In 2006 I'll be on study leave. In September I'll be in parts of the US and Canada. This page gives a list of seminars and background information that I'll be giving.
A list of most of my itinerary is available. Interested people should check here regularly as it is being updated as more details come to hand.
The three topics I'll be speaking on are:
Computer Science Unplugged is a project that seeks to teach principles of computer science without using computers. It can be used in conjunction with computer courses, in classrooms, and in situations where access to computers is limited.
The material has been used for public shows, school talks, and lecture demonstrations. Resources are available through the Unplugged website, including books and video clips.
Variations of the following talks/events will be offered.
The workshop focusses on enrichment and extension material for classes of all ages (new entrants to high school), and explores Computer Science in a fun way without using computers! It includes much of the material from the seminar (below), plus some of the activities from the show will be demonstrated (also below).
A printed book about Unplugged is available for US$25 from lulu.com.
This show is an action-packed, zany time exploring some of the neat ideas in computer science. It is primarily aimed at elementary-aged school children, and can be "performed" in a variety of settings such as school classrooms, science museums, and science festivals.
A background paper about (an older version of) the show can be found at http://www.unplugged.canterbury.ac.nz/ideas/upshow.pdf.
Here is a sample advertisement for the show.
Computer Science Unplugged is a project that seeks to teach principles of computer science without using computers. It can be used in conjunction with computer courses, in classrooms, and in situations where access to computers is limited. This seminar describes activities the Computer Science academics can use to demonstrate principles of computer science to school children in a variety of settings, and as a warm up for university courses. These activities are "unplugged" --- no computers are required.
We will describe "Unplugged" material can be used for school outreach, and some evaluation and lessons learned over the years will be presented.
It is now feasible to store, process and present high-quality images of music scores on standard desktop and portable computing devices. Emerging digital rights management systems are making it realistic for users to legally obtain and share such documents electronically, and much print music can now be obtained online. However, such systems are still usually predicated on performing the music from paper, and the cost of digitising legacy documents is high.
This seminar will explore ways to capture and enhance print music, and to present the music on a computer display for live performance, rehearsal and practice. A variety of image processing techniques are discussed for identifying music documents, "cleaning" the image to make it easier to read, using pen input for faster annotation, and presenting the music on a digital music stand.
Podcasting can be loosely defined as making audio recordings (usually something like a radio show) available for download onto portable music players so that it can be listened to when and where the listeners want, particularly during "downtime" such as commuting or exercising.
Podcasting is attractive in the area of education because it provides flexible access to material, and potentially could help students fit more learning into a busy day.
This seminar will look at the potential (both positive and negative) of podcasting, particularly in the context of Computer Science education. Experience with podcasting in two first-year courses will be relayed, and we will discuss how a tap-dancing news-reader and a Computer Science gansta-rapper relate to the flexible learning experience.
Tim Bell (www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/tim.bell) is an Associate Professor in the department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. His current research interests include Computers and Music, Public Understanding of (Computer) Science, and educational applications of podcasting.
He received the Science Communicator Award from the NZ Association of Scientists in 1999, and an inaugural New Zealand Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award in 2002. He has appeared with his "Computer Science Unplugged" show at the Edinburgh International Science Festival, the Dunedin International Science Festival, and the Australian Science Festival. He is also a qualified musician, and performs regularly on instruments that have black-and-white keyboards.
He is co-author of the books "Text Compression" and "Managing Gigabytes".
Here is my itinerary. There is a note where I'll be giving a public workshop or seminar. Interested people should check here regularly as it is being updated as more details come to hand.
Fri Sep 15 Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine - Unplugged workshop for teachers, 2pm
Mon Sep 18 Visit to AMSACS school (Boston)
Thu Sep 21 New York (no workshops)
Mon Sep 25 U West Virginia - Seminar on Music Image Processing, 5pm
Tue Sep 26 CMU: Unplugged for K-12 teachers, 5:30pm to 7pm -
Details at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/cs4hs/cs_show/
Thu Sep 28 Columbus, OH (no workshops)
Fri Sep 29 CCSC Midwest conference 2:15pm - Details at http://www.ccsc.org/midwest/Conference/
Sat Sep 30 Butler University, Indianapolis - 9-10:45 Teacher workshop, 11-12 Children's show -
Details at http://www.butler.edu/cs/unplugged
Mon Oct 2 Bloomington, IN (no workshops)
Tue Oct 3 UI Urbana-Champaign - http://leep.lis.uiuc.edu/publish/asist/events.htm
Wed Oct 4 Purdue : Teacher workshop 10am approx. -
Details at http://www.cs.purdue.edu/external_relations/k-12_outreach/summer_camps/linking/CSUnplugged.sxhtml
Thu Oct 5 Michigan??
Sat Oct 7 Chicago?
Fri Oct 13 Seattle/Tacoma Univ. of Washington Tacoma CTC meeting, 9am . http://faculty.washington.edu/chungsa
Mon Oct 16 (or Tue 17) Calgary, Alberta - TBA
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