Santa Clara University

Continuing discussion of global knowledge sharing

    On April 21, 2005, the Center for Science, Technology and Society hosted an international conference titled, Digital Divide or Digital Commons:Toward Global Knowledge Sharing. Sponsored by Applied Materials, the conference drew together over 200 participants including leaders from academia, government, and non-governmental organizations to explore the question of how we can take the digital revolution to the next step. That is, how we can not only exchange bits and bytes of information but actually share knowledge globally to address social and environmental issues that require the full participation of the world community.

• Conference Portal-
  Watch streaming and downloadable videos of all the speakers and panels, indexed and searchable by keyword from transcriptions
• Conference Web Log-
  Read postings on global knowledge sharing from before and after the conference
• 2005 Conference Page 

"This year's conference, Digital Divide or Digital Commons: Toward Global Knowledge Sharing, did an excellent job of addressing a relevant social issue from several perspectives. In general, the sessions were very thought provoking, featured high quality speakers and begged a lot of really great questions. The format was effective. I look forward to seeing how SCU can build on this significant theme in future conferences."
-Brad Mattson, Advisory Board Member, Chairman of the Board, Tegal Corporation

"In his keynote, Geoffrey Bowker, the executive director of the Center for Science, Technology, and Society, reiterated that while there are possible benefits of technology to the world, dangers can be pointed out as well. He noted BioForge and the Public Library of Science as examples of the 'commons' approach applied to human knowledge by means of technology. Bowker proved to be a keen-witted and able moderator in the four panels that followed."
-Chuck Bearden, Senior Content Specialist, The Connexions Project, Rice University

"I just would like to commend [the Center] for a job excellently done with this year's STS conference. I was impressed with the professionalism, the speakers' thoughtful remarks/ideas, the blog (especially its real-time updates)... and with your committee's conference preparation and execution. My heartfelt thanks for all the committee members' hard work and determination that made it a great success!
-Johan Sulaiman, Student, Santa Clara University, Class of 2006

Continue your interest in the global knowledge sharing theme...

Geoffrey Bowker, the Center's director, is a co-organizer for an upcoming conference attached to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS); set to take place in Tunis, Tunisia.

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