Editorial

A great news story last month for both The Digital Hub (and the Irish digital media industry in general) was news of the acquisition of Havok, the Irish video games software company, by Chip giant Intel. The deal valued Havok at US$110m in cash. Havok is an important success story in terms of the successful commercialisation of academic research as it emerged from the computer science department at Trinity College Dublin and was founded by Dr Steve Collins and Hugh Reynolds in 1998. The company developed a physics engine that is now used in many of the top selling computer games for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms and it’s technology has even been used in movies such as The Matrix, Kingdom of Heaven and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The physics engine brought a new level of realism to video games utilising the laws of physics within the games engines to allow for even more realistic visual effects such as explosions and collisions.

The big winner in the sale of Havok will be the venture capital firm, Trinity Venture Capital who stand to make US$21m plus a further US$4m payable over the next 12 to 18 months.

Another important knock-on effect of the acquisition is the further consolidation of the Irish games industry and the access that the Irish digital media community will get to Intel's innovation and technology leadership in the creation of digital media. With the likes of Google, IBM and now Intel ramping up their investment in digital media in Ireland, it bodes well for the future of the industry.

“Havok is a proven leader in physics technology for gaming and digital content, and will become a key element of Intel's visual computing and graphics efforts,” said Renee James, vice president and general manager of Intel's Software and Solutions Group.

“Intel's scale of technology investment and customer reach enable Havok with opportunities to grow more quickly into new market segments with new products than we could have done organically,” said Havok chief executive David O’Meara.

With the relatively recent sale of other Irish games companies such as Upstart Games and Demonware, there is now a demonstrable opportunity for creating a vibrant games industry in Ireland, even if only in niche areas such as mobile games and middleware for consoles although publishing and games development is not an impossibility.

One potential route is for the government to offer a tax incentive similar to (or perhaps as an addendum to) Section 481, the current tax break available to the film and television sector.

        A screen grab from Halo 3

With all entertainment media platforms rapidly converging in terms of technology – Havok being a perfect example with its software being used in both games and film special effects – there is a real opportunity to consolidate the knowledge base in Ireland and offer services to the global entertainment industry.

For example, with both Vivendi Games and Microsoft Xbox positioning localisation services here for their games divisions, there is arguably the expertise already in the country to expand the offering, if the right incentives were made available. It is a risky business and not for the faint-hearted. Console game publishing has an enormous failure rate with anecdotal figures suggesting that 2% of the games make 98% of the money – or, put another way, 98% of titles don’t make any money at all! However, as with the software, film and animation industry, we could easily build up our expertise on the back of direct foreign investment buoyed by tax incentives for multi-nationals to locate here and develop a thriving industry as the barrier for entry lowers. It has been the development of a skilled workforce through the direct foreign investment that has developed much of the entrepreneurial success that we are seeing now in the technology sector. Matched with a commitment to academic Research & Development, there is nothing to stop Ireland developing more success stories like Havok and creating a dynamic indigenous games industry. 

The New Politics of Knowledge

Not many people outside of the United States would have known the name of John Seigenthaler Sr, the writer, journalist and publisher of The Tennessean Newspaper.

John Seigenthaler Sr. on CNN

That all changed in May 2005, when an anonymous user (later identified as Brian Chase) created a five-sentence Wikipedia article about Seigenthaler which contained defamatory content claiming that Seigenthaler was in some way responsible for the assassinations of both John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert.

It wasn’t so much the article that drew worldwide attention to Seigenthaler, but rather the op-ed piece he wrote for USA Today on November 29th 2005, in which he wrote, "Wikipedia is a flawed and irresponsible research tool." (http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-29-wikipedia-edit_x.htm)

For those of you who may have just jetted in from another planet, Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, encyclopaedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. Wikipedia is heralded as one of the first revolutionary Web 2.0 websites (alongside You Tube and MySpace) and a flagship for the ensuing online user-generated content craze. Its approach is devastatingly simple: users can upload encyclopaedia definitions on any give topic that they feel they are an expert on.

Strict guidelines and templates for how to upload these definitions are provided, including how to reference and hyperlink content. The content is then in turn added to and/or amended by other users in the community. In effect, the site uses a distributed workforce of volunteers to upload and maintain the encyclopaedic content. It was a revolutionary idea and one that clearly highlighted the benefits of collaborative, distributed networks. How could the likes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica compete in its offline or online form against a world of volunteers?

