Follow the Sun Online Conference

In March, 2012, the Australian Digital Futures Institute jointly hosted a non-stop 48-hour online global conference with the Beyond Distance Research Alliance at the University of Leicester in the UK and Athabasca University in Canada.

Held over six shifts of eight hours each, with consecutive handovers between Australia (Toowoomba), United Kingdom (Leicester) and Canada (Athabasca), this was the Institute’s second year of involvement in the conference.

There were over 700 delegates from across 35 countries. Registration was free to all participants, supporting the concept of openness. All events were recorded and made available following the conference as downloadable files from the web.

The conference was also aligned with USQ’s Sustainability Pledge — a list of objectives put in place to ensure the University is carbon neutral by 2020. Such events held online contribute to a reduction of the institution’s carbon footprint.

The festival featured keynote speakers from across the world and representing a diverse mix of disciplines including Engineering, Computer Science, Sports Psychology, European Politics, Nursing and Midwifery and Ethnomusicology.

Evaluations of both the 2011 and 2012 events have been conducted and an analysis of findings will soon be released.

View the recordings from this year’s event.

Primary Researcher: Dr Shirley Reushle