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PresentationsBelow is the list of presentations from Technocon 2010. Thank you to all of Technocon 2010's terrific presenters for sharing their knowledge and experience with attendees.
Titles (in alphabetical order)Click the title to view the abstract. Click the presenter's name to view his/her biography.
Abstracts5 To 10 Apps To Make Any .NET Programmer Sexy These 5 to 10 applications will make any .NET programmer (or any other programmer really) look way better in that Speedo, or at least make them more productive programmers. Jeff and Shaun spend most of their day figuring out how to make work easy and how to do the least amount of work for the biggest return. They have scoured and searched the internet to find these apps which do all the work for them, leaving more time for scouring and searching the internet. 360' Online Interaction: Benefits to Government Communications All levels of governments are currently requiring improved communications both internally and to the public and stakeholders. As focus on rural communities continues to grow and efficiency related to time and resources also grows in importance, technology is quickly becoming an important aspect of everyday business; however, technology needs to simplify business and life, not make it complicated. Statusfirm has addressed this through our proprietary platform - Core Catalyst - and is seeing a growing surge and acceptance by various levels of government. A Framework for Continuous Improvement This presentation discusses what continuous improvement is and why it is critical in today's world, then introduces the framework: a five-stage model that covers the entire life-cycle of an improvement. Basil provides tips and techniques for applying the framework to your improvement efforts and lessons learned from his and others application of the framework. Basil also relates the material to the philosophy of lean thinking, which heavily influenced the development of this material. A No-cost Disk Imaging Solution For Multi-OS Environments To better support the disk cloning/imaging needs in our multiple labs which utilize many different operating systems, the IT support team of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Alberta has resolved to build an imaging solution that uses only free/open-source tools and allows simultaneously pushing of different images to multiple labs. This no-cost imaging solution has greatly reduced the effort spent on deploying and up-keeping of lab computers since being put into production. Advances in Wireless Sensor Networking Standards and Architectures
Wireless sensor networks have been identified as a key enabling technology for providing a new generation of solutions to problems that arise in many vital areas such as industrial processes, transportation, health monitoring, security, and human safety. Research and development towards realizing such solutions have been accelerated by the industry adoption of open standards that specify the interfacing and services offered by various layers in the sensor networking protocol stack. Prominent among such standards are the IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards for low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPANs) and the ZigBee Alliance specifications.
Application Delivery Control with Citrix NetScaler With the advancements in applications, and more specifically web applications, it becomes mission critical to have the control over these applications to ensure high availability and performance, while monitoring the end user experience. Availability is a requirement for all applications, from real-time voice and video to both static and dynamic content. BlackBerry Enterprise Solution Research In Motion will present on the fundamentals of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution 5.0; including BlackBerry Key Components, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, BlackBerry Application Platform, BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (BlackBerry MVS), BlackBerry Smartphones, BlackBerry Support Services and BlackBerry Security. Centralized Data using Citrix Leveraging Citrix technologies, information technology teams can ensure that data remains inside the data centre, securing the users access in and out of the environment. Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp provide secure application access to intellectual property and confidential information. Centralizing and securing this information minimizes the risk of data leakage or corruption. Access to the environment can be controlled and restricted by utilizing the Citrix NetScaler platform for highly available secure access. Computing for the Masses and Dredging the Digital Divide To realize business value from the use of information technology such as portals, web sites and electronic business forms, it is essential that targeted users actually choose to use these services instead of other non-technical means such as call centres, hot-lines, information desks and kiosks. A key consideration for the success of any technical offering is its degree of usability. To complicate matters, effective usability is both difficult to measure and is sometimes an underestimated factor in the overall success or failure for new technical services. This presentation will explore changes in end-user demographics, as well as technology trends that will look to empower an increasingly diverse IT user community. Desktop Virtualization Virtualized desktops are not just a virtual desktop. Desktop virtualization includes all aspects, while not requiring one use case. How do we ensure users have the right applications, operating systems or configurations? Development in the Cloud with Windows Azure If you're looking to build applications for Windows Azure then you won't want to miss this event. This workshop will provide you with the information you need to start building the Next Big Thing for the cloud. Come join us for this workshop and get the information you need to start targeting Windows Azure today! Design as a Strategic Tool
Design is moving beyond form and function. This is reflected in a shift over the last twenty years from product to service, from mechanics to meaning, and from things to people. With this shift, design is tackling wicked problems--the intractable conditions of our time such as hunger, healthcare and education. It is concerned not simply with style, form and function but solving problems and defining new opportunities.
