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Open Forum is an independent collaborative think-tank built around an interactive discussion website hosted and moderated by Global Access Partners (GAP). It provides a platform for focused dialogue on social, political, economic, ecological and cultural issues and challenges.

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Government 2.0 Taskforce Announced


On Monday 22 June 2009, Open Forum was represented by Sally Rose at the Public Sphere Event: Government 2.0 hosted by Senator Kate Lundy, where the Hon. Lindsay Tanner MP made the exciting announcement about the new Government 2.0 Taskforce. Hopefully this new government body, chaired by Dr Nicholas Gruen, will encourage many more departments and agencies to embrace the benefits of web 2.0 tools.


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National Human Rights Online Consultation closes


NHRCC logoBetween 19 May - 26 June 2009, the National Human Rights Online Consultation received over 10 000 visits and gathered nearly 500 contributions. We would like to extend an enormous thank you to everybody who participated. Your comments are an invaluable part of our move towards a more deliberative democracy.

The National Human Rights Consultation Committee will be holding public hearings in Canberra from July 1-3. Click here for more information or to register. The Committee will report to the Australian Government by 31 August 2009. Open Forum will keep you up to date as the outcomes of the consultation unfold.


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Blog of the Day

quaggas picture

Cash has done its dash


posted by quagga, Jul 02, 2009

When you consider all these benefits of a cashless society it is obvious that very soon cash will be a thing of the past. 

Recently a significant milestone was achieved in the field of computer operating systems: the OKL4 operating system kernel. The most significant point to understand about the OKL4 kernel for this article is that it guarantees by way of solid mathematical proofs that programs can run on it in isolation and safe from interference from any other programs including viruses - this is something that no other publicly available operating system provably guarantees!

So what has this talk about operating systems got to do with CASH - the subject of the title of the article?

Well this technology in combination with the following facts leads to some very exciting possibilities:

  1. Firstly, due OKL4's speed, reliability and security it is predicted that the OKL4 kernel will become extremely popular among mobile phone manufacturers. It has already been deployed on hundreds of millions of phones.
  2. Also, due to OKL4's security guarantees and architecture we can design software that runs with complete security on these phones.
  3. Thirdly, almost every Australian who is old enough to enter into a legally binding contract owns a mobile phone and we upgrade them to newer models every few years.
  4. Lastly, all but the most basic modern mobiles can communicate directly with each other and other computers when in close proximity through wireless protocols such as Bluetooth.

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Topic of the Month

Healthy Ageing


If only we could all die young, but at a very old age.

In the midst of winter, when it is that little bit harder to go for a walk in the morning and that whole lot more tempting to spend the evenings snuggled on the couch watching a DVD with tea and tim-tams, July is the perfect month to promote Healthy Ageing as our featured 'Topic of the Month' here on Open Forum.

Healthy Ageing isn't about feeling inadequate because you're 50 and you don't have pecs like Madonna. Healthy Ageing is about promoting ongoing physical and psychological wellness to live the best life possible. And remember, you're never too young to begin.

Healthy Ageing concerns us all, whether as individuals, children of ageing parents, or parents of growing kids; indeed it's a vital issue for Australia as a whole.


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