Dr Diane Mara announces keynote themes

See below for information on Diane Mara, keynote.

In her keynote address Diane will lay down some challenges in regards to information access by groups of people from a range of cultural, ability and social backgrounds. Access is only the first step to empowerment through knowledge. Gaining information through the use of technological tools must also serve the purpose of achieving social justice and underpin the building of more positive cross-cultural relationships, not be a means of increasing marginalisation of particular groups in society. There is some cause for hope as younger Pacific generations quickly master technology but what they access and how they use information is still an area that needs to be better understood.

Global generations: turning understanding into action

Mark McCrindle, keynote

Mark McCrindle MA, BSc. (Psychology), QPMR trained as a psychologist, and is now an accredited Qualified Practising Market Researcher. His highly regarded research and reports into the changing times, trends and emerging global generations have built his reputation as a futurist, demographer and social commentator.

Mark is the Director of McCrindle Research, which counts amongst its clients over 50 multinational organisations and 100 of Australia’s largest corporations. Recent clients include: Deutsche Bank, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Westpac, CGU Suncorp, ANZ, Merrill Lynch, Jetset Travelworld, Salvation Army, Singleton Council, Health Care Providers NZ, Mitchell Communications, Austereo, Marriott International.

Mark is renowned for his engaging presentations as a keynote speaker and in workshops, covering topics such as changing times, changing trends; analysing the emerging issues that will shape the future; from Boomers & Xers to Generation Y & Z; engaging with today's students (a post-literate, multi-modal, tech-savvy generation); marketing to the "new generation," recruiting, training and retaining diverse generations; leadership and communication in and for the 21st century....

Want to see more?
Visit http://www.mccrindle.com.au/

Mason Durie to speak at Poropitia

Professor Mason Durie, keynote
Mason Durie is a member of the Rangitane, Ngati Kauwhata, and Ngati Raukawa tribes. He has a medical background as a specialist psychiatrist.

From 1986-1988 he was a Commissioner on the Royal Commission on Social Policy and was appointed to the chair in Maori Studies at Massey University in 1988. He is currently Professor of Maori Research and Development and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Maori) at Massey University. He chairs Te Kahui Amokura, the Maori Standing Committee of NZVCC and leads the Guardians Group of Secondary Futures. In addition he is on the governing body of Te Wananga o Raukawa, a tribal tertiary education institution based at Otaki.

Pacific education expert as keynote

Dr Diane Mara, keynote

A graduate of Victoria and Auckland universities, Diane Mara PhD, M.Litt, BA (Hons), Dip Tchg, Dip TESL has considerable experience as a Pacific educational researcher in the early childhood education sector, tertiary institutions and schools throughout New Zealand. A number of her publications are used in teacher education and sociology of education courses at tertiary level.

Diane graduated with her doctorate in 2007. Her topic was Theories and Narratives: Pacific women in tertiary education and the social construction of ethnic identities in Aotearoa New Zealand. She interviewed twenty Pacific women graduates about their experiences as tertiary students and examined how their narratives revealed the social processes contributing to the construction of their Pacific ethnic identities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Diane has worked as a primary school teacher, a policy analyst, a lecturer and researcher. In recent times she has become a mentor for emerging Pacific researchers. Currently she is a tutor and research project leader in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) Hawkes Bay and also works as an independent research consultant. A member of the Ministerial National Monitoring Group for the Pacific Womens’ Economic Development Plan being implemented by the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, Diane also serves on a number of boards and advisory groups.

In 1976 Diane was a founding member of PACIFICA Inc (Pacific Womens’ Council) and has served this organisation of Pacific women in New Zealand at many levels. Her four-year term as National President ends in February 2009.

Diane has witnessed first-hand the challenges of settlement experienced by Pacific women and their families since the 1970s. Her work also reflects on the current challenges and issues of identity for New Zealand-born Pacific people in the 21st century.

Diane is of Tahitian descent and keeps in touch with her extended family in French Polynesia. As a sole mother of an autistic teenage son Diane believes she has gained incredible insight into the needs of children and young people with an intellectual disability and the challenges faced by parents and families coping in similar situations to her own.

Guess who else is coming to conference?

Professor Marilyn Waring, keynote

Marilyn Waring has a BA (Hons) from the Victoria University of Wellington and a DPhil from Waikato University. She holds a personal chair in the Institute of Public Policy at AUT University.

Marilyn is internationally known for her work in political economy and development assistance and human rights. Her book Counting for Nothing is an international bestseller and is the basis of the Canadian documentary Who's Counting. In 2007 Marilyn Waring and Christa Fouché edited Managing mayhem, a collection of eighteen essays by specialist contributors who explore some of the complexities and issues surrounding work-life balance in New Zealand.

Marilyn has held Fellowships at Harvard and Rutgers Universities. She is a Member of the Board of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Professor Waring has been appointed as a lay member to the Board of Judicial Studies. This Board oversees the Institute of Judicial Studies, which is the professional development arm of the New Zealand Judiciary. She has also accepted the position as the gender and governance adviser to the RAMSI Mission (Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands).

In the new year honours Marilyn was awarded a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to women and economics.

Guess who's coming to conference ...