DR for Virtual Data Centres Virtualization has taken hold of the Data Center, providing robust, highly available computing environments. Is Disaster Recovery still a necessity? Is it complicated and expensive? How do you leverage virtualization to provide second-site DR protection for your business? Take a good look at the many options for providing DR services in a sane, manageable and cost effective way. Enterprise Architecture: A Transformative Method Enterprise Architecture techniques have been evolving for over 20 years now, but many still struggle with how to apply them. This session will describe Enterprise Architecture at a high level, then examine how EA techniques can be used to enable changes to the Enterprise. Both Business and IT Architecture techniques will be discussed. eReaders: A Comparison of Leading Models This session will provide a hands on look at the leading e-reader portable devices. Using e-ink technology several companies are now offering a portable platform for using electronic books without using a notebook or netbook computer. The growing number of electronic resources available to researchers and academics are made more useable by the adoption of portable e-reader technology. Come and try the latest offerings from Apple, Amazon, Sony and other e-reader manufacturers. Fulfillment and Freedom
Is it possible to be in an organization and have fulfillment in your work? While enjoying fulfillment is it also possible to have the freedom to do what you know needs to be done, after all we are all adults RIGHT!
Fully Redundant Firewalling and Service Load Balancing With OpenBSD and PF Many large central services are built at the University of Alberta using clusters of small machines. This talk discusses and does a live demo of how to build redundant service front end using free software in OpenBSD. A few of the large service configurations from the university will be reviewed and we will demo a live setup for which the configuration will be available after the talk. Getting Started with iPhone Development Are you interested in extending your reach by offering products on the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch platform, but you haven't had time to investigate what it takes to develop an application? This talk will introduce the tools and language needed for developing on the iPhone and introduce some of the common interfaces available. Using these we will demonstrate how quickly simple applications can be built and/or prototyped. Google Apps and Gmail: Integration Experiences at the University of Alberta The first part of this talk will discuss integrating an existing identity management system with Google applications to allow the use of Google apps in a large organization. We will examine issues of identity synchronization and using local resources to supplement those things which are not best provided by Google.
Hop on the eTrain to Knowledge Organization This presentation introduces a new approach to corporate training, which includes emerging technologies to support instructor-led and self-directed learning. Online step-by-step work instructions, simulations and eLearning courses are focused on providing the end users with instant support and the access to job specific learning resources. The Enterprise Applications Training website (eTrain) that hosts all City developed learning documents will be explored. The demonstration of the uPerform tool used to create eTrain documents will follow, as well as a discussion of other innovative learning tools that can be used to help our organization to improve the learning curve and increase productivity. Implementing Google Analytics in a Large Organization Setting up Google Analytics for a small website is easy simply create your account, add the tracking code and wait for the data to start rolling in. But what about in a large environment where you have many sites, multiple users, different domains and even multiple content management systems? Interoperability And Productivity: A Challenge In Engineering IT Engineering IT is a leading field in productivity improvement in the industry. Nowadays, IT tools has been applied in almost all the processes from conceptual design, to process analysis, manufacturing, project management. The interoperability and system integration has been a challenge and demands a systematic solution. A feature-based life-cycle approach is proposed in this presentation to implement IT projects in various engineering projects with system integration and interoperability considered. Introduction to Project Management: A Framework for Team Success (2 hr workshop) This session is for those seeking to learn about project management and how to effectively manage projects such as, upgrading systems and facilities, developing educational resources and coordinating research projects. The session will be a mix of presentation, discussion sessions and activities.
Introduction to Web Architecture This presentation will cover fundamental principles of the world wide web and web technologies. It will include an overview of popular languages for the creation of dynamic web pages and applications, and the progression over time of complexity and capability on the web. It will describe and outline differences between web applications, sites, content management systems, and frameworks. It will also cover the interaction of HTML, CSS and JavaScript at a high level, including HTML 5, and finish with an overview of concepts and examples involving web services and web APIs.
Is 3D for Me? Immersive Environments for Promoting, Interacting, Meeting and Learning 3D immersive environments (such as Second Life, Opensimulator, Unity 3D) are emerging technologies that help organizations meet business goals by providing:
IT Transformation Strategies
HPs IT Transformation program focused on five key initiatives from which to deliver operational excellence and support the business to drive its strategic imperatives.
Listening: A Project Manager Key to Project Success Listening skills are critical to the success of any project. In fact, listening is the best present a project manager can give to his/her project team. Most people confuse listening with hearing, which is related but different. Listening is much harder than what most people think. Listening requires a focused attention and an open mind. By the end of this session, participants will learn how to listen rather than just hear. Participants will know the difference between listening and hearing; discover the barriers to effective listening; become aware of the ten reasons why we should listen actively; recognize the difference between the three stages of listening: hearing, understanding and comprehending; and discover and practice ten ways to improve their listening skills. Mobile Communities and Relationship
Mobility facilitates a better relationship with institutions like the University of Alberta and the City of Edmonton. Well over a billion new phones are produced each year by manufacturers (The Horizon Report, 2010). This is a global movement that continues to expand and advance technologically. This presentation will examine this new human need to be mobile and will feature mobile technologies from Blackboard Inc.
