Jeff is the CEO and Co-Founder of Flat World Knowledge, Inc., the largest publisher of
free and open college textbooks for students worldwide. Committed to making higher
education more affordable and accessible, the company provides students with free online
access to complete, peer-reviewed textbooks, with options to purchase affordable print
and digital formats, including e-books, audiobooks, PDF downloads and interactive study
aids.
Before setting out to disrupt the $8 billion college textbook publishing industry, Jeff
served in various editorial and senior management positions in higher education
publishing. He was Vice President and Editorial Director at Pearson Education and
Publisher at McGraw-Hill. He has personally acquired some of the most successful
business textbook authors in print today.
A frequent speaker at industry conferences and educational forums, Jeff is on the
Postsecondary Sector Board of Directors of the Education Division of the Software &
Information Industry Association (SIIA).
A proud native Minnesotan, Jeff graduated from the University of Minnesota Carlson
School of Management in 1987 and later received his Executive MBA from Duke
University in 2004.
Leslie Chan is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough, where he serves as the Program Supervisor for the International Development Studies program. Since 2000, Leslie has been the Director of Bioline International, a collaborative platform for open access distribution of research journals from close to twenty developing countries. This activity is part of Leslie’s long-term teaching and research interests in the roles of openness and control in the flow of knowledge and information and their impact on local and international development. With Alma Swan, Leslie co-founded the Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook (OASIS) and the Global Open Access Map. He has worked with organizations such as the Open Society Institute, UNESCO, and IDRC, in the development of alternative forms of knowledge media and communicative practices enabled by social network and collaborative software, and in the evaluation of human centered design principles and participatory approaches to media for community development.
Web sites:
Harlan Onsrud is Professor of Spatial Information Science and Engineering in the School of Computing and Information Science at the University of Maine in the United States and a research scientist with the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA). His research focuses on the analysis of legal, ethical, and institutional issues affecting the creation and use of digital databases and the assessment of the social and societal impacts of spatial and tracking technologies. He is past president and current Executive Director of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association (GSDI), past-president of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS), and past Chair of the U.S. National Committee (USNC) on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) of the National Research Council.
Mark Leggott is currently the University Librarian at the Robertson Library, University of PEI and President/CEO of DiscoveryGarden Inc. Prior to coming to UPEI Mark was University Librarian, Associate Dean of Education and a founding Director of the Global College at the University of Winnipeg. Mark graduated from St. Mary's University (B.Sc.), University of Calgary (M.Sc. Biology) and the Dalhousie School of Information Management (where he was the Alumnus of the Year in 2006) and had been active in the profession for over 20 years. Mark is the founder of the Islandora project, an open source digital asset management system, and the Knowledge for All project, an effort to create an open database of citations to the scholarly literature. Mark speaks widely and often and is convinced that embracing all things "open" is the future of the library profession.
Sandra is a senior IT/IM professional with over 17 years IT and IM experience. She is a graduate of Dalhousie University with her Bachelor of Mathematics/Statistics and Computing Science and the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now part of Dalhousie University) with her Bachelor of Industrial Engineering.
She has been with the Nova Scotia Department of Health in the role of the Chief Health Information Officer since January 2006. Prior to joining the Nova Scotia Department of Health she was responsible for IT Operations at the Capital District Health Authority, in Halifax NS for over six years.
Previously, she has worked as an IT/IM professional in a number of different industries including, Telecommunications, Broadcasting and Telehealth. She has experience working in large private companies, crown corporations and small entrepreneurial companies and is now in a provincial government environment. In her current role as Chief Health Information Officer, she is responsible for setting the vision for the adoption and implementation of electronic information solutions in healthcare in Nova Scotia.
Sandra is a professional Industrial Engineer. She is a Project Management Professional (PMP), a Certified Professional in Health Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS) and has her ITIL Foundation Certification.
David leads McInnes Cooper's Privacy Practice Group, working with large and small clients to implement compliance programs for Canadian privacy laws, including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). He regularly provides opinions related to Canadian privacy law and is a frequently invited speaker on this topic. David also acts for organizations in addressing complaints to the Privacy Commissioner.
Marc J. Belliveau is a partner with Stewart McKelvey and practices in Intellectual Property, Computer and Technology Transactions, Corporate and Commercial Transactions and Securities Law. Born in Montréal, he graduated from Dalhousie in 1980 (B.Sc.- Maths) and in 1990 (LL.B.- Business) and from McGill in 1982 (M.B.A.- International Finance). Marc was admitted to the Nova Scotia bar in 1991 and to the New Brunswick bar in 1996. In 1997, he became a registered trade-mark agent. Before law, Marc worked in the transportation industry for 5 years, in accounting and marketing. He has volunteered and served as President in numerous professional and community organizations and has been on the executive of the National Conference of French-Speaking Lawyers of the CBA since 1992. He has appeared before all levels of courts in Nova Scotia and has published numerous articles for legal journals and newsletters. Marc is also an experienced musician and has had a keen interest in copyright law for many years. He has been a guest lecturer at many provincial and national bar-sponsored continuing legal education events. He was Chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group at another law firm before joining Stewart McKelvey in 2000 and represented public utilities and other large corporations in servicing their IP and IT legal requirements, particularly during the early days of the internet’s development when little legislation or jurisprudence was available. Marc is an Associate with the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada and a member of the ITCan Law Association.
