Opening Plenary – June 25 – Etienne Wenger-Trayner

Etienne Wenger-Trayner is a globally recognized thought leader in the field of communities of practice, who was featured by Training Magazine in their “A new Breed of Visionaries” series. A pioneer of the “communities of practice” research, he is author and co-author of seminal articles and books on the topic, including Situated Learning, where the term was coined, Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity, where he lays out a theory of learning based on the concept of communities of practice, Cultivating Communities of Practice: a Guide to Managing Knowledge, addressed to practitioners in organizations, and Digital Habitats dealing with issues related to technology. His work as researcher, author, and consultant has influenced both thinking and practice in a wide variety of fields, including business, education, government, and social theory.

Closing Plenary – June 26 – Graham Smart

Graham Smart is an Associate Professor in Linguistics and Language Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.  He has published research on writing in both professional and academic settings, including Writing the Economy: Activity, Genre and Technology in the World of Banking, an ethnographic study of the discourse practices and collaborative knowledge-making of economists at Canada’s central bank. His current research focuses on the discourses and argumentation produced by various social actors in the debate over global climate change.