Do You Remember the great Volvo Ocean Race festival of 2012?

 

 

What a magnificent game changing event the Volvo Ocean Race Festival of 2012 was for Galway. The whole city and county came together like never before to make it a true all-stakeholders collaboration. Schools, colleges, small businesses, corporations, science educational centres, research institutes, artisans, horticulturalists, the council, the state sector, the voluntary groups, the environmentalists, the crafts people, the artisans, the digital makers, the arts- there was a place for everyone to contribute. The docks were transformed from being a quiet quarter largely unknown to most Galwegians, into a vibrant lively bustling hub. A tent city sprung up near the Claddagh seashore. I was lucky enough to be part of the team that included Liam Ferrie, Tom Frawley, Frank McCurry and my dearly departed and much missed friend Chris Coughlan that took over one of these large tents in order to introduce the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland and Coderdojo Galway to the world!

 

My youngest son Daíre (see photo) was, along with so many of other children of Scoil San Phroinsias, involved in knitting a beautiful giant multi-coloured sail that covered the metal Claddagh Hooker boat sculpture at Eyre Square- It was one of the most memorable symbols of that year and of that festival.

Internet Safety mentoring: From Bebo to TikTok.

In these early months of the current school year I have already provided, as part of my work at the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics of the University of Galway, Internet Safety sessions to parents, teachers and the young people of both primary and secondary schools in counties Galway, Clare and Dublin.

I have been undertaking Cyberbullying Awareness presentations since 2005 and was probably one of the first people in Ireland to do so.
(photo is of a leaflet from 2008 prepared by the primary school in Newport co. Mayo for a talk to parents on my birthday! The content reflects the era).

Since my student college days, I have been a strong advocate of the benefits that digital technologies can bring to people from all walks of life, having spent much of my working life teaching coding and upskilling people in the use of digital technologies. I started doing so in late 1981 soon after leaving university thanks to great inspirational visionary people such as Dr Jimmy Browne.

Immersing myself in web technologies really took off for me in mid 2004 when I became employed as the Outreach Officer of the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) at what was then NUI Galway. It was when the World Wide Web was for the first time becoming populated with user-generated content. It was exciting to be part of this!

In the early 2000s ‘blogging’ (personal websites) was the new craze; ‘online social media’ in the form of Bebo(2005), MySpace(2003) and Orkut(2004) was starting to appear for the first time; YouTube had just been invented (April 2005); online messaging and video telephony in the form of Skype (2003-4) was capturing people’s imagination; broadband was only being rolled out nationwide; the big bulky desktop computer was the main technology device in business, school and at home; and the smart touch phone in the form of the iPhone had yet to be invented(2007). ‘Email’ was king with many people of all ages acquiring their very first email addresses around this time.

Yet as a parent of both pre-teen and young teenage boys, I could see the dangers that computer gaming and web-based social interaction sites could and were bringing into our young people’s lives. Violence-based gaming, online aggressive pornography, misogyny, racism, cyberbullying, online stalking, and subsequent addiction and mental health issues for many users were a feature of the web even in those early days. People of all ages were suffering and yet there were few rules or guidelines available and nobody was talking about these new but growing problems.

So as a concerned parent and as someone working in a university web scientific institute (DERI), I decided, after securing the very supportive permission of my manager/directors, to put together my own content for delivering pioneering Internet Safety sessions to schools, universities, communities (neighbourhoods, asylum seekers, disability groups). But I always included in these talks (and still do) the benefits of new web technologies, giving a series of examples of exciting new developments especially those invented by young people, the need for stronger government legislation to protect those online including in punishing the very wealthy service providers, and highlighting the importance of good old fashioned benign parenting with the proviso that they make the effort to become aware and knowledgeable of their children’s activities on the web.

Eighteen years later, I am still providing such talks and workshops across Ireland. But sadly I have lost one important resource along the way. Over the years after having ‘the big chat’ with my sons when they were in their pre-teens or early teens and keeping lines of communications open, I learnt more from them that they ever did from me on the strengths, weaknesses, stories, pitfalls and issues associated with the latest social media and gaming sites popular for young people. I used the knowledge gained from them to make my own Internet Safety sessions more powerful, more meaningful, more current. Now that my sons are in their 20s and 30s I no longer have that family resource to call upon. 

