I am pleased to tell you that the first event in our 2008 - 2009 programme will be an illustrated presentation by Dr Mark Baldwin entitled "Enigma, Bletchley Park and the Battle of the Atlantic" on Tuesday 16 September at Lord Knights Suite, Tally Ho Sports & Conference Centre, Pershore Road, Birmingham B5 7RN at 18.00 for 18.30. Advanced booking is requested, please contact Chris Green, [email protected], by 5th September 2008 if you intend to be present at this event, so we can advise the caterers of the correct numbers requiring refreshments. More details are given below. If you want to socialise and network after the official end of the meeting we will be able to use the Tally Ho Lounge Bar, which is open till 10:30pm, although there may be some noise from the TV!
At present we have two more events finallised and they are also listed below.
We have been asked to let you know about the first BCS international academic conference, "Visions of computer science", which is being held at Imperial College London on September 22-24 2008. More information, including how to book, is given at the end of this message.
I hope we will see you at one or more of our events in this coming session.
Best wishes,
Peter Crouch
Membership Secretary
Birmingham Branch
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Tel: 0121 523 6756
E-mail: [email protected]
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ENIGMA, BLETCHLEY PARK & THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
An illustrated presentation by Dr Mark Baldwin (www.enigmatixuk.com)
Tuesday 16th September 2008 - 18.00 for 18.30 - Lord Knights Suite, Tally Ho Sports & Conference Centre, Pershore Road, Birmingham B5 7RN
One of the Second World War's most fascinating stories, is that of the Enigma machine, a portable encryption device widely used by the Germans, which they believed to be totally secure. Nevertheless, by mathematical analysis and modern technology (and a certain amount of good luck), the Allies devised techniques for 'breaking' Enigma codes, and thus read hundreds of thousands of German messages, providing a wealth of reliable intelligence.
Much of this work was carried out at Bletchley Park, today open to the public as a museum site, which explains and illustrates the history of the of the attack on Enigma, initiated by the Poles in the 1930s and later perfected by the British. The intelligence gained was of immense value to the Allies in virtually every theatre of war, but nowhere more so than in the Battle of the Atlantic, that gruelling conflict which lasted nearly six years at a cost of over 60,000 allied lives. Dr Baldwin uses the Battle of the Atlantic to exemplify the importance of code breaking in winning the war. The efforts to break Enigma and other German codes in the 1940s are also historically important as precursors to the modern discipline of computer science.
After the lecture, the audience are invited to take part in a hands-on practical demonstration of one of the few surviving Enigma machines. Only about 200 are known to survive worldwide; of these, only about a dozen are in public collections in Britain. There is no other machine on tour, so Dr Baldwin is providing a unique opportunity for the audience not just to view, but also to operate, an original 4-rotor Enigma machine, made for the U-Boat service in 1944. This is of particular interest, as there is no working machine on permanent public display anywhere in England north of Bletchley Park, and nowhere at all in Wales, Scotland or Ireland.
Agenda
18:00 - 18:30 Light refreshments (tea or coffee with biscuits)
18:30 - 20:00 The Enigma Machine Presentation
20:00 - 20:30 Questions & Answers
Please contact Chris Green, [email protected], by 5th September 2008 if you intend to be present at this event, so we can advise the caterers of the correct numbers requiring refreshments.
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BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY
BIRMINGHAM BRANCH
PRELIMINARY MEETINGS PROGRAMME 2008 - 2009
All our meetings are open to BCS members and non-members alike. Refreshments are available before all our evening meetings from 6pm. The presentations normally start at 6.30pm.
As non-BCS members are very welcome to attend our meetings, please feel free to pass this information on to friends and colleagues who you feel might be interested.
There is no charge for attendance at our evening events.
All our meetings are assessed for Continuing Professional Development as "attendance only" at the rate of 0.5 CPD Units per hour. We are no longer issuing CPD certificates as BCS members are now being encouraged to complete their personal Career Builder logs online. See http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=conWebDoc.1119 for more details.
