Gold Coast finalist Pikistrips.com, is a free website developed on the Gold Coast which enables users to create comic strips using their own images.

Launched in February 2007 by Golden Orb Technologies, Pikistrips.com is a free online service that enables anyone the ability to create comic strips. In doing so, it provides marketing and advertising opportunities for the online marketplace. Pikistrips.com is a mechanism that can be used to attract consumers’ attention, providing entertaining and interactive experiences, targeted at specific niches.

If you believe Shakespeare, then there’s nothing in a name, and that which we call the ICT industry by any other word would be as successful.
 
So are ICT, IT&T and plain old IT interchangeable?  Or is it time for a new name? 

That is the question.

ICT affects every aspect of our daily lives, from food production, to transport, to finance and medicine.  The fact that many Australians still views ICT as a computer on a desk is a major part of our industry’s problem in attracting new talent.

Students are backing away from technology careers in droves, as they think ICT means they’ll become computer technicians or programmers, when the reality of the ICT industry is far more exciting - with endless possibilities and scope to change the world.

And then there are some people in our industry who don’t even realise they are working in ICT.  One young person recently told me that he was “embarrassed to discover that the acronym I kept hearing was actually referring to my industry – and then equally embarrassed to have to discretely ask what it stands for.”

So what does ICT stand for?  If we examine the key functions of our industry, I think it’s fair to say that we cover:

• Communications (infrastructure, telecommunications and Internet technologies);
• Information (the exchange and storage of information);
• Media and entertainment (everything from social networking to movies); and
• Transactions (the US National Retail Federation has forecast $174.5 billion in online sales in 2007, for example).

Is it time to toss the TLA (three letter acronym) for a phrase like ‘high technology industry’?

We need a brand for our industry that encompasses the full gamut of job roles and responsibilities.  The ICT industry is for inventors and entrepreneurs, architects and fashion designers, film makers and digital animators, as well as for bloggers and social networking buffs.

We need to embrace an identity that stimulates interest and engages people, particularly young people, with the industry.

With that in mind, perhaps it’s time for our industry to start seeing ICT as a verb – as a facilitator and enabler – rather than as a noun.

A quarterly publication, the Journal of Research and Practice in Information Technology (JRPIT) is an international quality, peer reviewed journal covering innovative research and practice in Information Technology. Until 2000 it was titled the Australian Computer Journal, and has been published by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) continuously since November 1967.

Are you tasked with one or more of the following objectives?

• Increasing revenue growth
• Responding to the changing marketplace demands
• Maximising ROI from your marketing investments
• Defending against increased competition

If the answer is yes then you need to invest your time attending Gartner's inaugural seminar Monday: Go to Market on Monday 19 November at Sydney & Exhibition Convention Centre.

The 2007 NSW State Pearcey Award will be held at 5.30PM on Thursday 6th December 2007 at the Australian Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour, Sydney in conjunction with VC Connect NSW.

The 2008 Premier’s Sustainability Awards are proudly hosted by Sustainability Victoria on behalf of the Premier of Victoria. The award categories are large business, small business, community, public sector and products or services.

Find out more at www.sustainabilityawards.vic.gov.au

Presentations from AIIA's Sustainable Futures Forum are now available online.

Vodcasts and podcasts from the event will be added over the coming days, so keep an eye out on AIIA's Sustainable Futures Forum Multimedia webpage.

Sponsorship opportunities are now available for 2008 AIIA events.  If you’re interested in putting your company’s name on some of the ICT industry’s biggest and most exciting events, please contact Tania Crosbie for more information.

AIIA Welcomes our New Members and profiles them each week in the "Our Members' News" section of the Bulletin.

We encourage everyone to view these profiles each week and see if our new members products and services are of value to your organisation - possibly as a service provider, supplier, educator, consultant, alliance or business partner.

Waugh Partners is hosting a "Meet the Open Source Industry" breakfast event in every capital city around Australia, where you'll hear about the value of Open Source, meet the local industry vendors in each city, and hear about the Open Source Industry and Community Census - the biggest ever research project into the dynamics and metrics of the industry and community behind Open Source in Australia.

The event is a breakfast event with time for networking afterwards. Please click through to RSVP to the event in your city.