So I have to make extra effort to see the Web through the eyes of a child. For in the world of technology, change is constant and one has to keep one’s finger on what is popular today as it becomes history tomorrow.

Ireland’s oldest working computer showcased at Technology Museum in NUI Galway

Joe Hurley switches on a 1971 PDP 11 minicomputer

--> A forty three old computer of the type manufactured in Galway during the nineteen seventies formed the centre piece of a major tribute to Ireland’s rich technology heritage that took place last Saturday in the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland located at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics (formerly DERI) in the Dangan Business Park NUI Galway. The event formed part of the national Engineers’ Week  being held from February 9^th to February 15^th,

As curator of this museum (in my capacity as Insight Outreach Officer), I believe that this PDP 11 minicomputer from 1971 is probably the country’s oldest operational computer. It is the size of a very large fridge but has only a memory capacity of 128k which seems puny in today’s term when one considers that the latest mobile phone can have 64gigabytes as standard. But forty years ago it was the flagship of computing. The PDP was repaired and restored by Joe Hurley of Quicktec. For Joe it was a labour of love as he had worked as a technician at the Galway factory where these computers were manufactured. In 1971 Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), then the world’s second largest computer company, opened its first overseas manufacturing plant outside the USA  at Mervue in the city which produced a range of minicomputers and software that became the backbone of many industrial and engineering plants across Europe. One of the key reasons that the corporation located in Galway was the presence of a university which could provide an ongoing skilled creative educated workforce. This was further reinforced the following year with the establishment of a third level technology college, now known as the GMIT, near to the DEC plant. Not only did it become a major employer for the city and county, but its decision to set up here encouraged other US high-tech companies to follow suit with the result that the Ireland became a leading global electronics hub. New and exciting job opportunities in the areas of science, engineering and commerce for young Irish people resulted, significantly transforming the nation’s economy and society in the process. 

So Galway can rightly claim to be the country’s first and premier ‘Digital City’, building on an unbroken tradition of computing innovation dating back to DEC’s arrival.

During the Open Day at the museum, facilitated by Pat Moran (who joined DEC in 1973) visitors were able to view a full range of the DEC hardware including VAX systems, VT100 terminals, Rainbow microcomputers, PDP 8s and LA printers, as well as equipment manufactured by Northern Telecom (later Avaya) during the 1970s and 1980s; computers associated with the early 1980s Mervue-based Information Sources Ltd (ISL) which was Ireland’s first international digital archiving and cataloguing enterprise; and an 1993 IBM PC compatible microcomputer made by the Irish-owned QTech company. 

Zenith Heathkit computer from ISL (1983)

There was also on display electronic apparati made in Limerick (Wang), Cork (Apple) and elsewhere in Ireland during the nineteenth seventies and nineteenth eighties.

Thanks also to Philip Cloherty and Alanna Kelly for their wonderful stewardship on the day. Alanna has brought the museum into state-of-the art 21st century technology with her demonstrations of 3D printing.

Máire Bean Uí Chonghaile with Pat Moran (Museum Director & ex-DEC)

Galway: Birthplace of Computing in Schools

One of the visitors to the event was  Máire Bean Uí Chonghaile (neé Ní Chonceanainn), who was a founding member of the Computer Educational Society of Ireland (CESI) which was established in 1973 with its first conference being held in Galway. The group grew out of a series of computer courses for teachers that were hosted at University College Galway (now NUI Galway) during the summers of 1971 and 1972 by the staff of its Department of Mathematics.  
Máire was one of the earliest teachers of computing in schools. From 1977, she used a PDP8 minicomputer with two teleprinters provided by DEC Galway to teach Fortran computer language to students at Coláiste Chroí Mhuire An Spidéal . 

The BEO Project: A School Reunion- 74 years after closure!

A School Reunion- 74 years after closure!

