Did Twitter save Bletchley Park?

Wednesday 7 March 2012, 6.45PM

Speaker: Dr Sue Black, Senior Research Associate, University College London and Simon Greenish, Director of Bletchley Park

Computer Science Athena Swan lecture

Bletchley Park is the historic site of secret British codebreaking activities during World War II and birthplace of the modern computer. The work carried out there is said to have shortened WWII by two years, saving possibly 22 million lives.

The Park is now a museum, with a 26 acre site, many exhibitions and working rebuilds of machines such as the Colossus, a forerunner of today's computers, invented to mechanise codebreaking. The museum is staffed by a 75% volunteer workforce and is grossly underfunded compared to its historical importance.

Dr Sue Black visited Bletchley Park in July 2008, and she was so appalled at the state of decay of this important site that she started a campaign to get the true historic value of the site recognised and to save it from being lost to the nation. She sent a letter to the UK broadsheet newspaper The Times signed by 97 eminent UK computer scientists, which was published and highlighted in BBC television and radio news broadcasts.

Following traditional media coverage, a blog was established, and then social media (particularly Twitter) used to great effect to raise awareness and support for the campaign. Campaign efforts have received national coverage on television, on radio, and in the press and have contributed to the Park recently receiving £4.6 million funding from the UK Heritage Lottery Fund.

In this lecture, Simon Greenish, Director of Bletchley Park, will describe the history of Bletchley Park from the Domesday Book through to the present day and gives an insight into its fundamental contribution to the ending of World War Two.

Dr Sue Black will describe the campaign to save Bletchley Park, exploring the effectiveness of traditional vs. social media, highlighting how the use of social media has contributed greatly to campaign success. Since the Saving Bletchley Park campaign started, visitor numbers have increased, along with public awareness of the contribution of the site to world heritage and the history of the computer.

This public lecture is part of the Computer Science Athena Swan initiative to promote women in science.

There will be a drinks reception from 6.15pm, followed by the lecture at 6.45pm.

Admission: by free ticket only, available from www.york.ac.uk/tickets.

Location: Ron Cooke Hub Auditorium

Telephone: 01904 324466