I live about 200 metres from Baldongan Castle where, in June 1642, a 200-strong garrison of Irish rebels were put to the sword by English Parliamentary forces. The events surrounding the massacre stem from the Irish Rebellion of 1641, an uprising initiated in a time of deteriorating conditions in Ireland, which was under English rule, and a breakdown in relations between the English king, Charles I, and the English parliament. The 1641 rebellion in Ireland was undertaken in support of the king against the parliament, as the Irish feared that they would lose property and status if the powers of the king were limited and parliament prevailed. The parliament included a man who would be remembered in infamy in many parts of Ireland, Oliver Cromwell, prior to his brutal conquest of Ireland, which began in 1649 with the infamous Drogheda Massacre.

Trinity College Dublin has just opened an exhibition in the Long Room of its Old Library entitled ‘Ireland in Turmoil: the 1641 Depositions’ concerning this bloody period in Irish history. The President of Ireland, Mary McAleese opened the exhibition. Also attending was Lord Bannside (formerly Dr. Ian Paisley). A website concerning the period has also been launched. It is a free resource and contains the transcribed and digitised 1641 Depositions, which are witness testimonies of the violent massacres of the 1641 Irish Rebellion. The project was a joint undertaking between Trinity College Dublin, the University of Aberdeen and the University of Cambridge.

The online publication of the 1641 Depositions was funded by the Irish Research Council of the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS), Trinity College Dublin and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)  in the UK. The exhibition ‘Ireland in Turmoil: The 1641 Depositions’ runs until April 3rd 2011 in the Long Room, Old Library, Trinity College Dublin. I’ve spent some hours on the website already and discovered some fascinating information and harrowing tales. I recommend it to readers.

Links:

University of Aberdeen News Release

University of Cambridge News Release

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I went along this evening to a pretty full lecture theatre in Trinity College’s Science Gallery to listen to Venky Narayanamurti of the Harvard Kennedy School speaking on the subject of science, technology and society. He is a man clearly passionate about his topic and spoke with conviction, vigour, animation and not a little humour. Venky spoke about the great inventors – Edison, Watt, Einstein, Pasteur- and how invention and innovation come from applied science, research, experimentation, use cases and what he termed “grand challenges”. He spoke passionately about the need for an understanding of science among our leaders and hailed Obama’s commitment to the sciences in his inaugural speech:

“We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.”

Vekny spoke about how innovation does not always have to come from inventing something new, but can also come from finding new and imaginative ways of using something that already exists. He cited the case of Ushahidi, an open source, ”crowdsourcing” system that uses simple mobile technology, such as phone, SMS, and web, combined with geolocation and mapping software on the Internet to track emergency and crisis information. Ushahidi is a fantastic example of how collaboration and innovation, coupled with existing technology, can come together to solve real world problems. It was used in Kenya to map incidents of violence and peace efforts throughout the country based on reports submitted via the web and mobile phone after the 2008 elections. It was used in India to monitor elections and it was used in Washington DC to deal with the aftermath of their snow this year. It is now being used to monitor the crisis in Haiti after the earthquake.

In question and answer following his speech, Venky’s answer to one question stuck with me. Asked about invention and about how and whether people should focus their efforts, Venky said, ” You can’t be everywhere, because then you are nowhere.” How true.

It was a wonderful evening in the Science Gallery and I look forward to attending more lectures there. The lecture was recorded, so I hope it will find its way to YouTube or iTunesU.

If you were at Venky’s lecture and would like to add your thoughts, please leave a comment and add to the record.  If you have used Ushahidi, or know about the application, I’d also love to hear from you. And, finally, if you have had experience of crowdsourcing, please share your thoughts and experience here.

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This surely is a big question, some answers to which I look forward to hearing at Trinity College’s Science Gallery next Wednesday, 24 March 2010, at 18.00 UTC/GMT.

Professor Venkatesh Narayanamurti, Harvard Kennedy School Director of Science, Technology and Public Policy will speak on “The Role of Science and Technology in Meeting Societal Grand Challenges” in the Science Gallery’s Culture of Science lecture series. The lecture is presented in association with the TCD/UCD Innovation Aliance, which is a partnership between both Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin that will work with the education sector, the State and its agencies and the business and venture capital communities to develop a world-class ecosystem for innovation that will drive enterprise development and the creation of sustainable high value jobs. Wow!

Entrance is free for members (SG members and on production of a valid TCD and UCD id card) and a mere €5 euros for other guests.

You can keep up with events at the Science Gallery on their website, follow them on Twitter @sciencegallery, or join their 740+ fans on Facebook.

Trinity College is also on Twitter @tcdublin and has many sites on Facebook.

If you’d like to connect with me, check out the contact details on the right.

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