Drinks with Tony Barry, 25 February 2011

The Link Mailing List was established by Tony Barry and Eric Wainwright, in 1993. Link has provided a forum on the use of the Internet and for creating public policy for Australia for 17 years. Tony recently announced he was standing down as list administrator and Eric has invited "Linkers", both old and new, to celebrate this significant contribution to the nation, reminisce on old discussions and speculate about the future:

Internet Reality Check

5:00 pm Friday, 25 February 2011

At the Fellows Cafe/Garden ANU Fellows Bar and Cafe, University House, The Australian National University, 1 Balmain Crs, Canberra ACT 2601

Topic: History is written by the linkers¹

Special Guest: Tony Barry, co-founder of the Link Mailing List.

The Link Mailing List was established by Tony Barry and Eric Wainwright, running on a UNIX workstation at the Australian National University on 22 November 1993. Still maintained at the ANU, Link has provided a forum on the use of the Internet and for creating public policy for Australia for 17 years.

Areas of interest vary from time to time but the following topics have been of interest

• Public access to the network
• Access to government information
• Privacy
• Telecommunications legislation
• Censorship and control of content on the network
• Social issues of network behavior such as spam
• Role of libraries in open learning
• Commonwealth/State policies concerning the network
• Electronic commerce
• Open/distance learning and the rise of the virtual campus

...

From: Link Mailing List, Tony Barry, ANU

Peter Chen described the role of "The Linkers" (as the list members are known) in the development of Australian government Internet policy in his 2000 PHD Thesis "Australia's online censorship regime".

Tony recently announced he was standing down as list administrator and Eric has invited "Linkers", both old and new, to celebrate this significant contribution to the nation, reminisce on old discussions and speculate about the future.

One of Australia's pioneers in the use of the internet within universities particularly in Libraries and with CWIS and portal systems.

In the 60's undertook postgraduate research and had minor academic posts in physics at Sydney University and University of Queensland.

Eight years at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library finishing as the science and technology adviser in the Legislative Research Service.

A variety of jobs in the Commonwealth Public Service including positions in Prime Minister Whitlam's Office, the Australian Government Publishing Service, the Department of the Media and the Department of Science and the Environment.

He was appointed Deputy University Librarian, Australian National University Library in 1981 retiring as the Head of the Centre for Networked Access to Scholarly Information and Co-head of the Centre for Networked Information and Publishing in 1997. Now enjoying his retirement.

From: Brief Biographical Notes, Tony Barry, 2009

1. "History is written by the victors" is attributed to Winston Churchill.

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See also:

• Join the Link Mailing List
• Publishing, publications and presentations by Tony Barry
• About the Internet Reality Check