An interactive demonstration is included in this presentation. Participants are encouraged to download the Blackboard Apps to either their Blackberry or iPhone:
Network Security: Hacking 101 Through this informative presentation, you will learn the steps and techniques that hackers use against your networks and computers from basic reconnaissance to gaining access and owning the target system. Two powerful applications commonly used by hackers will be discussed Cain-&-Able and Metasploit. This session will provide attendees with valuable insights that they can bring back to their organization, allowing them to better protect against cyber attackers. Next Generation Desktop Join us as we share with you the future we are creating for client computing for City of Edmonton employees. This presentation explores the new environment and the ways of working that will emerge; we dig behind the scenes to reveal the changes to support methods and processes to implement the new model. Through the discussion you will find the opportunity to learn about the various initiatives underway that are making this new approach a reality in the organization. Open Data and Open Applications This session will present on the development and adoption of open data applications around the globe. Applications will be highlighted that utilize Government datasets on a variety of platforms. Open Data as Social Media The social Internet represents a means of interacting that is characterized by a rich user experience including an exchange of multimedia information and the development of cumulative and combined knowledge based on that exchange. Within this context Open Data is a form of multimedia that has been socially enabled by removing restrictive barriers to access. In this presentation I intend to examine the tensions inherent to Open Data as social media. I will draw on examples from the emerging location-based mass-collaboration domain and explore applications that empower citizens to describe and influence the evolution of their urban environment. Process Framework Myth: An IT Organization Must Choose Between COBIT and ITIL The focus of this presentation is to bust this myth by explaining how COBIT 4.1 and ITIL Version 3 are not mutually exclusive but may be combined to provide a powerful IT governance, control and best practice framework in IT Service Management.
Rapid Web Development Have you ever wanted to quick website that was both user friendly for content providers as well as extremely customizable for technical staff? This workshop will explain how to do just that. The first part of the workshop will give a brief overview of some of the open source CMS (Content Management System) available, as well as a more in depth look at one in particular: Joomla! SAP: Strategy and Performance Management in Municipal Government
Defining success for a public sector organization is dependent on listening to your stakeholders and the community at large. Communities today demand a sustainable future and progress on specific goals and want to engage in a dialogue on strategy and direction.
Scaling Agile: A Real Life Experience
PAS was a joint venture development initiative by 4 major oil and gas companies and CGI. Devon, Encana, Husky and Talisman joined with CGI to develop a new Production, Revenue and Royalty Application. Each company put 3 senior business resources on the project. The development component of the PAS initiative cost $35M over 5 years with up to 90 people on the team. This presentation is on how we used Agile to achieve this mammoth undertaking.
Second Life Pilot Projects at the UofA Four demonstration projects:
Securing Your Virtual Environment The new, virtual data centre is still vulnerable to old threats...and a host of new ones every day. How do you protect multiple guest servers on a virtual host without unnecessarily taxing the resources of the host? Traditional security software requires an agent on every guest. It's time for a new approach....and we're ready to show you how. This presentation focuses on using the latest in security technology to protect a virtual server environment. Join us as we show you how new, innovative approaches take security to the next level by protecting the workloads at the host/network level. Security Threats and Your Network (1 hr workshop) There are many different security devices and approaches. This presentation is a hands-on exploration of different models, their strengths and weaknesses and how modern malware affects networks. There will be hands-on demos from an end users' perspective of how they use a network as well as a security administrator and what they can do to test and increase their protection. Self Service with Citrix How much time is spent on administrating end users? How much work is involved with a single application install? What if the end user could choose their operating system and applications and choose how they want them delivered? Citrix technologies can be leveraged to create an automated environment, users can be provisioned by administrative teams or they can provisioning this for themselves. Spam, Greylisting and The Ghost of Usenet Postings Past This presentation will cover specifically how the University of Alberta uses the free spamd software, and exploits the fact that we've been around forever to eliminate 90% of our SMTP workload before it hits our mail servers. It includes some background for the uninitiated on where spam comes from. Taking Control of Your Time Have you ever finished a day and looked back at the to-do list and realize you didn't accomplish any of it? Nothing has been done off the list? Have you attended meetings and wondered what you're doing there? Are you always running late? Are you time-challenged? Learn how to take control of your time, your desk and your life. The Art of People Management: Building Great Project Teams Project managers have to build and then lead project teams. How to do this and what form teams need to take is often difficult for us to decide. How we need to behave as leaders and what will work most optimally in what situation are questions that keep project managers up late at night, wondering. In this session we will examine the structure of great teams and how project managers can become great leaders. The Manager as Coach Often, the person most able to support employees in what they are committed to is the manager or supervisor. The challenge for the manager is to create the space in which there is a willingness, on the part of the employee, to be coachable. This presentation will begin by differentiating coaching from managing. With a common understanding of what constitutes coaching, the presentation will identify steps that can be taken to create a space in which coaching can occur. The remainder of the presentation will address a progressive approach to coaching that includes: shifting context, communication that produces a result, coaching from commitment, coaching from possibility, moving from breakdowns to breakthroughs and creating a future that works for all. The Open Systems Opportunity This workshop will begin with a discussion on the City of Edmonton's Open Systems' initiative and similar initiatives occurring on other public sector and academic organisations. The workshop will focus on exploring the opportunities and challenges for collaboration between the public sector and academic communities to advance the Open Systems direction. Tour and Demo of 3D Printer
The 3D printer is a machine that builds finely detailed plaster sculptures using data from 3D-modelling software. With this remarkable technology, you can quickly and inexpensively transform design ideas or scientific data into hand-held, concrete reality.
