Invited Talks (please check the general scheduling)

Invited Talk 1: ...title to be announced...

• José Tribolet (ECDL2000 - General Conference Chair, IST / INESC)

  • ...José Tribolet will talk about the need, in thenorganizations and in the economic processes in general, of skilled human resources specialized in the new reality of business processes, globalization, and knowledge management... a more detailed description to be announced...

Invited Talk 2: "Open access to digital libraries: Must research libraries be expensive?"

• William Y. Arms (Cornell University)

  • Libraries are expensive and research libraries are particularly expensive. Even in the United States, few people can afford good access to scientific, medical, legal and scholarly information. Members of major universities have excellent libraries. So do people who work for teaching hospitals, or for drug companies or for rich law firms. Others have access to information only through the tedious system of interlibrary lending. In less affluent countries the situation is worse; even the best universities cannot afford good libraries. Must access to scientific and professional information always be expensive or is it possible that digital libraries might change this sad situation?

Invited Talk 3: "Standardization in the information society – or how to avoid market anarchy"

• John Ketchell (Director of CEN/ISSS - European Committee for Standardization / Information Society Standardization System)

  • John Ketchell will provide an insight view of the European proceccesses of standardization, with a special focus for the CEN/ISSS history and activities.

  • The talk from John Ketchell will be complemented by Stuart Weibel (OCLC) the principal promoter of the DCMI - Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. This initiative is reaching now a level where standartization became a central issue. Stuart Weibel will present his unique perspective of this challenge.

Invited Talk 4: "Supporting the Intellectual Life of a Democratic Society"

• Philip E. Agre (University of California, Los Angeles)

  • Abstract: Every individual has an intellectual life, and democratic institutions only work if the collective intellectual life of the citizens is strong.  A society ruled by experts might not require broad cultivation of intellectual capacity, but a democracy is different.  What is an intellectual life?  What part does it play in the biffer picture of a person's life?  And how can digital libraries support it?  One answer, surely, lies in the ability of digital networks to expand the reach of educational institutions.  But this answer begs the question by leaving the institutions themselves unimagined. Besides, education can suppress the intellectual life as well as promote it.  The asymmetries of knowledge that are inherent in intellectual activity practically invite the perpetuation of undemocratic forms of authority, and unhealthy asymmetries are too easily built into the architecture of digital libraries.  But a formless chaos is no answer.  If we going to provide a democratic society with the information infrastructure it needs for a proper intellectual life, then we have to make distinctions, and I will offer some preliminary notes on the subject.

  • Relevant links:

    • Infrastructure and Institutional Change in the Networked University
      http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/cenic.html

    • Information Technology and Democratic Institutions
      http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/ottawa.html

    • Information and Institutional Change: The Case of Digital Libraries
      http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/dl.html

Invited Talk 5: "Interactivity : Design and Construction Paradigms"

• Nuno Guimarães (Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa / Departamento de Informática)

  • Abstract: The design and construction of interactive systems and applications, specially in the context of the pervasive Internet and of the growing digitalization of human processes, raises a number of challlenges that have to be approached in multiple ways. First, there is a deep relationship between conscience and rationality and the outcomes of our design processes - why do we design as we design? Secondly, the design of interactive artifacts requires a simple but efficient framework of orientation and evaluation that determines the success of a given digital artifact. Finally, methods and procedures are required to test and evaluate design results against real people in real situations, be these work settings or entertainment environments.