February 10-14 1997, Plzen, Czech Republic
Animation geeks and factual nerds will be checking out the latest in object-oriented graphics and computer vision, geometric modelling and fractals, and VR and computational geometry at the fifth such annual event. And they'll imbibe books, journals and videos at the exhibition held concurrently. Contact: +42 (19) 2171 188 or 2171 212, fax +42 (19) 2171 213, email wscg97@kiv.zcu.cz, on the Web at yoyo1.zcu.cz/~skala/wscg97.html.It's Valentine's Day and you're in the Twin Cities of the Plzen, also known as ... Pilsner. What to do? Visit the place they invented lager, the Pilsner Urquell brewery, and its associated brewery museum. Check the Czech Info Centre's Plzen site: www.zcu.cz/plzen/plzen.html. Or get thee to Prague and visit Hradcany Castle with its beautiful courtyard and dabble in the wide variety of cabarets there.
February 12-15 1997, Houston, Texas
Most newspapers measure interactivity by counting page jumps. At this conference, Len Forman of The New York Times and Dorothea Coccoli Palsho of Dow Jones & Company will explain that the more bodacious binary rags must employ the latest technologies - such as search services and online commerce - if they hope to survive in a networked economy. Registration: US$895. Contact: +1 (212) 675 4380 x314, fax +1 (212) 929 1894, email michaelt@mediainfo.com, on the Web at www.mediainfo.com/.The Orange Show in Houston's East End is one of those rare sculpture exhibitions that visitors are actively encouraged to touch, walk through and sit on. Retired postman Jeff McKissack built his love-child over a period of 20 years, patiently collecting scrap materials to create this colourful collage of metal, concrete and tile with spiral steeples.
March 8 1997, Portsmouth, UK
It's International Women's Day, and sisters are doing it for themselves. Apart from gender issues in technology, the conference will examine cyberspace as a cultural form. Registration: £75 institutions/corporations, £25 individuals. Contact: (01705) 876 543 extn. 3855 or 3801, fax (01705) 843 808, email ruthvena@desn.port.ac.uk, on the Web at www.envf.port.ac.uk/women/.Nautical adventures abound in this town. Apart from the the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, you can visit a number of ships-turned-museums, from HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship, to the Victorian HMS Warrior. Henry VIII's favourite warship - the Mary Rose - also rests here, recovered and restored 437 years after it sank!
March 23-26 1997, Grenoble, France
Providing a unique opportunity to gain an insight into advanced research in computer-based technologies applied to surgery and therapy. Registration: [florin]2,300 before February 15th and [florin]2,850 after. Contact: +33 76 01 00 54, fax +33 76 63 16 36, email dcongres@imaginet.fr, on the Web at www-timc.imag.fr/sic.Listen to some hot jazz and hang with cool cats at the Grenoble Jazz Festival. Concerts every night from March 16-30 feature music ranging from bebop to trad to jazz funk, acid jazz and West Coast. Or take the bus to Villard de Lans - which is just a really nice place.
March 25-26 1997, London
Promising to be the show where marketing meets new media, moguls will not only be able to take part in promisingly lively debates but will also have the opportunity to look at digital life-style gizmos in the Interactive Marketing Gallery, ranging from virtual goldfish bowls to hands-free laptops. Registration: £60. Contact: (0171) 288 6408, on the Web at www.bdcevents.co.uk/interactive.Get out the straw boaters, blazers and Pimms ready for the Oxford and Cambridge boat race on March 29th. Grab a seat outside the Star and Garter pub at Putney Bridge for the start and watch the finish at leisure on the pub's telly!