Darrell Varga is Canada Research Chair in Contemporary Film and Media Studies at NSCAD University where he teaches courses in film studies. He is also a documentary filmmaker, currently completing a short feature called Looking for Time, a film that explores ideas of time from the perspective of artists, scientists and storytellers and that travels from melting icebergs to abandoned amusement parks and mafia graveyards. He has published widely on Canadian film and is finishing book called Shooting From the East: Filmmaking in Atlantic Canada, the first major historical study of film in the region. Current research focus is on documentary film in Canada and throughout the world, with focus on the question of the real and its myriad representations.
Ms. Monteith is Director of Copyright and International Intellectual Property Policy at Industry Canada. This Directorate advises the Minister of Industry on copyright and international intellectual property matters and develops policy proposals and legislative initiatives in these areas. Prior to joining Industry Canada, Ms. Monteith held positions at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. Ms. Monteith holds a M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Victoria.
Gillian Byrne is currently the Manager of the Council of Atlantic University Libraries/Conseil des bibliothèques universitaires de l'Atlantique 9CAUL-CBUA), a job which requires her to both negotiate with vendors and promote Open Access. Previous to that, she spent 10 years at Memorial University Libraries in a variety of roles, including Head of Circulation and Electronic Resources and Serials.Gillian has published and presented widely on linked data, web usability and information seeking behaviour. Currently, her reading interests lie less in webby and more in management, but ideally where the two meet.
Ian Colford currently serves as Dalhousie University's Collection Development Librarian and Copyright Officer. His book reviews and fiction have been published in numerous Canadian journals, in print and online. "Evidence," a collection of short stories, was published in 2008, and his novel, "The Crimes of Hector Tomas," is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2012.
Mr. Bruce A. Gorman is Director, Information Technology and Collection Management at Halifax Public Libraries. He is currently focused on the Halifax Central Library. Mr. Gorman graduated from Syracuse University with a Masters Degree in Information Management focused on information security and governance. He has numerous published articles including his most recent on social exclusion and the digital divide. Mr. Gorman is active in the community and sits on numerous Boards including his role as former Chair of the Association of Information Technology Professional of Nova Scotia and the Atlantic Canada Director of the Association of Public Sector Information professionals.
Tanja Harrison is currently the University Librarian at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) University. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Bishop’s University and earned her Master of Library and Information Studies from Dalhousie University. Ms. Harrison’s research interests include the history of Maritime librarianship in the early twentieth century. She loves art, gardening, travelling, and keeping up with her active five year old daughter Grace.
Peter Webster is Associate University Librarian, Information Technology Services at the Patrick Power Library, Saint Mary’s University, where he has worked since 1993. He received his MLS from Dalhousie University in 1986, and also holds a Certificate in Computer Science from Dalhousie University, and a BA in History and English, from the University of Alberta. He has served on management and technical committees for the NOVANET academic library consortium and the Council of Atlantic University Libraries(CAUL). He is currently a member of the Negotiations Resource Team for the Canadian Research Knowledge Network(CRKN), and the External Advisory Committee (EAC) for Statistics Canada’s Data Liberation Initiative. Peter’s Publications include "The Development of Electronic Journal Infrastructure" in The Handbook of Public Information Systems, 3rd edition, 2010. "Managing Electronic Resources, Changing Roles for Libraries", Chandos, Oxford, 2008, "Challenges for Federated Searching" (Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 12(3/4), 2007), and "The Library in Your toolbar" (Library Journal, 15 July 2007). He has presented at conferences, including the Canadian Learning Commons Conference, Computers in Libraries, Library and Information Technology (LITA) National Forum, ACCESS, The American Library Association (ALA), The Canadian Library Association (CLA) and the Atlantic Provinces Library Association (APLA). Peter Webster was recipient of the 2010 Atlantic Library Association Merit Award.
Ken Williment, a 2006 Dalhousie MLIS graduate, works at Halifax Public Libraries. His work primarily focuses on developing and implementing new approaches for library staff to actively engage with community members. Through these interactions, between library staff and library users/underserved community members, library staff can discover community information needs and the potential role(s) libraries can play in helping meet them. Ken also frequently publishes articles focusing on creating more inclusive library services. He is currently writing a book on community led library services with John Pateman, from England, who was a leader in the development of Open to All? The Public Library and Social Exclusion (2000).