Tuesday 16 September 2008 - "Enigma, Bletchley Park and the Battle of the Atlantic" - An illustrated presentation by Dr Mark Baldwin (www.enigmatixuk.com), at Lord Knights Suite, Tally Ho Sports & Conference Centre, Pershore Road, Birmingham B5 7RN - 18.00 for 18.30.
Booking requested, please contact Chris Green, [email protected], by 5th September 2008 if you intend to be present at this event, so we can advise the caterers of the correct numbers requiring refreshments.
Wednesday 15 October 2008 - "Agile Software Development: A framework for better software creation" - Mike Sutton, Agile Mentor/Coach, Certified Scrum Master & Practitioner, Wizewerx Ltd (http://www.wizewerx.com), at Trophy Suite, Tally Ho Sports & Conference Centre, Pershore Road, Birmingham B5 7RN - 18.00 for 18.30.
Booking requested, please contact Peter Crouch, [email protected] or 0121 523 6756, by 3rd October 2008 if you intend to be present at this event, so we can advise the caterers of the numbers for the buffet.
Thursday 12 February 2009 - "Working and Managing in a Multi-National Organisation" - Steve Goddard, Global Infrastructure Director, TRW Automotive, at Trophy Suite, Tally Ho Sports & Conference Centre, Pershore Road, Birmingham B5 7RN - 18.00 for 18.30.
We hope this will be a joint meeting with the Birmingham Branch of the Chartered Management Institute.
Booking requested, please contact Peter Crouch, [email protected] or 0121 523 6756, by 2nd February 2009 if you intend to be present at this event, so we can advise the caterers of the numbers for the buffet.
For the most up to date information and more details on our meetings and other activities please visit http://birmingham.bcs.org.
For information on the BCS itself please visit http://www.bcs.org.
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VISIONS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
Imperial College London, September 22-24 2008
The programme
The first BCS international academic conference has announced its programme, which features seven ACM Turing Award winners. The event promises to be a fascinating in-depth discussion of key issues in the realm of computer science today. The topics have been set deliberately broad to reflect the rich texture and intellectual vigour of current computer science.
Day one highlights include:
Michael Rabin on 'Practically Efficient Zero Knowledge Proofs of Correctness of Computations and Financial Cryptography'.
Joseph Sifakis on 'Component-based Construction of Heterogeneous Real-time Systems in BIP.'
Richard M Karp on 'Understanding Science through the Lens of Computation.'
Day one sessions are on 'AI and semantic web' and 'Automata and algorithms'.
Day two highlights:
Fran Allen on 'Languages and Compilers for the New Parallel Systems,'
Tony Hoare on 'A Vision for the Science of Computing.'
Day two sessions are on 'Medical and bioinformatics', 'Logics and foundations of computation', 'Decentralised complex systems', 'Computer vision and pattern recognition', 'Computer architecture and digital systems' and more.
Day three highlights:
Vint Cerf on 'Research Issues and the Internet.'
Robin Milner on 'The space and motion of large systems.'
Day three sessions cover: 'Networks', 'Programming languages' and 'Grand challenges'. There will also be a discussion session on 'Visions for Computer Science'.
More information on the programme:
http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=nav.10114
"Visions of computer science" takes place at Imperial College London, September 22-24 2008.
Book your place here: http://www.bcs.org/visions
There are special rates for students, BCS members and IET members.
Speaker biographies:
http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.19111
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The BCS Birmingham Branch is part of the Professional Institutes Network West Midlands (PINWM) which is dedicated to providing opportunities for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to the members of its current 14 member institutes across the West Midlands.
Details of the wide range of events are available on the PINWM website at www.pinwm.co.uk.
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The United Kingdom IT Association (UKita) – www.ukita.co.uk – was established as the West Midlands IT Association (WMita) as the private sector organisation responsible for the development of a credible and thriving IT industry within the West Midlands. It has grown into the nationwide UKita, launched in June 2006.
UKita hold a number of IT Business related events local to the Midlands. These events appeal to IT Professionals and IT End User organisations. Please follow the link below to view and/or register for events as applicable. If you have any problems – please call 0121 506 9320.