You should be! And why? Because Poropitia - Outside the box will make you want to change the way you work.

And because this is likely to be the only conference you'll attend this year which has its very own Comics Laureate as a keynote.

Dylan Horrocks, Comics Laureate to the conference
Dylan Horrocks is a New Zealand comic artist and writer, born in 1966. His published work includes the graphic novel Hicksville (1998), which has been translated into French, Italian and Spanish; the comic book series Pickle (1992-1997) and Atlas (2001-); and "Milo's Week," a weekly political comic strip published in the New Zealand Listener (1995-1997).

He has also written comics for DC Comics and Vertigo, including a 25-issue run on Hunter: the Age of Magic, 19 issues of Batgirl and 3 issues of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight.

He has won an Eisner Comics Industry Award and his work has been nominated for other awards in America and Europe. He was awarded the University of Auckland-Creative NZ Literary Fellowship in 2006.

Dylan has lectured widely on comics, art and writing. His essays have been published in magazines and books in New Zealand and overseas. As an illustrator, he has contributed to a number of children’s books and magazines, including the School Journal and Nickelodeon magazine.

Currently Dylan is working on the serialisation of Atlas and on a short graphic novel called The American Dream. He lives in Maraetai with his wife and two sons.

Calling all abstracts

Visit the abstracts page at the conference website to find out about the abstracts submission process for the 2008 LIANZA conference. The programme team is keen to receive abstracts on a wide range of topics and from presenters who can think of innovative ways to engage an audience. And so session times have been increased to allow an unhurried presentation and more space for questions and discussion.

There is a choice of format types: oral presentations, workshops, panel discussions, and hands-on computer sessions. Intending presenters are asked to state their primary audience and broad topic areas. This is to help conference goers make good choices about the sessions they attend.

Poropitia - Outside the box is a conference at which both the content and how it's presented should deliver something beyond the obvious. Submissions are due on 2 May. The abstract review and selection process will take place during May-June. Successful authors will be notified by the end of June. The review team will then read the full papers so that presenters receive feedback and advice before the conference itself.

Give it a think!

• Do you want to present? Know someone who should? Nudge them into action.
• A topic you want to learn more about? Keep visiting the blog and add comments so that you are helping to shape the conference programme.

Ideas for presentations, workshops, panel discussions - some of these have been blogged before, others have been mentioned recently. These are topics people want to hear about.

• The social context: libraries and legal compliance ... accessing and using legal information. Official information. Public Records legislation. What do we need to know and why?
  Online social networking and collaboration: how's it being used at work (and maybe for work).
• Getting the best out of the relationship with the IT team: what across-team approaches maximise our effectiveness?
• Training >> learning and development. What are the trends? Where are the gaps? What does the research tell us?
• Knowledge management: alive and well? dead? dying? Someone want to arrange a panel discussion with audience involvement?
• Blogs, wikis, et al. and e-citizenship. What's the scope?
• Marketing - internally, to your manager ... to the executive. What works? Why?
• Writing to impress. Telling your library's story succinctly and complellingly.
• Libraries contributing to community outcomes. What are the challenges for measuring success?
• Story times: what have you tried and evaluated for success? Library-parent relationships.
• Your experience of working outside the sector or overseas ... what are the learnings others need to hear?
  

Do plan for a full-on conference: 3.5 days from Sunday 2 - Wednesday 5 November. More details over the next week or so will convince you that Poropitia-in-full is where you'll want to be.

Manaakitia te āo

Tēnā koutou katoa

He pātai tāku. He aha te kaupapa ki te manaaki i te pūtaiao? E hiahia ana mātou ki te honoa wētahi kōrero, wētahi whakaaro o te kaupapa nei.

Pehea te mahi tika o tātou i waenganui i te hui whakanui o LIANZA? E mōhio ana koe? Kōrero mai.

Homai koa o koutou whakaaro tika, he aha ta tātou mahi tika? He aha ta mātou mahi whakarite? He aha ngā mea i hāpaitia te kōrero, whakaaro, mahi hoki.

Nō reira, me te wai kōrari, kia inumia ai, ka tupua tātou katoa.

One of the great things about being involved in organising a conference is the range of things you get to debate (like why people do or don't contribute to a blog!). More seriously, at the last conference committee meeting we were discussing what it means to be a green conference and what can (and should) we do to be more green. Is there a trade-off between cost and environmental sustainability? If there are additional costs are individuals or their employing organisations prepared to pay that cost? How much analysis must we do to be sure what we are doing is sustainable? Would people pay for carbon credits if we analysed the carbon cost of conference? Would you rather have speakers in person from overseas or would you be happy with their virtual presence?

What is your view on this and any other aspect of sustainability?

What else? Well, the programme structure is pretty well finalised and there will be more information about this available very shortly and the call for papers is also about to be released. Day by day the conference is becoming more fully realised - we look forward to lots of proposals for papers and a wide range of other sessions.

Free stuff in February winners

Congraulations to the winners of the free stuff - Lisa and kowhai reader.

Email me with your choice of one of the following and I'll arrange to have it sent to you...

* Jaffa pack - regular Jaffas, giant Jaffas, Jaffa biscuits

* Auckland wine - a bottle of something alcoholic and delicious

* Small wooden box