The Informing Science Institute, the National
Communication Association, and the Partnership for Progress on the
Digital Divide are sponsoring an International Summer Conference on
communication and technology in Pori, Finland, June 24-27, 2003. The
purpose of the conference is to spur debate and increase understanding
to meet the challenges and explore the opportunities posed by the new
Information Age, and to reach out in innovative ways to seek
partnerships and solutions that bridge gaps in knowledge, expertise, and
interdisciplinary cooperation. The topic areas to be considered range
from the digital divide to interpersonal communication to misinforming
and misinformation. Further details are available at the conference web
site: http://www.is2003.org.
The conference will be held at the Pori Unit of the
Turku School of Economics and Business Administration. In addition to
lunches, coffee, tea, and snack breaks, and guided walking tours of the
city during the day, the conference features an informal welcoming
reception, a banquet with music at a traditional Finnish restaurant by
the river, and a reception at City Hall hosted by the City of Pori.
Pori is on the West coast of Finland, about 120 km
(or 75 miles) north of Turku and 240 km (or 150 miles) north-west of
Helsinki. The main part of Pori, a peaceful city of 75,000, is about
eight blocks square, so it is easy to walk almost everywhere. Traffic is
light, and many people ride bicycles. It is easy to reach Pori from
either Helsinki or Turku by air, bus, train, or rental car, or even
ferry from Sweden via Turku.
A trip is planned on Saturday, the day after the
conference, to nearby Yyteri Beach, a sandy beach known as the
"Finnish Riviera," with a water slide and a hiking trail along
the shore, and/or Reposaari, a small fishing village unspoiled by
tourism. Convention attendees will also be able to participate in a
post-conference study trip to the University of Lapland above the Arctic
Circle, land of the Midnight Sun and Northern Lights. You can learn more
about Finland at http://www.genealogia.fi/finnlinks/ and http://virtual.finland.fi/.
The registration form can be downloaded from the
tab to the left. Please note that registering by March 15, 2003 results
in a substantial discount in the registration fee.
