9 June 2008

The latest fashion accessory - computers!

Photo opportunity: Tuesday 10th June 2008 at 12:45pm
School of Computing, Queen Mother Building, Balfour Street, Dundee
Prize presentation and demonstrations of the winning designs

School pupils from across Tayside and Fife will be challenged to discover a hidden side to computers by building a "wearable computer" in the annual Strathmore Trophy at the University of Dundee tomorrow (Tuesday June 10th).

The pupils will be asked to build a communication device in the form of an article of clothing fitted with sensors, lights and buzzers to allow them to communicate their feelings to their classmates.

Pupils are given just two hours to get to grips with the electronics and programming needed to bring their clothing ideas to life.

12 teams from secondary schools across the region from Arbroath to Auchterarder will take part in the competition, hoping to collect the Strathmore Trophy and £100 worth of computer software for their school. Mary, Dowager Countess of Strathmore, will present the magnificent trophy for the competition, which is now in its thirteenth year.

Iain Murray, one of the competition organisers in the School of Computing at the University, said, "Computers are increasingly embedded invisibly into things around us, and we hope the competition will show that there’s more to computing than word processing and games consoles. Computers can be cool, and fun too."

The Strathmore Trophy competition is held annually by the School of Computing to get local school pupils thinking about applications of computer technology to help people.

NOTES TO EDITORS
The schools taking part are:
Arbroath High School
Baldragon Academy
Braeview Academy
Comm Sch of Auchterarder
Craigie High School
Dollar Academy
Grove Academy
Harris Academy
Montrose Academy
Morrison's Academy
Perth Grammar School
Perth High School

For further information, please contact:
Louisa Cross, School of Computing, University of Dundee.
(01382) 384151 Fax: (01382) 385509
e-mail: lcross@computing.dundee.ac.uk.

Iain Murray, School of Computing, University of Dundee.
(01382) 384155 Fax: (01382) 345509
e-mail: irmurray@computing.dundee.ac.uk.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk