By Khaya Thonjeni
A giant tortoise was spotted proceeding slowly 12km away, towards the 1820 Settlers Monument building yesterday. Travelling at a speed of 1 metre per 15 minutes, it seemed the heavy shelled creature will have to accelerate to at least 1 m/1 minute to arrive just in time for the first day of SciFest Africa 2009.
But ready for action on opening day, Wednesday 25 March, will be dozens of JMS students with pens, pads, video cameras and cellphones on hand to capture and convey the week’s breakthroughs.
The PGDip, TV and new media students will report and publish on this event daily through Scicue, SciTV and Sciblog.
Sci TV won the inaugural student category of Siemens Profile Awards 2008 which aims to “reward excellence in Science and Technology Journalism”.
The week long experience covering SciFest is a mutually beneficial collaboration between JMS and the organisers. JMS students are exposed to science reporting while Scifest Africa 2009 benefits media coverage through these publications.
This 13th edition of SciFest aims to be an astronomical exploration of the universe through the eyes, telescopes and robust workshops. It is themed, “Space to explore” under new directorship of Vera Adams.
“Astronomy can be something that people battle to understand but this year the astronomy events at scifest africa 2009 will enable visitors to see what they can’t see with the human eye,” Adams said. Daniel Dennett, Hakeem Oluseyi and Charles McGruder are amongst prominent guests to speak on this theme. According to Catherine Walters, the Scifest Africa 2009 media officer, there will also lectures and talkshops about Charles Darwin’s works in celebration of 200 years of his birthday.
Bookings are still open at 046 603 1106 or www.scifest.org.za.