Berlin, 7. July 2011 – IT solutions for the future should generally be inteligent sollutions for the society. In the state and it’s structures IT already plays a prominent role. How education and level of education and the related creative solutions for society and the state of tomorrow could look like is being discussed and philosophized at the LinuxTag 2011 by IT industry experts and educators from universities throughout Germany.
For the first time OpenMind ManagerMorning was part of the program. Under the slogan “Open minds in science, industry and society” LinuxTag and Lisog Association had invited 26 experts in the IT scene to talk about the importance of openness of IT and how these structures can affect society. During the meeting at the Berlin trade fair the primary topic was how bring possibilities and perspectives, proprietary software and open source solutions in so that information and education are accessible to everyone.
“That on the OpenMind ManagerMorning of Plation people discussed about topics from the renaissance up to future structures, was not only for me a stimulating intelligent surprise”, said Petra Kuhfuß, project manager of the LinuxTag, who is a board member of the Lisog Association together with Martin Jähn, who had the primary idea for this kind of creative exchange of ideas.
Prof. Dr Gunter Dueck, Chief Technology Officer of IBM Germany, imposed with a vivid and lifelike speech to the topic and gave the guests a lot to discuss about. He predicted that the society will will divide into two groups in the future: those who have work through IT and those who will lose their work due to IT and the related job reductions. “What would work well in Germany would be an operating system for the entire education. We have to rearrange the world with IT. How does a society look, in which the ‘digital natives’ would belong to a party?”. Prof. Dueck wishes for a general, openly accessible presence of language learning programs on the internet. These would promote national comprehension in an easy way. What people don’t find online doesn’t exist for many either. We already have a shortage in people who can solve problems and questions without IT. There is a lack of imagination and creativity and the existing structures would contribute little to their promotion. This is a problem we all have.
The subject of education was the focus of many participants of discussions. Prof. Hans-Jürgen Kugler, Chief Scientist & Principal of KUGLERMAAG CIE PLC, strained the historic arch until the invention of the letterpress. The invention of paper and pencil is however more important for the development of communication and made during the renaissance for example the distribution of architectural drawings of cathedrals possible. It would be time to initiate another renaissance.
Dr Karl-Heinz Strassemeyer, IBM Germany, CEO of the LiSoG Association, said to conditions and values: “We need a Linux-like operating system for the society of tomorrow.” Important is also the question which values there are going to be in the future. An open-mind-culture is needed. Working with friends is already a non-profit company. Matthias Kirschner, coordinator of the Free Software Foundation Europe Association, emphasised: “It is important that the people understand the software they use.” Michael Stamm from the Technology Foundation Berlin has been supervising a project for the past eight years, that makes past lectures from universities available online for free to anyone on the internet. According to Holger Dyroff, Vice President, Business Development, SUSE LinuxEnterprise at Novell, open source makes particular sense when it comes to getting across educational contents. “Educational contents must be socialised more. Why are they only available to enrolled students at universities? They should be universally accessible” said Holger Dyroff.
Another key aspect of the OpenMind ManagerMorning was the subject of health, including data protection and age-based life.
Moderator Martin Jähn, board member of the LiSoG Association, pointed out that intelligent people need intelligent solutions. Gerd Jan Tschöpe from Tarent PLC was of the opinion that the boundaries between work- and private life will dissolve soon. Tschöpe: “We need creative problem solvers”. Peter Ganten, CEO of Univention, pointed out the significant changes everybody expected at the workplace due to Cloud Computing. “You will ask yourself why you should even go to the travel agent, as you can research everything online. The computer will tell us which one the apparent best solution is. However, we will always depend on what the computer or cloud tells us and not what the market actually gives”. Ganten: “That is what I call flat-screen-advice”.
The series of discussions under the slogan „Smart people – intelligent solutions“ will be continued later this year.