Web Science on FutureEverything agenda

Professor Dame Wendy Hall and Professor Nigel Shadbolt are key speakers at FutureEverything 2010 which takes place this week (12-15 May) in Manchester.

FutureEverything is an art, technology and social innovation organization that runs year-round innovation labs and an annual festival of art, music and ideas. This year Web Science features on the programme with two major sessions devoted to global networks and the science of the Web.

Nigel Shadbolt is a panel member and Keynote Speaker in GloNet, a new type of Globally Networked Event, which connects Manchester with Sendai (Japan), Istanbul (Turkey), Sao Paolo (Brazil), and Vancouver (Canada), in a series of specially staged events and forums. He will be talking on the of promise of open data and about lessons learnt in the work he and his colleague Sir Tim Berners-Lee have been undertaking as Government Information Advisors opening up non-personal public sector information.

"There is a real momentum around the idea of opening up data from governments, local bodies, cities and a wide range of organisations", says Nigel Shadbolt. "Making this data available on the Web will lead to new opportunities in the creation of economic and social value.

"A linked Web of data can make government more transparent, and public and private services more efficient and accountable. It can empower individuals in new ways. We need to anticipate and understand these opportunities. We need a Science of the Web to do this." Wendy Hall is giving a Keynote address in the ‘Imagine Everything’ strand of the conference, which focuses on the Web and our lives online, covering music, the Semantic Web, intergenerational communication, open source, and activism on the Web.

‘This is a hugely exciting event,’ she said, ‘bringing creative energy to the interface of music, art, and ideas. It’s a real honour to be part of it and to be able to talk about Web Science in this context.

‘Web Science is something that touches on just about every aspect of our lives and our futures and I look forward to the interaction and insights that FutureEverything will stimulate.’

Professor Dame Wendy Hall is one of the founders of Web Science and is Managing Director of the Web Science Trust; she and Nigel Shadbolt are both Professors at the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. Nigel Shadbolt is also one of the founders of Web Science and a Programme Director of the Web Science Trust. He is currently working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to establish a new Institute for Web Science at the Universities of Southampton and Oxford, which is being funded by BIS with a grant of £30M over four years.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel. +44(0)23 8059 5453.