A unique historical community gathering took place last night (Saturday January 18^th) when former pupils of Carrowbrowne National School attended a reunion in Cloonacauneen Castle. Unusual for two reasons: the school closed down in 1940 and the year celebrated will be 1938!

The event was officiated by Mayor of Galway county, Councillor Liam Carroll with local councillors Frank Fahy and Tom Costello representing Galway City Council. There was a display of memorabilia of a 1930s/1940s classroom such as desks, blackboard, books, writing implements, bell, maps, Tilley lamps and an abacus which were supplied by the communications museum located at the Insight Centre in NUI Galway.

Margaret Mulgannon (née O’Brien) of Mervue organised the reunion supported by myself. For in my capacity as Outreach Officer at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics in NUI Galway I manage BEO (Irish for 'alive') , an exciting digital archive schools-based project that represents the largest heritage programme involving schools since the 1930s Folklore Commission. 

Participating schools in BEO host informal local community nights where local residents and former pupils enjoy a chat over a cup of tea and cake with former classmates as well as bringing along photos and films that the pupils digitise, clean up and post onto a unique heritage repository website (irishbeo.com). Podcast interviews are also recorded of the older people’s memories of times long ago. 

The images and recordings collected provide a fascinating insight into an Ireland that is no longer with us- a time of small family farms, communal harvests, strong community spirit, peat fuel, market towns, town factories based on locally source raw materials, Gaelic sports, emigration, deep religious observance and the power and decline of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. 

The oldest person so far interviewed is 93 year old Maisie Sherlock, who was tracked down as a result of a 1928 photograph of Tiaquin national school. Maisie was one of the pupils in the photograph. She was born in 1921 the year before the Irish state was founded; attended Tiaquin school when it first opened on April 6^th 1926; spent most of World War Two as a nurse in London where she was officially commended for her bravery when her hospital was bombed, and witnessed the closure of the school in 1977. In fact her life is the history of modern Ireland. 

Over the last six months, circa 20 schools have organised such reunions with many more to follow over the next year. 2013 was a great opportunity to give impetus to the project as it was the Year of the Gathering providing a lot of goodwill and interest towards facilitating local heritage events involving schools. 

Already photographs from 120 Galway schools are on the BEO Photo gallery website, with thousands of images and dozens of films and podcasts on life in rural Ireland to be uploaded over the next year. The website has had nearly 600,000 hits already which will dramatically increase in the coming months.

The project’s aim is to have all schools of Galway city and county involved and to have all schools past and present identified on a shared website and associated digital map with images of the school and locality in days gone by.  At present, there are circa three hundred schools in Galway city and county, with an estimated two hundred more that have closed down over the last eighty years due to population decline, amalgamation and changes in government policy.

BEO is a partnership proje

ct involving the Insight Centre NUI Galway, Galway County Council, Galway Education Centre,  Galway Retired Teachers’ Association, the Galway Board of the GAA and Ballinasloe Active Retired Association.

At one reunion event held last summer in Castlegar National School as part of The Gathering 2013, Margaret arrived with a photograph of herself as a young girl with fellow pupils taken in front of Carrowbrowne school in 1938. No other known image existed of an establishment that closed two years later when it amalgamated into the new school in Castlegar.  By the end of the event, local people had helped identify the majority of the fifty five pupils and two teachers in the photograph. The interest generated by the image was so strong that Margaret decided to organise a reunion of former pupils and their families with the help of Brendan.

42 Year old renowned Galway Computer Comes Back to Life!

A minicomputer of the type that was made in Galway from November 1971 was switched on last Friday as part of the special The Gathering Ireland reunion weekend attended by c320 former staff of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).

After days spent repairing and replacing parts, former DEC technician Joe Hurley got the 1971 PDP11 minicomputer up and running much to the delight of the ex-DECies that came along to witness this historical moment in the 'Computer & Communications Museum of Ireland' located in the INSIGHT (formerly DERI) Centre for Data Analytics in NUI Galway. The 16-bit minicomputer was the flagship of the corporation's product line for much of the 1970s and 1980s. 

