News
- María José López Pourailly
Invitation - Call: Shall we talk seriously about natural disasters and the end of the world?
Participate through videoconference in the First Global Virtual Day called “2012, end or substantial change of the world?” on March 22nd at 15.00 GMT.
Tuesday February 7th, 2012, 19:53 GMT: In 0.17 seconds, after typing the phrase 2012 end of the world Mayas, without inverted commas, Google (in Spanish) gives you 3.020.000 results. With the phrase December 21st, 2012 the same search engine yields 31.800.000 results in 0.25 seconds. If the announcements and predictions about the end of the world (whether with a grip on reality or not) are not the big issue every single human being on the planet talks about, they must surely be within the top five. Can or should academic networks address these conversations which at first glance seem to be far from the serious formality and scientific rigour? The LA NREN PR group (the event’s organisers) will not answer this question; they will simply invite you to participate in the First Global Virtual Day where specialists from various scientific areas and countries will address the topic “2012, end or substantial change of the world?” from their individual fields of research.
Who will these experts be and what will they talk about?
The programme for the first Global Virtual Day is still under construction, but the participation of the following specialists has already been confirmed:
|
Topic |
Specialist |
|
Maya Apocalypses in 2012? What pre-Hispanic Mayas and the skies are telling us |
Dr. Jesús Galindo, Institute of Aesthetics Research from the UNAM |
|
Dr. Alfredo Santillán, General Directorate of Computing and Information and Communication Technologies from the UNAM |
|
|
Natural risks and their perception |
Mtro. Carlos Suarez, University of Guadalajara (UDG) |
|
Dr. Mabel Padlog, University of Guadalajara (UDG) |
|
|
Dr. Bertha Márquez Azúa, Centre for Strategic Studies for Development at the UDG |
|
|
Risk scenarios due to big earthquakes and tsunamis in Chile, Japan and Mexico |
Dr. Marcelo Lagos López, specialist in extreme natural processes and their interaction with human settlements. He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses on subjects related to natural risks, geomatic Technologies and coordinates seminars on environmental research. School of History, Geography and Political Science, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (http://www.geo.puc.cl/html/mlagos.html) |
|
The El Hierro Case, formation of a volcano |
Jesus Rivera, Olvido Tello, Nuria Hermida and Baetriz Arrese – geology team working in El Hierro, and Juan Acosta, geologist and coordinator of the volcanic cartography and monitoring work in El Hierro |
When, how and where?
The appointment is scheduled for March 22nd, 2012 at 15.00 GMT through an H.323 videoconference over the advanced academic networks in Latin America (RedCLARA), the Caribbean (C@ribNet), Europe (GÉANT) and Sub-Saharan Africa (UbuntuNet Alliance). If you belong to an institution that is part of a national research and education network (NREN) which is part of one of these regional networks and wish to participate through videoconference, please book the space for your room by Monday March 5th at 15.00 GMT by sending an email to 2012global_day@redclara.net indicating the following information:
Name of the institution
NREN to which it is associated
Country
IP of the videoconference equipment to be connected
Name of the technical coordinator (who manages the videoconference equipment)
Technical coordinator’s email address
Technical coordinator’s Skype ID
Technical coordinator’s’ MSN ID
Please remember, spaces are limited!
But if you are not connected to advanced academic networks or do not have access to a videoconference room and still wish to be able to participate in the meeting, do not worry. We will offer live transmission through the internet and will open a conversation channel via Skype so that you can send your questions to the speakers.
Don’t forget it; we will be waiting for you on March 22nd! By the way, have you thought about it, about the end of the world?
Website: http://2012globalday.redclara.net
