IIT Madras conducts International Conference in Memory Studies, 160 speakers to address

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras Centre for Memory Studies is conducting an international conference on ‘Memory in a Digital Age’ from 23 August to 25 August. The conference will be conducted in a hybrid mode, making it convenient for everyone across the world to attend.

The conference will be featuring 160 speakers and lecturers from the UK, USA, Poland Australia, Israel and India. Some of the speakers are Dr. Rebakah Vince hailing from Queen Mary, University London, Dr Anupama Mallik, CEO of Vizara technologies and Dr Vishnu Sreekumar from Memory and Neurodynamics Lab, IIT Hyderabad. The inauguration of the conference was done by Dr Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management, Government of Tamil Nadu, in the presence of Professor V Kamakoti, Conference Faculty Coordinators Dr Avishek Parui and Dr Merin Simi Raj; as well as Professor Jyotirmaya Tripathy, Head, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras.

During the inaugural speech, Dr Thiaga Rajan, said, “We are in the age of universal memory and so much common information is available to anybody, anytime. It has greatly enhanced the intellectual capabilities of the common people. Now, we live in the age of infinite external memory. However, there are issues in engines of storage and retrieval. Conferences such as these are very important since universalization of memory has still not translated to universal access.”

MemoryBytes, the first AR-based mobile app was launched by Dr Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, at an event at IIT Madras. The application aims at capturing the history and life of the transnational Anglo-Indian community across 500 years, built with an interactive interface. The app will provide an interactive, animated, and augmented experience of photographs, maps, and archival documents during the physical-cum-digital exhibition held in the conference hours at the ICSR building of IIT Madras.

He further added, “Tamil Nadu is within the top three states where we have instituted a computer in every MLAs’ desk. Every single debate, bill and budget will be made available so that MLAs can extract it in real time and contribute to the debate so that they do not have to rely on their internal memory.” “I am happy to note that an Institute with such strong technical grounding has such an interdisciplinary Humanities department and that this department has such a strong Centre for Memory Studies researching on the interface of culture, history, heritage, and technology,” expressed Hon’ble Dr Rajan.

‘Campus Chronotopes’ will be the next conference in line. It will be a first VR based 360-degree stereoscopic video capturing the dynamic life and human-nature interfaces in the IIT Madras campus through multiple omnidirectional cameras, mainly focusing on the diversity of the campus. It will feature an AR-based physical and digital exhibit at the IIT Madras campus, stating the history and journey of the Anglo-Indian communities, providing the much needed exposure.

Professor V Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras, addressing his speech said, “Memory in the digital age is very important. How do we store and maintain the formats when we have so many digital formats? There are different varieties of storage and this software must be compatible with many platforms. As the data keeps growing, we are looking at different ways on how to store data. I am sure there are many efforts being taken in this direction. The other aspect is this conference will feature many AR and VR-related developments. You (participants) can experience them, learn from history and learn from the past. Surely, we will be investing quite a bit in research and funding.”