As Joe switched on the unit, rows of lights started flashing on its front and a noise like the sound of a jet taking off filled the room, followed soon after by an almighty roar from the crowd of onlookers. A few tears were shed as happy memories flooded back of life in DEC, a corporation that made Galway one of the main centres of hardware manufacturing in Europe.

‘Back to the Future’ Retro Gaming, National Culture Night, Sept 20th (6.30pm-8.30pm)

Relive the thrills of playing video Arcade classics including Pacman, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pong and Sonic on renowned vintage consoles and computers such as Atari, Amiga, Sega Mega Drive and Sinclair ZX81. 

The sights and sounds on offer will try to capture the youthful cultural essence of the early days of computer gaming of the 1970s and 1980 which made such a major contribution in the overall development of digital sound and graphics. 
Attendees will also be introduced to the software coding that constitutes the games. 

There will also be displays of American and European 1960s science fiction comics and memorabilia including Star Trek, Thunderbirds, Stringray, Avengers, Superman, Green Lantern and Thor.
Times: 6.30pm-8.30pm

Website is www.computermuseumireland.com

A Technology & Science Museum network in Ireland a Possibility?

Curator Toby Joyce with the Telstar replica at the Bells Lab technology museum, Alcatel-Lucent plant, Dublin

The Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland located at Insight (DERI) in NUI Galway is interested in developing links between technology and science museums across Ireland in an effort to make people, particularly those at school or college, more aware of the rich heritage that this country has in technological, engineering and scientific development. Our main emphasis will on networking heritage facilities that have a strong communications technology aspect. 


Links have already being established with Bell Laboratories through its parent company Alcatel-Lucent which has a fantastic museum at its plant in Blanchardstown Dublin. Bell Labs, named after its founder the telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, is probably the greatest scientific research establishment of all time, responsible for inventions such as the air-to-ground Radio-Relephony, TelePhotograph (fax) receiver, Vitaphone projector (synchronisation of sound with movie), the Transistor and the Telstar. 

Air-to-Ground Radiotelephone 1915 display, Alcatel-Lucent, Dublin

The Telstar, launched on July 10th 1962 was the first communications satellite to successfully relay through space television pictures, telephone calls, fax images and provided the first live transatlantic television feed. 

Manual operated Switchboard, Telephone Exchange, Newbliss Monaghan

Replicas of many of these ground-breaking ground breaking communications devices are on display at the Alcatel/Bell Labs museum in Dublin which operates under the auspices of Toby Joyce (see photo above).
Toby is originally from Clifden and worked in DEC Galway during the 1970s and 1980s.

Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland, Galway

This Galway-based Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland museum provides a fascinating insight into advances in communications and computing from ancient hieroglyphics to today’s Internet. 

Enjoying Vintage Computer Gaming at the Computer and Communications Museum

The array of electronic artifacts on display include such iconic computers as the DEC PDP11, Apple II, IBM PC, ZX81 and Commodore Vic-20. Special themes include Computing in Ireland, early Radio, Steve Jobs & Apple Computers, Youth & Innovation, Women in Technology, and a vintage video games section with classics such as ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’, ‘Pacman’ and ‘Space Invaders’. It also endeavours to ensure that the facility is innovative and inspirational to a younger audience by organising regular vintage gaming, computer programming and ‘maker’ workshops.”

 

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny listens to Frank McCurry explain the workings of vintage Radio at the Computer and Communications museum

The museum operates under a multi-sectoral board chaired by Dr. Chris Coughlan of Hewlett Packard with representatives from Engineers’ Ireland, GMIT, IT NUIG, INSIGHT as well as small businesses and Irish Diaspora groups.
Click here to access the computer museum website.

Revisiting the micros of the early 1980s

Hurdy Gurdy (Radio) Museum

There are other wonderful technology heritage facilities across Ireland including at Birr Castle, the location of the world's largest telescope and at the Hurdy Gurdy Radio museum at the Martello Tower in Howth which has a remarkable eclectic collection of 20th century radios and gramophone players. 