As of September 2007 (according to the Wikipedia entry on “Wikipedia” itself!), Wikipedia had approximately “8.2 million articles in 253 languages, comprising a combined total of over 1.41 billion words for all Wikipedias. The English Wikipedia edition passed the 2,000,000 article mark on September 9, 2007 with a total of over 615 million words, roughly fifteen times as many as the largest edition of Encyclopædia Britannica”

However, Wikipedia’s quick won reputation (it has become an invaluable and oft-quoted source for second and third level students the world over) sustained a body blow from Seigenthaler’s scathing criticism. Indeed, the traditional media outlets ran the story so widely that one might suspect that there was a certain amount of glee taken in the criticism directed towards Wikipedia, whose approach, for many, sought to undermine traditional journalism.  Seigenthaler’s main – and very valid criticism – was aimed at Wikipedia's open nature and the fact that users could anonymously upload false or unverified information, such as the ridiculous slur aimed at him. There was also the charge, particularly pertinent for journalists, that the site favoured consensus over credentials in its editorial process.

One of the founders of Wikipedia, Dr. Larry Sanger, was recently in Dublin for a seminar at the Institute for European Affairs. He brought up the Seigenthaler incident by way of explaining why he has developed a new rival to Wikipedia – the Citizendium. The fact that one of the founder’s is forming a rival not-for-profit project speaks volumes itself. In elaborating on this, he also explored the wider topic of the “new politics of knowledge”, as he called it, outlining how he believes that new online communities and social networks are analogous to nation states.

Dr. Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia

This was a fascinating argument and further underlined the power of the internet, especially in its current phase of development colloquially called Web 2.0. Sanger argued that social communities who come together online – whether for a large collective project like Wikipedia or just in a chat room site dedicated to back gammon – end up mimicking the development of nation state communities by virtue of the fact that they have to lay down rules for interaction. In effect, they develop domestic and foreign policies, whether they realise it or not. The domestic policy is somewhat like a social contract and lays down the foundation for engagement. This may be informally done or may be hard-coded into the functionality of the site. In the case of Wikipedia, its own domestic policy had severe consequences in the real world by allowing users to remain anonymous. In terms of foreign policy, this is the outward effect of those rules in terms of how the community is viewed by the outside user: Is it an exclusive club? Does it only give certain levels of access? What impact does the content have on the real world?

Although this may seem a little over the top in terms of analysis, Sanger makes the point that these domestic and foreign policies are extremely important for online communities as their survival now increasingly depends upon them being correctly thought out. Wikipedia’s internal policy will potentially be its downfall; what started as a pluralist and well-meaning concept to allow access to knowledge to everyone, has now opened itself to levels of abuse that degrade its principle declarations of intent. Sound familiar? It is perhaps no coincidence that Sanger is from the United States. 

When one considers the ever-growing “populations” of social network sites like Bebo, MySpace and Facebook, Sanger’s points become remarkably ominous. One of his main objectives for making this analogy between online communities and nation states (and the inherent call for communities to draw up careful social contracts) is his fear that the internet, if left unchecked like any other movement, may well encourage government intervention. Already sites that allow pirated or defamatory materials are making their way in ever larger numbers to the courts and pressure is mounting globally on governments to take a position. The impending You Tube/ Viacom litigation is potentially a case in point.

In response, Sanger has developed Citizendium – which is in essence is the same as Wikipedia except for one crucial difference: it has a strict internal governance structure.

For one, Citizendium requires users to give their real name. Contributors must submit a brief biography, thus giving weight to their authority. There are editors that have particular areas of expertise who have editorial control to a certain extent. (This was notably absent in Wikipedia which was a free for all until the site administrators would step in – for example, with the George W. Bush entry – which, as you can imagine, became a highly popular entry for editing). Below editors, there are the authors and finally a social contract stating the rules of the community, enshrining the bottom-up collaborative structure. Also, Sanger has developed an editorial council (a legislature in a sense), a constabulary (to police the entries) and a judicial board (to make judicial rulings where there is dissent). Finally, Sanger himself will take the position of Editor-in-chief, which firmly roots Citizendium in the more traditional publishing mode.

