Tom Worthington's first book, Net Traveller, Exploring the Networked Nation was launched at Internet World'99 on 2 August. Tom will talk about the origins of the book, the on-line process used for its preparation and the implications for publishing.

Tom's talk for the launch of Net Traveller: "A Strong IT Industry for Defending Australia", caused a media controversy with his former employer, the Department of Defence, issuing a two page media release labelling the proposals as "in the realm of the bizarre".

Net Traveller includes excerpts of web reports from as diverse locations as the floating command center of the US 7th Fleet and a bus in Cambridge. The book blends a technological travelogue, with an exploration of technical and social issue in the Internet. Proposals for exploiting the Internet to promote Australian high technology industry are outlined.

Join one of Australia's most acclaimed Internet exponents on a journey through five years of Australia's rapid Internet development and see what all the fuss was about.

Tom Worthington is a Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the Australian National University. He is an electronic business consultant, author and information technology professional. Tom's work since 1994 has been on the policy and practice of implementing the Internet, including appearances before three Senate hearings. He established the first web home pages for the Defence Department the ACT Government, the Special Broadcasting Service, Australian Information Industry Association and the National Press Club.

In June 1999 Mr. Worthington completed a six month assignment planning re-mediation of the Year 2000 problem in Defence information systems, before leaving government service to become an independent IT consultant.

IRCs are free and open to anyone interested. Internet Reality Check (not to be confused with Internet Relay Chat) is designed so that members of the 'net community can meet and exchange the small amount of very important information which is not suitable for digital transmission. ;-)

Presentation RSVP: Seating for guests at the is limited to 30. Please RSVP to Rebecca Toohey at the State Library of Victoria: rtoohey@slv.vic.gov.au

Drinks RSVP: JLWhitaker Associates: jwhit@primenet.com

• Preview of: Net Traveller
• Presentation (336kbytes MS-PowerPoint)
• Text of A Strong IT Industry for Defending Australia
• Virtual Victorian Library
• Internet Reality Check