If you would like to learn more about the 3DPrinter, join us for a tour and demo of the equipment.
Transforming End User Services
HP transformed how the End User service are delivered to the HP workforce from a distributed, high touch, low availability and high cost to a consolidated, standardized environment with improved stability and ease of use. This seminar will review the approach that HP has taken to providing end user services by using automation and self-service capabilities. Unleashing The Cloud
Cloud services have the promise of reducing IT costs and improving overall IT performance. However it is disruptive technology that requires transformation of application and infrastructure to fully exploit it's benefits.
User Experience 101 (1 hr workshop)
This hands-on session will teach the basics of user experience design. We'll cover UX basics, iterative design and prototyping, user research methods and usability evaluation. These tools improve project success rates, user satisfaction, and overall service delivery. We'll also discuss how these methods fit within traditional IT projects (both waterfall and agile).
Using Technology To Improve Citizen Engagement: Local Government Success Stories
Today, the demands on governments to serve citizens and businesses have never been greater. Governments face increasing expectations to do more with less to better meet citizens' needs. The use of technology to meet and exceed these expectations is a necessity. According to UN Habitat, within two decades, 60% of the world's people will be urban dwellers; a fact that will have profound consequences on citizen engagement and service delivery. Join Omar Rashid as he discusses how the cities of Edmonton, Vancouver and others are leveraging open data and cloud services to improve citizen engagement and prepare for future growth. Value Management: A Shift in Traditional IT Governance Thinking
Traditionally IT projects are driven by the business areas that provide the funding. This creates a dynamic of Money=Power. By centralizing IT spending and shifting to a value based decision making framework we can shift that to a Value=Power system. The presentation shows how to make this shift and what the potential benefits are of working in this type of framework. Web Analytics: What Are You Doing with Your Data?
These days, there is no shortage of data available to those of us working with the web. In fact, at times, the amount of data available to IT and communications staff can be overwhelming. Why Large IT Projects Fail: An Auditor's Perspective
This presentation will discuss reasons why large IT projects fail or are unable to fully achieve their objectives. It focuses on the project management process and considers the non technical issues that must be managed to ensure success. It also looks at the relationship between IT, the business area and senior management to understand where and why breakdowns occur that lead to disappointing outcomes and outright failures. It includes suggestions for IT auditors and those charged with Quality Assurance or project oversight on how these issues can be avoided or mitigated. Your Grandpa's Computer: Legacy Systems in Your Daily life Ever wondered about the computers behind the scenes when you access a banking machine, when you go to the hospital, or when you renew your driver's license? Some of these systems are older than you, perhaps older than your parents. They still work. This presentation will lead you through an IT systems "archeology" exercise to explore legacy systems in everyday life, and how these fascinating systems are maintained and expanded, and how you can build a rewarding and profitable career in supporting legacy technologies. Basil Vandegriend is a software architect and management consultant who is passionate about creating great software and helping others to do the same. Basil is currently employed with CGI where his time is split between architecting Java enterprise software and championing the use of effective software development practices and methods including continuous improvement. An avid reader of blogs, articles and books on software development, Basil contributes his
knowledge to the community via his website at http://www.basilv.com/psd/. When he was two, Bob Beck's family made a daring escape over the border from the United States during the Nixon regime, arriving at the University of Alberta in 1971. Bob has two degrees from the U of A, and has worked in a number of positions in industry and at the University for a long time. He is also an active OpenBSD and OpenSSH developer. Chris Moore is the Chief Information Officer at the City of Edmonton. Mr. Moore provides leadership over the City's information and technology services, solutions and strategy. Mr. Moore has spent over 27 years in the Information Technology industry focusing on Customer Relationship Management, Business Strategy, Consulting and Professional Services. Mr. Moore has extensive experience in both the Private and Public sector working with small, medium and large organizations. Mr. Moore has managed teams and projects of considerable complexity and scope. Mr. Moore is a member of the Conference Board of Canada's CIO Council and SAPs Global Public Sector Advisory Council. Clayton Crane is a Senior Helpdesk Analyst and Multimedia Developer at the
University of Alberta. He is responsible for maintaining the University's
Helpdesk website, as well as creating new media help materials for the
campus. Darren is an accomplished speaker and an experienced virtualization evangelist. Darren has presented many times in the Edmonton area and his in-depth knowledge of leading-edge virtualization technologies is always shared from a practical perspective. David Nedohin, Statusfirm Inc. David Nedohin is one of the founders of Statusfirm (2004). He graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering in 1996, soon followed by his relocation to Edmonton to work in the consulting industry. David's is now an entrepreneur with several initiatives within the City of Edmonton. Along with being an entrepreneur, David has also excelled in the sport of curling, winning 3 World Titles and 4 Canadian Championships with Team Ferbey. Denise Thornton, Programmer/Analyst: Denise joined AICT in 1981 as part of the Numerical Computing Support Group. Her focus is now on visualization tools and techniques as part of the Research Support Group. Denise received a B.Sc. in Computing Science in 1980 from the University of Alberta and has been working on various aspects of high-performance computing since that time. www.aict.ualberta.ca/research/ Devin Serink works in IT Strategy and Innovation at the City of Edmonton, and holds a BSc in Computing Science from the University of Alberta. He is best described like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, ... Little known fact: he once miraculously escaped from a completely sealed box containing a cat and a flask of poison. The status of the cat is still unknown. When not making nerdy jokes, he spends his time playing with web technologies and harping on about open data, standards, systems, source, and just generally using the word open a lot. Donna Gorday and Maureen Walker, UofA The Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org) is the leading professional membership agency and certifies Project Management Professionals. It currently has more than 265,000 members in over 170 countries. Donna Gorday is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and Maureen Walker is a Certified Administrator of Project Management (CAPM) with extensive experience in applying project management principles within the University environment. Ehab Elmallah is a professor of Computing Science at the University of Alberta.