One challenge that Sanger didn’t allude to was the success of the Wikipedia brand. As well as the challenge of replicating and surpassing the entries that Wikipedia has (and continues to generate) Citizendium has an uphill battle in taking on the near generic status that Wikipedia has achieved on the internet. In terms of name recognition, it is up there with Google. The idea that a more centralised, traditional publishing model, such as the one Citizendium has adopted, will appeal to the “Do It Yourself” Content Generation is maybe a little ambitious. But certainly what Sanger has proved is that the internet has democratised knowledge as much as it has globalised it and that is having powerful connotations. It may be sometime before we see the results of this but what is clear is that Sanger has already left a huge online legacy through Wikipedia. It will be interesting to see if Citizendium can surpass it.

News

TEAM IRELAND ANNOUNCED FOR THE WORLD CYBER GAMES

The team that will represent Ireland at the Grand Final of the World Cyber Games – the equivalent of the Olympics for computer gaming – was unveiled on the 16th September) at The Digital Hub.

The team was chosen after a gruelling weekend of cyber gaming, in which gamers from throughout Ireland battled it out for a chance to represent their country at international level.

The newly announced Team Ireland beat off stiff competition from over 100 of Ireland’s top computer gamers. Team members now face a fortnight of intense practice sessions before flying to Seattle to represent Ireland in the Grand Final of the World Cyber Games, which takes place from 3-7 October.

Gamers from over 70 countries will converge on Seattle for this fiercely competitive event. Some of the participants are fulltime professional gamers, who earn their living from competing on the cyber gaming circuit.

While Irish cyber gaming hasn’t yet evolved to such professional heights, members of Team Ireland are optimistic about their chances of success.

“2006 was the first year ever that Ireland competed in the World Cyber Games,” said Richard Smith, captain of the team. “It was all very new to us then, but we still fared reasonably well and, this year, we’re aiming to do even better. We’re confident that we have a really strong team that is capable of taking on gamers from anywhere in the world.”

Dr. Stephen Brennan, Head of Marketing and Strategy at The Digital Hub, also expressed confidence in the Irish team.

“The Digital Hub has hosted the Irish Final of the World Cyber Games for the past two years and we have witnessed first-hand the increasing quality of Irish gaming,” he said. “A number of major games studios are now located in The Hub, which is evidence of the growing popularity of cyber gaming throughout Ireland. We wish the Irish team the best of luck in Seattle, and we are confident they will use the World Cyber Games as an opportunity to showcase the quality of Irish gaming.”

The team that will represent Ireland at the World Cyber Games is made up of: Gavin Devine and Eugene O’Beirne, both from Leixlip; Patrick Lucy from Cork; Paul Madigan from Letterkenny; Stephen Walsh and Mark Kenny from Dublin and Mike Traynor from Bray.

Further information on the event is available from www.worldcybergamesireland.com

Nov. 6th: Create Your Career - Getting Ahead in Art, Design, Media and Performing Arts

Location: Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Royal Hospital, Kilmainham.
Time: 12noon-4pm
Price: No charge to exhibitors or students

Graduate Careers Ireland (GCI) - professional association for careers services in higher education in Ireland, north and south. The purpose of the event is:

• To provide information and networking opportunities to third level students/ graduates of art, design, media and performing arts disciplines
• To assist students/graduate to identify strategies which they can apply in their career planning.

As careers advisers we acknowledge that work in these sectors is low profile, sporadic and often based on short-term contracts. We hope that professional participants will be able to offer students and graduates some practical advice and resources to develop successful careers in their chosen field.

The plan for the event is for the Main Hall in IMMA to facilitate stands at which arts and media organizations, professional bodies, companies and education providers will be available to talk to students and hand out information materials where appropriate.  Tables and chairs will be provided for participating organizations.  Those who have their own free-standing backdrops will be welcome to bring them along on the day.  Examples of work (show reels etc.) may be displayed – companies/organizations are asked to supply their own laptops, AV equipment etc.
There will also be three break-out rooms for workshops, which will be scheduled throughout the afternoon, with a capacity from 30-60 people each.

More info:
Paul Murphy
Careers Officer
Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design & Technology Kill Avenue Dun Laoghaire Co. Dublin
                     
Telephone: + 353 1 214 4600
Facsimile: + 353 1 214 4700
Email:  info@iadt.ie

Projected Weekends:

From November 2006 to March 2007, The Digital Hub ran a series of outdoor projections from their premises in the Dublin 8. This successful pilot project attracted participation from many national and international artists. Submissions are now being accepted for this year's series that will run from Sept 2007 through to March 2008.

