Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Fayval Williams will be the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony of the Global Adventist Internet Network (GAiN) Conference this Thursday, July 4.

The proceedings are scheduled to start at 7:00 pm.

GAiN is a conference of the Seventh-day Adventist world church, designed to foster the use of technology, media and the Internet to help in the outreach mission of the church.

In addition to her presentation, the minister will also open an exhibition which showcases artefacts tracing the development of radio and other technology, such as the first transistor radio of the late 1950s to the Apple iPod MP3 player of the 2000s.

“Many of our current generation do not know what the first black and white television looks like,” explained Nigel Coke, communication director of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica. Young people will be there and we want to take them through that journey of past radio, television, cellphones and computers, to where we are today.”

The information and items to be displayed are on loan from the RJR museum, headquartered in Kingston.

A feature of the exhibition will be a Northern Caribbean University humanoid robot codenamed Bob. It is an autonomous and programmable robot that can interact with people through seven senses used for natural interaction.

“The inclusion of Bob is an indication to Jamaica as to where technology is going. One of our presentations at the conference is on robotics and artificial intelligence, which is deliberate and intentional because at the end of the conference we expect participants to not only understand that technology is the present and future, but to embrace it in all facets of life including the church’s outreach mission,” Coke added.

Other topics to be presented at the conference include animation, new technologies in medicine, blockchain technology, technology for people with disabilities, cyber security, Jamaica’s digital switch over, and wireless TV.