Phare (Ghent)

The Internet evolves towards being the center of our lives. How will this change the way we will work, play, dream in the future? Phare Conference wants to be a beacon of light, to inspire, to clarify and to guide: where is the Internet going and how will it affect society?  

Our society is going through tremendous changes: the possible double dip, the Babyboomers giving way to Generation X, Generation Y and Millennials, moving from push to pull marketing, the overthrow of existing media models - to name a few.

Whether you are a web professional, business leader, active in marketing or communication, the Internet is changing our businesses and lives profoundly.

Phare Conference brings together renowned specialists from all over the world. They will present intriguing and surprising ideas on the future of the Internet. Ideas that won’t necessarily become reality, but that challenge you to reflect upon the Internet: how it will change our lives as citizens and consumers?

Speakers:

• Robert Cailliau
  Robert Cailliau retired from CERN after four different careers in human-computer interaction, the most notable being the decade spent pushing the development of the web in which he participated from before it had a name. His current interests range from saving humanity from our own actions to playing Lego with his granddaughter.
• Jaroslav Valuch
  Jaroslav is currently working as the New Media for Social Change Program Manager for People in Need. He is also the co-founder and one of the Coordinators at Standby Task Force. His professional experience includes working with the Ushahidi Haiti Project, being a Humphrey Fellow and a Program Coordinator in Burma for People in Need.
• Rasmus Fleischer
  Rasmus Fleischer is a writer and historian based in Stockholm. In 2003, he was one of the founders of Piratbyrån, the anti-copyright organization that, in turn, once founded BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay. Since then he has been lecturing extensively, on subjects related to "the collapse of copyright", the future of music and the place of books in the new media landscape."
• James McKelvey
  James McKelvey is the co-founder of Square, a new mobile payment platform. A revolutionary service that enables anyone to accept credit cards anywhere. His other company Mira, started out as a software company. Eventually, Mira was refocused as a digital publishing company, providing services and conferences. Currently, the company provides online submission management, peer review, conference planning services and traditional print and electronic publishing services for more than 100 organisations from numerous disciplines.
• Arturo Toledo
  Arturo Toledo is a Sr. User Experience Designer in the Windows Phone Design Studio in Redmond. Arturo acts as a liaison between the magic that occurs every day inside of Studio H in Redmond and the awesomeness of Windows Phone developers around the world. Arturo has been a Product Manager for Microsoft Expression, Silverlight and Sr. UX Designer crafting exploratory and production quality experiences for multiple platforms like the web, phone, Windows 8, Kinect and XBOX. Arturo studied architecture at La Salle University in Mexico City, did additional media and visualization studies at the University of Arizona. Post-graduation, Arturo founded Milton Frank Studio, a boutique interactive development studio.