- This is an open call, there is no deadline for submissions.
- All work of any subject and discipline will be considered.
- As the areas that are being used to display the projects are residential areas, sound will not be played on the street. For further details please

More info:  exhibit@thedigitalhub.com. www.myspace.com/projectedweekends  or contact Elaine Tel: 01 4806200

Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund

The Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund is funded by Irish Aid and run by Connect-World. It is a grant scheme aimed at assisting and promoting more and better quality media coverage of development issues in the Irish media. For more information, go to www.connect-world.net and follow the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund button.

Upcoming Deadlines are as follows:

TV Seed Grant Monday 3 March 2008 

Standard Grant Round I Wednesday 30 April 2008 

Standard Grant Round II Tuesday 30 September 2008

Connect-World will host workshops to help applicants prepare an application for the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund. The workshops will introduce participants to a range of development issues and provide information on how to make an application for funding. There will be a workshop on the Standard Grant and another on the TV Seed Production Grant, with a buffet lunch in between. The workshops will take place on Tuesday 18 September at the Mercer Hotel, Mercer Street, Dublin 2.

Places at the workshops will fill quickly, so please book your place as soon as possible by emailing mediafund@connect-world.net or calling 01-4806222.

Digital Media Courses in The Digital Hub

The Digital Hub's Learning Initiative is currently offering short intensive courses in specific aspects of digital media. From introductory courses, for those just starting out, to master classes aimed at industry professionals, our experienced lecturers will share their skills in a professional friendly environment.

The Digital Hub is an Apple Regional Training Centre and will offer the below courses for Mac users.

Oct. 5th: Community Radio & Computer Skills
Location: Digital Exchange, Crane Street, The Digital Hub, Dublin 8.
Time: Thursday (TBC) 10.00am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 3.30pm
Price: Full Course Fee €840 & Reduced Course Fee €275

This course is delivered by The Digital Hub / Liberties Learning Initiative, to help learners prepare for life-long learning and to seek opportunities in voluntary or paid work in community radio or progression to further education in radio and media production. No previous experience required, but you must be over 18 years of age at time of registration.

More info: Contact Louise Morgan on 01 4806200 or learning@thedigitalhub.com

Oct 10th: iPhoto Close Up
Location: Digital Exchange, Crane Street, The Digital Hub, Dublin 8.
Time: Wednesday 7:00pm – 9:00pm

This course aims to offer an introduction to the many forms of digital image capturing and editing with the latest, user friendly applications.

- An introduction to digital cameras, scanners and image editing applications with the Apple Mac. - iPhoto – learn how to transfer, store and organise photos. iPhoto gives you creative ways to share digital photos including slideshow production.
- Adobe Photoshop Elements – how to retouch, edit, enhance and add effects to photographic images.
- iDVD - learn how to edit and create DVDs to achieve a professional slideshow production.

More Info: Contact Louise Morgan on 01 4806200 or learning@thedigitalhub.com

Oct. 16th: Welcome to your iLife
Location: Digital Exchange, Crane Street, The Digital Hub, Dublin 8
Time: 10:00am – 4:00pm
Price: €80 payable in advance

This course will give you an introduction to using Macs and the iLife Suite of software. iLife is built around the concept of using your Mac as a hub for creative activity. This course aims to take each participant through the difference between PCs and Macs, and then through the basic functions of some of the applications that come with iLife. Whether you are taking digital photographs, putting your home videos on DVD, or writing your own songs, iLife has an easy solution for you.

- An introduction to the Apple Mac - the differences between Mac and PC
- iPhoto - how to transfer, store and organise photos. iPhoto gives you creative ways to share digital photos
- iMovie - a great environment for capturing, editing and publishing digital video
- GarageBand –allows users to record and mix voiceovers, music and sound affects
- iDVD - learn how to edit and create DVDs

More info: Contact Louise Morgan on 01 4806200 or learning@thedigitalhub.com

Oct. 23rd: Podcasting
Location: Digital Exchange, Crane Street, The Digital Hub, Dublin 8.
Time: Tuesday 7:00pm – 9:00pm

This course aims to take each participant through the process of planning, creating and making a podcast available on the web. Participants will use GarageBand, which is available as part of the iLife suite of software on your Mac, to record, organise, and bring all of the elements of a podcast together.

