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MEDIA RELEASE: ACS recognises volunteers on International Volunteer Day, awards Honorary Life Membership, appoints new Fellows

5 December 2014: The Australian Computer Society has today launched the ACS Volunteer Recognition Program as a way of paying tribute to the more than 200 volunteers who work tirelessly to keep Australia's professional society for the ICT sector running.

This program will see one volunteer featured each quarter with a video profile and written interview. ACS President Brenda Aynsley OAM paid tribute to the efforts of ACS' volunteers in a video filmed on International Volunteer Day - click here to view.

"The ACS simply could not exist without the support of our volunteers. These are professionals who freely give of themselves, often having to spend significant time away from their homes and families, in order to advance the profession.

"Volunteers are often the group that go unrecognised - working quietly in the background until they achieve a result. It's important to remember that many of our volunteers have already made a significant contribution to ICT during their careers, and have chosen to use the accumulated knowledge and experience to make the society a better one for members and the community.'

"The gratitude of the whole society, and indeed the ICT sector, is with our volunteers every day, but particularly today as we recognise the hard work of volunteers undertaken all over the world.'

The ACS has also announced the awarding of an Honorary Life Membership to

Dennis Moore AM. Mr. Moore has been called the father of computing in Western Australia, and in 1962 was responsible for the installation of the first computer at the university of Western Australia. He was the first Chairman of the WA Computer Society, and Foundation Head of the School of Computing at the Curtin University of Technology in 1987. In 1997 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to Information Technology. President Brenda Aynsley visited Perth to congratulate Mr Moore earlier this week.

The ACS is also pleased to welcome Professor Bruce Thomas , Mr Kenn Dolan, Dr Mike Bowern and Mr Robert Hillard as Fellows of the ACS.

Professor Bruce Thomas is a world recognised researcher in advanced humancomputer interaction in the field of wearable computers and augmented reality. He is a pioneer in research in outdoor augmented reality developing the world's first outdoor augmented reality game, ARQuake. He has also played a leading role in the development of a major Spatial Augmented Reality research facility, a state-of-theart $3 million projector- based Visualization Laboratory, the largest of its kind in the world. He has led the transition of LiveSpaces (a major ubiquitious workspace technology) to the Australian Defence Deployable Joint Forces Headquarters, and the development of the Multi- Pointer XServer (MPX) that is currently integrated into the XOrg X distribution. MPX is now part of the X Window graphical user interface software, in all major Linux distributions. He is currently a NICTA Fellow has a significant number of publications, research projects and a few patents against his name.

Mr Kenn Dolan has made a significant contribution in the field of project management in the information technology space. He has been instrumental, locally and throughout the Asia-Pacific, in raising awareness of the influence project management has on the effectiveness of ICT investments, and has developed and taught both online subjects ACS CPe Program, and for ICT Programs at Australian Catholic University. FPMS, a consulting firm with a staff of 12 specialising in portfolio, program and project management and has been active in the work of the Project Management institute.

Dr Mike Bowern has made a distinguished contribution to the international ICT community through his research on professionalism and ethics. His readable articles in Information Age and other journals have made his work accessible to practitioners and students. This has provided a valuable resource in promoting professionalism to a new generation of ICT practioners. In addition he was part of a team which, in a world first, produced a practical open source electronic voting and vote counting system, used for ACT government elections.

Robert Hillard has over 25 years in the ICT profession and has held a number of senior partnership, executive and advisory roles. His contributions are particularly focused on information management, information complexity and the move to an information economy. Robert is a co-founder of MIKE2.0 (a widely used open approach to information and data management). As an early proponent of XBRL, Robert successfully architected its use in the regulation of the financial services sector in Australia, an approach that has been picked-up widely across the globe. He is the author of Information-Driven Business and co-author of Information Development using MIKE2.0.

-ENDS-

Media Contact

Thomas Shanahan / 0449 902 130

About the Australian Computer Society

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) is the professional association for Australia's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. Over 20,000 ACS members work in business, education, government and the community. The Society exists to create the environment and provide the opportunities for members and partners to succeed. The ACS strives for ICT professionals to be recognised as drivers of innovation in our society, relevant across all sectors, and to promote the formulation of effective policies on ICT and related matters. Visit www.acs.org.au for more information.