THE trip to London followed secret trials on board the bus outside Kensington Road Youth Centre.
It all started when UK IT guru Professor Stephen
Heppell (right), from Anglia Polytechnic University’s ULTRALAB, visited the Island in February to give a talk for the DOE about teaching and learning with computers. He saw what the Island was doing with ICT in education, saw the bus and thought the combination would make an ideal base for testing a revolutionary new internet system, being developed by US communications giant Oracle
Tests
Each Monday and Friday evening for nearly three months, the Bus pulled up outside Kensington Road Youth Centre, and 21 young people, specially recruited for the tests, came along and pushed the new system to the limit, going on-line with the Computer Bus’s advanced technology.
When the pilot came to an end, Oracle wanted to launch the system— presently known as Codename Scoop!—at the Tomorrow’s World Live Event in London, and invited all those involved in the test to bring their bus and show it to the world.
Success
The pictures on these pages give just some idea of what a week it was, with the bus taking the ‘scenic route’ via the Ben-my-Chree and the UK motorway network to London, and the kids flying down the next day. That the bus was able to make it to and from London, go on-line at Earls Court, and make it back in time for the Tynwald ceremony is a tribute to all those involved.
Principal sponsor Manx Telecom, Tours (Isle of Man), PDMS Advanced Systems, Manx Airlines, the Isle of Man Steam Packet and the Isle of Man Department of Education, all made sure that this trip was a wall-to-wall success.
Dome
And for the 21 young people from Douglas Youth Club who did the Island proud in London, their efforts were repaid by the generosity of Oracle, with fives tar accommodation in London’s Forum Hotel, tickets to see Darren Day in the west end hit GREASE!, and a never to be forgotten night out bowling with Gladiator star Rhino! Highlight of the visit was exclusive access to the as yet unfinished Millennium Dome, a visit organised by Professor Stephen Heppell himself.