- What is podcasting and why make your own?
- Planning your podcast
- How to use the software, adding and editing tracks, recording audio
- Adding jingles, sound effects and images
- Publishing your podcast to the web

More info: Contact Louise Morgan on 01 4806200 or learning@thedigitalhub.com

Nov. 14th: Podcasting for Youth

Location: Digital Exchange, Crane Street, The Digital Hub, Dublin 8.
Time: Wednesday 2:00pm – 4:00pm

This course aims to take each student through the process of planning, creating and making a podcast available on the web. Students will use PC based software to record, organise, and bring all of the elements of a podcast together. Wildvoice software will be used which is free and available to download at www.wildvoice.com.

- What is podcasting and why make your own?
- Planning your podcast
- How to use the software, adding and editing tracks, recording audio
- Adding jingles, sound effects and images
- Publishing your podcast to the web

More info: Contact Louise Morgan on 01 4806200 or learning@thedigitalhub.com

If you would like more information on any of our digital media courses please email learning@thedigitalhub.com or call 01 4806200

The Digital Hub is an Apple Regional Training Centre

Events

Oct. 9th: Hacker Boot Camp

Location:  Upper Baggot Street, Dublin 4
Time: 19:30
Price: 840.00 (student rate available)
At Hacker Boot Camp, you will be taught how to see network security as it really is - an illusion. You will learn to penetrate network defenses, to move behind enemy lines and to avoid getting caught. Why? It is only through understanding your enemy that you can defeat them. By recognizing what drives hackers and how they manage to elude standard network defenses, you can protect against their resourceful, tireless and cunning attacks. Boot Camp lasts four weeks, run each Tuesday and Thursday evening from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. The next Boot Camp will begin on October 9th.
More info: info@hackerbootcamp.com
Tel: 0873218629  www.hackerbootcamp.com

Oct. 10th: Secure Views

Location: The Westin Hotel, Dublin.
Time: 9:00
Price: No charge
I.T Security: Many issues - many viewpoints. From Cybercrime to web threats, from data protection to mobilisation of data, from computer forensics to management challenges and compliance, Secure Views is the half day security forum that will provide insights into the main IT security issues IT managers face today. In depth views from a number of IT industry professionals, government advisors and academics, together with statistics from the ISSA survey will advise on the newest and most sophisticated threats.
More info: events@entropy.ie Tel: 01-205 9650 www.entropy.ie/ev_upcoming.asp

Oct. 10th: Improving User Experience by Understanding Your Users

Location: Engineers Ireland, 22 Clyde Rd, Dublin 4.
Time: 9:30am
Price: EUR255 Members (€365 Non Members)
The IIA and IQ Content present a full day course, which presents key techniques for understanding and modeling the kind of experience users have on your website. In the first half of the day, the course will cover modeling your users with Personas, while in the afternoon it will cover planning and conducting a user test of your website.
More info: events@iia.ie
www.iia.ie/events/event/128/improving-user-experience-by-understanding-your-users-dublin/
Tel: 01-542 4154

Oct. 16th: TIF Annual Conference -- Beyond Broadband

Location: The Mansion House, Dawson St, Dublin 2.
Time: 8:30am
Price: EUR350 1st delegate, EUR250 extra delegates (ex VAT)
Next Generation Networks -- What they deliver and how they deliver it -- Fixed, mobile, wireless and satellite. 2007 has seen an upsurge in the technologies and ideas that will drive the next generation of telecommunications networks. The telecoms industry and telecoms users are facing an era of substantial change, where old technologies will be enhanced, combined or even replaced by the very latest developments How we tackle the future is the theme of our conference - how do we move 'Beyond Broadband'. This year's conference will take a fresh approach with a new format centred on debating and exploring the key issues facing the industry. The morning session of the event will feature presentations providing both national and international perspectives on 'Beyond Broadband'. The afternoon session will feature two CEO fora, which will give industry leaders the opportunity to discuss and debate their vision of the future of telecommunications in Ireland. This year's event promises to be more vibrant and dynamic than any of our previous events. We have an unprecedented array of speakers, drawn from a number of disciplines within the fields of telecommunications and ICT.
More info: Carolyn.Doumeni@ibec.ieTel: +353 1 605 1528
www.tif.ie/conference

