JISC

More than 700 delegates are gathering at the Birmingham ICC this morning for the annual JISC conference to hear a range of speakers give presentations, to watch demonstrations, attend workshops and visit the more than 50 stands in the exhibition hall.

Lord Puttnam of Queensgate and Angela Beesley (Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation) are the keynote speakers at the conference. For the first time, those unable to attend can watch a live video stream of the keynote speakers. Tune in at 10.00am when Professor Sir Ron Cooke (Chair of JISC) will open the conference and welcome delegates, including international delegations from Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, USA and Australia. At 10.15am, you can watch Lord Puttnam's opening keynote. Tune in again at 15.00pm for Angela Beesley's closing keynote.

You can also follow the conference online through a live feed of posts and photos from the conference during the day  - this will include micro-blogging (via ‘Twitter’), shared images of the conference and live blogging. Conference tag: jiscconference08 We are trialling these innovative tools this year and we welcome your feedback on our video streaming, posts and photos feeds, and our conference social networking site

Among the subjects under discussion during a packed programme today are: the benefits of e-learning, the Google Generation report, identity management, student experiences of ICT, virtual research environments and much more. In addition, the winner and shortlisted entries for the JISC/Times Higher 2007 Award for ‘Outstanding ICT Initiative’ will be showcasing their work during the day.

Among the other highlights of the day are:

• The inaugural JISC infoNet Innovation in Records & Information Management Awards, to be presented by Lord Puttnam
• Launch of a range of e-learning publications, including briefing papers, and case studies on the DEL regional pilots
• Launch of two new resources from JISC TechDis – results of its groundbreaking work with the Publishers Association – an online database of accessibility information for UK publishers and guidance for librarians and learning support staff on alternative formats
• Launch of the ‘Tangible Benefits of e-Learning’ publication by JISC infoNet
• The ‘digital library zone’, an area dedicated to digital resources reflecting the changing role of the library in a modern academic environment,
• An open source demo stand supported by OSS Watch, showcasing a range of innovative open source applications

Today also sees the launch of a JISC campaign - Libraries of the Future – which attempts to initiate a debate about the future of the academic library. The campaign will encompass a variety of activities and communication vehicles – events, printed resources, interactive Web 2.0 services, podcast interviews, and so on – a series of events that begins with sessions at today’s conference, including those on ‘the challenges of the digital librarian’, the Google Generation report, the Strategic Content Alliance and the e-Lib programme.

Find out more about the JISC conference 2008 and follow the conference online

Tell us what you think of our conference video streaming, live feeds and networking site