The new Orkney International Science Festival website is now in place – and it provides a diverse and multicoloured picture of the Festival itself and its Orkney island setting.
There are photos and videos of Orkney, including an introduction to its geology at the west shore of Stromness, and pictures from the various islands, along with information about travel and accommodation.
You can look back to past highlights, ranging from Jane Goodall’s talk on Reasons for Hope in St Magnus Cathedral last year to the 2010 visit of the Flashing and Banging Chemistry Show. You can also see activities at the Family Day, and at the Green and medieval Afternoon in the Earl’s and Bishop’s Palaces.
Indeed you can go back further still, to 2009 and For A’ That, the special event in the Cathedral to mark the Burns anniversary and the Scottish Homecoming, with music and readings and images.
Along with these various videos is a copy of the programme from each of the past five years.
There’s information about astronomy, with images of the aurora and the dark night skies, and there’s details of food and drink events, exhibitions, and schools activities in the Festival. The various Festival sponsors, who make it all possible with their generous support, are highlighted.
You can find out how science festivals began in Edinburgh in 1989 and have now spread worldwide, and you can also find links to the Festival discussion forum and the Festival blog, where topics range from the Higgs particle and the Big Bang to the physics of the Wood of Hallaig.
There’s even a music channel, where you can hear highlights from a range of musicians, including Three in a Bar and Mr Boom, along with features on the Mayfield Singers and Kirkwall City Pipe Band.
The website, along with Frontiers magazine, was developed with support from EventScotland, Scotland’s national events agency.