The Howth building itself has strong associations with the development of telecommunications in Ireland.
For instance, the first telegraph line under the Irish Sea was terminated in the tower in 1852 and Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the wireless radio, undertake radio transmission experiments from it in 1913.
Click here to access the Hurdy Gurdy museum website.

Engineering and Astronomy Museum, Birr Castle

The museum at Birr Castle county Offaly is dedicated to the scientific discoveries and innovations of the Earls and Countesses of Rosse of the 19th century who were responsible for their place of residency being an internationally acclaimed hub for science and technology. The science facility housed in the renovated stables explores the wonders of Victorian photography, engineering and astronomy with a special emphasis on the brilliant design of the world famous Great Telescope.

Built in the 1840s, it was for over 70 years the largest telescope in the world. Its builder the third Earl of Rosse used it to discover the spiral nature of some of the galaxies. Today, its promoters claim it is probably the largest historic scientific instrument in operation today.
Click here for access to the Birr Castle website

Honouring Technology pioneer Douglas Engelbart, RIP

On July 2nd, one of the greatest technology visionaries of the modern era, Douglas Engelbart, passed away at the age of 88. 

The Computer  and Communications Museum of Ireland, based at the Digital Enterprise Reseracgh Instiute (DERI) in NUI Galway is very privileged to have in its possession a rare specimen of one of his inventions which we will proudly display at a public Open Day in his honour that will take place this Saturday (July 13th) from 10am until 3pm.

The 'five finger chorded keyset' was publicly used for the first time by Douglas in his legendary ‘Mother of all Demos’ presentation that took place in the San Francisco Convention Centre on December 9th 1968.
This event, attended by c.1,000 computer experts, was a seminal moment in modern history as it introduced many of the key technologies of the Digital Age such as the computer mouse, video conferencing, word processing and hypertext.

The keyset was used in combination with one of his other new inventions, a three-button mouse, to allow fast data entry and computer interactions.

At the time of the ‘Mother of all Demos’ in 1968, Doug Engelbart was working at the famous Stanford Research Institute located in Menlo Park California.

Douglas met Dr. John Breslin of DERI and NUI Galway in the United States earlier this year and mentioned that he was delighted that the Computer & Communications Museum of Ireland held an example of his work in it's permanent collection. 

The artifact is on loan to the museum from Karl Flannery of the Galway-based Storm Technology who received it from Engelbart in the mid-1980s whilst working in the USA on behalf of Digital Equiipment Corporation (DEC).

"Cyber Girls’ Power” comes to Galway - Ireland’s premier Digital City

Mercy Secondary School students with Ina O'Murchu at 'Women in Technology' event at DERI NUIG

The hosting of  a major pioneering initiative taking place at NUI Galway on May 17^th-18^th aims to encourage increased learning of computer coding amongst the local female population. Entitled ‘Rails Girls Galway’, the May event is part of a worldwide movement that aims to bridge the gender divide in technology and teach women how to code. The free weekend workshop will let females of all ages in on the exciting world of building web applications and software services. It will be held on Friday and Saturday May 17th-18^th at the NUI Galway’s Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) located in the Dangan IDA/NUIG Business Park.

Coders Needed to Make the much vaunted Knowledge Society a reality 

“Ireland needs computer programmers of both sexes to help lay the foundations of the ‘Knowledge Economy’ and to create the jobs for a sustainable future,” says Myriam Leggieri, DERI researcher and one of the chief organisers. “But there is in particular a serious shortage of female IT developers in Ireland and across the world as well as in the professions of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) professions generally. Events such as 'Rails Girls' directly address this issue and empower girls to take the first step in learning these in-demand skills and acquiring the tools to conquer one of the last great frontiers of science, namely the World Wide Web.”

Alanna from 091Labs

The organisers comprise mainly young female IT researchers involved in local third level colleges, businesses, schools and volunteer digital makers’ clubs such as Coderdojo and 091Labs. Though primarily aimed towards local female students particularly in post primary schools and third level colleges, nevertheless there will be attendees arriving from across Ireland and Britain. The weekend event is free, is open to all enthusiastic girls and women, and is suitable for absolute beginners to computer coding. No prior knowledge of programming is required.