http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~ehab His research interests lie in designing computational tools, performance models, and combinatorial algorithms for resource management, reliability, and security problems in mobile and wireless networks. He has numerous publications in reputable journals and conferences. He has served on the organizing and program committees of numerous international conferences. He also serves on the editorial board of a number of international journals and has served as a guest co-editor of a number of special issues. In her current role as Director, Solution Management for the IBU Public Sector, SAP, Liz McGowan is the business lead for the IBU's global public sector analytics and Industry Value Accelerator strategy. Liz has been active in information technology for over 15 years with implementation and project management responsibilities for SAP implementations in public sector, energy and technology. Prior to joining SAP in 1996, Liz was a tax specialist. Liz is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Master of Science in Biological Sciences. Erik deJong is a Graduate Student in Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta. He is working on multiple projects as a liaison between the Computing Science and Educational Psychology Departments. He is helping to develop curriculum for Educational IT courses at the University and is part of a research project looking into the possibility of offering an interdisciplinary Health Science Education course in a virtual-world. Erik is interested in investigating the opportunities for video-game design tools being implemented in grade schools. He has a BEd from the University of Alberta and is an Electronics Engineering Technologist graduate from NAIT. Dr. Eleni Stroulia (PhD 1994, Georgia Institute of Technology) is a Professor and NSERC/iCORE Industrial Research Chair (w. IBM support) on Service Systems Management with the Department of Computing Science at the University of Alberta. Her research addresses industrially relevant software-engineering problems with (semi)automated methods, inspired from artificial intelligence. Her team has developed methods for migrating legacy interfaces to web-accessible front ends, and for analyzing and supporting the design evolution of object-oriented software. More recently, she has been working on the service-oriented applications, web 2.0 tools and virtual worlds for innovative collaboration, education applications. Darcy Lalor is a Certified IT Architect and Leader of the IBM Canada Enterprise Architecture practice. He has over 25 years of IT industry experience, with the past 10 years focused on delivery of Enterprise Architecture and Governance projects to both public and private sector customers. Several of his projects have won innovation awards (e.g. HP Privacy Innovation Award 2003).
David Chodos is a PhD student in the Department of Computing Science at the University of Alberta. His research interests include virtual worlds, online education and training, service-oriented design, requirements engineering and web-based software design. Two projects he is involved in are an interactive, virtual world-based training system for EMT students and a “Smart Condo” that monitors a resident’s actions unobtrusively, in order to provide at-home care for the elderly. He holds an NSERC scholarship and has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo. David Faber is the branch manager of Strategic Management in the Deputy City Managers Office. He has worked for the City of Edmonton for 12 years and is accountable for setting the long-term strategic direction for council and administration, enabling budget and planning integration, building a corporate performance management system, providing economic trending and research, and building knowledge management practices for the City. Mr. Fink is a lifelong technology enthusiast and avid reader whose studies in history and technology have given him many opportunities to try various electronic book formats out over the last 20 years. Currently enrolled in a Masters program at the University of Alberta, he has been extensively testing electronic resources for his classes on these devices and brings these experiences to this session. Greg McIntyre is a Principal at Interis Consulting and a Certified Management Consultant with over 25 years of experience. Greg and his firm have helped a large number of Public and Private Sector organizations solve key management issues such as IT Governance. Dr. Hongwen Zhang, Wedge Networks Dr. Zhang has a PhD in Computer Science from the Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary; a MSc in Computer Engineering from the Institute of Computer Technology - Chinese Academy of Sciences and a BSc in Computer Science from Fudan University. With more than 18 years of high tech experience, co-founder of 24C Group, which developed the first digital receipts infrastructure for secure electronic commerce. He was also a principal of Servidium Inc., now ThoughtWorks Canada Inc., a global leader in agile development methodology. Dr. Zhang is a co-inventor on several patents in the area of computing and networking. Jacob has been at the City of Edmonton for almost three years leading and planning initiatives related to desktop and workflow technologies. He is currently leading several projects at the City for the Open Systems initiative. Prior to starting at the City, Jacob was at several K-12 and post-secondary organisations. James Donahue is a member of the IT Strategy and Innovation section at the City of Edmonton. A graduate of NAIT's Computer Systems Technology Program supplemented with the completion of several U of A business courses, James has spent over 23 years planning and architecting IT solutions for a wide range of municipal services. Jamie Haggett, Trend Micro Inc. Jamie is an accomplished speaker and Senior Systems Engineer with Trend Micro