NACCQ - Conference 2005

Simon Rogerson is Director of the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility at De Montfort University, UK. He is Europe’s first Professor in Computer Ethics and was named one of the world's top five experts in the field at the World Technology Awards 2003. This followed on from him receiving the 1999 IFIP Namur Award for outstanding contribution to the creation of awareness of the social implications of information technology. In 2004 Simon was exceptionally invited to join directly as a Fellow of the British Computer Society in recognition of his CCSR-related work. He was awarded a Visiting Research Professorship for 2005 to the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, an Australian Research Council funded special research centre at Charles Sturt University, Canberra.

Following a successful industrial career where he held managerial posts in the computer field, he now combines research, lecturing and consultancy in the management, organisational and ethical aspects of information and communication technologies. Simon has published widely and presented papers, many by invitation, throughout the world. His current research focuses on technological assessment, ethical systems development and qualitative stakeholder analysis. He is editor and member of the editorial boards of several academic journals. He conceived and co-directs the ETHICOMP conference series on the ethical impacts of ICT and is responsible for creating the world’s leading reference World Wide Web site on computer ethics.

Ruben Bustamante

Ruben Bustamante is the Unitec-NZaid project manager in Peru. His technical background includes extensive experience in wireless communication, fibre optic, networking and internet. He has worked with Mining companies and universities in the planning and implementation of advanced communication systems and networks.

However Ruben has dedicated the last three years of his life to the use of these technologies in the development of remote, exploited rural areas of the Andean mountains. Being born and raised in the highlands he realised the potential communication and information has to empower disadvantaged communities. He knows that often the local political systems can be the key barriers to community development. He has played an active role in building the capacity and acceptance of the local authorities in realising the new technologies are an essential tool for them to reduce poverty in their areas, despite some seeing it as a threat to their control and power. Governance reform and transparency has been a natural by-product of his work. His role has been the overall coordination of the project which, at times has involved balancing the huge array of issues one experiences doing projects in remote areas. These include lightning strikes, snow drifts, political interference, threats from buyers losing their monopoly and exploitative hold over farmers, and even the occasional interference of corrupt authorities.

Ruben brings valuable, real experience in the use of ICT as a tool for empowerment of disadvantaged communities bringing solutions to technical, social and political challenges.

Elsa Huaman

Elsa Huaman is the coordinator of the Unitec-NZ Aid`s largest centre of Information and Capacity building in the remote Andean mountain area of Tayacaja, Peru. Her role has been the integration of Internet technologies into these remote indigenous communities to support the local capacity building and development in these areas. She works with children, womens groups farmers and community associations to develop their knowledge and capacity to use these technologies so they can assume control over the development of their region. Her expertise is in the integration of the new technologies in a way that supports the local values and culture of the area, thus strengthening those practices and knowledge that has supported these Incan descendants for nearly a millennium. Her philosophy is in empowering the communities to rediscover the practice and values of their anscestors, supported by the new access to help support and information. In Quechua she says “ayni minka” , its about reciprocity, today for me tomorrow for you ,mutual support and collaboration, this way, she says, we build unity, autonomy in an intercultural way.

In the theme of interchange of ideas, culture and practices her methodology builds on the experiences of institutions, organisations and new practices in a way that always is related back to the proven cultural community practices that have served the communities in the harsh mountain conditions for centuries.

Her background includes a degree in agriculture, and worked extensively in the remotest parts of the Andes and the rain forests working in rural development and sustainability. Focussing mainly on capacity building with women in the areas of health, nutrition, production, and organisation she was the facilitator for farmer based initiatives and self empowerment strategies in these remote areas.

Elsa brings to us ancient practices passed down through the centuries from one of the earths most successful and progressive cultures, the Incans. These collaborative philosophies rooted deep in the belief that the human race only can survive with respect for the land and respect for others knowledge brings a healthy new perspective on the power of ICT in promoting sustainable practices - Something developed countries are in desperate search of.

ABSTRACT

Title:
Community Centric Empowerment: An ICT Educational Methodology for Use in Remote Communities.

Abstract:
An action research project in the Andean mountains has produced unprecedented results using the internet to empower remote disadvantaged communities. The indigenous people of the areas of Antabamba and Daniel Hernandez in Peru are regaining control of their resources, education, health and environmental issues as result of this project. The transition from a stable system of barter and self sustainability to the modern methods of the cash king society has been harsh and unforgiving. Many of these people have never been worse off in their lives due to “modernisation and development”. The project, led by CITRUS , Unitec, has successfully passed control back into the hands of these communities to enable them to return to sustainable and socially responsible growth, something that the influx of foreign business was not doing.

The philosophy and methodology of the project has now been adopted by the Telecommunications authority of Peru and is being rolled out in several hundred towns in the high Andes. In stage one over half a million people will receive training on the underlying philosophies of this project and use of ICT as an education tool to enable them to move their communities forward and out of the decline sparked by commercialisation and exploitation of their resources.

One of the key underlying sub methodologies used was the integration of ICT into communities, many of which had never seen a computer nor had electricity. The answer is not in only providing information to these communities but it is they way in which ICT is adopted and utilised that’s determines the out come. There are over 500 cases where technology has been introduced to a community and it has never been used. This presentation describes the methodologies used that resulted in the uptake, adoption and successful use of ICT in educating and empowering their communities.

