Festival to popularise science opens in Assam on Oct. 14

Guwahati, Oct. 13 (PTI): A two-day festival opens here tomorrow to take science to the people and out of the confines of classrooms and journals, an organiser said.
The festival — ‘Reverberations: We are Science Communicators’ — seeks to popularise science while igniting young minds, Ratna Bharali Talukdar, the executive editor of a bilingual web magazine which has organised the event, said.
“Scientists and science teachers have the expertise in explaining the rudiments of science but these often remain limited to classrooms, journals, workshops and laboratories and seldom reach the masses,” Talukdar told PTI.
She said the festival, organised by ‘NEZINE MEDIA, aimed at encouraging the youth to take to science communication.
The multi-venue science communication festival is for students of schools, colleges and universities in Assam and other northeastern states.
“We hope the festival will bring forth science communicators who can play the crucial role of utilising the space in traditional media, the convergent media and the new media to bridge the gap between the scientific community and the masses and leverage media tools to popularise science and promote a scientific temperament,” Talukdar added.
Among the highlight of the festival are talks by sound designer Amrit Pritam on ‘Science of Sound and its use in communication’ and by population activist Ilias Ali on ‘Population explosion and the role of media’ and skill development workshops on photography, digital media and video making.
Edugenie, a Guwahati-based education start-up established by a team of IIT Guwahati alumni, which provides hands-on learning solutions through an innovative technology-based environment, will organise puzzles and science shows while the Amateur Radio Society of Assam will hold a programme on the use of ham radios.
Under the segment ‘Science Communication on Wheels’, a van with resource persons, science communication material and exhibits will also travel to different places in Assam from October 20 to connect with students.
The festival has been organised with the support of the Assam Skill Development Mission, Oil India Limited and Numaligarh Refinery Limited.