With MeerKAT expected to be fully operational in 2018, the era of Big Data has officially dawned in Africa. With the SKA project on the horizon, planning and infrastructure development among partner countries across Africa will begin in earnest, effectively bringing Big Data to the African continent. To coincide with the commencement of science observations on MeerKAT, and the milestone this represents in the scientific and technical journey of the SKA on the African continent, it is timely for the African partner community to have a conversation on how best to unlock the tremendous potential of the SKA in the era of big data astronomy in Africa. This conference aims to bring together postgraduate students, researchers, data scientists, technologists, and other stakeholders in the African partner countries to discuss the opportunities and challenges of data-intensive astronomy in the SKA era. The goals of the meeting are to:
- Exchange information on big data developments among the African partners
- Chart the scientific pathway to the SKA in Africa and the African VLBI Network
- Plan the implementation of the South African Data Intensive Research cloud as an African solution to the data challenge of the SKA and a solution for data intensive research in other science domains.
- Explore opportunities for collaborative projects in science, data systems, and engineering.
The conference which started yesterday, May 28th attracted delegates from different part of the world and is expected to end on Thursday, May 31st. The event is holding at the Madagascan coastal town of Nosy Be
Prof Russ Taylor welcomes everyone to the SKA-Driven Big Data Challenge in Africa conference #IDIABigData #BigDataAfrica @DARABigData #NosyBe #Madagascar pic.twitter.com/3e8NGuS8rS
— Anna Scaife (@radastrat) May 28, 2018
