[Linux-aus] In memoriam: Mark Elwell

[Tim Serong]

It is my sad duty to announce the passing of Mark Elwell, one of our
keynote speakers at OSDC 2015.

When I first met Mark several years ago, he appeared as a skinny black
dude named Cursa, in an ancient Egyptian sim in Second Life.  We role
played together in that environment of course, but beyond that, Morgan
Leigh (my wife and co-conspirator in organising OSDC 2015), collaborated
with him on several academic papers and conference talks about education
in shared virtual environments, and we all worked together on and off
over many years.

Mark founded Hakusan International School, the first primary and
secondary institution in the Hokuriku region of Japan with English as
the medium of instruction, administration, and school life.  He worked
conceiving, implementing, and assessing curricula and teaching methods
in government and private school systems for more than thirty years.

He cared deeply about education, about technology, and about bringing
people together online.  For someone who spent so much time online in
virtual worlds, I can think of no more fitting memorial than to leave
this here, on a public mailing list that will ultimately be archived
online approximately forever.

Having eventually met him in person as Mark, had him speak at our
conference, broken bread with him, and showed him around our farm, I'll
miss him as Mark.  But I'll also miss him as Cursa.

Tim Serong