Oct. 16th: IDC's Mobile Enterprise Conference

Location: The Guinness Storehouse, Dublin 8.
Time: 9:00
Price: Free for end users
IDC's Mobile Enterprise Conference will take a holistic view of the impact mobile technologies will have on the entire infrastructure. This one-day conference will feature end-user case studies providing real-world perspectives, as well as advice and best practice regarding mobility adoption and evaluation from IDC analysts and industry experts.
More info: kobrien@idc.com
www.idc.com/ireland/mobility07
Tel: +44 (0)208 987 7166

Oct. 18th: Advanced Search Engine Optimisation

Location: Engineers Ireland, 22 Clyde Rd, Dublin 4, Dublin 4.
Time: 9:30am
Price: EUR145 Members (EUR210 Non Members)
The IIA presents a half-day seminar on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). This advanced SEO workshop provides delegates with understanding and skills to further improve the visibility of their website in the search engines. This course is not for beginners -- you must have a basic knowledge of SEO (and possibly attended a previous SEO course) and you now want to step up your SEO efforts. This course is open to both MII and IIA members. A Google AdWords course is being run on the same day - if you wish to sit both courses, you benefit from a discount. See www.iia.ie for further details.

More info: events@iia.ie
http://iia.ie/events.asp?eventid=158
Tel: 01-542 4154

Oct. 18th: Running a Google AdWords Campaign

Location: Engineers Ireland, 22 Clyde Rd, Dublin 4.
Time: 2pm
Price: EUR145 Members (EUR210 Non Members)
The IIA presents a half day seminar on Google AdWords (Pay-Per-Click) campaign as part of the Online Marketing series. It has been shown that 40 percent of search-engine users click on the AdWords that are presented on any search. This seminar will clearly explain the advantages of running an AdWords campaign, how the process works with the most frequently used search engine, and most importantly how to monitor your results. You will be taken through a live tutorial to set up your own Pay-Per-Click campaign. Member rates apply to both MII and IIA members. An Advanced Search Engine Optimisation course is being run on the same day, to make a full day course. Visit www.iia.ie for discounted rate.
More info: events@iia.ie
www.iia.ie/events.asp?eventid=159
Tel: 01-542 4154

Oct. 23rd: Take your Website to the Next Level

Location: Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, Killiney, Co. Dublin
Time: 2pm
Price: EUR25
The IIA together with Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board are holding a half day seminar on eBusiness. Are you a small business owner looking to generate more revenue from your eBusiness activities? This afternoon seminar is designed to help you maximise your business's online presence by showing you how to build a successful website, how to integrate eCommerce and ePayment solutions into your website and how to successfully measure your web site traffic.
More info:events@iia.ie
 www.iia.ie/events.asp?eventid=157
Tel: 01-542 4154

Oct. 23rd: eSymposium - Engaging Your Customers Online

Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Dublin Airport.
Time:9:30am
Price: EUR199
Tourism Ireland is delighted to announce the second Internet Tourism Conference for the island of Ireland. This year's conference will focus on optimising your marketing mix in a digital world as well as using information intelligently to convert business. The conference will combine international keynote speakers with Irish focused case studies to ensure maximum relevance for your businesses
More info: bodriscoll@tourismireland.com
www.esymposium.ie
Tel: 01 476 3416

Oct. 25th: World Class Web Design and why it matters to your business

Location: Dublin Institute of Public Administration (IPA), Lansdowne Road, Dublin 4.
Time: 9:30
Price:EUR195 Members (EUR270 Non-Members)
The IIA and Tibus present a half day Master class on how world class web design is fundamental to maximising the return on your web development budget. You will learn what matters most to your customers online, and how, by taking an approach, which is centered around their needs, you can increase sales, improve efficiencies, communicate more clearly and integrate your website into the rest of your business.
More info: events@iia.ie
www.iia.ie/events/event/125/world-class-web-design-and-why-it-matters-to-your-business-dublin/
Tel: 01-542 4154

Nov. 15th: Net Visionary Awards

Location: The Round Room at the Mansion House, Dublin 2.
Time: 7pm
Price: See website
The IIA and Enterprise Ireland Net Visionary Awards are being held in the Round Room at the Mansion House in Dublin city centre. This is the internet industry's premier awards night. In 2006 over 20,000 votes were submitted via the Awards dedicated website, over 188 nominations received and the ceremony was attended by 350 of Ireland's internet professionals. Visit the website to submit your nomination, vote or book a table or places.
More info: events@iia.ie
www.netvisionary.ie
Tel: 01-542 4154