Sparking science to life

HOW WILL we adapt to the changes that are going to sweep the world, if we believe the prophecies? Any bright spark? If the answer is no, then you will do well to attend Bright Sparks, the British way of showcasing the best of their science. This year, Bright Sparks will fly in the city on January 31 and February 1 at the IIT and the Anna University.

The focus is on Information and Communication Technologies as agents of change, in the wider sense of communication and society. And the ideal opportunity to orient oneself with technology, because the seminar promises to provide useful information to everybody - right from novices to advanced software/hardware professionals. Bright Sparks will lay the foundation and build upon it,take a look at the evolution of these modern day technologies in addition to sharing a vision of the future rooted in them.

Prof. Nigel Linge, who will be doing the Chennai leg of the country-wide tour, will examine the future of television, radio, video and other devices we have come to call `gizmos' these days. He is currently the director of the Centre for Networking and Telecommunications Research at the University of Salford. Apparently the right man on the right subject, considering that the centre he works for puts heart and soul into research on development of next generation computer networks and multimedia applications.

Bright Sparks will also be in Delhi, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Bangalore and Pune. In Chennai, Prof.Linge will talk on `Networking and Telecommunications' at 2 p.m. at the IIT, Madras, on January 31. At the same venue, a public lecture will be delivered on `From Man on the Moon to Life in Cyberspace' at 5 p.m. On the following day, a workshop on `Information and Communication Technologies in the New Millennium' will be held at 10 a.m. at the Anna University. Select secondary school students will have the privilege of meeting the scientist at 2 p.m. that day.

Bright Sparks is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London and supported among others by, Zee Interactive Learning Systems, Sahara Airlines and Le Meridien.

(By Ramya Kannan)

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