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VAC - Virtual ACS Canberra - upcoming Australian Computer Society
(ACS) events in Canberra, Australia

Current as at: 
8 May 2000 

*** WHAT IS NEW IN THIS ISSUE? ***

Associate Professor John Weckert, who will be speaking at our 17 May
2000 meeting (details below) had an article on 'When law and ethics
disagree' published in the CANBERRA TIMES OF 8 May 2000 (page 19). It
includes consideration of to what extent morally employers are
entitled to monitor the activities of employees. 

These sorts of issues will also be considered at the 17 May 2000 ACS
Canberra Branch meeting. 

The article also gave details on the 17 May 2000 meeting, which was
pleasing, in that we always are interested in having the wider
Canberra community with an interest in Information Technology at our
meetings. 

John will be representing the ACS at the International Federation for
Information Processing (IFIP) Technical Committee 9 (Computers and
Society) annual meeting in Cape Town, South Africa on 27 to 28 May
2000 - this meeting will give members ACS members and others with an
interest the opportunity to input to his report, the draft version of
which is at:
http://www.acs.org.au/boards/cab/tc9gm.html

John is also Deputy Chair of the ACS Economic, Legal and Social
Implications Committee (ELSIC). Anyone can join the e-mail list for
ELSIC at no charge by writing to:
acselsic-l-subscribe@onelist.com

John is contactable via e-mail at:
jweckert@CSU.edu.au

** OTHER GENERAL INFORMATION **

I have included reference to an informal dinner on 17 May 2000 below,
relating to Health Informatics.

There has been a lot of interest in the tax treatment of Information
Technology contractors, lately. There has also been a lot of interest
expressed in attending the ACS Canberra one day 'Setting up an IT
consulting company' seminar, being held on Wednesday, 24 May 2000. The
April 2000 issue of CAPITAL ACS includes pre-reading for this seminar.


That issue also includes details of sponsors of the ACS Canberra
Information Outlook 2000 (IO2000) conference, and an article titled
'Information technology in the new millennium' which focuses on the
material that speakers will be covering at the IO2000 conference in
Canberra on 10 November 2000. 

Clients and staff of IO2000 sponsors can attend the 24 May 2000
seminar at a discount price. Persons referred by ACS members can also
attend the seminar at a discount price. 

We have printed 1000 more copies of the April 2000 CAPITAL ACS. There
will be ample spare copies of these at the April 2000 ACS Canberra
meeting on 19 April 2000. One can also contact Meryl on Tele: (02)
6247 4830 or e-mail mmorgan@acslink.net.au if you would like spare
copies of April 2000 CAPITAL ACS mailed to you for your own use, or
passing to friends, staff, customers, or colleagues who you feel would
find it of interest.   

****** UPCOMING ACS CANBERRA BRANCH MEETINGS  ******

You are encouraged to re-post Virtual ACS Canberra (VAC) to your
electronic Bulletin Board, and/or Staff Newsletter Editor. 

If you are not already receiving these notices via email, and would
like to, just send an email message with anything or nothing in it to:
acscanb-l-subscribe@onelist.com
and that will start the process of you being added to the ACS Canberra
Branch email list. These is no charge for this service.

******   ACS CANBERRA BRANCH MONTHLY MEETING
Date:   Wednesday, 17 May 2000 
Time:   7.00 pm for 7.30 pm
Topic:   Computer Ethics: Future Directions
Presenter:   Dr John Weckert, Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt
University. John is Co-director, Australian Institute of Computer
Ethics and Chair of the ACS ELSIC Computer Ethics Taskforce.

Location:   Computer Science and IT Building (Bldg 108)
   Room N101, North Road, Australian National University

More details on this talk are at:
http://www.acs.org.au/act/events/index.html
or more specifically:
http://www.acs.org.au/act/events/index.html#acs

Normally it costs $10 to attend ACS Canberra Branch monthly meetings
(payment by credit cards and cheques accepted), unless one is a
member, or a guest of a member of the ACS, or the organisation one
works for is a participant in the ACS Professional Recognition Program
(PRP), in which case there is no charge to attend ACS Canberra Branch
monthly meetings.  Many organisations in the ACT are participants in
the PRP, including the ACT Government. Details on organisations which
are part of the PRP are at:
http://www.acs.org.au/services/preferred.htm

For this monthly meeting, members of the Australian Institute for
Computer Ethics (AICE), the Australian Association for Professional
and Applied Ethics, the Computer Education Group of the ACT, and the
Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) may also attend at no
charge.

Software Quality Association (SQA) meetings are held on the same night
as ACS Canberra Branch meetings, at the same venue as those meeting,
from 6 pm. More details on SQA meetings can be found on the ACS
Canberra Branch Web events site at:
http://www.acs.org.au/act/events/index.html
or more specifically at:
http://www.acs.org.au/act/events/index.html#sqa

Theme for this SQA meeting: PSM Process and Quality (presenter Mike
Kearney)

Will discuss the concepts associated with PSM (Practical Software
Measurements) 

The SQA meeting is followed by nibbles and light drinks at 7 pm.

An informal dinner at the Asian Bistro, ANU Union is planned for 5 pm
on 17 May 2000, to discuss co-operation between the ACS Health
Informatics Committee and the Health Informatics Society of Australian
Canberra members. A particular focus of this informal get together
will be the HIC2001 conference, being held in Canberra immediately
prior to IO2001 (HIC2001 will have a health informatics focus - IO2001
is planned to have a health informatics element). All persons with an
interest in health informatics are welcome to attend this informal
dinner. For more details contact afreeman@pcug.org.au

More information is available by ringing Meryl Morgan on 
(02) 6247 4830, via e-mailing mmorgan@acslink.net.au or at
http://www.acs.org.au/act/

******   ACS CANBERRA BRANCH SEMINAR
Date:   Wednesday, 24 May 2000 
Time:   8.30 am registration - for a 9.00 am start
This seminar will finish around 5 p.m. 
Topic:   Setting up an Information Technology (IT) consulting company
Presenter:   Harry Bluhm, Partner of Marlow Bluhm Chartered
Accountants

Location : Ainslie Football Club, 
52 Wakefield Avenue, Ainslie, Canberra  

Registration and more information is available by ringing
Meryl Morgan on (02) 6247 4830, or by 
e-mailing mmorgan@acslink.net.au or by visiting
http://www.acs.org.au/act/events/2000-05-24.html



Regards

Andrew R. Freeman, FACS PCP   
Key e-mail: afreeman@pcug.org.au 
Location: Belconnen Canberra ACT Australia
Personal home page: http://www.pcug.org.au/~afreeman
Deputy Branch Chair, ACS Canberra Branch - 2000
Editor, VAC - Virtual ACS Canberra 
Meetings Co-ordinator - ACS Canberra - 2000

Deputy Conference Chair for the Information Outlook 2000 
(IO2000) conference being held on Friday, 10 November 2000
at Manning Clark Centre, Australian National University.
All details on the IO2000 conference, including links to sponsors, are at:
http://www.acs.org.au/act/events/io2000/index.html

Join free ACS lists via: http://www.acs.org.au/index-lists.shtml

ACS Canberra Web page: http://www.acs.org.au/act/
For more information on ACS Canberra 
Ph: (02) 6247 4830 or e-mail mmorgan@acslink.net.au