By: Hailey Temple
School of Information Studies (iSchool) Assistant Professor of Practice Anthony Rotolo and Information Management graduate student Isaac Budmen will speak at the #140conf State of NOW SmallTown Conference on November 8. The conference will address the use and impact of the real-time Internet on small towns and businesses.
Like other #140 Conference events, #140conf SmallTown has a fast-paced format where speakers are given 10 minutes to deliver their presentation. This layout allows for more engagement and sharing of information in a short time period. Ultimately, attendees are encouraged to share and learn new ways that technology is impacting small towns and businesses across America.
“The Internet empowers people to do things that were out of reach and in small towns, you see people updating technology more frequently. I hope to hear that other people aren’t waiting for the small town to come back, but are forcing the small town to move into the future,” said Budmen
Rotolo and Budmen will share the stage the conference as they address how experiences like The iSchool's #ElectionClass and NEXIS social media laboratory connect students to global experiences in a small physical space thanks to modern technology. Rotolo will also speak alongside #140Conf founder Jeff Pulver about the impact of #140Cuse Conference, which took place at Syracuse University earlier this year.
“Before we had today’s technology, students were only thinking about doing and making things because they had no access,” said Budmen. “Now, students are interacting with people and creating new projects on a large scale and with a small group like we have in NEXIS.”
For Budmen, the experiences at the iSchool have shown him how technology has expanded the reach students have to the world. “It doesn’t matter necessary the size of the team or the initial access to resources you have, if you get really great people who believe in a learning experience together. We make a lot of noise, we cause a lot of learning, and we take away a lot of experience with what we are doing.”
Watch live: Rotolo and Budmen will speak at approximately 4:35 PM eastern time, and the conference is available via live video stream at: http://smalltown2012.stateofnow.com