line lifestyle and will outline a vision for the future where the Internet is the basic means of cultural and commercial communication and the challenges this raises.

About the speaker

Tom Worthington is current National President of the Australian Computer Society. Away from the ACS Tom is Deputy Director, Information management Planning, Australian Department of Defence. Tom is co-author of the ACS InfoBahn Policy, the Defence Representative on the Commonwealth Group, and one of the authors of the new Architecture For Access To Government Information.

Book Now

For conference details: http://www.interact96.com.au/sem_sun.htm#Lifestyle, e-mail: info@interact96.com.au or ph (03) 96967900 or fax (03) 96967911

Draft of 21 October 1996: The content of this talk will be developed here. Suggestions and comments welcome: tom.worthington@tomw.net.au

This is a quick five minute talk to the general public at Interact96 at what a lifestyle of the future on the Internet will be like.

The ACS is a professional association in Australia for those in the computing and information technology fields. Established in 1966, the ACS helps the people who invent and make IT do it better for the community.

When asked what the future will be like I have three answers:

Ask me tomorrow: It will then be the future and the on-line technology is changing so fast there are daily developments.
Much the same as today: Many developments anticipated by technologists don't happen or don't happen as fast as expected or don't end up looking that much different to today. This is because the social and existing physical infrastructures the technology has to work within doesn't change fast.
Look at Star Trek: Science fiction partly anticipates developments and partly precipitate them. I expect the office and classroom of the future will look like the bridge of the starship Enterprise (model D). The office will look more like the bar of the starship Enterprise. The NEC exhibit at Interact96 is a hi-tech classroom for a Melbourne private girls school, which looks very StarTrek like (the bridge, not the bar).

In February I gave a talk about "future history" of information technology in Australia in the year 2005 to an ACS Chapter. That was only seven months ago, but already some of what I was predicting for the year 2005 has already happened.

The Internet and Web have become mainstream items in popular culture. What is coming next is digital money for the on-line economy, some time around the end of this year. Next year we will have higher speed lower cost wireless digital communications. The following year we may start to see affordable hand held computers with data links, audio and some video, like the PADDs on Star Trek.

What would we do with all this technology and how will it change our lifestyles? For the last few months I have been carrying a prototype of the technology in my briefcase and in the last few years prototyping the lifestyle. Here are few practical experiences:

There is a blurring between work and leisure times: You have access to work all the time and it is difficult to leave work behind. The longest I have been away from my e-mail in the last year was one four day period out of mobile phone range in the Snowy Mountains.
A blurring of place: I have no way of knowing where in the world the people I am working (or leisuring) with are, when they are on-line.
A blurring of organisation: It is difficult know who I am working for when I do some work or who the people I am working with are working for.

Some recent examples:

On the bus from the airport to here I checked my e-mail (using a GSM phone and laptop). There was a request from the Office of the Minister for Defence to put some announcements on line. I did this work in the press room at Interact96. No one watching me would know I was working in my role as Web Master for the Department of Defence.
In a cafe in St. Kilda I got a mail message asking "where are you?", from someone in Canberra.
At the Ineract96 display I met someone I hadn't seen for a year. However we knew what each other had been doing as we are both on the same electronic mailing list.
I went cross country skiing in the Snowy Mountains for four days. As I had to carry everything in a backpack I decided to leave the digital camera, phone and laptop behind. But I got complaints from people when I got back, who were used to seeing my holiday snaps on-line in real time.
I now routinely write for on-line publication. This ranges from my holiday snaps, through learned IT dissertations to Government reports.

However despite all this hi-tech life has much the same texture. The technology is used to communicate with people and people are much the same as ever.