This event is part of a radical technology learning transformation of the city.

Huge Interest in Learning to Code amongst Galway's Youth
Every Saturday morning at NUI Galway and other locations in Athenry and Kinvara, hundreds of enthusiastic children and teenagers create their very own games, digital stories and web projects mentored by the young volunteer mentors of Coderdojo. 

Coderdojo Class in DERI on Saturday mornings

Youth-run clubs such as 091 Labs are also providing informal after-school digital maker’s environments. Thanks to the combined efforts of volunteer tutors from Hewlett Packard, Avaya, GMIT, Medtronic, SAP and DERI working under the guidance of the Galway Education Centre supported by the work of the Galway Science and Technology Forum and Junior Achievement, approximately two thousand pupils and students in over 50 primary and post-primary schools across counties Mayo and Galway are currently being educated in computer programming.  

Transition Year students Davitt College Castlebar learning to code with Brendan Smith DERI

 Recognition of the importance of these developments is shown by the recent inaugural ‘John Cunningham Memorial Coderdojo Awards’ granted to young coders for their outstanding contributions to computer programming; the Boston Scientific ‘Coding the Big Bang’ awards;  and ITAG’s  new ‘IT in the Community Award’ that was won by Coderdojo Galway city.

Birth of Ireland's First Generation of Coders

The end result is that finally, five decades after the tentative introduction of computing into Irish schools, we are experiencing the first generation of children that can code, that are truly ‘digital creators’ rather than just passive ‘digital users’.

Retro Gaming event Computer Museum, DERI

Galway: Ireland's primary Science City
These developments are part of an even bigger picture of progressive change where the city can truly claim to be Ireland's oldest Digital City and probably its premier City of Science having in the process the potential to become the Silicon Valley of Ireland. See my article on this subject by clicking here 

Location for leading International & National Science Research & Science Education centres.
Galway is now the location for the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland (based at DERI NUIG), the national Marine Institute, the National Aquarium (Galway Atlantaquaria), Ireland's longest (2 weeks) annual Science and Technology Festival and the world's largest semantic web research institute (DERI). It was to Galway rather than to Dublin or to Cork that CERN, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, sent their renowned interactive exhibition last September. It was hugely sucessfull and was visited by 12,000 post-primary school students from across the island.
Interestingly the DERI-based  computer museum hosts an exhibit dedicated to women (hidden histories) that were pioneers in communications and computer technologies but are largely unknown by the general public.

Retro Gaming event Computer Museum, DERI

Computer Museum Proves a Big Hit at Volvo Ocean Race Festival Galway

Over the last few days as the rainstorms have abated, huge crowds have started to visit the Computer & Communications Museum of Ireland at the Volvo Ocean Race Festival Galway.
The facility was transferred from its normal residency at DERI in NUI Galway to the Global Village at Southpark Claddagh for the duration of the Race Festival and it has really started to become a big popular hit.
Exhibits include the Marconi Radio show with its 'Morse Code in action' organised by Frank McCurry; the Star Trek 'fun face' stand where people are lining up to get their photos taken as Lieutenant Uhura & Dr. Spock; the Retro Games section where parents and their sons and daughters enjoy together the great classics of Pacman, Space Invaders, Sonic the Hedgehog etc on Ataris, Nintendos, Amigas... 
Just as successful has been the interactive engineering workshops. 
For 2pm-4pm, it is 'K'NEX modelling for kids' facilitated by 12 year old Daire Smith.
 For 4pm-6pm, the Coderdojo workshop is staffed by youngsters teaching other children how to code in HTML & Scratch. 
Then from 6pm until 8pm, the enthusiasts from 091Labs show people of all ages how to solder, print in 3D & repair electronic equipment.
These participants are displaying the enthusiasm, creativity and skillsets needed to become the engineers of the future.

