Syndicate: Jetai'97 Press Release

[Kathy <Kathy@thing.at>]

>Return-Path: <stefan@mcg.gla.ac.uk>
>Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 16:36:18 +0100
>From: stefan@mcg.gla.ac.uk (Stefan Korn)
>To: kathy@thing.at
>Subject: Jetai'97 Press Release
>
>Event: 12 - 15 November 1997
>
>Jetai'97 - New Ways of Communicating
>
>Huge Harry will be giving the opening address at a conference on
>communication in the University of Glasgow next month.
>
>Huge Harry does not think that humans and computers communicate very well.
>He is not unique in this view, but his perspective is; Huge Harry is a
>computer program who enlists the help of Dutch artist Arthur Elsenaar to
>help him get in touch with humans. Elsenaar, who experiments with
>electronic control of human muscle groups, will be wired up to a computer
>through which Huge Harry will demonstrate the workings of Elsenaar's
>"display unit" or face. Huge Harry adjusts the "parameter settings" of
>Elsenaar's "muscles of sadness" or "muscles of contempt" and produces
>frowns or grins with quick, electrical tweaks to the edges of the artist's
>mouth.
>
>Huge Harry is one manifestation of the development in communication over
>the last few years. Advances in computing and telecommunications are
>radically increasing the range and amount of information available, the
>speed at which it is delivered and in what form. This expansion is so rapid
>that even specialists find it hard to keep track of recent advances and
>future developments. The conference - "New Ways of Communicating" - to be
>held at the University of Glasgow this November will bring together
>business, industry and academic representatives to exchange information and
>ideas about the way people use IT and to come up with an imaginative vision
>of the future of communication and the Internet.
>
>The event, organised by Jetai UK* - a European organisation which promotes
>the widespread use of IT, will cover the technical, medical, social,
>cultural and artistic uses of communication technology. Java, electronic
>commerce, speech recognition, data security, videoconferencing and legal
issues
>of global networks are among the topics to be addressed at the conference. A
>session on telemedicine will feature a live link to an operation taking place
>in the Southern General Hospital, Glasgow with commentary from the surgeon
>and the patient. Ellen-Raissa Jackson, of Jetai UK says: "The Internet
provides
>a space not only for computers to get over their communication problems, but 
>humans too. Videoconferencing techniques can help provide medical students
with 
>vital practical experience, as well as allowing for some instructive feedback
>from their subjects".
>
>The conference will also pay special attention to the use of IT in new media 
>art. Several multimedia artists will discuss their work in two sessions on
Art 
>and the Net. To complete the experience, a number of performances will take 
>place at the Streetlevel Gallery, Glasgow.
> 
>The conference exhibition in the Hunterian Museum will include a display
which 
>celebrates the 40th anniversary of the founding of the University of Glasgow 
>Computing Laboratory, looking back at the defining moments in 40 years of 
>computing and looking forward to the millenium. Finally, visions of the
future
>will be discussed by delegates and experts in an closing session to be
chaired
>by Erik Huizer of SurfNet.
>
>*Jetai (Journees Europeennes des Techniques Avancees de l'Informatique) was
>founded in 1989 at the Enseeiht University of Toulouse, France. since then
>the registered EU organisation has grown constantly and now has more than
>1500 members in 5 European countries. Jetai UK is registered at the
>University of Glasgow and is run by members of all 3 universities in the
>city. Jetai organises talks, workshops and conferences focusing on various
>aspects of IT.
>
>
>For further information contact:
>Susan Howie, University Press Office, 0141 330 4240, s.howie@mis.gla.ac.uk
>or Ellen-Raissa Jackson, Jetai UK, 0141 330 3602, jetais@mcg.gla.ac.uk
>
>Jetai UK website: http://www.jetai.mcg.gla.ac.uk/
>
>