Andrew is creative director of creative and social enterprise, Human Ventures. With a background in the audiovisual world, Andrew has extensive experience managing creative projects specifically in the realm of digital and community arts. He has a particular love for video projection and clever audiovisual installations. Since joining Human in 2007, Andrew has delivered numerous programs in communities across regional Queensland including Blackall, Longreach, Hopevale, Darnley Island and Innisfail. Forever interested in the ways technology and the arts can benefit communities, he loves to travel and produce audiovisual artworks.

Andrew contributed to the panel session Literacy Beyond the Printed Page with Judith Hewitson and Judith Peacock.

Andrew Gibbs from if:book Australia on Vimeo.

Chris Meade is Director of if:book London. He was previously CEO of Booktrust, the national charity responsible for the Bookstart scheme and a range of literary prizes and projects. From 1993-2000 he was Director of the Poetry Society where he set up the Poetry Cafe and Poetry Places, a national programme of residencies and commissions described by Andrew Motion as ‘a modern miracle’.

The Independent on Sunday called his digital novella www.insearchoflosttim.net “a jeu d’esprit and, just possibly, the future of fiction.” Chris has an MA in Creative Writing & New Media and recently appeared in a debate on the future of the book on Radio 3′s Night Waves.

Chris contributed (via Skype) to the panel discussion Libraries and Digital Heritage with Rory McLeod and Peter Brantley.

Chris Meade from if:book Australia on Vimeo.

Peter Brantley is the Director of the Bookserver Project at the Internet Archive, a San Francisco-based not-for-profit library. He was previously the Director of the Digital Library Federation, a non-profit association of research and national libraries. He is a regular contributor to several blogs on libraries and publishing, writes extensively on transformations in media and information access, and is on the program committee for O’Reilly Media’s Tools of Change in Publishing Conference. With colleagues in the open software community, he has been leading the development and adoption of the Open Publication Distribution System (OPDS).

Peter contributed to the Libraries and Digital Heritage discussion with Rory McLeod and Chris Meade.

Peter Brantley from if:book Australia on Vimeo.

Rory McLeod is the Director Client Services and Collections at the State Library of Queensland (SLQ). Client Services and Collections is the largest part of SLQ, covering some 200 people. The directorate is responsible for all Library Services, Learning and Participation Programmes, Indigenous Research, Building Development and Design, all library Collections and The Edge. Rory has previously held senior posts in digital asset management, long-term information management, change management and general business for both the State Library of NSW and The British Library in London where he worked for nine years. Rory also ran his own consultancy in the UK specialising in the long-term information challenges of the nuclear industry.

Rory contributed to the Libraries and Digital Heritage panel discussion with Peter Brantley and Chris Meade.

Rory McLeod from if:book Australia on Vimeo.

Video presentation from The Reader, an if:book Australia symposium.

Dale Spender has been a reader, writer, talker and teacher – as well as a feminist – for most of her life. She is still a feminist and raises money for homeless women, but these days she writes differently and reads differently (and talks and teaches differently) as books make way for digital. It’s a big change and some days quite a loss, but the world wide web has indeed opened up a world wide wonder.

Dale Spender from if:book Australia on Vimeo.

Video presentation from The Reader, an if:book Australia symposium.

John Birmingham is the author more than twelve books including the recent After America and the iconic He Died With A Felafel In His Hand and a prominent blogger for the Brisbane Times, the ABC, and others.

John is @JohnBirmingham on twitter.

John Birmingham from if:book Australia on Vimeo.