TANYA BYRON TO SPEAK AT ELSPA FORUM
Dr Tanya Byron has agreed to give a speech at this year's ELSPA Forum - to be held on 22nd October at the London games Festival
Wednesday 17th October/... Dr Tanya Byron has been invited to give a speech at the ELSPA (the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association) Forum. Dr Byron will be introducing the Byron Review, which has received much attention since its first call for evidence on 9th October.
Dr Byron will be introducing and discussing the reasons the Government called for such a review and why she is pleased to be involved with it. The review that will look at the topic of how to help children and parents get the best from new technologies, while protecting them from harmful images.
Dr Byron released a statement about the review in September, where she suggested the reasons for her interest and involvement in producing the review.
She said: "Helping parents and their children get the best from new technologies while protecting children from inappropriate or potentially harmful material is crucial in today's fast moving world." She went on to say: "Parents welcome the benefits technologies can bring but they also want their children to be safe and many have concerns about what their children may come across online or whether the videogames they are using are appropriate."
ELSPA welcomes the Byron Review and is extremely pleased to receive Dr Byron to speak at the Forum, which will not only play host to discussion about the Byron Review but aims to inform all members as to the political pressures faced by the industry and discuss the work currently undertaken in this area, its impact and what more might be achieved.
The Forum will also address the issue of the rise of negative publicity surrounding the games industry over the last year. The discussion will also look at several political and social studies on societal breakdown and violence that have cited computer games as having a potentially negative influence on young gamers.
The Forum will be held at The Royal Society of Medicine in London on 22nd October with a start time of 11.30am. The event will be held in conjunction with the second London Games Festival, which is running between 22nd and 26th October 2007 in various locations within the Capital.
"We are thrilled that Dr Tanya Byron will be attending the ELSPA Forum," said Paul Jackson, Director General of ELSPA. "Her attendance will offer first hand information to our members on the Byron Review and offers the video and computer games industry an arena for it's input into this review. We look forward to hearing what Dr Byron has to say as well as offering our members a voice to the heart of the review."
Anyone may attend the ELSPA Forum, to register please contact phillip.carlsson@elspa.com
EDITORS NOTES:
About ELSPA - http://www.elspa.com
ELSPA (The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association) was founded in 1989 to establish a specific and collective identity for the computer and video games industry. Membership includes almost all companies concerned with the publishing and distribution of interactive leisure software in the UK.
For further information, please contact:
Laura West
BARRINGTON HARVEY
T: 01462 456780
F: 01462 456781
E: laura.west@bhpr.co.uk