Welcome to Australia's newest celebration of the computer age - Interoperability Week.

From Monday, November 27 to Friday, December 1, Australia will promote and celebrate computing nirvana - the ability of IT products and systems to work together. As part of Interoperability Week users of storage and spatial data are invited to participate in a series of workshops culminating in the SEE Grid Conference at the CSIRO Discovery Centre in Canberra.

The conference will examine computational modelling and decision support in the solid Earth and environment community.

The SEE Grid Conference has been organised to tackle problems associated accessing the sea of data stored by research organizations, industry and federal, state and territory governments.

Current data has limited application because the various computers and databases across these groups cannot talk to each other. As a lead up to the conference, interoperability enthusiasts and students will be able to attend a one day course at Geoscience Australia on 'Emerging Approaches to Spatial Data Infrastructure Implementation' which will provide a framework for understanding SDI design.

The National Library of Australia will also host an event on standards in the spatial domain entitled 'What Busy Managers Need to Know'. Geoscience Australia will host the final workshop which will examine the topic, 'Strategic Issues for Building, Managing and Delivering 3D models'. The Third SEE Grid Conference will focus on the latest international advances towards data access and applications, including advancements in standards, supporting infrastructure and practical applications. Information and registration for the events can be found at: http://www.ga.gov.au/minerals/research/pubs/minalert/min_alert_nov2006.j sp#3