Lectures

The Gathering 2010:Submerged is as always a congregation for aspiring geniuses with a wide array of interests and hobbies. Because of that, we work hard to offer our dear participants an equally wide array of entertainment and lectures during The Gathering 2010.

Marit Sandstad: The Universe - What do we know and how do we know it?

Have you heard that it all started with a big explosion and that the universe is still expanding? Why do we believe this and what proof do we have to do so?

Marit Sandstad is an expert in theoretical astronomy at the University of Oslo, and will explain many of the universe's mysteries and how we came to many of our conclusions.

Finally, what does it all have to do with Easter? Join in and find out!

See you at the stage Saturday 3.april at 15:30!

Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard

Amongst others, we are pleased to announce that Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard from Oslo University's Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics will give a lecture from the main stage, about some of the most amazing phenomenons of our own universe. We promise spectacular video footage, sound effects and a very vivid lecture about stars, planets and really big explosions. Unfortunately for our foreign guests, this lecture will be held in Norwegian only. Come early and reserve a seat for this lecture from The Main stage, thursday afternoon. See you there!

Microsoft Surface - The future?

In their effort to revolutionize the way you use your computer, Microsoft shows up at The Gathering with the huge touch screens, sexy user interfaces and state of the art computer technology  they hope to see everywhere, from stores to military command centers. This unique new tool for displaying and controlling information is know as Microsoft Surface, and the team behind this amazing piece of tech will present it to you, right here at The Gathering.

When multiple users are working on the same surface, one would traditionally use objects, post-its and models;  just like in the war movies you've probably seen, where people push miniature soldiers and
tanks around on a map. But how do you save and share this information? How do you update it and make it dynamic? Microsoft Surface will provide this possibility.

How is it used in practice? During the forest fires in California last summer, a Surface-unit downloaded all the information about the forest fires and their movement and imported this to a map. Using Surface, the response teams could be contacted during VoIP or the VHF/UHF-bands in order to direct fire crews to strategic positions.

Microsoft will give us a full technical and practical demonstration of the Surface-units, and will invite our participants to try, touch and experience what might be the future of human-machine-interaction.
Come to the mainstage on Thursday Afternoon. Keep an eye on the Schedule.

The critical seconds...

If you have spent time playing games over LAN network, or the internet, you are well aware how dangerously annoying a "lagspike" can be.A "lag " is a delay during a game, wich makes your gaming experience take a turn for the worse. The "lagspikes" often occur at the worse thinkable moment for yourself or your team, wich can result in you loosing the fight, or the entire battle.

Carsten Griwods will talk about todays networking problems, and the possibility to reduce "lag" in different types of networks and games. He is, among other things, leader of a scientist group, has been working for several years for IBM European Networking Center, and even has a PH.D up is sleeve.

Tech:Net - How we built the TG Network

Ever wondered how the network at The Gathering is built up by 175 switches, 13,5km tg-cables and endless man labour? Tech:Net has taken a break from their tedious work to provide us all with kick-ass Internet and network connections, to explain to you all exactly how they did it. All you need to do if you want to penetrate the deepest and most important mysteries of The Gatherings universe of computers, is to come to the Main Stage on saturday afternoon! Keep an eye open on our Schedule for exact times!

Simon McCullum and Augmented Reality

Games are breaking free from the mouse and keyboard, and are becoming part of the world around us. Simon McCullum, lecturer and head of the Game Development program at University of Gjøvik, Norway, is coming to lecture us from the Main Stage, Friday at 3:30pm. His knowledge spans from medieval siege warfare to Artificial Intelligence and game development. He is a serious gamer himself, and understands our passion for games and technology. Don’t miss out on this unique chance to gain knowledge from one of the gaming society’s true enthusiasts. Main Stage, Friday Afternoon. Be there!

Bellona & the Climate War

The enviromental organisation Bellona is visiting this years The Gathering. Their newest project, The Sahara Forest Project, can make any technology fan drool. It's the newest of the newest environmental technology being used by Bellona and their three partners. Ballonas goal is to make vegetation grow in  the most godforsaken and dry areas of the world. Bellona is an enviromental foundation wich work for raised eco-awareness and shielding of nature, enviroment, and health. They do this without any goverment support, and utilize a stab of many highly qualified people. The organisation is highly proficient, and they work towards long term solutions.

There has, in even the driest of places, once been vegetation and life. The lack of fresh water has led to an enormous upspring of deserts. By combining two technologies, green house, and solar power, Ballona will make make fresh water, create pure energy, and grow algea that will make even the driest of deserts into the greenest of fields. The green houses, wich are run by sea water combined with concentrated solar energy, creates a kind of system that is completely self sufficient. The sea water gets pumped up in a power efficient manner, with gravity doing most of the work. The greenhouses make sea water evaporate, and creates moisture inside, and also vaporates sea water into fresh water. Combined, these technologies makes a fantastic synergi. The evaporated sea water becomes fresh water, and will create a moist and cool air, making for an ideal enviroment in wich to grow plants. The obstacle of dirt and dust on the solar panels gets eliminated when the growing vegetation contributes to filter the air, and thus minimalizing the chance of particles getting on the panels. 

This enormous project has the ability to save many lives,especially in the poorer areas. Because of the Global Warming, many countries, and areas is in the risk of drying out. The lack of fresh water has been problamatic for a long time, and for many; catastrophic.

Check out our Schedule!