Chris Valentine

KMi Members become Environment Volunteers

KMi members volunteered their services to local environment charity The Greensand Trust today to help build a boardwalk, made from recycled plastic, in Leighton Buzzard. Ledburn Pit is one of a number of worked-out sand quarries in the Leighton area and the GST are using money from Landfill Tax and other sources, plus volunteer labour,…

Italian Ambassador visits KMi

The Italian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Dr Giancarlo Aragona, KCVD today visited KMi. Dr. Aragona, who has been the Italian Ambassador to the UK since 2004 and is a former ambassador to Russia, received a brief demonstration of KMi’s research from unit director Dr. Peter Scott. Photo shows the Ambassador together with Consulate General,…

Marian Petre Marries

Head of CRC and long-term friend of KMi Marian Petre was today married in Bletchley and – of course – KMi was there (at least virtually), using our webcasting experience to allow Marian’s parents in Illinois and relatives in New York to tune in and view the ceremony live. The original intention was to use…

Prof Enrico Motta delivers his Inaugural Lecture

Enrico Motta today presented his inaugural Professorial lecture "The Age of Semantics" in the Berrill Lecture Theatre, introduced by OU Vice-Chancellor Brenda Gourley. Professor Motta assessed the current status and promise of the Semantic Web and situated the developments in the context of fifty years of research in Artificial Intelligence (AI). In particular, a long-standing…

revyu.com Wins Semantic Web Challenge

Beating off eighteen other participants, revyu.com, project of KMi PhD research student Tom Heath, has just won the Semantic Web Challenge at the sixth International Semantic Web Conference in Busan, Korea. In the words of the SW challenge Chair, Peter Mika, "this was by far the most competitive year, with the highest number of participants…

Schools to FlashMeet ISS Astronaut

KMi tool FlashMeeting is shortly to be used by British school pupils to talk to International Space Station Astronaut Dr. Steve MacLean. The East of England Broadband Network have long been ‘customers’ of the FlashMeeting system and this particular instance is just one of a host of exciting and inventive uses UK schools have found…

Visit by Andrew Herbert of Microsoft

Managing Director of Microsoft Research, UK, Dr Andrew Herbert visited KMi today to view the lab and learn about KMi’s main areas of research: Cognitive and Learning Sciences, Artificial Intelligence & Semantic Technologies, and Multimedia. Andrew joined Microsoft Research in 2001 as an Assistant Director and in March 2003 he succeeded the founding director, Roger…

KMi Welcomes New PVC

KMi today hosted a visit from the Open University’s new Pro Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, Denise Kirkpatrick. Taking up the role in August 2007, Professor Kirkpatrick’s role involves the development and implementation of policy with respect to the use of new media in teaching support. Related Links: KMi Projects Simon (right) explains NASAs…

KMiers Feature in OU Cricket Fixtures

KMi members Dnyanesh Rajpathak (captain) and Neil Benn continue their important input to the OU Cricket 1st 11 in their remaining fixtures for the season as follows: Saturday 11th August 2007 – away fixture Eggington C.C vs Open University C.C Saturday 18th August – home fixture Open University C.C vs Eaton Bray C.C Saturday 25th…

Berners-Lee Awarded Order of Merit

Inventor of the World-Wide Web, and honorary graduate of KMi’s first Virtual Degree Ceremony in 2000, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has joined an elite group in receiving the Order of Merit from the Queen. The British academic invented the web’s address system and layout in Switzerland in 1991 and is now director of the World Wide…