Coming Friday: Tech Tonic 2011, featuring George Dyson

Western Washington University’s Student Technology Center and the Associated Students are co-sponsoring this year’s Tech Tonic Exposition and Speaker Series on Friday, May 6, in Viking Union Room 565 on WWU’s campus.

The event will begin at 10 a.m., with the speaker series going from noon to 5:30 p.m., and is free and open to the public.

The theme of this year’s event is “Digital Uprising.” The event will showcase current technology from Apple, Microsoft, HP and Adobe; student clubs, university departments and Bellingham organizations also will be represented. Exhibits included are the American Museum of Radio and Electricity, the Bellingham Linux Users Group, and Western’s Human-Powered Submarine, among many others.

The speaker series will cover topics from the very origins of computing to how technology has become a disruptive force having a daily impact on our privacy, security and democracy both here and in the developing democracies of Africa. Speakers include: Steve Harmon, director of Georgia State University’s Instructional Technology Center; Linc Nesheim, Clarus Fluid Intelligence operations support manager; and Babafemi Akinrinade, WWU’s Fairhaven College assistant professor of Human Rights. Keynoting the event is George Dyson, science historian and author of “Darwin Among the Machines” and “Project Orion.”

Participants may view the presentations and join the discussions online on the day of the event.

For more information contact Kevin Dixey, WWU application specialist at Academic Technology and User Services, at (360) 650-7222 or kevin.dixey@wwu.edu.