|
 |
Dr Andrew Campbell
Dr Andrew Campbell is a Lecturer in Psychology at The University of Sydney and has been researching the use of the Internet, mobile phones and computer games and their impact on human behaviour for more than 10 years. Having worked internationally with experts in the area of Cyberpsychology, Andrew has obtained experience in how the Internet affect's society at large as well as individual behaviour.
Andrew is the Director of Prometheus (www.prometheus.net.au) a research group located in the Faculty of Health Sciences at The University of Sydney. Prometheus is dedicated to the research and application of technology towards the advancement of mental health treatments in such disorders as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Self-Esteem and Education. He is also a Registered Psychologist in New South Wales and runs a clinic at the Brain and Mind Research Institute in Sydney that is dedicated to the treatment of child and adolescent psychological disorders. This clinic specialises in traditional developmental psychological disorders as well as emerging problems such as computer game obsession behaviour (a.k.a computer game addition). Andrew has been interviewed extensively on the subject of Cyberpsychology in both national and international media publications and has a growing publication record in scientific journals.
|
|
 |
Jason Romney
Jason has driven BigPond's Web 2.0-based innovation projects such as The Pond in Second Life and the RSS/widget service, I-Pond, since he returned to Telstra fifteen months ago after working as a barrister at the Victorian Bar. His role is to help Telstra become a technology-based 21st century communications and media company by identifying and implementing growth strategies.
Jason's background spans publishing and online services as well as law. He has held a range of media and technology management roles both in Australia and overseas, being previously the founder and chief executive of one of Australia's pioneering interactive agencies, itvworld.com, Editor-in-Chief for Microsoft's MSNBC television and Internet service, Associate editor (Computers) at the Sydney Morning Herald and Computer & Arts Editor for The Herald and Herald Sun newspapers.
Jason's company, itvworld.com, commercialised the InOrbit interactive television service management system it developed after securing a series of Government grants and shareholder investments. It had interactive television customers worldwide including the BBC in the UK. The company also developed hundreds of widely syndicated interactive video programs and created a world-leading digital rights management solution working through the Telstra Broadband Development Fund.
You can read Jason's Telstra blog here.
|
|
 |
Mark Toh
Mark Toh is a PhD Candidate at the University of Sydney. His Research project 'Video Games and Self Esteem' aims to examine the beneficial impact of video games on a child's psychosocial development. It also aims to examine if levels of a person's self- esteem will differ based on whether the self-esteem scale is referenced to an online or offline environment examines the positive effects video games can have on individuals despite contrary opinion. Please see below for a research synopsis.
"Models explaining video game addiction have been adapted from existing gambling literature. These models could be argued as flawed in design since video games differ from gambling in some fundamental ways. For example, video games allow for mastery over the environment while gambling allows only for the perception of mastery. In addition, gambling is often viewed as a solitary activity while video games allow for high levels of interaction with other players. Existing research has demonstrated strong links between social interaction and self-esteem, as well as task mastery and self-esteem. Online interactions also give adolescents the opportunity to develop their sense of identity and form social groups outside their immediate family. Given that the development of self-esteem and personal identity is viewed as a crucial developmental milestone in psychosocial theory, it is proposed that video games may serve as a vehicle for adaptive developmental purposes if used appropriately and could be used to facilitate a normal developmental trajectory. However, excessive use of video games to meet developmental needs could be argued to result in the formation of a dependency on video games leading to abnormal social and behavioural outcomes during childhood or adolescent development stages."
|
|
 |
David Holloway (AKA Lowell Cremorne)
David Holloway RN MNg Grad Cert (Comm) has been involved with collaborative internet technologies since 1994, predominantly in the creative arts (music and writing). He was the first Australian employed as an online facilitator for US-based music collaboration service Rocket Network in the mid-90's and has written on technology issues since 1999 for a range of Australian and USA publications.
In October 2006 David founded SLOz, Australia's only dedicated Second Life news and community portal. David also writes for Crikey.com.au on Second Life.
|
|
 |
Lisa Romano
Lisa Romano has had extensive experience in the media working for a range of broadcasters and publishers. With a background in journalism, in recent years she has managed a variety of large-scale cross-media projects for television. For the past year, she has managed interactive projects for the ABC and recently launched an interactive TV application for young teens called Roco iTV which features user generated content as part of the ABC's RollerCoaster program.
Part of her role in the Strategic Development team is to oversee ABC's presence in the virtual world, Second Life which recently won an Innovation in Production award. In the short time since it has launched, the ABC Island has already garnered a wide audience and is currently ranked in the top five global brands in Second Life.
Working in subscription TV from 2000 to 2006, she launched a number of interactive TV projects including Antiques Roadshow and Miss World Global Voting. She also managed an in-house and external team of content producers, developers and designers and oversaw the development of a number of custom-built content-managed websites and databases as well as major online and direct mail marketing campaigns for channels including Arena TV, The LifeStyle Channel, LifeStyle Food, Max and their parent company XYZ networks.
She has also worked as a TV producer; researching, writing and directing a weekly entertainment news series. Working as writer on a range of high profile magazines for ACP she then joined ninemsn to produce the highly popular women's magazine websites. While at ninemsn she also worked on their lifestyle and children's sites. She has also worked in advertising for Clemenger BBDO and other boutique agencies.
Lisa's online projects have been recognised with international awards including a Cannes Cyber Lion for Website - Creating Community, (France) 2001 and a BDA Promax Award in 2002 for Best Multimedia Campaign.
|
|
 |
Simon Henry
Simon Henry is Group Product Manager for the REA Group. The REA Group operates in 10 countries and currently runs 16 portals and 4 print publications globally.
Simon has worked with the REA Group for 2 years. He specialises in system design and product management.
As Group Product Manager his role is to create the product roadmap and manage the product delivery for all sites and products offered by the company. He has also developed and implemented strategies driving the future direction of the company.
Simon holds an MBA in Technology and Management and has over 13 years of hands-on experience with online systems.
|
|
|
SPEAKERS