Information and Communication Technology Summit

As Interim Director of the UMass IT Program, I'm organizing the 2013 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Summit. I'm excited because it's going to be awesome.

The heart of the summit will be a set of panel discussions that focus on how IT is transforming academic disciplines, education, and our everyday lives. We've got a lot of great speakers lined up. I've been involved in the IT Program nearly from its inception and the most striking thing to me has been the tension between IT as something on its own and IT as simply the transformation of how everything is done. What's the difference between "IT in Biology" and just "Biology"? I think it's a question that seems worth posing and reflecting upon.

The featured guests are three UMass Alumni that work at Industrial Light and Magic. I think students can really benefit from seeing where their degree can take them and to get perspectives from alumni reflecting on what they did as students that was helpful later on.

We're organizing a poster session during lunch. My goal is to invite students who may not have thought of their work as "IT" to reflect on the technologies they used to conduct their research, collect their data, prepare their imagery, and construct their poster. IT has become central to the academic enterprise and every poster now uses IT.

We also have spots for vendors to have a small exhibition in the Campus Center Concourse. We've got several lined up already and are looking for just a couple more.

The pièce de résistance will be a contest for Five College students to complete a series of IT Challenges. I'm having a lot of fun thinking up these puzzles and, pretty soon, will start building the infrastructure. I've got a great idea for a theme. We've got one grand prize lined up and I'm looking for more.

One thing the IT Program has always intended to do is build better connections with local business. I'm planning to use my time as Interim Director to try to make these connections. I've been meeting with anyone I can think of to find business that would like to sponsor the ICT Summit. I've found two so far (Thanks left-click advanced and HitPoint Studios!) I'm hoping to find more to help subsidize the amenities (food, etc) and to provide prizes for the contest.