EMPOWERING TECHNOLOGIES: TOWARDS A POST-THAKSIN VISION FOR DIGITAL THAILAND

EMPOWERING TECHNOLOGIES: TOWARDS A POST-THAKSIN VISION FOR DIGITAL THAILAND

A Joint Invitational Colloquium for Faculty of Chulalongkorn University and Asian Institute of Technology hosted by Chulalongkorn Center for Ethics of Science and Technology.

Thursday, February 1, 1:30-4 pm
Room 708 Boromratchakumari Building (Faculty of Arts Building),
Chulalongkorn University

You are invited to an informal colloquium that will explore an interdisciplinary ethical framework for the introduction of new digital products and services in Thailand. The featured speaker is Craig Warren Smith, of the University of Washington Human Interface Technology Laboratory. He is founder of DigitalDivide.org and SpiritualComputing.com.

As a Harvard visiting professor in Singapore, Prof. Smith advised Thailand's ICT Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, and helped convene Thailand's ICT stakeholders to establish a market-based framework for closing the digital divide. Now, Dr. Smith will facilitate a discussion about how various academic disciplines could come together -- combining management, technological and even spiritual perspectives -- to formulate technologies and a public-policy framework that bring empowerment to Thai citizens. In addition to academic participants, the colloquium will include invited guests from multinational corporations in the telecom and IT sectors.

The attached article, co-authored by Smith and Dr. Soraj Hongladarom, provides further perspectives on this colloquium and its implications for a "post-Thaksin" framework for ICT in Thailand.