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| British Computer Society, Leicester Branch 50th Anniversary |
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Wednesday 14th of May 2008 was the 50th Anniversary of the inaugural meeting of the Leicester Branch of the BCS. To mark the occasion a celebratory event took place in the beautiful Trinity House Chapel, De Montfort University, Leicester, titled ‘The next 50 years of Computing’. The event was attended by around 60 members and guests, including a number of past Chairs and Officers of the branch, representatives of other professional bodies and from local Universities.
A panel of distinguished speakers including Adrian Hopgood, Dean of Computing Sciences and Engineering, at De Montfort University, José Fiadeiro, Head of Computer Science, University of Leicester, Alan Casey, immediate past Chairman, IET East Midlands, and Alan Pollard, BCS Deputy President, gave their views on the future of technology through the next 50 years, followed by a lively debate. Introducing the panel of speakers, Mary Clarkson, the current Chair of the branch, explained: “Computing has changed our world immensely over the last fifty years and with technology so interweaved with our every day lives it has become almost invisible. As part of our celebrations we want to draw a picture of what developments we might expect over the next fifty years.” Alan Casey suitably began the evening by describing how his own career had started. He followed this by listing the previous predictions of industry experts to put in context his own that included; smaller devices, parallel processing, bio science and neurology. José Fiadeiro reflected on a possible change in terms of the standing of Computer Science with respect to science and engineering in general. He also outlined how the challenge was to perhaps think differently from the natural way of thinking, for example to address complexity. Adrian Hopgood, Dean of Computing Sciences and Engineering at De Montfort University, commented: “I think we can assume greater integration of computing with everyday equipment, as we are already seeing with entertainment systems. But to really anticipate what will happen requires imagination of new concepts in addition to extrapolation of current trends.” Alan Pollard, BCS deputy president, said: “Web 2.0 is all about limitless exploitation and the major change that is evolving in the way that business models are being shaped by consumers not by sellers or service providers. “The only limit is our innovation and imagination and this is where the UK has a global advantage. We may not be a manufacturing nation any more but the great technology developers in the world continue to look to the UK for the output of our research and development. “At the same time, the web has the ever-increasing risk of self-destruction if it is not used sensibly. As IT Professionals, we must play our part in ensuring that the internet remains a safe and productive alternative to the real world whilst - we hope - never allowing it to become a substitute.” The panel’s predictions for the future also included: • wearable or implanted devices as miniaturization develops apace, • a redefinition of society as social networking continues to expand – whole generations are now growing up where social networking is the norm and an expected part of every day life. Commemorative mugs were presented to previous Chairs of the branch, including one given to Eric Richards who attended first meeting 50 years ago. A display of branch memorabilia was on show, including the first branch meeting minute books which record the discussions of topics that are still of interest to Computing professionals 50 years on. The event was deemed a great success by all those who attended. |