Khwarizmi Science Society is organizing an introductory level workshop at Syedanwala Higher Secondary School where the participants will  be familiarized with the basic concepts of computing and how they can be implemented to achieve specific tasks. Using Python language as the platform, this workshop will start right from scratch and will progressively enable Grade 9 students to program through hands-on activities.

1. building experimental hardwarefrom low-cost items;
2. use modern gadgets and techniques such as video tracking and physics using the smartphone;
3. plotting and interpretation of data, and
4. connecting the laboratory to the classroom.

• Date: 22nd - 24th November, 2018
• Venue: Ali Institute of Education, Ferozepur Road, Lahore
• Timings: 10:00 am - 05:00 pm
• Registration Deadline: 18th November, 2018
• Registration Fee: Rs. 1500 (to be paid by ATM transfer before 20th November; details will be sent by email)
• Accommodation provided: No
• Certificates provided at the end of the workshop: Yes

When it comes to generating a visual representation of important socio-economic parameters for rural Pakistan, such as poverty, literacy, crime or access to internet, the picture is rather blank. Datasets exist in disparate jurisdictions, scattered across many departments, and are often in registers and lists that do not contain geo-coordinates. This state of affairs discourages evidence-based policy interventions, and severely limits the effectiveness of expensive GIS projects undertaken by many organizations.

In this talk, I will explain why relevant socio-economic datasets, such as the population census, have not been mapped properly even years after of their generation. Then it will explain how this bottleneck may be removed, by identifying the spatial references contained in those datasets, and building their integrated maps. In this respect, it will also cover the importance of a “mauza” (revenue estate) for rural mapping, and then provide an overview of our recent pilot project to demonstrate a cost-effective and scalable methodology to build a mauza map for District Jhelum. Our methodology consisted of stitching together thousands of pieces of British era village maps, and then registering them with satellite imagery for geo-referencing. Finally, talk will show the utility of this mauza map in generating spatial visualizations of important socio-economic parameters for the district.

Quantum computers have occupied the imagination, time, energy and resources of many researchers worldwide. About ten years after the first prototypes became implementable in labs worldwide, are we still too far removed from a practical, useful realization? This talk will cover the basics of what quantum computers are, what they (or might) look like and why is there so much hype about them. This will be an elementary introduction aimed at the college-level science students.