With apologies for duplication.

Dear SIM and APLA colleagues,

Many of you attended the provocative presentations in the fall by researchers
from Google and IBM. Those presentations were the first two components in this
year's Killam Lecture series organized by Dr Elaine Toms and Dr Carolyn
Watters. The final presentation, by Dr Andrew Dillon, is outlined below and we
look forward to welcoming you back to the Rowe Management Building for this
event with reception to follow.

All best wishes,
Fiona Black

From: Killam Lecture Committee
Subject: Killam Lecture Series - final lecture

You are cordially invited to attend the Killam Lecture Series 2006: Exploring
Human Interactions with Information Technology

This series explores technology from the human perspective. How do we design
technologies to engage people, help them solve problems effectively and
efficiently, facilitate human activities of individuals and groups, and improve
the quality of their experiences and ultimately of life?

Final speaker in the Series:

ANDREW DILLON,
University of Texas at Austin
Putting the Social into the Technical: By Design Not By Chance
***Friday, March 16, at 4 pm***
Potter Family Auditorium (room 1028) Rowe Management Building
Refreshments to follow in the Lounge (room 2068)

If technology meeting the free market is all we need, why do I have to pay for
bundled cable rather than the channels I actually watch? Why do libraries have
to purchase journals they never use to get access to a few the scholars they
support really read? Why are DVDs regionalized for playback? Why must I upgrade
my software and hardware on a manufacturerąs cycle rather than my genuine
need? Why are my 10 year old floppy disks gathering dust but my 50 year old
vinyl records still sounding joyous? Why is educational software so bad, and
gaming software so violent? Why must I limit the use of my own words once I
agree to have them published in a scholarly journal? Why is most policy on
information infrastructure so out of touch with our professional and personal
lives? Who will steward our cultural resources when there is no obvious profit
margin to be gained? And donąt forget all the other questions about access to
information, the right to read what you want, the accuracy of information and
so forth. The answers to these questions might point you in a new direction for
thinking about our world and how we want it to be. May the third force be with
you!

Andrew Dillon is Professor of Information, Psychology, and Information, Risk &
Operations Management, and Dean, School of Information at the University of
Texas at Austin. Since graduating from University College Cork and Loughborough
University of Technology, Andrew has been called something of an iconoclast
when it comes to academics having held appointments in a multitude of
departments or schools (cognitive science, computer science, instructional
systems technology, psychology, management information systems, curriculum and
instruction, to library and information science and informatics). He has been
an active researcher of the human response to information technology for the
last 15 years. His 100+ papers have focused on many aspects of people and their
interaction with technology including digital document design, information
shapes, the effect of aesthetics and form on user response, and the development
of reliable and valid evaluation methods. He is a strong advocate for designing
information and systems that work for people.


Fiona A. Black, Director
School of Information Management
Faculty of Management -- Dalhousie University
Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building
6100 University Avenue
Halifax, NS B3H 3J5 Canada

Voice: 902.494.1901
Fax: 902.494.2451
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: sim.management.dal.ca