Next General Meeting: By Jim Scheef For our next General Meeting we welcome John R. Patrick back to DACS to speak on “The Future of Healthcare and the Internet”. I believe I’ve attended just about every one of John Patrick’s presentations to DACS. My favorite recollection from John’s presentations dates back to December, 1998, his seventh visit. When he started to talk about how the Internet must be “always on”, he stopped and asked, “Have you seen these wireless network cards? They’re the size of a credit card and they make your computer wireless.” Those may not have been his exact words, but as John held up his laptop so we could see the end of his Wi-Fi card, I do remember his next words: “This changes everything!” And so it did! John saw how enabling the Wi-Fi technology would be to making the Internet “always on” and available everywhere even when the technology was still prohibitively expensive for the typical home user. John’s vision and insight are why we want to hear from him as often as possible. John Patrick joined IBM in 1967 and rose thru various sales, marketing and management positions. In 1992 he became Vice President of Marketing for Personal Systems and in 1995 was named Vice President of Internet Technology, a position he held until his retirement in 2001. Today Mr. Patrick’s interests range from the Harley Owners Group (HOG) where he is a Life member, to the Danbury Hospital (Western Connecticut Health Network) where he served as a member of the Board of Directors for nine years, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), and the future of healthcare and the Internet which will be the topic of his presentation at our May 7th General Meeting. Mr. Patrick’s Internet credentials are legion: a founding member of the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT in 1994, a founding member and past chairman of the Global Internet Project, a member of the Internet Society, a senior member of the Association for Computing Machinery, and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. His book, Net Attitude, is required reading on the future of the Internet and the attitudes needed to capitalize on it. John’s blog is at patrickWeb.com and you can follow him on twitter @johnrpatrick. His Wikipedia entry has even more. Today’s Internet has new issues and concerns and as always, John is there. His blog, patrickWeb.com, carries several recent articles that may offer a preview of his presentation, among these “Electronic Medical Records: Do They Reduce Healthcare Costs” (tinyurl.com/bgvam5s) is especially relevant. Other issues include cyber security for both enterprises (like the hospital) and our national infrastructure. Join us for what will undoubtedly be a fascinating look at the Internet of today and the future.
--- DACS meetings are usually held at the Danbury Hospital auditorium. (Click here for directions and parking information.) Activities begin at 6:30 p.m. with registration and casual networking. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with a question and answer period (Ask DACS), followed by announcements and a short break. The featured evening presentation begins at 8:00. The meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 9:30 p.m. DACS General Meetings are free and open to the public. Members and prior attendees are encouraged to extend invitations to anyone interested in this topic. Danbury Area Computer Society (DACS) is a registered nonprofit and has been serving the region since 1990.
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