Keynote speakers 2013

 

Steve Wheeler (@timbuckteeth)

Steve Wheeler is Associate Professor of Learning Technologies at Plymouth University, in South West England. Originally trained as a psychologist, he has spent his entire career working in media, technology and learning, predominantly in nurse education (NHS 1981-1995) and teacher education and training (1976-1981 and 1995-present). He is now in the Faculty of Health, Education and Society.

A trained educator, he teaches on a number of undergraduate and post-graduate teacher education programmes. He specialises in research on e-learning and distance education, with particular emphasis on social media and Web 2.0 tools. He is regularly invited to speak about his work and has given keynotes and invited lectures to audiences in over 20 countries across 5 continents. He is currently involved in several research programmes related to e-learning, social media and handheld technologies.

Steve is the author of more than 150 scholarly articles and is an active and prolific edublogger. His blog Learning with ‘e’s is a regular online commentary on the social and cultural impact of disruptive technologies, and the application of digital media in education and training.

Steve is chair of the Plymouth e-Learning Conference, and between 2008-2011 was also co-editor of the journal Interactive Learning Environments. He serves on the editorial boards of a number of learning technology and education related open access academic journals including Research in Learning Technology (formerly ALT-J), the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning and Digital Culture and Education.

In 2008 Steve was awarded a Fellowship by the European Distance and E-learning Network (EDEN), and in 2011 he was elected to serve as a member of the Steering group of EDEN’s Network of Academics and Professionals (NAP). He is also chair of the influential worldwide research group IFIP Technical Committee Working Group 3.6 (distance education) and is author of several books including The Digital Classroom (Routledge: 2008) and Connected Minds, Emerging Cultures (Information Age: 2009). He lives in Plymouth, in the South West of England, with his wife and three children.

JP Rangaswami

Rangaswami joined salesforce.com in November 2010 as salesforce.com’s first Chief Scientist. He is tasked with the responsibility of contributing to salesforce.com’s product strategy and ensuring that the benefits of cloud computing are being promoted globally.

Prior to joining, Rangaswami spent four years at BT in London, most recently as Chief Scientist of the BT Group. He brings over 30 years’ of technology experience to salesforce.com with large multinational companies. This includes holding the role of global chief information officer at investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, which he joined in 1997. While there, he established his reputation for innovation within the enterprise, culminating in a series of Harvard Business Review case studies. Rangaswami has also held a variety of leadership and technology positions at Burroughs Corp., Data General and Hoskyns Group.

Rangaswami is chairman of School of Everything, an educational start-up that teaches a broad range of socially focused topics via the web. He is also a venture partner at Anthemis Group.

Rangaswami is a Fellow of the British Computer Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and is a Chartered IT Professional of the British Computer Society. He is also Chair of MetaCert, a San Francisco based company that provides products and services to help protect children from unsuitable content on the web.

He writes a popular blog called Confused of Calcutta, and contributed a guest chapter to The Cluetrain Manifesto, a best-selling business book.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics from St. Xavier’s College, University of Calcutta.

Dr Irmgarda Kasinskaite-Buddeberg

Ms Irmgarda Kasinskaite-Buddeberg is a programme specialist working at United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Communication and Information Sector, Knowledge Societies Division in Paris, France. She is in charge of the programmes and projects related to the implementation of the UNESCO’s Communication and Information Strategy on Media and Information Literacy, innovative application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Persons with Disabilities with a special focus on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and multilingualism in cyberspace, particularly to the promotion of the normative instrument “UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace”. During more than ten years at UNESCO, she also carried out projects on HIV and AIDS issues and was involved in UNESCO’s response within WSIS framework. She contributed to the preparation of several publications, reports and articles on wide range of issues.

Before joining UNESCO in 2002, she worked as Senior Programme Specialist, Department of Information and Informatics, Ministry of Public Administration Reforms and Local Authorities, Lithuania.

She obtained her Doctor’s Degree in Humanitarian Sciences, Communication and Information from Vilnius University (2006), Master’s Degree in Information Management (1999) from Vilnius University and Bachelor of Arts degree (1996) from Vilnius Academy of Arts (Lithuania). As a visiting researcher, she conducted research in Lund University (Sweden, 1999), Helsinki University (2000) and Helsinki Technology University (2001).