Scientist Matt Coller
eMug Meeting No.18
Monash University scientist Matt Coller came to Euroa and revealed all at eMug on Tuesday 21 December 2010 at ECEC. Matt's research into Sahul has been developed on a Mac, and made famous on the TV program "Planet Science - Ancient Mariners", recently broadcast on ABC1.
For a taste, see http://sahultime.monash.edu.au
Special guest speaker – Scientist Matt Coller
“How to travel from Sunda to Sahul, with Mac
”Matt Coller has a science degree from Melbourne University, and a Masters degree in multimedia. He is using these skills to communicate science more widely. Now a Ph.D. student at Monash University, Matt was looking for a project which could be communicated to the public, rather than an obscure scientific project. Matt read an article about the Torres Strait Islands. He came up with the idea of visualising the past.
Special guest speaker – Scientist Matt Coller
“How to travel from Sunda to Sahul, with Mac”
Scientist Matt Coller showed how it is possible to take “Google Earth” back through time to show the Earth at different stages. See http://sahultime.monash.edu.au/
Matt’s Sahul Time program is able to show aspects of
§ Ice Ages
§ Ocean currents
§ Global Warming
§ Geographical features
§ Land bridges across the Torres Strait and Bass Strait
§ Human migrations and habitation
§ Endangered and extinct species
§ Local history
§ Great voyages of discovery
Why Mac ?
Matt finds that the Mac is more visual than the PC. The PC tends to depend more on lists of words. Therefore, the Mac is the superior platform for Matt’s mapping.
Matt certainly demonstrated the great computing power of the Mac.
Peter thanked Matt for his excellent presentation. Peter presented Matt with a gift of wine from eMug, accompanied by much applause.
Other Special Guests
Derrick and Ken Bwihambi iMove and Garageband
Adrian Jones and Keiran Murphy New mac Products / Data Parts Shepparton
Brit Smith Dog Tree Website
Charmian Gaud (iMug) All things "i"
Rick Broadway (photographer) Macs and Hasselblads