The methodology, Community Centric Empowerment (CCE) was developed by Elsa Huaman, a Quechuan speaker and indigenous Incan descendant of Daniel Hernadez, Peru and Logan Muller the project instigator of Unitec New Zealand. The presentation describes how Elsa has implemented this methodology and its results. Tthe first step in this methodology is to acknowledge that these remote communities have nearly a thousand years of sustainable practice behind them. They, more than the developed world, have demonstrated the key aspects of social and environmental sustainability. Their foundations are therefore solid and proven, it is this key instrumental fact the methodology uses as its foundation. Although Spanish is very common, Quechuan is the dominant language in this part of Peru therefore all communication was done in this language. The methodology gets the local people to draw and describe their yearly cycles of production and community interactions. As Quechua is a spoken language only, this initial work is done by story telling and diagrams that the communities themselves prepare. The third phase is identifying the inputs and information the community to make their decisions and where it comes from. The presentation provides these in detail. Once identified these inputs are analysed to see if the internet or educational resources could supplement them. From here, the community selects some representatives to assess if the internet could actually be of benefit for the community. Elsa researches appropriate information, takes the representatives to the information Centre and demonstrates this to the representatives. She explains how this information could be used, pertinent to the needs and functions of the community. Each community has different needs and priorities so the demonstration and initial training is targeted to these themes. Once their exists buy in and recognition that the internet and its associated resources are of use, key community representatives are trained. The following step varies according to the community. Often groups with specific responsibilities come to the Internet centres and learn to search for the specific information and or training courses they require or a community representative is trained and they subsequently do the training in their communities.

The results in under two years have been outstanding, there are women's groups, groups of displaced families, farmers federations, women’s farmers federations, teachers, school children and grandparents alike now regularly using the centres and specific tools to better their prospects and strengthen their communities. Literacy has improved, community income is up and producers have more control of their markets and produce quality. Most of all the self esteem of these exploited people and the future for their communities has brightened.

John M. Barrie, Ph.D.
President/CEO

Dr. John Barrie created the original architecture and fundamental technology behind Turnitin in 1994. Dr. Barrie is currently the President and CEO of iParadigms and continues to provide the vision of digital intellectual property detection in published material. As spokesperson for the company, Dr. Barrie has become a national leader and expert on the problem of plagiarism in education, and has given numerous keynote presentations on this subject. He has been interviewed by many well-known and respected media outlets such as CNN, ABC (Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer and World News Tonight with Peter Jennings), CBS (48 Hours with Dan Rather/60 Minutes with Morley Safer), BBC, the New York Times, USA Today, and many others. Dr. Barrie completed his undergraduate studies in Rhetoric and Neurobiology at the University of California, Berkeley, and he holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics (with a specialty in Neurobiology) from Berkeley as well. The emphasis of his prior research was the characterization of spatiotemporal aspects of the neocortical EEG as a tool for understanding how memory and perception function; he has published multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts on the topic.

Dr. Barrie's vision is now changing ideas about education in the digital era. Turnitin is used by millions of students and faculty in more than 50 countries (including every university in the United Kingdom), and receives nearly twenty thousand student papers each day.

ABSTRACT

Title:
Vetting academic work for originality: Saving the world from unoriginality

Abstract:
Every advance in digital storage, transmission and search technology is accompanied by a corresponding increase in intellectual property theft. If the educational world can be viewed as an ideal microcosm of our society then IP theft has become rampant. Plagiarism in academics (i.e., the theft and subsequent misrepresentation of an idea) affects more than 40% of college and university students across all disciplines. As of May 2005, Turnitin receives over 40,000 student manuscripts per day, and more than 30% of those are less than original. Student cheating has reached levels that now threaten to undermine entire academic systems. Every non-technology idea imaginable (honor codes, ethics classes, altering class projects, harsh penalties, etc.) has failed to reduce or even stabilize the problem because most people fail to realize that they are confronting a digital problem (not just a student ethics problem). The challenge is to restore academic integrity in an environment where there isn't much left.

Peter R Hill
Master of Business Administration (Technology Management) (LaTrobe University)
CEO of the International Software Benchmarking Standards Group.

Peter has been in the Information Services industry for more than thirty five years with broad experience covering a number of industries. Peter has been a speaker at conferences in Australia, New Zealand, Finland, UK, Spain China and Malaysia and has had a number of articles published, covering key aspects of the Information Services industry. Peter has compiled and edited five books for the ISBSG. He runs courses on Project Management, with an emphasis on software acquisition projects and on the practical use of software metrics. He is a Director of Software Engineering Australia, Resonate Solutions Pty Ltd and a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society. He is a past Chairman and Secretary of the Victorian branch of the Australian Computer Society.

Dr Samuel Mann
Head of Department of Information Technology and Electrotechnology, Otago Polytechnic

Dr Samuel Mann is Head of Department of Information Technology and Electrotechnology, Otago Polytechnic. Sam was originally a biogeographer who through information design found that computing offered means to enhance human experiences. With his colleagues, Sam has brought to you such initiatives as the electric fence data network, ballcam, knightsmove, ran half the students over with a (metaphorical) bus, and sent a blind man out to take photographs. This keynote talk takes a social network approach to examining what it means to have a successful culture of research in a Polytechnic setting. Armed with a definition of research involving "critical and creative inquiry", Sam firmly believes that research is key for lecturers at any level. The talk is variously subtitled, "having fun and getting paid for it", "engaging with the excitement", "this leads to that and that is sooo cool", "taking ourselves seriously" and "let's try it and see what happens".