Inc. He will be sharing his knowledge and experience with leading edge security technologies. Jamie is based here in the Edmonton area. Jeff Klassen is a Support Analyst and designer leading the Centre for Teaching and Learning's investigation into immersive learning environments. Jeff is a graduate of the U of A, with a BDes in Industrial Design. Using both a research-based approach and a focus on user-centered design, he to hopes to explore the learning potential of virtual worlds. Jeff is a fine graduate of the Computing Science department at the illustrious University of Alberta. He is currently Captain of the awesome programming team at the School of Business (at the University of Alberta), ensuring everything we do is up to specification. He has extensive and harrowing experience in private industry as well. (written by Shaun McGregor) Jess McMullin, Centre for Citizen Experience Jess has been working in the design and user experience fields since 1996. He is currently laying the groundwork for the Centre for Citizen Experience, a new venture dedicated to promoting design innovation in the public sector.
Jim Brown Sr., Blackboard Inc. Jim Brown has worked as an Account Executive for Blackboard Inc. for the past 3 years and has recently moved into the product specialization. Jim has over 30 years of experience in Higher Education, working previously at Houghton Mifflin Publishing and Rodata - where he did extensive work in video streaming and conferencing applications. John Bristowe is a Senior Developer Evangelist with Microsoft Canada and is based in Calgary. John is an experienced speaker and frequently presents at conferences and events. Prior to joining Microsoft, John was a member of the Microsoft Regional Director program and was awarded a Microsoft MVP award for his work in the developer community on technologies such as ASP.NET and the Microsoft Web services stack. John has spent considerable time building Web and Windows applications. He is passionate about assisting the Canadian technical community and spends much of his time talking to students, teachers, and professionals in the industry. John Cosgrave, Hewlett-Packard (Canada) John is a graduate of the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Mathematics Computer Science Major in 1981. John holds certifications with Microsoft, HP and ITIL. Over the past 25 years, John has been involved in the design, delivery and support of complex, highly available solutions to support customers in many industry verticals, such as healthcare, financial, retail, education, telecommunications and utilities. John's expertise in highly available systems, database systems, transaction processing systems, business intelligence and disaster recovery planning is used to assist HP customers in the development, deployment and operations of business applications. John Rogerson is a Senior Helpdesk Analyst and Google-Human interface at the University of Alberta. John is an expert at dealing with the special questions from anyone who call us about anything. John Servage, MacEwan University John currently operates A3, a company focused on providing professional training and advisory services in the areas of governance, risk and control around the globe. John has over 35 years of internal audit experience at the executive level in both the public and private sector as senior positions in Finance and Accounting, Administration and Information Technology. Industry experience includes utilities, insurance, government, banking, transportation, manufacturing, oil and gas, construction, pharmaceuticals and education. John is a frequent presenter at conferences across North America and globally on a wide range of governance, internal audit, risk and control and Information technology topics. John has accumulated more than 20 years of professional experience and has held many positions in IT ranging from a junior programmer to Senior Network/Security Analyst. He currently teaches Network Security, Ethical Hacking, Computer Forensics, and Protocol Analysis at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). John holds the CISSP designation, along with numerous other certifications including GCFW, GCFA, GCIA, GSEC, CEH, and CHFI. John also works with the SANS Institute as a Local Mentor in the Edmonton area. Kieron Quigley, Statusfirm Inc. Throughout his 15+ years in the Information Technology sector, Kieron has brought a driven, visionary and methodical approach to the development, implementation and adaptation of technology to various markets and sectors.
Previous to joining Statusfirm as Chief Technology Officer, Kieron enjoyed a career with TANDBERG, in which his role as Senior Solutions Architect afforded him the opportunity to conceptualize, contribute to, design and deliver some of the largest visual communications deployment solutions in the world. Leaders and peers within TANDBERG recognized Kieron repeatedly with awards and admiration, and sought his advice on product development/positioning strategies, sales strategies and team mentorship.
Kieron's career at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) prior to TANDBERG had him in a leadership role for the development and delivery of academic software applications/services, from Digital Curriculum Development and Delivery, to Student on-demand email and storage and the development of department processes and communications flow.
Kevin Brown, CONTEXT iT Corporation Mr. Brown is president of CONTEXT iT Corp, an Alberta based executive coaching business. Using business context as the basis for examination, he consults and provides coaching to senior management teams on the transformation that is possible from a futures-based focus. He has over 25 years of senior management and executive experience developed through Information Technology engagements with ENMAX Corporation, EPCOR Utilities, ATCO and the Royal Bank of Canada in senior and executive management capacities.
