Programme Committee (DTMD11)

Dr Magnus Ramage is a lecturer in information systems at the Open University. He has a background in information systems, with a PhD from Lancaster University in computer-supported cooperative work evaluation. From 1997-2000, Dr Ramage was the organiser of a series of thirteen workshops on legacy systems as part of EPSRC’s managed researched programme Systems Engineering for Business Process Change. His research interests include the lives and work of the key systems thinkers and the nature of information across multiple disciplines. He is co-author of the book Systems Thinkers, a guide to the major thinkers in the field of systems thinking, published in 2009 by Springer; and co-editor of the reader Online Communication and Collaboration, published in 2010 by Routledge. With David Chapman, he is editor of a book on the nature of information across a range of disciplines, Perspectives on Information, to be published in 2011 by Routledge. He also has several journal and conference papers in the fields of information systems, systems thinking, computer science and organisation theory. He is an associate member of theme 2 (Reframing the Nation) of the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change.

Dr David Chapman is a Senior Lecturer, a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of Institution of Engineering and Technology, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He was a design engineer working on optical fibre communication systems with Plessey Telecommunications before joining the Open University in 1986, where he completed a PhD in Optical Fibre Networks and contributed material on telecommunications and ICT to a wide range of courses. Having served as Director of the ICT Programme Committee and Head of the ICT Department, he is now developing his research interests into the nature of information.

Professor Chris Bissell is Professor of Telematics, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has been responsible for Open University teaching materials on telecommunications, control engineering, media studies, and other ICT topics. He was Head of the ICT Department for nine years from 1996 onwards. His major research interests are in the history of technology, mathematical modelling, and engineering education, on which he has published widely. He is also active in quality assurance in higher education.

Ray Corrigan is a Senior Lecturer in Technology and author of 'Digital Decision Making: Back to the Future', published by Springer-Verlag in 2007. He wrote the OU's 'Law, the Internet and Society: Technology and the Future of Ideas' course, shortly to be made available openly again on OpenLearn, as well as a variety of other materials on the environment and information and communications technologies. Ray blogs random thoughts on law, the Internet and society at b2fxxx.blogspot.com.

Paul Lefrere is a Senior Research Fellow in the Knowledge Media Institute at The Open University and visiting Professor of eLearning at the University of Tampere in Finland. As well as developing OU course materials on a wide range of subjects, he has led numerous multi-partner research projects on technology-enhanced learning and related topics, and published widely on knowledge management and strategic issues. He is the co-author of a globally popular book on transforming e-knowledge and of influential papers on horizon scanning and on action analytics. He advises ministries, the European Commission and leading multinational companies.

Hugh Mackay is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences. His research is in the sociology of technology, and is generally qualitative or ethnographic. He is interested in the co-construction of technology and culture and in particular how users shape technology. More recently he has focused on new media technologies. He is interested in how multi-channel television and the digital environment are transforming contemporary culture. Based in Cardiff, he has a particular interest in the Welsh media and Welsh media policy, particularly regarding the transformation of the media environment with the growth of digital. He has conducted qualitative research on the domestic uses of the Internet, examining how the Internet connects with everyday household life, and how both are transformed as the technology is taken up. He is also working with Marie Gillespie on the BBC World Service ‘Tuning In’ project, exploring some of the uses and implications of interactive forums.