An invitation is being extended to those
who were employed in electronic manufacturing companies such as Northern
Telecom, Information Sources Ltd(ISL) and Digital Equipment Corporation, as
well as to those who had worked or studied in information technology, telecommunications
and computing retail sector in Galway, during the 1970s/1980s, to attend a
gathering at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics of the Data Science
Institute, NUI Galway in the Dangan Business Park at 8pm on Tuesday June 11th.
The purpose of the event is to connect with people that helped make Galway the
country’s first ‘Digital City’ and one that was uniquely cosmopolitan during
this era, in order to tap into their expertise, memorabilia and stories for the
benefit of the national Computer and Communications Museum based at the Data
Science Institute.
According to Brendan Smith Public
Engagement Officer at Insight and curator of the computer museum, “21st
century Ireland is defined in so many ways by technology-related issues such as
cloud computing, social media, robotics, artificial intelligence, youth coding
clubs, online digital media, video conferencing, computing gaming, a government
focus on investing into science subjects, developing third level centres of
scientific research, promoting the country as a high-tech global hub for
foreign direct investment, attracting in skilled workers from overseas, as well
as on the dark side by concerns over hacking and the negative influences of
modern devices on family life and wellbeing.
Amazingly these issues were also
symptomatic of Galway during the 1980s. The city was a
key European manufacturing plant for Digital Equipment Corporation(DEC), then
the world’s second largest computer company and for Northern Telecom, a global pioneer in the development of telecommunications products. Attracted
by high tech jobs and a better quality of life, people came to work in Galway
from the Americas, Asia and the European continent who had no Irish ancestry as
well as from the Irish Diaspora in United States and Britain. As early as
January 1981, all second-level schools in Galway city and county were equipped
with Apple computers. The university was providing coding workshops for
teachers; and ‘Coderdojo’ type clubs, aimed at children and their parents, were
operating in city centre locations. Eleven city schools benefitted from
‘cloud-computing’ technology for mathematics and programming applications.
Thirty years before Facebook, many teenagers took advantage of this online
network connecting schools to communicate with each other for meet-ups, dating
and other social engagements! Households in Galway were using digital devices
via telephone lines to access online services for emailing, shopping,
banking, hotel reservations, airline reservations, news, weather and
information services. From 1984, robotics was taught at
the Galway RTC (GMIT). UCG (NUIG) was renowned for its’ research on computer-aided
manufacturing. In 1985, a young
boy invented Galway’s first computer-controlled robot. Two years later, an
employee at DEC Galway produced probably Ireland’s first online newsletter by
emailing news stories to colleagues working in DEC plants across the globe. As
a prelude to Google, a Galway-based company(ISL) in 1982 was developing a
digital search engine for American libraries. The first satellite link between Ireland and North America,
that allowed transatlantic business communications including video conferencing,
was launched in 1987 at the Telecom Éireann (Éircom) headquarters in
Mervue.
We want to record these fascinating stories
from this innovative era and make them known to the wider public. Furthermore there is a huge repository
of technical expertise amongst people from that generation who could form a
veteran ‘digital makers’ club to pass on their vintage computer repair skills to
younger museum volunteers. Some
individuals may be able to source key Galway-made or associated equipment
absent from our museum collection or to volunteer as tour guides for a
technology heritage and learning facility that is the only one of its type in
Ireland and which could become an important element of Galway 2020 in promoting
our unique digital cultural heritage.”
