UQ forum to feature major UNESCO speaker

The relevance of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to Australia and their impact in Queensland will be the focus of a forum to be held at The University of Queensland this week (February 19).

The forum, World Summit on the Information Society: how should the ‘Smart’ State respond, will feature a keynote address from UNESCO assistant director-general for Communication and Information, Dr Abdul Waheed Khan.

Dr Kahn is a major figure within the ICT debate, coordinating UNESCO’s contribution to both the UN ICT Task Force and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). He is also responsible for developing UNESCO’s programs and activities in communication and information.

Dr Khan will discuss the findings from WSIS, a major world summit on ICTs held in Geneva late last year.

The summit aimed to make ICTs a priority for policymakers and gain commitment from world governments to bring half the world’s population within ICT reach by 2015.

The University of Queensland’s (UQ) School of Journalism and Communications head of school, Professor Jan Servaes, said the forum would be a localised translation of WSIS and would involve a discussion on the future of the Australian Knowledge Society.

“We hope that the forum will contribute to a more in-depth assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of ICTs in Australia and Queensland,” Professor Servaes said.

“This debate has fundamental implications for the future of the media and the journalistic profession on the one hand, and for the way media products are going to be used and consumed by the public on the other hand.

“A discussion on this is urgently needed and has, so far, not fully caught the attention of the Australian media, nor the local policymakers.”

The forum will involve a panel discussion with a number of leading media academics and will be moderated by Victoria’s Privacy Commissioner, Paul Chadwick.

The forum is being organised by UQ’s School of Journalism and Communications for February 19 at UQ’s Chancellor’s Place.

Media Enquiries: For further information, contact Jan Servaes (telephone 07 3365 6115, 0400 012 584 or email j.servaes@uq.edu.au) or David Ashkanasy at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2619, email d.ashkanasy@uq.edu.au).