Cyberbullying- A Growing Problem in Modern Society

For the last few months, I seem to be providing workshops at least once, twice even three times a week to parents and teachers of Galway schools on the growing problem of Cyberbullying.
No longer is intimidation of children by their peers and others confined to the school playground or the street. The mobile phone & the Internet has brought this danger into the home and into the bedroom, areas once regarded as places of sanctuary. 
Online Social Networks such as Facebook have been highly beneficial technologies to humankind. But their use particularly by children has oftentimes degenerated into these sites becoming sources of fear and harassment.
This phenomena began in the 1990s with mobile phone texting. 

As Outreach Officer at DERI, I provide parents with guidelines on how to identify and to tackle cyberbullying. I actually recommend them to join Facebook and similar OSN's which in a small way acts as a positive deterrent to their own sons and daughters abusing these facilities. I also educate adults on protecting their children from Internet porn. But at the end of the day, I tell them what is needed first and foremost is good old-fashioned active parenting. There is no substitute for the latter.

Retro Video Games & Classic Science Fiction Comics Expo at NUI Galway To Celebrate 40th anniversary of Computer Gaming

 Panel in the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland, DERI, NUI Galway

A special event in NUI Galway on Friday will celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the birth of popular computer gaming when the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland, located in the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI), will host a ‘Retro Games’ extravaganza. 

Members of the general public are invited along to enjoy the wonders of classic games including Asteroids, Pacman, Space Invaders, Sonic the Hedgehog and Earthworm Jim on legendary consoles and computers such as the Sega Mega Drive, Nintendo,  Atari, Amiga and the Commodore 64.

The sights and sounds on offer will capture the essence of the early days of computer gaming of the 1970s and 1980 which made a major contribution in the overall development of digital sound and graphics. 

Of particular significance will be the showing of ‘Pong’, the first commercially successful video game, released in 1972 by a then new American company called Atari Inc. which was primarily responsible for the formation of the computer game and video arcade industries.

Attendees will also be introduced to the software coding that constitutes the games and will be able therefore to gain an insight into how digital technology actually works.

There will also be displays of American and European 1960s science fiction comics and memorabilia including Star Trek, Thunderbirds, Green Lantern, Thor and the Avengers. Today's children can relate to many of these  fictitious characters as they are  making a welcome return to modern day cinema.

 

1960s Science Fiction Comics:

Influencing Social Change & Inspiring Scientific & Technology Innovation

Science Fiction has inspired generations of young people to invent future technologies from robotics to space stations.

This was particularly evident in the 1960s when manned space travel began with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first human to journey into outer space on 12^th April 1961.  Before the decade had ended, mankind had landed on the Moon.

On July 20^th 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto its surface from the Lunar module Eagle.

 Space travel captured the imagination of youth and the 1960s witnessed an explosion of popular science fiction worldwide that embraced comics, films, television programmes and toys.

In the United States, Marvel and DC comics created a myriad of super–heroes that appealed to a young readership because of their exciting adventures across distant galaxies that promised an often benign future where interplanetary travel would become a characteristic of high tech societies. 

For the first time, children read about civilisations where women as well as boys and girls particularly teenagers fought battles for truth and justice. 

Females heroines such as Wonder Woman and teenagers such as Saturn Girl and the X-Men were as prominent in science fiction as adult males such as Iron Man and Hawkman.  

For the first time, super-heroes did not have to have by definition the perfect physiques. A number of the genre had disabilities such as blindness (Daredevil) and heart defects (Iron Man).

There was a realisation too that mankind’s attitudes and technologies were endangering the health of the planet, the destruction of other species and of humanity itself. This environmental message features prominently in comics such as the Sub Mariner and in films such as the Planet of the Apes (1969) and Soylent Green (1973).

In recent years, there has been a remarkable rebirth in these classic super heroes thanks to CGI (Computer-generated imagery). Films such as Thor and Green Lantern were  box-office successes in 2011 and this year sees the return of the Avengers. 

The event takes places within National Engineers’ Week and is part of an exciting schedule of activities across Ireland designed to capture the imagination of youth and to demonstrate the benefits and challenges that careers in science and technology represents.