QUEENSLAND CABINET MINISTER TO OPEN NATIONAL WEB CONFERENCE

Queensland's Minister for Innovation and Information Economy, TheHonourable Paul Lucas MP, will deliver the official opening address at this year's Eighth Australian World Wide Web Conference, AusWeb02, on Sunday, 7 July.

AusWeb02 runs from 6-10 July at Twin Waters Resort, Sunshine Coast. The AusWeb02 conference website is at http://ausweb.scu.edu.au

In 1998, the Queensland Government gave strong support to the global WWW7 conference, hosted in Brisbane by a consortium including SCU and the Queensland Information Industries Bureau. The Minister's presence continues the State's commitment to the ongoing development of the Information Technology industry.

The Minister will be welcomed to the Southern Cross University-hosted conference by SCU's Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Rickard, who also presided over last year's highly successful AusWeb conference, held in Coffs Harbour.

For the first two days at AusWeb02, when publicly accessible workshops will be held, and for the ensuing days, when the conference proper will run, participants will hear and meet some of the Australians and the world's leading researchers and practitioners of Web technologies in the technical, e-commerce, educational and business fields.

"AusWeb is now recognised as the nation's major annual conference for Web users and developers," said SCU's Associate Professor Allan Ellis, the first Australian to chair the renowned International World Wide Web Conference Committee (IW3C2).

"Its breadth is its strength, and as a result of this reputation we have attracted a hot lineup of internationally regarded keynote speakers as well as many of the leading industry names as sponsors, including Apple, Telstra, Macromedia and Adobe," Associate Professor Ellis said. He added that the diverse program would enable participants to learn a lot in their own specialised fields as well as dipping into other areas where some extra knowledge would be of great benefit.

The confirmed Keynote Speakers and their topics are:-

o Professor Melfyn Lloyd, Research Director, Brisbane-based DSTC Pty Ltd and Adjunct Professor, University of Queensland (Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering)

Title: The Next Web Revolution.

The Web has brought about one revolution and is about to bring about another with Web Services. The Web is advancing beyond its traditional roots of simple publishing of information. It is being filled with multimedia and rich contents Time: 2.30-3.30pm Sunday 7, July

o Adrian Giles, Co-founder and Director Hitwise, Australia's first search engine promotion and online marketing specialists

Title: Web and Internet Measurement and Metrics. Since 1998, Hitwise has provided businesses with competitive intelligence services through their unique method of measuring Internet traffic. A range of the latest measurement methods and applications will be described and the pros and cons of each discussed. Strategies for evaluating and optimising online marketing initiatives will be outlined.

Time: -5pm Sunday 7th July

o David Rosenbaum, WebCT, USA.

Title: The Future of Higher Education Online: Academic Enterprise Systems. Web-based education is undergoing a transformation, along with the institutions who are using it. The earliest systems are now themselves being replaced but an entirely new category of e-learning environment: the Academic Enterprise System (AES). These new environments help institutions meet their goals of boosting student acquisition and retention, driving measurable student success, creating new revenue streams, and efficiently leveraging new technologies to improve the quality and flexibility of the learning experience on into the future.

Time: 9-10am Monday 8, July.

o Mary Ellen Zurko, Security Architect for Lotus brand next generation Web services in the IBM Software Group.

Title: Web Security from B(asic Authentication) to W(eb Services Security). Like many other technical aspects of the World Wide Web, the earliest security available on the Web was the bare bones minimum (password authentication directly to the server). Seven years later, the Web has seen the need to solve many of the same security problems as other distributed systems, and added some twists of its own. This keynote will give an overview of the core issues for security on the Web, including authentication, confidentiality (encryption), signing, active content, and, most recently Web services. T

Time; 1-2pm Monday 8, July

o Shane Donnelly, eLearning Consultant, Pearson Education Australia

Title: "eBooks: A Revolution in Publishing, Consuming and Reading, or a Solution in Search of a Problem?"

There are surprisingly few titles that have been published as eBooks, or Web books. Surprising, because despite their small number there are several ways of delivering these to consumers, and surprising also because, despite being quite readily available on the Web, few consumers are currently buying them. eBooks are clearly long on promise, but to whom do they promise? And just what do they promise? And perhaps most importantly, just what is an eBook? Time;9-10am Tuesday 9 , July



Tutorials and workshops:



AusWeb02 offers delegates a wide range of tutorials and workshops topics. These provide an opportunity to gain skills and knowledge about specific aspects of the Web and related technologies and how they can be applied various projects and subject areas.

The tutorial format involves mostly the traditional "expert to student"

presentation with ample time for questions and discussion. The workshop format signifies the session is run more along the lines of a discussion.

The presenter will input new material but at times will take on the role of a facilitator in an attempt to promote group discussion and allow participants to raise issues of specific interest.

Topics include: -



* Designing, Developing and Delivering Web-based courseware

* Creating and Using Web-Based Simulations in Educational and Organisational Environments

* Web Accessibility

* Overview of XML

* Intelligent Agents

* Introduction to XML (afternoon)

* Introduction to XSL

* Copyright and the World Wide Web

* Creating and Tracking Interactivities in SCORM Courses

* Using the Web for Market Research

* Designing Effective and Efficient Homepages

* WWW: Making a Difference in Health

* Integrating a Total Knowledge Management System into an E-learning (full day)



For full details on the Eighth Australian World Wide Web Conference, Twin Waters Resort, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, from Saturday 6 July to Wednesday 10 July, 2002 please visit http://ausweb.scu.edu.au or contact Norsearch Conference Services +61 2 66 20 3932