Larry has over 30 years experience in Information Technology primarily in the delivery of applications. He was the Project Manager of a very large Agile information technology project for the oil and gas industry. Larry has been involved in Agile development since the early days and was one of the first Scrum Masters. Larry is currently a Director with CGI and the Delivery Manager for Alberta Health and Wellness. Luik is an Enterprise Applications Trainer in the Information Technology Branch of the City of Edmonton. With over a decade of experience in the area of adult education, he has used learning management systems and computer based training to meet learning outcomes. Mark is a Technology Strategist for Government with Microsoft Canada. Mark has been with Microsoft for over 6 years in the UK and Canada and has worked closely with Government organizations at various levels, focusing primarily on Municipalities and Open Government. Prior to joining Microsoft, Mark was with a number of Systems Integrators including IBM, British Telecom and LogicaCMG. Mark holds an MBA from Oxford Brookes University. Margaret has been working with the City of Edmonton in the Information Technology branch for almost two years now as an Enterprise Applications Trainer. An experienced computer programmer, web developer and adult educator, she is promoting and implementing an innovative approach in the challenging areas of large enterprise applications training. Margaret's interests focus on the Business Analyst role in the process of inter-organizational knowledge transfer and on the potential of Electronic Communication systems. Matt is currently completing a Masters Degree at the University of Alberta studying Web Based GIS. His research focus is on how people understand location and communicate that understanding using web-based tools. In addition, Matt is working with the City of Edmonton to build a customized mapping application that will enable citizens to map their use and understanding of Edmonton's River Valley Trail network. This app is being built with a view towards enabling greater citizen participation in Asset Management and Planning outcomes within Edmonton's River Valley. Matt has a background in facilitation and mediation within an policy development environment. Menno Vanderlist, Citrix Systems, Inc. Menno Vanderlist is a Sales Engineer with Citrix Systems since 2008. His current territory includes Western Canada, with a focus on Enterprise accounts and the Educational sector. With a background ranging from network engineering, security and management at Bell Canada to host intrusion prevention systems at Third Brigade, he has been exposed to many organizations and requirements. His expertise includes network engineering, web application security and virtualization platforms. At Citrix Systems, he works on finding the right solutions for customers, including web application security and acceleration, remote access, disaster recovery and application and desktop virtualization. Michael Getz is the Director of Technology for the School of Business at the University of Alberta. His role is to manage the Technology Portfolio for the School of Business inclusive of system adminstration, desktop support, application development and eLearning. Michael Getz has B.Ed. degree (with distinction), an M.Ed. degree with specialation in Education Psychology - learning and technology and Information Technology Professional (ITP) certification from SAIT. Dr. Carbonaro is interested in the relationship between teaching, learning and technology. He is involved in a number of research and teaching projects: professional development of academic staff, integration of e-learning technologies across the University of Alberta, educational research in Health Sciences, use of LEGO robotic technology in schools (www.quasar.ualberta.ca/legorobots/) use of video game development tools for interactive story-writing (www.cs.ualberta.ca/~script/). He holds various degrees in Computing Science and Education. Currently he is focused on building interdisciplinary collaboration between Health Sciences, Computing Science and Education. www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/edpsychology/michaelcarbonaro.cfm Nathan is an Assistant Adjunct Professor in Computing Science at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, where he teaches and performs research in Artificial Intelligence with a specific interest in applications to the game industry. He designed and implemented the pathfinding system in BioWare's recent game Dragon Age: Origins. He is part of the teaching team that won the University of Alberta Teaching Unit Award in 2009, which recognizes teaching excellence that occurs as a result of the collaboration of instructors. Nathan received his PhD and MSc from UCLA and his BSc from UC Berkeley. As Director for Government, Omar is responsible for leading Microsoft's strategic engagement with local and regional governments across Canada. He speaks regularly on Gov 2.0 and the use of technology to improve citizen service and outreach. Omar is also the lead for Microsoft Canada's solutions efforts in Emergency Management and Public Safety. Omar graduated in 1995 from the University of Waterloo with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Science and has been with Microsoft for 14 years.
Randall T. Black, Interthink Consulting Randy Black is a senior management consultant with over 30 years experience in project management, adult learning development and delivery, business process reengineering, e-business solutions development and professional services team management. As the Managing Director of Learning Services at Interthink Consulting, Randy leads the development and delivery of our curriculum of project management learning offerings. Randy holds professional designations from APEGGA (Professional Engineer) and from the Project Management Institute (Project Management Professional). Randy is the Past President of, and has been a member of the Board of Directors for the Northern Alberta Chapter of PMI since July of 2004. Richard Handel, Handel iT Service Management Inc. Richard Handel is the President and Consulting Principal of Handel iT Service Management Inc., an independent consulting company he founded in 2003 upon retiring from IBM Canada. His specialties are process consulting and training focused on IT Service Management and IT Governance. Richard holds the ITSM designations of: ITIL V2 Service Manager; ITIL V3 Expert and ISO 20000 and is a certified instructor in each of these areas with 10 years of ITIL teaching experience. He is also a certified COBIT Foundations instructor and a member of ISACA and CIPS holding the ISP and ITCP designations. He is an Electrical Engineer by training and is a Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology of the UK, holding the designation of MIET.
His pragmatic approach to process design and development is guided by two key principles: You don't have to be good to start, but you do have to start to be good; No matter how much process you throw at something, you can't fix dumb! Sami Fahmy, Performance Excellence Ltd. Dr. Sami Fahmy is the president of Performance Excellence Ltd., a training and consulting firm specialized in supporting organizations through providing project management and risk management expertise and training. He is a Global Registered Educational Provider (R.E.P) with the Project Management Institute. Dr. Fahmy is a Professional Engineer, a Project Management Professional (PMP), and a Risk Management Professional (RPM). He is currently teaching project management, risk management and communication management courses at the University of Alberta.
Shaun is a graduate of the outstanding Computing Systems Technology program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. He currently is Admiral of the programmer team at the University of Alberta School of Business. He enjoys long walks on the beach,
piña coladas, pie, pi and .NET programming. (written by Jeff Ryan) A graduate of Queens University Belfast, and with 15 years experience in leadership and delivery of technology services and solutions, Stephen Gordon leads, as Director, the IT Strategy and Innovation Practice for the City of Edmonton. Todd Swanek, Citrix Systems, Inc. As a Sales Manager for Citrix, Todd Swanek is leading the charge towards a new simplified model for IT. This new model radically simplifies computing for millions of users, delivering desktops and applications as an on-demand service to any user, in any location on any device. The Citrix Desktop Division includes business units prime for user self service, desktop and application virtualization, networking and security. Each of these businesses has attained a top 3 market position on a stand-alone basis. More importantly for Citrix customers, when used as an end-to-end solution this truly represents a best in class, IT as a service solution. Todd joined Citrix in 2007, and holds a Bachelor in Computer Engineering and Network Management. Working previously as a business analyst and technical mentor for a global-leading computer system and equipment manufacturing company, Mr. Tai-chun Lee has joined the IT support team of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Alberta as the OS Specialist since year 2008. His main duties, besides overseeing the lab operations, have been focused on strategically improving the department IT infrastructure. Mr. Lee also holds degrees in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering disciplines. Tim has more than 12 years experience with the web. Currently, at the University of Alberta, he leads the web services team - whose big project right now is the implementation of the Sitecore Content Management System. He is one of approximately 100 people in Canada with the Google Analytics Individual Qualification certificate and leads seminars in Google Analytics for University of Alberta staff as well as managing all aspects of the U of A's Google Analytics implementation across multiple sites and systems. Trevor Meister, Christie Communications Ltd. Trevor joined Christie Communications development team in 2009. www.christie.ab.ca Trevor holds a Bachelor of Education from the University of Alberta with majors in Mathematics and Physics. For nearly 20 years, Trevor taught Junior and Senior High Mathematics, Physics, and Science and served four years as a district Mathematics and Technology Integration consultant. A desire to stay at the leading edge of Educational Technology developments led Trevor to spend two years as an independent researcher and developer. Trevor focuses on emerging social networking tools, with an emphasis on developing 3D tools/environments for learning and collaboration on 3D Virtual World platforms. Tyler received a degree in Computer Science with a Business Minor at the University of Alberta in 2008 and went on to start working for the city immediately. His major interest in computer science is web development both in website's and applications. Vince Anderson is a Senior Certified IT Architect with IBM in Edmonton, Alberta. He has twenty-five years experience in Information Technology, in systems management and operations, strategic outsourcing, networks, application development, technology deployment and rollout, both centralized and distributed computing technologies, database, Internet, and legacy integration. He has been a technical architect for the last thirteen. His diverse profile includes skills in business analysis, project management, infrastructure systems design, Service-Oriented Architecture and enterprise application integration. Vince has worked in the telecommunications, petroleum and gas, government and healthcare industry sectors. Willie is the IBM Associate Partner, Public Sector, Alberta. In his 29 years with IBM, he has held a variety of sales and management positions including Practice Executive for Application Services in Western Canada and Practice Leader for e-business. Willie is a Certified Computing Professional (CCP), an Information Systems Professional (ISP) and IBM certified.
Dr. Yongsheng Ma is a tenured associate professor of University of Alberta. He joined Department of Mechanical Engineering since 2007. Before that Dr. Ma had been a professor with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore since 2000. He has worked in the filed of engineering IT as a lecturer, trainer, IT consultant, R&D manager and a professor for the past 18 years. His main research areas include engineering life-cycle management, feature-based product and process modeling. Dr. Ma owns BEng (TsingHua, China 1986), MSc and PhD degrees (Manchester University, 1990 and 1994). He has registered as a
PEng of Alberta since 2009.. |
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